jimbo_7071

The Pyramid's Secret to the Strange Secret of the Maze.

Hmmm,,,, My thoughts on the Allentown Cap 1 are that it is only a 9.8 because of the absurd way CGC ignores page quality. A book with Off-white pages should never be given a 9.8 grade. A 9.8 book should have white pages—period. There are several copies of Cap 1 out there that I would consider more desirable. I also hate bound copies and have never understood why there's even a market for them. They consist of comic books that have been ruined. Most of the books you listed are very cool copies, though. (I do wish MPFW #1 had a better cover!)

EDIT: I meant to say flashlight to candle.

Slaves of the Unknown to Slaves Under the Sea.

Green people to the green-skinned Claw.

Wizard to Willkie.

Submerged victim to submerged victim.

The Fin to shark fins.

Pretty face on a Quality book to not-so-pretty face on a Quality book.

Cat and bird to cat and mouse.

Elephant to elephant.

Every time I think about that, I get angry at myself for having bought anything from Heritage since he was hired (after telling myself that I wouldn't). I don't trust any auction house that's enough of a scum-bag company to hire someone like him.

Zolne to Zolne.

The Arrow to bow and arrow.

Schomburg painting to Schomburg comic book cover.

Tec 31 in mid grade.

It was slabbed for the Nicholas Cage auction in October of 2002 with the provenance noted on the label, so the holder shouldn't have been too early, but apparently they didn't have a great process in place for esuring a proper fit. This book can slide around inside the holder as well. I plan to get it re-holdered, but it will have to wait until I decide to drive to Sarasota. I don't trust sending it in the mail. (I haven't been outside of Michigan since 2014, so it might be a while.)

Shrunken head to "Your Head For Mine." Superior horror to Superior horror.

Alien with green reptilian skin to alien with green reptilian skin.

Blonde woman in a red dress sitting in a graveyard to blonde woman in a red dress sitting in a graveyard.

Donald Duck plus wooden figure with a long nose to Donald Duck plus wooden figure with a long nose.

Amazing woman to The Maze.

I mentioned West's Catman 25 as one example. It sat on Metro's site at $1,700 for at least a couple of years (2012–2013) as a raw 9.0; it just sold for $21,600 as a slabbed 9.2. Even the WDC&S books that sold on Heritage over the summer went for staggering prices. (I bought one of them—for twice what I expected to pay.) I'm not convinced that all of these books are as rare in high grade as the census makes them look, so prices like that seem very risky to me. I guess the guys contending for those books can afford the risk much better than I can. The demand for early Tecs and Actions isn't going away any time soon, but for the more offbeat stuff that I like, it might only take a couple of collectors exiting the hobby for prices to come way down—which would probably happen just when I needed to sell, if I were to try to compete. I'm 46, and I know that quite a few GA collectors are 10 or even 20 years older than I am, so I worry that If I try to sell my collection in 30 years, many of the potential buyers for the books I collect might be dead or retired from the hobby. The thing is, where were these buyers with such deep pockets 8 years ago? It seems like there are buyers out there now who will pay whatever they have to to get a book without any regard to how the book has been valued in the past. There have been strong sales before—for instance, the Mile High copy of Target 7 sold for $57,500 back in 2003—but those record-busting sales have typically been limited to major books. Target 7 is an important book in the hobby; Catman 25 isn't; it was always one of the issues with virtually no demand. (That price for the Target 7 still seems mind boggling to me by 2003 standards. I have no idea who the buyer was; if I did, I'd probably try to get him to adopt me. I wouldn't be above putting on a onesie and saying, "Ga-ga, goo-goo" with a pacifier in my mouth.)

With what books are selling for now, I'm ready to call my collection done. I may sell a few books to fund the purchase of others, but I don't want to put more money in at current prices. The prices on key books don't surprise me, but the prices that relatively unimportant books are selling for don't make sense to me. I don't know how to estimate any kind of long-term value for anything.

What I'm wondering is, why are books that no one ever cared about all of a sudden selling for ten times guide? Who's paying those prices?