Aman619

so I have a hypothetical question: whats an unopened case of the first Marvel Masterpieces set worth. 24 sealed boxes (I think). I remember the days of the glut of Marvel cards, when such things were available.

I prefer your version with all windows, makes a nice texture that Sipes pops better against, the yellow building is too much and is a distraction in a bright color.

I’m sure you’ve got some pretty priceless treasures of your own too!

We are Relevant only in the sense that we COULD AFFECT THE MARKET, but only if we sold our books. As long as we sit on them we are irrelevant to current sales. we all know that the dentist has a better copy of all the biggest keys .. but he is the poster child of my sense of an irrelevant collection because they are never coming to market. The market runs on what it has to work with, not what’s in a safe somewhere. Especially if they’re still unslabbed like most older collectors gems. .

Problem is, as we have repeatedly seen here, we keep reaching these points of no return.... and years later those prices are darn cheap.. there’s a new thing going on now. Well it’s the same thing... people who want comics and have the cash. Is a crash coming.. the answer has always been yes. Soon... but it never does. maybe soon based on this irrational exuberance... or it’s just yet another rise in interest and prices. Let’s face it, our hobby has caught the attention of pop culture, what we’ve always dreamed of. Let’s see where it goes! We aren’t the geeks anymore ... as someone pointed out here recently. If you suddenly are interested in buying a key comic book, and never followed the market, you buy what you want at the price it takes to get it. Today’s prices are too high for us, but for them, it’s what they go for.

But we don’t buy like we used to, so we are irrelevant bystanders to the market. Which is fine, others are leading the way now... in everything..

It’s sure a mystery who these bidders and buyers are today. A lot to try to figure out, but here’s two simple premises... number 1). we have seen the escalation of “highest grade madness” go from perfect 9.4s, to impossible 9.6s, to many years of first 9.8 insanity chasing, to building runs in 9.8.... so here we are at the next plateau: enough 9.9s to fuel a market. When there were 35 9.6s the first 9.8 went ballistic. Same thing now with the 9.8 column bursting at the seems. Grading may have gotten looser, and more unread moderns have gotten pressed and slabbed of late, but these books are still scarce out of the billions of comics printed. CGC may have opened the door to 9.9s but they don’t give them away easily. number 2). Another comics collecting phenomenon we have experienced is at play with a new bunch of collectors: we are shocked by these sales because in OUR experiences, mega keys were less than today’s cars cost, and many of these books like Transformers 1 are dollar bin non-sellers, we have a well established sense of what comics are worth. But repeatedly, over time, new collectors or speculators, or just people who decide one day that they gotta have something go and pay whatever it takes for it.. and at auction which as we know fuels these crazy hammer prices. And these people are fine paying the new (Absurd) price. They are new to these hobbies and weren’t collecting when we were so they don’t have the hard limits in their minds like we do. Also, if they are young, they grew up with Moderns. You know the mass produced stuff that was even worse then the Bronze carp that was derivative of the true silver Age classics. (from some of our personal perspectives). So long as the hobby keeps growing, and new collectors are the key to this, the truth is, from an investment stance, they are right. I paid some crazy prices in the oughts to upgrade HG key issues. I was embarrassed to admit some of my purchases. But it’s freaking 20 years later now.. the hobby demographics haven’t killed it, the death of print hasn’t hurt it, and those buys I made even have my financial guys respect. Many of us have 40 years of collecting and have seen waves of such price increase phases. so yes I agree with all of you that this is whacked. and want to know WHO these new people are. And will they stick around post pandemic when there’s a lot more to do than scour the Internet buying stuff? Or post Marvel/superhero pop culture hegemony? I find it incredible that there’s so much new money at play, 50K comics add up to real money pretty darn quick. Let’s see where it goes.... if they win, we win.

I dont have a problem with what some call cancel culture, but I agree its just bad drawing amd spelling. Unfortunately for the artist, the writer didn't have the guy hitting on a clerk at a place where one missing letter didn't look like a political gesture,,,

aside from the hype that that was the "Greatest Art of All Time" (sic) it was sure nice to see Stan again. being Stan!

... to bulk up on GameStop shares!

Interesting when you did the math.. basically if they reduced the !0% a little, CC wouldn’t be facing this debacle of suddenly using buyers premiums.. It appeared that the seller was doing much better by getting to keep the whole 15%... but they still only get a fraction more of the total buyers price. I suppose, for CC the upside is threefold: make consignor happy; get higher sale prices (maybe); and backdoor themselves into making BUyers Premiums permanent. frankly, I think making them permanent is a mistake. why give up their sole marketing advantage?

heres the alternative to selling at retail w/o slabbing. develop a reputation as an honest grader, and you can get good prices on raw books. Sell them here on the Boards. No middleman, buyer pays shipping etc. If you're not confident in your grading skills -- and who really is? -- always undergrade a bit. You still come out on top selling them raw yourself. And of course, if you CAN grade, you won't los out on your keys and books in demand by selling too cheaply.. Slabbing our books is great because thats how we really "know what we have" grade/value wise. But the cost for most books adds up to just a huge haircut! In the end, I think we all come to the conclusion that it was a lot easier to buy our way into the hobby... than it is to get out! Pay retail going in... but no easy or cheap way to exit without sharing your gains with your new "partners"

The math goes something like this. Add up all slabbing and shipping costs. Don’t forget shipping. Then research how much your book sells for in grades around what you think your book will grade at.. if your book is in “high grade” and you are not WELL versed in CGC grading, look up prices for 9.0 up to 9.8. Then depending on how you are selling the books, calculate what your selling costs will add up to. 10% for auctions, or consignment sites, or if sold personally figure on a discount too. now do the math whether you can recoup your expenses back on the book. Shocking that you’ll find that you needed to spend most of what the sale price will be for cheaper books. So if you are talking about a 9.8 bronze non key book that sells for 60 bucks, you’d pretty much have to have bought it off the newsstand to have a chance of making a profit with slabbing. the other choice is to sell raw for 10 bucks if you can get it cause you’d be surprised that your net profit will be about the same. However the slabbed book will be an easier sell cause of the grade.... when you get it back months later...

thats a real concern sadly. DC war books were super hot at times in the past decade until the primary "gotta have em at any price" collector exited the hobby. As for Tecs and Actions never losing their values Im not sure thats completely correct. Aside from the keys, Ive witnessed wave patterns for both titles. Actions were hot years ago and have cooled off. Too many silly covers in the run. Even the early ones like 17-30 dont explode when offered for sale.) And Detective has only recently heated up (goosed by the availability of Pennyworth HG gems you never see for sale) after tepidness for many years. (except for Joker covers! Even the lesser issues are hot as heck all the way thru the Bronze age. Whats the deal with Bat 251!!! This is the world we live in now, younger guys with money to burn snapping up everything in sight and prices that make out heads explode.

right.. I got my marketing fables wrong. Adams used the cedar chest story, right? and someone else went with the attic. Plus the proverbial stashed inside a wall tale!

Overstreet doesn't list the leather bound editions. (they reference the with a code "L", but dont list any). Hard to come up with a price. They are scarce and cool for the completist Overstreet collector... problem is most probably already have the set! and hard to gauge the demand from the new enthusiastic generation of collectors too. But there have been sales here and there. Try Heritage archives.

Yeah. I thought the same thing. Guess he knew the found in my attic story was already taken.

Wow. Wonder how Mr Mint feels looking at this knowing he had 25 — or was it 40 — uncirculated ‘52 Mickey cards in The Find!. Wonder if he kept any... or how many..

In all collectibles markets

Makes me wonder what kind of hangover crash is coming, and how long til prices reach these cabin fever levels again.

Especially shocking with over 20 9.6s on the census.

Im gonna remember you said that!

so very disappointing on nearly all levels.. nuff said.

those of us who fervently believed that slabbing comics wound never succeed as too new and too ridiculous given all we knew and felt about our floppy comics collecting and investing (to name one relevant example) , the fractional investment concept feels like its time is coming for all the reasons Valiant puts forth. It introduces a comparable level of radically different thinking to comics collecting/investing that of course theres vocal derision and resistance....jut like with CGC 20 years ago.... until we get, as Valiant states, a trustworthy outfit to do it right. That COULD even be Rally Rd should their concept take off and they can successfully offer more transparency and solve the other trust issues. Im not interested... but it feels like the next wave about to crash into our comics sand castle of old

well, yeah and theres that too. Who cares how many people "know" any of these characters if we are talking about the potential for increased values? Growing a buyer out of the billions who have heard of Superman is a ridiculously low percentage game. So it can be argued that of the millionaire/billionaire class, T206 is probably still a more respected investment vehicle. But It sure feels like Tec27 and Action 1 are catching up, and, our BEST copies have never and will never (?) be tested in the marketplace.. How about we look at how many million$-plus sales of comics and cards to date to try to judge the "willing and able pool" of buyers for each, comics and cards. And delete the known cases of one person who has made multiple purchases (like Harari)