jimbo_7071

OK, I see what you mean—but much of that increase is probably just inflation, which probably hasn't been reflected in Overstreet yet. The next edition will probably have large increases across the board to account for the inflation that occurred doing COVID. They are still very cheap compared to books from the other major publishers.

Going down in flames to coming up from the flames.

Tom Gill Blue Bolt cover to Tom Gill Blue Bolt cover.

Spear to spear.

When two guys with big egos both want a book, there is no limit—NO limit.

Halloween to Halloween.

Ice skating to roller skating.

Snowy disaster to snowy disaster.

Bad guys whose hats are flying off to bad guy whose hat is flying off.

You jest, but years ago CB radios became popular for a while even in cars. Thieves were stealing CBs left and right. One guy got the idea to rig a bullet to be fired from behind the CB radio if the radio was pulled out. It worked, and the thief was shot dead, but the guy who rigged the bullet ended up going to prison for either murder or manslaughter.

If your house is airconditioned, you probably don't have to worry about it too much. I don't buy books with full red rust, but I haven't seen any change in the books I own that have a little bit of rust (some of which I've owned for 10 years or longer). Putting the books in an air-tight safe will make them rust, though. Another board member has previously recommended keeping books in a data grade safe with desiccant packs replaced at regular intervals:

The staples on your books will rust faster than you could imagine if you keep them in that safe.

I do think that the holders of most raw copies are part of a similar age group, i.e. "Boomers" born between 1946 and 1964 who built up their collections in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. About 90% of Boomers are still alive. It is reasonable to predict that that 90% figure will be dropping quite a bit over the next decade as the oldest Boomers enter their 80s. I really don't know what the state of comic collecting will be 20 years from now. Most of the Boomers will be gone by then, and, from what I've seen, that's the generation that has been the most active in the hobby through the years and the most passionate. I know that there are younger collectors who continue to enter the hobby, but I don't think that they'll be able to replace the Boomers in terms of sheer numbers or in terms of dedication. It saddens me to dwell on it, actually.

If I were to plot the data, I would be inclined to combine the data for universal, restored, and qualified copies. This particular book is valuable enough that even very low grade restored copies are likely to be slabbed before being sold. (I think that submitters have the option of requesting the lower, universal grade rather than a qualified grade, so that may account for the lack of growth in the number of qualified copies.)

I haven't plotted anything, but a cursory glance makes it appear that the rate at which new copies were being added to the census was fairly linear from about 2003 till about 2021. It has flattened out over the last couple of years, but I would want to wait for a while to see whether that's temporary or whether the supply of raw copies really is getting tapped out. ETA: I realize that this discussion makes me seem like a nerd, but I'm cool, I swear! My mother always tells me so, and she wouldn't lie.

Color me pleasantly surprised! I had no idea that any such site existed.

Carrying the stars and stripes to fighting for the stars and stripes.

Stars and stripes to stars and stripes.

Hazardous moon to inhabited moon.

Dangerous animal to dangerous plant.

Bookend to bookend.

The heirs might sell the books raw, but those books would be scooped up by dealers or flippers who know all about slabbing.

I'm talking about the entire number of raws that have not been slabbed. I would expect to see a fairly steady increase in census numbers as older collectors die, which usually leads to the selling of their collections, with key books typically being slabbed.

"The market for these got hot and prices went up." I'm not sure what you mean. I haven't seen any Fawcetts fetching strong prices at auction. You can't go by dealers' asking prices; those don't mean anything.

Sidekick in peril to sidekick and superhero both in peril.