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Chuck at MidOhioCon

Started by drice6900,

103 posts in this topic

Rocketeer

Rocketeer

Posted
Posted

Quote from Tales from the Database...

 

I sold the "Mile High" ACTION COMICS #1 for $25,000 in 1982. OVERSTREET PRICE GUIDE #11 (1981/1982) NM/M was $11,500 , so getting 2.2 times Guide (cash) seemed outrageous at that time. Soon afterwards, however, a frenzy began for books from the "Mile High" collection, as collectors finally figured out that Golden Age books in extremely high grades were far scarcer than had originally been believed. Suddenly MH books started selling for multiples up to 10X Guide. This has progressed to the point that I've heard rumors that the current owner of the MH ACTION COMICS #1 has recently refused an offer of $1,000,000, cash. Now, instead of being admired for selling ACTION #1 for over double Guide, I have any number of people who think I was a fool to let the book go in the first place. If no other copy of ORIGINS #1 IN 10.0 ever surfaces, there might also be those who think I was a fool to sell it so cheaply in a few years hence. Only time will tell...

 

 

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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I don't know about that. Chuck is obviously a terrible businessman, as anyone who had the MH collection fall into their lap could have simply invested the sales revenue safely, and been a millionaire several times over.

 

In the 1980's, I imagine Chuck as having rolls of $100 bills in one hand, and a lighter in the other.

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Arty

Arty

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Mile high CAP 1 has been offered for sale on Heritage auctions many times.

 

I read somewhere that Chuck will never sell his Red Raven 1. (wasn't it the first key #1 issue he found from Church collection)

 

 

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ghoulaid

ghoulaid

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JC - - thats what I was saying: he had a million dollar book in his hands, and traded it for a bag of beans. To not have kept the Action 1, Tec 27 and the Cap1 at LEAST is stupendously short-sighted for such a savvy guy.

 

He got more than a bag of beans but I get your point. At the time we had no way of knowing there wouldn't be more collections of that quality found and thought it was likely there would be. How silly of us. I certainly can't disagree that it was short sighted but his goal was to build his empire. For that to happen comics had to be sold to obtain the cash necessary to expand. It wasn't cheap to open and stock a store especially when he had no other source of income. Where Chuck and I differ is I would have kept the comics! Say what you will about Chuck but he built Mile High from the ground up starting with nothing. smile.gif

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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Say what you will about Chuck but he built Mile High from the ground up starting with nothing.

 

Jesus H, toss a chimp that MH collection at $1800 and I doubt it could do worse than Chuck. Give it to a smart businessman, and the sky's the limit.

 

If MHC didn't have that goldmine fall into his lap, I'm betting he'd be living at No Fixed Address. 27_laughing.gif

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shadroch

shadroch

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Say what you will about Chuck but he built Mile High from the ground up starting with nothing.

 

Jesus H, toss a chimp that MH collection at $1800 and I doubt it could do worse than Chuck. Give it to a smart businessman, and the sky's the limit.

 

If MHC didn't have that goldmine fall into his lap, I'm betting he'd be living at No Fixed Address. 27_laughing.gif

 

If you want to say Chuck got lucky with MH1, I agree. For you to say he is a bad businessman causes me to question your grasp of business. I assume you have read the tales of the database? The way he saved money on the shipping of these books alone shows he is quite savy a merchant. He has spent a fortune on his website, jumping on that bandwagon early in the game and he manages to sell inferior products at premium prices,while collecting one of the largest databases on collectors in the country. How much do you think his mailing list alone is worth? I'm guessing more than my net worth at a minimum.And this,in your opinion makes him a bad businessman.

Dealers sell books,that's what they do. If he and every other dealer in the early 80s had sat on books instead of selling,there would be no market for books so Action 1 would be worth less today, not more. Chuck could have retired after either MH one or two and moved to Mexico but why should he when his job and his business evolve around his passion.

Is he a ruthless self-promoter? Obviously.

Is he a bad businessman? Not by my reasonings.

 

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Aman619

Aman619

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you are right that its sort of unfair to criticize with 20/20 hindsight. But that just comes from the investment/business head angle.

 

How about this: how about as the "savoir of comics industry" and "world's number one comics fan" , whatever he fancies himself at the moment. As one who supposedly LOVES comics, the medium, its future, and as a business and hobby, at that moment he owned (for pennies, really) a killer, complete collection of Golden Age comics. Even if he didnt know that no more similar colllections would ever surface (good point) - - he still had them...and SOLD them all!!??? I know he says he was 'forced to' when the stores were going badly... He should have closed them down and sat on the comics and gotten a real job somewhere. He'd be better off. He should have drawn th eline on selling his prized possessions (and best single investment.)

 

At least keep the best ones if you love comics so much. I would not have sold the key runs (for me) just as I havent sold the comics I have bought over the years.

 

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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Hey, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it.

 

From my POV, the greatest asset a businessman can have is foresight. The ability to see future trends and maximize your holdings is really the key piece of the puzzle.

 

Now here's "living in his car" MHC having the Church collection fall into his lap. Sure he should have sold some issues off for capital, but divesting all by one Key is pretty lame. A monkey could have done that.

 

Plus, his MH retail stores weren't exactly a rousing success, and without the infusion of cash from the Church collection, I'm betting he'd be on the way to No Fixed Address during the 80's and definitely post-90's crash.

 

It's all to do with potential, and that MH collection, if managed correctly and certain keys withheld using foresight, the sky's the limit. IMHO, Chuck did about as badly as anyone could have, with a million dollar collection bought for virtually nothing.

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Shield

Shield

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Toughest part of going is trying to keep my car from being keyed or getting pulled over once those Buckeyes notice my Michigan plates. You would think they would lighten up a bit - after all, they should be used to getting spanked by the Wolverines nearly every year... 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

Think? Try Michigan lost the last 2 years to the Bucks...also, both OSU and Michigan lost twice this year. Michigan just happened to lose one game non-conference makepoint.gifmakepoint.gif.

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shadroch

shadroch

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Think about this:

how many comic book stores have opened since Chuck opened his,and how many are still open.

I know of very few that are open over twenty years.

I'd say the average comic store closes within three to five years so chuck is way ahead of the curve in that sense.

Chuck created the market for his Mile high books,before him their were no 'pedigree" collections and no-one paying much of a premium for superior books,simpy because there were none on the market. Had he not agressively marketed Mile High One and just sat on them,again, they would not have the value they do today.

Lastly,if you fault him for selling his books instead of holding them,then you must fault every single dealer in America for doing the same thing.Why not say Warren Buffet is not a good businessman because he sold some of his portfolio before he made the maximum profit.Sell dear,buy cheap and the resell dear works much better than

buy and hold.

The price of real estate seems to go up each year, so is everyone who sells it being foolish?

 

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drice6900

drice6900

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Think? Try Michigan lost the last 2 years to the Bucks...also, both OSU and Michigan lost twice this year. Michigan just happened to lose one game non-conference makepoint.gifmakepoint.gif.

 

Ah, you Buckeyes. How soon you forget that you lost 9 of the previous 10. Here, I will do the math for you since I am sure it is too tough for you: UofM has won the last 10 of 13! That is dominance, pure and simple.

 

As far as MHC, I am shocked that he only kept 1 MH1 comic, and it wasn't even the Action #1! The question is, what will he have left to help pick himself up if the market drops out on him again? There is no way his current garbage (read: inventory) can save him like the MH collection did in the past. You can only have so many 40% off sales!!!

 

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