shadroch

I still plan on opening my shop at some point, it just won't be focused on comics. In January, I plan on moving in and doing yard sales every weekend. To live in the building and have a business in it at the same time, I need to do certain improvements. I can live in it as long as it isn't open to the public, and I can do unlimited yard sales since it is a commercial property. If I can handle working two days and find someone to do two days, I'll be good. For the first time in almost thirty years, I don't have a dog so I'm free to travel. I'm hoping to be able to do that this spring. For the last twenty-five years or so, I've looked at comics as an investment, a nestegg for my retirement. I'm six years into my retirement and while I've sold more than I bought the last few years, I still thought of being retired as somewhere down the road. I look around and it's obvious I'm suffering from stuffitis. I like swords, but I don't need forty of them. I like old obsolete currency- silver certificates, national bank notes, brown and red seal notes, ect, ect, but in most cases I have dozens of them. I like old tin soldiers, but don't need hundreds of them. Yesterday I came across five Wolverine min-series slabs. Turns out I have four 9.8s and a 9.6. I thought I had two 9.8s., so I could sell the three books, pocket $800+ and be where I thought I was to start with. I have four long boxes of Legion books,almost all Adventures and Superboys. I also have a complete set of Legion archives and at least one Omnibus sized book. Too much stuff. I found a short box that was labeled Unbagged DCs.In it were 40 Crisis #1s, a dozen Perez Wonder Woman 1s, and about a hundred various issues of Watchmen, multiple copies of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold #1s. I'm guessing I put this away in the late 80s and somehow it never got opened. I have two long boxes of Tales of Suspense. I went thru them and picked the best copy of each issue, but that left me well over 300 books, mostly low to midgrade. Most of my SA books are in the 4.0-6.0 range with many being below that. In the 90s, TOS was dollar box fodder and I'd buy whatever I saw. I should have been a bit more selective but even the worse of them has made a profit. It's not like I'm going to dump everything to a dealer for twenty cents on the dollar. The market is up right now and it seems like a good time to sell. I'm just surprised I have lost my emotional attachments to the books. In the past, it hurt to sell a book. Now I ship boxes to MCS and get a thrill when they sell.

I've been collecting comics since 1972 and they have been a major part of my life. I've owned two comic shops, managed a third, done countless shows and been buying and selling on the internet since the day after I got my first webtv. Two years ago, I decided to move from Las Vegas to Bisbee ,with the intention of opening a shop that would have a large comic presence. I ran into a few roadblocks and then the virus came along setting me back further. I never dreamed I would be in a position of almost no money coming in for 18 months and I also realized I no longer really want to work. It's been six years since I worked more than an occasional part time gig and the thought of opening a shop and being there fulltime simply isn't appealing anymore. Two weeks ago, I decided I would break into my " retirement vault" - my 100 books worth at least $1,000 each, and sell five of them. In 2016, circumstances forced me into the same situation and I really agonized over which two books to sell. It was like ripping a child out of my arms. This time it was different. Avengers 1 was my pride and joy, now I look at it and see $3,000. My Avengers 4- signed by Stan and Joe Simon-that one I will hold onto. Captain America Comics- I love the Schomburg covers, but I have an original painting and two lithos that are much nicer. I'm still finding a few books I have an emotional tie to- Defenders 10, Captain America 3, the Legion Adventures, Judge Dredd 1, but increasingly I look at the rest and I just see dollar bills. Even when one lives alone, sixty plus comic boxes take up a lot of space. I'm reminded of my friends Mom. Her husband worked for Con Ed and over the course of his career, managed to buy $250,000 worth of stock in the company. I'm sure he intended that to provide for his family, but when he died the mother refused to sell the stock. She insisted that her beloved husband scrimped and saved to buy them the stock and it would dishonor his memory if they were to sell them. He ended up leaving CW Post to go to a state school because they didn't have the money. My son, whom I am not close with, and my nephews, who I am close to , have zero interest in my books. If I die, they would be a burden on my nephew to sell. In my will, I leave my books to a comic industry charity. but they can have what is left over. I also have underestimated what these book are going for. A GS X-Men I bought on these boards for $300 sold for $920 even when it turned out to be restored , and another copy I bought from MCS for $410 just sold for $1400. While I don't "need" the money, those two books just allowed me to buy a nice patio set. I've thought about selling out in the past, but I'm pretty sure this time I will go thru with it. I look at my two bookcases full of Omni's , Archives and Masterpeces and realize I will most likely never get around to reading them. Time to pass them along to someone who will appreciate them. I think I will still bargain hunt when I can, but 99% of my collection no longer means much to me. Forgive my rant, I thought writing this might make me feel different but it didn't.

Strangely, I have multiple copies of the issues on either side, but no copies of this book. I wonder if someone cherry picked them years ago.

I had a TTA 44 on MCS listed for $500. Someone offered me $17 for it. Now I have it set to reject any offer under 80%. I also make my sale price a bit higher since they began offering the Best Offer option.

When we were allowed to sell them here, I had a lot of fun putting them together. I'd often assemble a half dozen at a time, and putting them together was much more fun than simply pulling an Avengers 35 from box 117 to fill an order. It seemed to me the people that complained the loudest about them never even tried one. They thought they were too smart for such a ploy.

If you could have your wish granted, what would you like CGC to do for you? It's a low value book and if it has meaning to you, the smudge isn't all that bad. Bagley has signed thousands of Spidey books. The number with smudges is pretty low. It sucks that it happened, but life is full of minor disappointments. F.I.D.O.

This is the tribute back of original

I bought this a few years ago when Jon Berk sold off his collection, and it promptly got buried as I moved from NY to Vegas and then to Bisbee. It's a pretty unique piece with an equally interesting history. It was done in 1997 as a tribute to Ayers and then auctioned off at the AACC Dinner at Comic Con where John Berk won it. The first picture is a copy of the original comic cover The next is Jon and Marie

Just a quick followup to my Creation story. After the show was over, I get back to my shop on Sunday night around 10PM to find the owner of Gallo waiting outside. He is mad and says he's been waiting for hours. I'm in no mood after working the show three days in a row and traveling an hour each way to boot. He wants his stuff back and his money. We are both pissed off and the conversation quickly went south. We go over the remaining inventory and he makes a big deal about what he claims is damage to a wizard statue. I say it must have been like that all along and I cant believe he is making a big deal on a $30 piece when I just handed him some $3,000 dollars. He goes nuts, smashs the wizard on my floor and jumps on it. Screaming curses and turning red, he tells me he will never do business with me again and says some unkind things about my ancestors. I'm just stunned how he went from zero to ten so fast. He takes his merchandise and storms out. I wait a while until he leaves so I don't run into him outside. As I'm locking up , I see an envelope and realize he left the money I gave him on the counter. I take Monday off and as soon as I open up on Tuesday he comes in all sheepish and asks if I happened to see an envelope. I handed it to him and he started to count it. I was about to say how insulting it was that he would think I took some, when he hands me $320 and says that is a reward for finding the envelope he lost. I was going to refuse it, but didn't. He had a well earned heart attack a few months later and sold all his molds to some out of state company.

I've always wondered where all that hype was prior to 1962. Something changed in Stan right about then.

Strictly hypothetical situation here. Suppose one was to buy a low to mid grade book off a fellow forumite for a couple hundred dollars. A few years go by and they get a nicer copy of the book so they sell the book in question to another boardie. Five years go by and the book changes hands again, with the new owner sending it in for a press and grading. Book comes back as a 3.5 but gets a purple label for a spine seal- which is really strange as the book has a three inch spine split. Who should get stuck holding the bag?

One year, I had a table at a Creation con in NYC when they were still doing comic shows. The building next to my store housed a company named Gallo that made really nice pewter figures.The owner was really hard to work with but I somehow convinced him to give many thousands of dollars of his merchandise on consignment, so I set up a really nice display of fantasy figures, chess sets and such. The first day Jim Starlin stopped by and picked up two small figures. The next day he came back and bought a chess set. On the last day, a gentleman comes by and tells me he heard from Mr Starlin that I had some really nice things. We talk for a bit and he buys several pieces and after we finish our business he asks me my name. I say Bill Ryan and offer my hand for a handshake. Just before our hands make contact, looking me in the eye, he says Frank, Frank Brunner. I was taken aback and I can still remember how limp my handshake ended up. The fanboy in me loves that two of my favorite artists have things in their homes that I sold them. I was never one for autographs and the only one I've ever stood in line for as an adult was Joe Simon.

What you collect rocks...

Is the BC detached?

On MCS, I have it set to reject offers under 80%.

I've never seen him sign Best Wishes. He must have been in a jovial mood that day!

How many books do you own that will benefit from a press? If you are thinking about doing it for part time income, I suggest you do more research.

Find me a book I don't already have a copy of and I will happily pay you a premium. While my dream of putting together a run of multi-cover Avengers has faded, I still need a book to complete my Avengers-Defenders War run. That book has been very elusive. I'm in the process of consigning a few doubles to MCS. Hopefully they sell for nice premiums.

The same way they enjoy every other book tht is in a slab.

As someone who collects double cover books, and owns well over a hundred of them, I will simply say you have a lot to learn about them. While the market for them isn't what it was ten years ago when Serpico and another deep pocketed collector were bidding up every book in sight, they still sell at nice premiums. I rarely sell mine, but recently traded a double cover Worlds Finest 199 to a dealer as part of a trade. I've never had a collector express regret that a DC was slabbed. With all the fakes these days, I'd think they prefer having CGC authenticate them. Double cover collecting is a niche market that most people don't seem to really have a handle on.

A double cover CGC 8.5 sold for $14?

I wouldn't trust any Kirby signature on a books cover. I certainly wouldn't pay a premium for one.

As far as I know, Marvel never reprinted JIM 84 in any format that could be mistaken for an original.

Canal Street in the early 1980s was simply amazing.

If you are talking about the replica copies popping up on ebay, they are just computer generated books that are for all practical purposed counterfeits. I would hope no reputable company would slab/grade these. My recommendation is to avoid them at any cost. If you are talking about the over-sized treasury editions from the 1970s, they have some value but CGC won't grade them as they won't fit into a slab.