sacentaur Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Well, I started out the year with just 1 Baker romance book (a raw) and have slowly been building my collection. Bakers have turned out to be some of my very favorites, and I enjoy chasing them, but it looks like my year end goal of 50 books is going to come up short (unless any other boardies can help me out, hint hint). Here are the slabs I've accumulated so far - not in grade as you can see (highest is a 6.0), but I don't want to get into competition for the high-graders and am happy to merely have nicely presenting copies: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RareHighGrade Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Well, I started out the year with just 1 Baker romance book (a raw) and have slowly been building my collection. Bakers have turned out to be some of my very favorites, and I enjoy chasing them, but it looks like my year end goal of 50 books is going to come up short (unless any other boardies can help me out, hint hint). Here are the slabs I've accumulated so far - not in grade as you can see (highest is a 6.0), but I don't want to get into competition for the high-graders and am happy to merely have nicely presenting copies: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicnoir Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Well, I started out the year with just 1 Baker romance book (a raw) and have slowly been building my collection. Bakers have turned out to be some of my very favorites, and I enjoy chasing them, but it looks like my year end goal of 50 books is going to come up short (unless any other boardies can help me out, hint hint). Here are the slabs I've accumulated so far - not in grade as you can see (highest is a 6.0), but I don't want to get into competition for the high-graders and am happy to merely have nicely presenting copies: Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Love Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Well, I started out the year with just 1 Baker romance book (a raw) and have slowly been building my collection. Bakers have turned out to be some of my very favorites, and I enjoy chasing them, but it looks like my year end goal of 50 books is going to come up short (unless any other boardies can help me out, hint hint). Here are the slabs I've accumulated so far - not in grade as you can see (highest is a 6.0), but I don't want to get into competition for the high-graders and am happy to merely have nicely presenting copies: Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SushiX Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Well, I started out the year with just 1 Baker romance book (a raw) and have slowly been building my collection. Bakers have turned out to be some of my very favorites, and I enjoy chasing them, but it looks like my year end goal of 50 books is going to come up short (unless any other boardies can help me out, hint hint). Here are the slabs I've accumulated so far - not in grade as you can see (highest is a 6.0), but I don't want to get into competition for the high-graders and am happy to merely have nicely presenting copies: super sweet!! Teen-age romances 38... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1950's war comics Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Nice, graded, Baker cover collection so far ! kav and FoggyNelson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1950's war comics Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Trailer Trash Tornado bait trailer trash !! FoggyNelson and kav 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Well, I started out the year with just 1 Baker romance book (a raw) and have slowly been building my collection. Bakers have turned out to be some of my very favorites, and I enjoy chasing them, but it looks like my year end goal of 50 books is going to come up short (unless any other boardies can help me out, hint hint). Here are the slabs I've accumulated so far - not in grade as you can see (highest is a 6.0), but I don't want to get into competition for the high-graders and am happy to merely have nicely presenting copies: Nice group shot! For Bakers, many of those books actually are high grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPark Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Well, I started out the year with just 1 Baker romance book (a raw) and have slowly been building my collection. Bakers have turned out to be some of my very favorites, and I enjoy chasing them, but it looks like my year end goal of 50 books is going to come up short (unless any other boardies can help me out, hint hint). Here are the slabs I've accumulated so far - not in grade as you can see (highest is a 6.0), but I don't want to get into competition for the high-graders and am happy to merely have nicely presenting copies: I've been chasing for a couple years now, and have around 40, but wow. Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 I posted this in my journal and thought those here would be interested too. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9648386#Post9648386 BakerFan Speaks If you're a Matt Baker collector, you're probably well aware of bakerfan. He's been offering high grade copies of Baker comics for the last year or so. He's been getting high prices too, outside my price range, and I ranted about this some time ago (see http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7287580&fpart=63). In that post, I talked about how expensive Baker covers have become, so expensive they were now out of my price range. After thinking about it more, I think I was wrong. After watching (and participating in) the market this past year, I think the price surge has been specific to high grade copies like those offered by bakerfan. But, low- and mid-grade copies remain reasonable (although they're higher too compared to a couple years ago, as a higher tide raises all boats). Also, I think the demand for Bakers is limited among a relatively small amount of collectors. Devoted and passionate, yes, but small. Because of that, Bakers are more vulnerable to price fluctuations depending on who's shopping at the time, who's spent their collecting budget for the month, etc. Because of that, I've managed to pick up a few of bakerfan's Bakers over the last year. Here are the ones I've won: I'm intrigued by bakerfan. How does he have so many Bakers to sell? This weekend I finally emailed him via eBay. He responded and kindly gave me permission to publish here his response: Thanks for all the bids you have been making. The bidding on the items was the reason I decided to sell the Baker romance books I have.....my friend that has similar interests in collection also liked what he saw so he was the one who asked me to sell his Phantom Lady #17 recently and he was happy with the result......unfortunately I only have a few left and then I'll be close to being done selling the books as I still collect....just thinning some of the books out as they took up a lot of room. I own some original Matt Baker art and scanned the stories he did from the books I sold so I still have something to look at when I'm done....I'll be trying to get a Flamingo daily reprint book out of Matt's work next year since I have copies of the ones he did for 6 months. Hopefully that will happen. bakerfan also told me he hasn't been on these boards for years. I'll email this thread to him, so perhaps he'll visit and give us an update on the Flamingo book. I'll certainly buy a copy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickamabob Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 I posted this in my journal and thought those here would be interested too. Thanks. I don't peruse the journals section much (if at all) so this repost is welcome here. Bakerfan has amazing stuff on eBay. I regularly watch his auctions. The big question for me has always been, "If he's such a 'Baker fan,' why is he letting go of this great stuff?" Now you've supplied an answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 I'm intrigued by bakerfan. How does he have so many Bakers to sell? This weekend I finally emailed him via eBay. He responded and kindly gave me permission to publish here his response: Thanks for all the bids you have been making. The bidding on the items was the reason I decided to sell the Baker romance books I have.....my friend that has similar interests in collection also liked what he saw so he was the one who asked me to sell his Phantom Lady #17 recently and he was happy with the result......unfortunately I only have a few left and then I'll be close to being done selling the books as I still collect....just thinning some of the books out as they took up a lot of room. I own some original Matt Baker art and scanned the stories he did from the books I sold so I still have something to look at when I'm done....I'll be trying to get a Flamingo daily reprint book out of Matt's work next year since I have copies of the ones he did for 6 months. Hopefully that will happen. bakerfan also told me he hasn't been on these boards for years. I'll email this thread to him, so perhaps he'll visit and give us an update on the Flamingo book. I'll certainly buy a copy! Interesting. Thanks for following up with him. I assumed he was selling off his own collection because he didn't seem to be a dealer. Imo, he undergrades a bit, perhaps to cut down on returns. I don't remember him listing high-grade copies, although I may be forgetting or perhaps I missed them. Of course, on many Bakers, even a copy in the Fine range is pretty high grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicnoir Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 I'm intrigued by bakerfan. How does he have so many Bakers to sell? This weekend I finally emailed him via eBay. He responded and kindly gave me permission to publish here his response: Thanks for all the bids you have been making. The bidding on the items was the reason I decided to sell the Baker romance books I have.....my friend that has similar interests in collection also liked what he saw so he was the one who asked me to sell his Phantom Lady #17 recently and he was happy with the result......unfortunately I only have a few left and then I'll be close to being done selling the books as I still collect....just thinning some of the books out as they took up a lot of room. I own some original Matt Baker art and scanned the stories he did from the books I sold so I still have something to look at when I'm done....I'll be trying to get a Flamingo daily reprint book out of Matt's work next year since I have copies of the ones he did for 6 months. Hopefully that will happen. bakerfan also told me he hasn't been on these boards for years. I'll email this thread to him, so perhaps he'll visit and give us an update on the Flamingo book. I'll certainly buy a copy! Interesting. Thanks for following up with him. I assumed he was selling off his own collection because he didn't seem to be a dealer. Imo, he undergrades a bit, perhaps to cut down on returns. I don't remember him listing high-grade copies, although I may be forgetting or perhaps I missed them. Of course, on many Bakers, even a copy in the Fine range is pretty high grade. I've gotten a few books from him, all upgrades as it's hard to find holes for me to fill, although they do exist. Always looking forward to his next offering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricksneatstuff Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 I've bought a handful off Bakerfan too. Have messaged him for the few I really have to have but they are gone. Sacentaur, awesome stuff!! I don't see Baker books taking a dive anytime soon. I think there are new collectors getting the Baker bug every week. I see more of the hero collectors taking a look at the romance and humor books as something that is worthy of their attention. This is a bad thing for me, as I don't have all the books I really want yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicnoir Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 Ppl think this surge in pricing is recent but I remember 08 or thereabouts when the guy selling Bakers on ebay was Superninjamaster. He was getting really nice prices. He had a TaR 9 in about fine. There was a lot of bidding. That's when I first contacted Joanna on line, as she was a main competitor. The only real surge is highest graded, slabbed, auction house wins. Those are recent. Although there were high prices even then. Comicconnect sold some nice copies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 There's no denying that Baker books are surging, and deservedly so. As far as a small circle of collectors, I guess that's hard to say - I don't bid that much on ebay, but when I do I see the same few bidders going against me (). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 I'm intrigued by bakerfan. How does he have so many Bakers to sell? This weekend I finally emailed him via eBay. He responded and kindly gave me permission to publish here his response: Thanks for all the bids you have been making. The bidding on the items was the reason I decided to sell the Baker romance books I have.....my friend that has similar interests in collection also liked what he saw so he was the one who asked me to sell his Phantom Lady #17 recently and he was happy with the result......unfortunately I only have a few left and then I'll be close to being done selling the books as I still collect....just thinning some of the books out as they took up a lot of room. I own some original Matt Baker art and scanned the stories he did from the books I sold so I still have something to look at when I'm done....I'll be trying to get a Flamingo daily reprint book out of Matt's work next year since I have copies of the ones he did for 6 months. Hopefully that will happen. bakerfan also told me he hasn't been on these boards for years. I'll email this thread to him, so perhaps he'll visit and give us an update on the Flamingo book. I'll certainly buy a copy! Interesting. Thanks for following up with him. I assumed he was selling off his own collection because he didn't seem to be a dealer. Imo, he undergrades a bit, perhaps to cut down on returns. I don't remember him listing high-grade copies, although I may be forgetting or perhaps I missed them. Of course, on many Bakers, even a copy in the Fine range is pretty high grade. Yeah, for me I think of Fine as high grade for Baker. One of the books I got from bakerfan was previously graded 7.0. He cracked it out of the holder but sent the CGC label to me. I'm resubmitting it. If it comes back 7.0 it'll be the highest graded baker in my collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 (edited) With the current Baker market, one has to wonder where the ceiling is - the books generally seem to be selling well in all grades. Dealers' lists seem to be exhausted. What I've been doing, besides a little ebay-ing, is purchasing undercopies from several collectors - I get more books, they get profits to buy more books. Win-Win Edited November 14, 2016 by sacentaur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Love Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 The lack of supply in mid to higher grades is real, and a fact of life for all romance. Demand is elastic, but growing for a number of reasons, not the least of which is higher graded copies are now sought after by long time Baker collectors looking to upgrade wherever possible and release their undercopies to a receptive market (Steve ). VG $250 F $500 F/VF $750 VF $1000 Classic covers and other hard to find issues have and will continue to go well above these estimates. 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 Baker collectors looking to upgrade wherever possible and release their undercopies to a receptive market (Steve ). Now that's what I'm talkin' about! I've only been collecting Bakers for less than a year, but I'd imagine that escalating prices are drawing more copies out from collections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
