Vince G

I'll be curious to see how this sale affects the other 9.8s (directs) that are currently available in the wild.

Was it the fact it was a newsstand that factored into your bid?

What's really confusing for me is that many of these books have doubled, tripled, even quadrupled in a very short period of time, much much shorter than what we've seen historically. As one who came back to the hobby in 2011, and with that additional 10 years of buying, selling, swapping, watching prices, etc., under my belt, I can't justify paying 2-4x more for a book than what it sold for 2 months ago, particularly those books that were formerly realizing a slow but steady increase in that 1k-2k range. It just makes me wonder who is buying those books? Case in point, from my own personal experience - xmen 94 in 9.2. I bought my copy about a year ago for a shade over 1k. Would I buy the same grade now at current price considering you could get one at the beginning of the year for 1500? Not a chance.

Exactly. The money just poured in and prices went through the roof. I'm thinking about those average comic collectors and am wondering how they are spending and what they are spending on. 6-8k is a lot to invest, particularly in a book with over 1000 9.8s on the census.

Thanks. I’m tracking it.

Agreed. Honestly, in my opinion, is a 5-6k book. The market just got crazy over the past couple of months. Don’t get me wrong, if it hits 10k, I’m selling my copy. You can do a lot with 10k.

I thought next week was the long weekend? Last couple of eBay sales before this one were in that 7800-8300 range. I doubt it’s going to 10k any time soon. Honestly think it’s past the high water mark.

Just ended - $6800. Could we have hit the high water mark already? Fingered id put mine up for sale if they hit 10k but looks like it’ll be sitting in the box for a while. thoughts? https://www.ebay.com/itm/133761894441

People get caught up in bidding and sometimes don’t scan the site for other copies that are available as bin, that have been listed following the auction listing.

If it hits 10, i'll throw mine into the pool.

What's the high-water mark, you think?

Well, seller is a long time member with 100% positive feedback so I would doubt he's running a scam.

Not sure if we've hit a leveling off point for the book or not. I'm guessing we may have. The run up on this one was very fast so I don't think that can continue.

Definitely a solid copy! Congrats!!

Ok, thanks. Lots of pages to go through but i'll work my way backwards.

Oy, yeah. Saw that. Ok, so who's plunking down the amount you can put down on a new car for an ASM 300?

I'm all for expanding on the discussion. I'm trying to make sense of this run-up so anything you can provide would help me out greatly.

Well, 10k might only be a few days away so we probably won't have to wait long to see how this shakes out.

Exactly. The velocity has been mind boggling with respect to some of these books. So here’s the question… when are we done? I mean, at some point, I’d think the money that’s pouring in would have to slow down. The 300 sat at around 2k for the longest time then boom - now selling for 4-5x that amount. Does it hit 10k, then 20k, etc? Considering there are so many 9.8s on the census, when does everybody who wants one owns one, regardless of how much they have to pay? It’s questions such as these that have me perplexed right now.

Right there with ya. And to think, I balked at buying a 9.8 copy of 252 for $325 in the fall because I felt the price was high by $25. Now, if I spend 1k, it goes into a lower grade GA or SA book.

That's my only ASM dbl. I'll have to dig for the others. Coolest dbl I have owned was a Tales From The Crypt 33, but I moved that in a trade a while back.

One of mine

Wow! You know, that book was dead for the longest time. insufficiently_thoughtful_person me spent $50 for a copy of that book during the indie craze of the mid-80s, and it wasn't worth more than $50 until what, two months ago??

Great analysis. My biggest question is with respect to the sub 10k books now being sold for 2-3x that amount. The money rolling in on those books is coming from somewhere, and I doubt it's from the average American who has received stimulus money or long time collectors who are schooled in the hobby. I appreciate your comment and find it highly thought provoking.

I don't have GPA either but rely on a few different sources for tracking down most recent sales data. One example from a buy yesterday. Marvel Spotlight 1 in around VF-. Needed a copy to fill a hole in my run so was able to grab it for around $30. Insignificant book right now in the grand scheme of things, but if it goes haywire, I'll sell it for a nice profit. Otherwise, it'll stay in my collection. Another book I picked up for $30 was a mark jewelers VF copy of Hulk 198 (Man-Thing). Again, not all that significant, but I enjoy having a few MJs in the collection. And if Man-Thing appearances go through the roof, I'll sell that too. Bottom line, you can still find books that you want for your collection and are decent additions, but without paying sky-high prices. Unfortunately, the major and minor keys are those I'm not even entertaining right now.