CycleGirl

I've been wondering about this quite a lot. There are so many categories of collectors, active, inactive, buyers, traders, silver-age, golden-age, high-end, low-end, etc, etc. A significant proportion of active collectors also sell, so I figure we can at least get an order of magnitude by looking at the number of listings on the main selling sites. So I looked at this.

Ebay about 3 million comic listings

 Golden Age Listings 113,190

 Silver Age Listings 330,422

 Bronze Age Listings 509,677

 Copper Age Listings 335,473

 Modern Age 1,920,054

ComicLink

 For Sale Section 48,377

 Auctions 7449

ComicConnect

  Total 78,654

I have to assume that with millions of comic listings for sale on Ebay, that there must be a proportional market of at least hundreds of thousands of buyers if not even as many as a million.

With regard to serious collectors, the ComicLink / ComicConnect numbers lead me to think 100k to 500k. A serious collector being someone who would spend at least $100 on a back issue. That is low for us, but for average people, $100 is a lot of money for a comic book. I get 100k to 500k by assuming that there are 1-5 serious collectors out there for every 1 book on ComicLink or ComicConnect. I wish that there was more to base it on...

Another confirmation on the 100k to 500k serious collectors are the 113k GA and 330k SA listings on Ebay. The order of magnitude is about right. That is, suppose serious collectors averaged one SA or GA purchase a week (some a lot more and some a lot less, of course), that would put us at 440k. That still seems about right. 

I'm so glad that I picked up an Avengers #1 about two years ago. I really had no idea that it was about to go on a run up. I just thought it was a good key to own and it wasn't crazy-expensive like so many others.

Nice books! Nothing like a Jack Kirby drawn super hero team fight on the cover! Lots of clenched fists, ray guns, spell-casting and a magic hammer ready to throw!

These are from 1956 which is supposed to be the beginning of the silver age. I suppose since Dan DeCarlo had already started working for Archie, the Silver Age may have started at Archie comics a few years before.

I think that it's time for DC to play some catch up. And female heroes especially. 

15 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

Detective #162, train cover! 1950. Nice color, nice pages, cover is detached from the book, note the tear on the back. Grade is Good (2.0) bin is $100

 w 10% discount, thank you!   Nice sale, Sharon! I'm fascinated by that train cover!

On 3/13/2019 at 5:23 PM, evilskip said:

28 years ago I had to sell most of my JLA collection due to trying to keep a roof over our heads as bills came piling up from what was to be a life long illness. So it was nice to be able to pick this one up in a trade for less than half of Overstreet.

I have a similar story. Had to sell everything due to college poverty many years ago. Congratulations on the pick up!

On 3/12/2019 at 9:52 PM, oglelo said:

Possibly, but a few people are wanting to purchase it. Sounds tempting...otherwise, no interest in the marrying of them.  Would rather just keep it for the artwork.

It is a great piece of comic art to be sure!

On 3/12/2019 at 9:10 AM, BuscemasAvengers said:

Just arrived yesterday ...

        Beautiful book!

I would say either 2.5 or 3.0

I am thinking around 8.5/9.0. ...but I can't tell if there is soiling/staining on the back cover or if it's a shadow? If soiling, with luck, it will come off with dry cleaning (which is a soft eraser and is generally done prior to pressing). 

Pressing would help the book quite a lot. The defects that don't break color so should go away completely!

.. wrong window, sorry

PM sent!  

I would like to offer $2400 shipped. 

I'm averting my eyes, oh lord!

On 9/18/2018 at 11:14 AM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Here's another not so new book...but I noticed that this cover is actually a swipe from DCs own Mystery In Space #18...

Wonder woman sure did end up getting tied up or put in a cage a lot. Sort of a 50 shades of grey for the atomic age.                  

On 8/25/2018 at 11:24 AM, Ltpink2002 said:

Good looking book even with Newton rings.

I'm embarrassed to have to ask but... Could someone please tell me what a "Newton Ring" is?  

On 9/16/2018 at 10:42 AM, 427Impaler said:

Managed to work a deal and pick up two books I have wanted for a LONG time, already sent to CGC with fingers triple crossed:

 

10 hours ago, VintageComics said:

Amazing Spider-man #129 CGC 9.4 COW

Asking $2800

 

 

Nice books, Roy! Good luck with the sale! 

It looks like water damage to me too. Thank you for looking at it. 

Please grade my Flash 120. Book is structurally still okay. The bottom staple is still attached, although you can see that it doesn't have a lot that it's hanging onto.   -Thanks!!

Hi, just a suggestion... it would be a nice courtesy to put "SOLD" in the title or somewhere near the top of the first page, so that folks looking to purchase something, but who have limited time, won't have to view the whole thread only to find out that the book is sold. Some of us will still come here just to look at the book (like me! ), because, is there anything better than looking at comics? 

Congrats on the sale!

I recently purchased a beautiful Avengers #1 in CGC 6.0 from Jeff. Book was great, dealing was Jeff was pleasant and easy, and I received the book literally ONE day after paying! 

  -R

Wow. Just wow. One of my grails, but we are going to be buying a house this year. 

 GLWS.