Baker Romance 43 43

[Sqeggs]

Surprised by how high this one went:  https://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?referral=EAlist&id=745110&title=TEEN-AGEROMANCES 1949-55

Originally sold raw on 10 years ago for $155.35.

[mustang33guy]

Got my other Baker prize today! Condition is fantastic and couldn’t be happier with it 

 

[Funnybooks]

1 hour ago, Sqeggs said:

Surprised by how high this one went:  https://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?referral=EAlist&id=745110&title=TEEN-AGEROMANCES 1949-55

Originally sold raw on 10 years ago for $155.35.

Healthy number. There are fewer untouched corners anymore with Golden Age GGA. Where do you feel the best deals are to be found anymore with Golden Age romance?

[Dr. Love]

3 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

Surprised by how high this one went:  https://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?referral=EAlist&id=745110&title=TEEN-AGEROMANCES 1949-55

Originally sold raw on 10 years ago for $155.35.

 

September's sale of the TAR 14 6.5 2nd highest behind the 7.0 at $4766 was apparently not an outlier.  Or at least, not an extreme outlier.    Pushing price boundary yes, just two fools jousting, no.

I've long felt that this should be considered a classic cover.   Others disagree.  But there is a lot that is different about it.

[Sqeggs]

14 minutes ago, Dr. Love said:

4 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

Surprised by how high this one went:  https://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?referral=EAlist&id=745110&title=TEEN-AGEROMANCES 1949-55

Originally sold raw on 10 years ago for $155.35.

 

September's sale of the TAR 14 6.5 2nd highest behind the 7.0 at $4766 was apparently not an outlier.  Or at least, not an extreme outlier.    Pushing price boundary yes, just two fools jousting, no.

I've long felt that this should be considered a classic cover.   Others disagree.  But there is a lot that is different about it.

I should have said that the Crippen copy sold raw on Heritage 10 years ago.

Yeah, there may be more division of opinion over the TAR 14 cover than over any other Baker romance cover.  Never been one of my fav raves. 

[Sqeggs]

2 hours ago, Funnybooks said:

Healthy number. There are fewer untouched corners anymore with Golden Age GGA. Where do you feel the best deals are to be found anymore with Golden Age romance?

I think there are still too few romance collectors for every cool cover to have had the spotlight on it yet.  So there are more than a few books out that worth tracking down that you can get pretty cheap.  Finding them in higher grade is an issue, though.

[RICK STARR]

Happy birthday (+1), Matt.  96 years.

[29dukedog]

On ‎12‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 2:59 PM, n2wdw said:

It's been an interesting year for Matt Baker.  If I had to plot it out on a graph, prices were going up the first 6 months -- steady but not outrageous.  Then it leveled out for a while, and I saw Bakers not selling on eBay, and I was able to pick up a few decent deals.  Then suddenly prices are going through the roof, so much so I'm tempted to sell my undercopies (I only have a few, unfortunately).  Is this what you all are seeing?

If I believed Bakers were anywhere near peaking in value, I'd also be tempted to start selling off certain books.  But the current market climate, and the auction results we've been seeing recently, only makes me want to hang on to all of them. 

True, the number of serious collectors is still relatively small, but even smaller is the number of books available on the market.  And by the time many of us old timers are ready to sell our books, new collectors will be lined up and eager to battle it out for them.  Between now and then, I think there is lots of room for additional appreciation in value.

 I've been buying these books for about 15 years, acquiring them inexpensively, and I now have roughly 90% of the issues I desire the most, and in decent grades (4.0 and up).  But now the market has reached the point where I can no longer afford to keep up the buying pace I've enjoyed the past 15 years, so I've been forced to slow down and only buy certain books and upgrades on rare occasions.  It's reached the point where I've had to abandon hoping prices remain low enough for me to continue collecting, and instead enjoy watching prices escalate for the sake of my collection's value.

 Somebody recently asked what we think are the best, currently inexpensive romance comics to invest in today.  I wish I knew that.  I wish I could find a way to repeat the phenomenon I've seen Baker romance undergo over the past 15 years.  But I think it's been something like a perfect storm of conditions, and may never be repeated.  
 

[Point Five]

[sagii]

17 minutes ago, Point Five said:

[Sqeggs]

32 minutes ago, Point Five said:

Nice copy of one of my favorite covers.  I was surprised to see on the census that there are two 9.2s.  I would guess one must be the Church copy -- Chuck had it in his catalog as a NM+ for $4.00.

[Sqeggs]

2 hours ago, 29dukedog said:

If I believed Bakers were anywhere near peaking in value, I'd also be tempted to start selling off certain books.  But the current market climate, and the auction results we've been seeing recently, only makes me want to hang on to all of them. 

True, the number of serious collectors is still relatively small, but even smaller is the number of books available on the market.  And by the time many of us old timers are ready to sell our books, new collectors will be lined up and eager to battle it out for them.  Between now and then, I think there is lots of room for additional appreciation in value.

 I've been buying these books for about 15 years, acquiring them inexpensively, and I now have roughly 90% of the issues I desire the most, and in decent grades (4.0 and up).  But now the market has reached the point where I can no longer afford to keep up the buying pace I've enjoyed the past 15 years, so I've been forced to slow down and only buy certain books and upgrades on rare occasions.  It's reached the point where I've had to abandon hoping prices remain low enough for me to continue collecting, and instead enjoy watching prices escalate for the sake of my collection's value.

 Somebody recently asked what we think are the best, currently inexpensive romance comics to invest in today.  I wish I knew that.  I wish I could find a way to repeat the phenomenon I've seen Baker romance undergo over the past 15 years.  But I think it's been something like a perfect storm of conditions, and may never be repeated.  
 

I think the first highlighted sentence is the key to the volatility in prices.  Not all that many people collecting Bakers -- particularly the non-GGA covers -- but all of the books are scarce.  So the presence or absence in an auction of a just a couple of people can have a big effect on the price.

Not sure about the second sentence.  Long term, I'm a bear on comics as an investment, for a bunch of reasons that I've beaten to death in multiple threads over the years.  I do think that there will be people collecting for the indefinite future.  And as long as there are people collecting comics, there will be people who admire Baker's art and who want to acquire his books.  The question, though, is whether these people will be willing to spend four or five figures to buy these books.

[29dukedog]

1 hour ago, Sqeggs said:

I think the first highlighted sentence is the key to the volatility in prices.  Not all that many people collecting Bakers -- particularly the non-GGA covers -- but all of the books are scarce.  So the presence or absence in an auction of a just a couple of people can have a big effect on the price.

There's no denying that.  The TR 42 that recently auctioned on eBay, ending at $1476. is a good example; reviewing the bid history, if you removed one of the top two bidders, the book would've sold for about $685. instead.  And that happens all the time. 

Link to TR 42 auction

Taking a position contrary to my last one, it is entirely possible that we're just going through a unique time in the history of fandom, whilst determining how many of these books actually still survive, and what they're really worth to the collectors that appreciate them. 

[n2wdw]

I'm convince now that Baker

1 hour ago, 29dukedog said:

There's no denying that.  The TR 42 that recently auctioned on eBay, ending at $1476. is a good example; reviewing the bid history, if you removed one of the top two bidders, the book would've sold for about $685. instead.  And that happens all the time. 

Link to TR 42 auction

Taking a position contrary to my last one, it is entirely possible that we're just going through a unique time in the history of fandom, whilst determining how many of these books actually still survive, and what they're really worth to the collectors that appreciate them. 

I'm convinced now that classic Bakers will not go down in price.  TR 42 is an example.  I was surprised by the price, and I agree that a couple bidders can send the price to surprising levels.  But, I think it's hard to get any bargains with classic Bakers.  You have to be very lucky, with no one else looking, and that's hard to do with all the search tools we have to us.  Lately we've seen a huge increase, and while that may not be sustainable, I think classic Baker covers will continue to go up in price.

 

[MB1952]

14 minutes ago, szavisca said:

I'll be holding what few Bakers I have until the academy award winning movie/documentary starring______(any guesses?) brings broad base appeal and sets Bakers further on fire...

so.... not planning to sell anything but undercopies anytime soon.

A documentary on Baker will be excellent. Second round of high prices. 

[29dukedog]

Dale's eBay auction results, 12/12/17: 

APC 23  (6.0)  $416.00
APC 24  (5.5)  $403.45
APC 32  (4.0)  $283.00
APC 34  (5.5)  $325.00
DS 10  (3.0)  $531.00
DS 12  (3.5)  $224.50 
DS 16  (3.0)  $450.00
DS 17  (4.0)  $778.00
DS 18  (4.5)  $760.00  
DS 20  (2.0)  $180.50
DS 21  (2.5)  $440.00 
PR 23  (5.0)  $1,315.00
PR 24  (4.0)  $850.00
TR 34  (3.0)  $430.00
TR 35  (3.0)  $400.00  

 

Heckuva haul!  Fun watching, too.    

[Ricksneatstuff]

The results on the bay tonight are on the same growth path but slightly more reasonable with some notable exceptions. 

I feel I have a pretty good finger on the pulse of gga and Baker books and I was underbidder on 3 books but tonight I was 4th-6th on most of the books. That is very different than 6 months ago where any Baker I was bidding on I won or came in 2nd nearly every time.  I think that means more people are coming to the table and prices will see some continued growth, at least short term.  So many of the Baker books I sold for “high prices” over the last year I would buy back at a profit for the buyer.

Edited December 13, 2017 by Ricksneatstuff

[Sqeggs]

1 minute ago, 29dukedog said:

Dale's eBay auction results, 12/12/17: 

APC 23  (6.0)  $416.00
APC 24  (5.5)  $403.45
APC 32  (4.0)  $283.00
APC 34  (5.5)  $325.00
DS 10  (3.0)  $531.00
DS 12  (3.5)  $224.50 
DS 16  (3.0)  $450.00
DS 17  (4.0)  $778.00
DS 18  (4.5)  $760.00  
DS 20  (2.0)  $180.50
DS 21  (2.5)  $440.00 
PR 23  (5.0)  $1,315.00
PR 24  (4.0)  $850.00
TR 34  (3.0)  $430.00
TR 35  (3.0)  $400.00  

 

Heckuva haul!  Fun watching, too.    

Dang.  I didn't even know it was going on.  Was he too dumb to put Baker in the titles of the listings? Or was I too dumb to notice when I got the eBay e-mails? 

[MBFan]

1 minute ago, Sqeggs said:

Dang.  I didn't even know it was going on.  Was he too dumb to put Baker in the titles of the listings? Or was I too dumb to notice when I got the eBay e-mails? 

Dumb is not a word that would ever apply to Mr. Roberts. Every one of these auctions had MATT BAKER in all caps in the title. 

[Sqeggs]

2 minutes ago, MBFan said:

4 minutes ago, Sqeggs said:

Dang.  I didn't even know it was going on.  Was he too dumb to put Baker in the titles of the listings? Or was I too dumb to notice when I got the eBay e-mails? 

Dumb is not a word that would ever apply to Mr. Roberts. Every one of these auctions had MATT BAKER in all caps in the title. 

I figured it would turn out to be me!