Bluemedgroup

On 6/23/2022 at 9:19 PM, Batmanis#1 said:

HA is auctioning off a X-Men 1 CGC 9.0:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/x-men-1-marvel-1963-cgc-vf-nm-90-off-white-pages/p/40202-20012.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

No stain on this one!

On 6/24/2022 at 3:22 AM, Professor K said:

Am I missing something here? An AC 252 3.0 on HA currently at over 5,000 with 13 days left ? . E bay is filled with higher grade copies for less, 3.0's for half the price. All 3.0's I've seen this year have sold for under 2,000. This one is up to 5,000. Was it owned by Stan Lee's personal hairdresser or something?

 https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/superhero/action-comics-252-dc-1959-cgc-gd-vg-30-off-white-pages/a/40194-82004.s?ic2 

 

Agreed. That is fishy AF.  Plenty of copies on eBay for less.  Probably Heritage up to it’s usual shenanigans.  

On 6/21/2022 at 6:47 PM, Albert Thurgood said:

I don't think it's the interest rates so much...It's because I bought a copy of X-Men #1 then the prices started dropping.

My super-power is buying at the peak ;-)

It's like they say, only one lucky person buys the lowest sale. Guess we found out who is on the other side lol.  

On 6/17/2022 at 4:17 PM, paqart said:

That is very complicated. I've told it before but to clean it up a little, here it is:

In 1979, my stepfather gave my mother a Luger pistol for self-defense. That gun was then drawn on me twice, once by accident, the other occasion on purpose. On the second occasion, I was moments from obliteration but was luckily on the phone with my mom at the time. She heard what was going on and called the police. Luckily, there was a car in the area. A policeman crashed through our front door a few minutes later, tackled the malefactor holding the gun, and then alerted Child Protective Services.

This wasn't the first time CPS had decided to investigate my mom, nor the last. However, when she sensed she was about to lose her kids (true or not), she decided we had to move to Las Vegas. She had no money but knew my comics were worth something. She demanded I sell them and give her the money. I didn't want to but didn't know how to get out of it. I finally settled on a plan: rather than try to get top dollar, I would sell them in a way that would allow me to conceal the proceeds.

I found a comic book dealer that also sold coins in Chico, California and told my mom that we could sell them there. We drove up and I brought the 25 boxes (or so) of comics into the shop. I told my mom to leave the store so I could negotiate better. The dealer offered me $1,100. That was far below their value even then but I had no choice. I had to take it. I asked for $500 in coins, the rest in cash. I put the coins in my pocket and gave the cash to my mom.

With those $500 in coins, I started trading coins in Las Vegas, which is a kind of Mecca for coin collectors. Before long, I was earning good money buying and selling coins. At one convention, I had a net profit of $900 after a few hours of trading. For a 14 year old in 1979, that was pretty good. It didn't last long. After living in Vegas for all of 3 months, my mom decided to move again, this time to be a step ahead of an ex-boyfriend she incorrectly believed was stalking her. She didn't have a destination in mind, so we just drove west and then south until we landed in Santa Barbara.

My mom didn't have enough money to rent an apartment, so she stayed at a shelter for women and put me in a shelter for runaways, though I wasn't a runaway. Not that it mattered, because I was about to have my 15th birthday, which meant I would be officially kicked out and have to live on my own. 

The problem with Santa Barbara is they had a city ordinance against minors selling coins or metal bullion. I couldn't sell coins, silver, or gold any more. I could buy it, but couldn't sell it. They had only one comic book store, which meant I couldn't effectively trade comics either. With those two factors working against me, I decided to start buying and selling collectibles: civil war medical kits, Wedgewood pottery, antique decks of cards, etc. To do it, I traded my coins for a few collectibles, then entered into an arrangement with a local dealer who I could sell through by showing a note from him, purportedly my grandmother, certifying I had "her" permission to sell "her" antiques.

There was an interesting event or two when we moved from Vegas to Santa Barbara. One happened because my mom first drove to Arizona to leave our larger possessions with my grandfather. About two months later, we came back to retrieve them. On the way back, I was stranded at a gas station in the middle of the Mojave desert for a couple of hours. I had no idea who to call. I didn't know anyone to call thanks to our frequent moves, my name had been changed by my mom, so no one I knew would know who I was. I called the police. Fifteen minutes later, I saw a cruiser coming toward the gas station from the east. Just before they got to me, my mom came roaring up in her overloaded Dodge Polara and shoved me into the car and drove off. I often wonder what would have happened if the police had rescued me instead of my mother, who kidnapped my sister and I when we were babies.

Wow that’s one hell of a story.  I feel blessed for never having to look down a gun barrel before.  

Bought yet another book, this time SS4.  Will buy from again!

On 6/14/2022 at 9:33 AM, paqart said:

My mom forced me to sell my entire collection in 1979. It had a full set of Avengers (almost two full sets) near complete runs of Fantastic Four (starting with #4), Spider-man (starting with #4), Daredevil (starting with #8), not to mention full sets of practically everything Marvel/DC starting in about 1968-on (like Hulk 180-181, WBN 32, etc). I also had a large collection of Carl Barks ducks, including 1st Scrooge (FC 186) and Scrooge 1 (FC 300), Loads of Frazetta ECs, all the great Adams/Wrightson/Kaluta/Starlin comics from the 60's and early 70's. 

I've been trying to put that collection back together ever since. Out of about 3500 comics lost, I've recovered around 600 of the least expensive issues. When my mom died 2 years ago, I inherited her house. I sold it and am using the money to buy back the comics she made me sell. Unfortunately, the money doesn't go very far with the comics I once owned.

What was the story behind her "forcing" you to sell?  

On 6/12/2022 at 7:18 PM, BlackOut21 said:

FF5 3.0 Still annoyed about this. looks like whoever bought it sold it right after and for some reason that makes me feel a little better.

Looking thru my inbox I sold two copies of FF5 $4500 for the 4.0 and $3200 for the 4.0 April 2020 on these boards.  Doh!

On 6/16/2022 at 9:55 PM, lighthouse said:

As the seller of said book I agree.

But there were lots of soft results. The 9.6 Daredevil 1 (not mine) went for 30% less than last years. My 9.4 Aquaman 1 went for 40% less than last year. There are 16 more Truckee Meadows books in this signature. Three tomorrow and thirteen Saturday iirc. And I’m expecting pretty much all of them to go 20-40% cheaper than they would have in April. Lots of folks don’t feel as wealthy as they did eight weeks ago. And bids rein in as a result.

Dang, you were the seller of the FF1?  Did you feel disappointed?  Whoever bought it got a steal of a deal. 

On 6/14/2022 at 11:31 AM, Batmanis#1 said:

One thing that is great about comic books is that it is a worldwide collectible not like say sports cards that is more concentrated in the USA/Canada. So if one country gets hit harder there is always many more nations where people still buy comics. Superheroes are loved globally or at least by many many nations around the globe.

But if you are scared or nervous sell. Or if you can pay off that house or condo with your collectibles and not have to live on rent then go ahead and get that paid off or any other outstanding debts. They your life will be much easier to manage going forward.

By the way I worked a hard physical blue collar job my whole life and am retired so I know how it is for most people out there. I never had it easy but go threw it and built a good enough life and retirement. One day at the time. If you can't afford advanced schooling don't go and learn a trade that you can afford and always continue learning on your own in your down time to better yourself. I still to this very day read every day and have my dictionary right beside me to continue to learn. That is a huge thing in life learning till it is time to leave this planet.

I also saw so many just waste it all away on drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc. You make choices in life and have to live with them. I chose to be 100% sober (no gambling nothing or any other of that type of life) and organize my life around the age of 26-28. Was is easy no but was it worth it yes.

Good lesson in life to always keep learning.  I have an uncle who worked at 7-11 and injured his back on the job.  Got full disability off it, but he was still functional. I asked him why he doesn't get another job and he replied, "Why?".  So for 30 years or so, he lived off the 7-11 checks in the mail.  The entire time, my dad told him to use to down time to learn another trade like computers or learning about stocks.  He refused and simply spent his time watching movies.  I don't know the details, but somehow last year the checks stopped coming.  Now he is broke and asking relatives for money.  Imagine what he could have done with his life instead of wasting it all on movies. 

On 6/13/2022 at 7:08 PM, Batmanis#1 said:

Will see soon enough if it comes close or breaks the last record for a 9.2 that sold not that long ago for 276k. So far it is at 180k.

Didn't even come close!  Someone got a pretty good deal at $204k. 

Could also be a sign of the economy and recession. I was tracking some other books in that Heritage auction. 

The AF15 7.5 only sold for $216k.  A 7.0 sold for $240k by HA just two weeks ago on 6/3/22.

And the FF5 9.4 sold for $162k, gocollect had its FMV at $210k.  

On 6/10/2022 at 8:16 PM, BlackOut21 said:

Silver Surfer 4 $1100

I’ll take per PM.

On 5/20/2022 at 7:44 PM, pickycollector said:

Here is mine, bought from Harley 20 years ago at triple Guide

Great book!  But who is Harley? Quinn?  

Closing.  Moving to other locations.  Make me an offer, you know where to find me.  

On 5/26/2022 at 8:22 AM, thunsicker said:

Can’t speak for everyone, but…

I much prefer GoCollect’s interface.  But GPA has a ton more data (both more current sources and more historical data.). It kind of depends on what you want to use it for.

Right?  If I sell, I quote using whichever has the highest prices. 

If I buy, I tell the seller, whichever has the lowest prices.  

On 5/26/2022 at 9:56 AM, Kramerica said:

Just a thought but USPS has the right to open and inspect any package they wish for any reason. Perhaps that's what happened.

That's a pretty decent lead there, good detective instinct.  

Gawells, how did you ship the books to CGC?  Did you properly sandwich with cardboard?  

Any chance of CGC reading these comments and choosing to renege?

Bump price reduced

Hello everyone, here is your chance to get some 1st apps of Jennifer Walters before the show premieres in August.  

I have multiple copies of 9.8 and 9.6 will randomly pull from my stack.  

I sell comic books on eBay including several books over $20k and have 2900+ feedback 100% positive. 

Venmo, personal checks, money orders, Zelle, and other fee free methods accepted. 

Shipping is via USPS priority with signature required and is free.  

First in thread wins. 

Let's go with:

9.8 @ $900 shipped (90 day GPA is $1048) Price Drop now $850

9.6 @ $350 shipped (90 day GPA is $441) Price Drop now $315

9.4 @ $275 shipped (90 day GPA is $340) Price Drop now $250

Here is a sample pic of a 9.8. 

On 2/10/2022 at 3:59 PM, GrasshopperFF said:

I found this thread to be extremely useful mainly because I would like to invest similar amounts. Really like the logic employed and the cool comics cited. Have the values really changed, this much, in less than two years??? Would love a re-boot of this topic because all the keys referenced are SKY HIGH now.

Well its a little past 2.5+ years, but to answer your question and re-boot, have the values really changed?  You betcha.  Lets take a look, with Memorex's picks for example:

I'm pretty sure I've seen that name Norm Reeder written on top before somewhere on another book. Anyone else seen that person's name?  

Bought an ASM 6 and FF9 from Blackout.  Arrived safely and fair negotiations! 

Green lantern 87 - take per PM 

Never judge a book by its cover.  I think that's been said perpetually throughout the history of printed works.  

On 4/28/2022 at 10:01 PM, Batmanis#1 said:

Another X-Men 1 CGC 9.2 coming up for auction over at HA.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/x-men-1-marvel-1963-cgc-nm-92-off-white-to-white-pages/p/7274-91002.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

Kinda surprised with the stain got a 9.2