AF #15 Pence copies - bargain of the century?

[He11blazer]

I was beaten on an AF #15 auction the other day. A pure white paged CGC graded 4.5 copy of AF #15 on which I bid a 'measly' £735. It sold for £935.

 

Of course, it was a pence copy. Last GPA sale of a 4.5 cents copy was $6099.

 

£935 = $1407, or less than 25% of the price of a cents copy! And this was with white pages!!

 

AF #15 prices have more than doubled in the last year, and it seems the UK is lagging behind.

 

If had several thousand quid to play with I'd buy every reasonably priced pence copy I could get my hands on right now. I haven't mentioned this before because that was exactly what I had in mind, but I have to face the fact that I don't have that kind of cash to play with.

 

What do you think? Pence copies due for readjustment?

 

[Flaming_Telepath]

 

That price is ridiculously low. On a key like this, and in a lower grade, my experience is that the differentials close up. In fact, in the real low grade range (around the 2.0-2.5 mark or lower), the difference can be insignificant.

 

I'd say you've got a plan, there. (thumbs u

[Comicsarefun]

I am speaking out of some experience here, but this is my opinion...Americans are not interested in pence copies of key books, and from what I have seen, most don't even consider a pence copy to be a "true" copy of the comic in question at all...just a foreign re-print.

 

I do find it very interesting that when the Pound was kicking butt on the US $ last year, and UK purchases were driving the market for while, that the pence copies did not have a huge price surge. From the perspective of a UK buyer, a pence copy should bring the same price as a cents copy for sales in the UK. That fact is that they do not, which just means that UK buyers want to be able to sell their investments back into the US market. Smart choice.

 

So in the end, UK buyers will always place a premium on cents copies as well. There is just no way for pence copies to keep up, and as prices skyrocket on books like AF #15, I would expect pence coipes to fall even further behind.

 

Strange to really think about it though...if the same printing press on the same day in New York was just modified to crank out a few thousand pence copies of AF #15, then the book is real, and in fact is more rare than the cents copies. Should really be worth more if you think about it.

[He11blazer]

I agree with all you said, but even so, pence copies 'usually' sell for 50% of the cents equivalent and with major keys that gap is 'usually' closed a little rather than widened.

 

Having said that, my observations of AF #15 prices clearly show the gap is wider than ever, so

 

 

 

[He11blazer]

 

That price is ridiculously low. On a key like this, and in a lower grade, my experience is that the differentials close up. In fact, in the real low grade range (around the 2.0-2.5 mark or lower), the difference can be insignificant.

 

I'd say you've got a plan, there. (thumbs u

 

I thought so too. Wish I had a few k to play with!

[Ogami]

I gotta agree with Comicsarefun and with no disrespect towards our Boardies accross the pond, but I avoid pence copies at all costs. I own none, and am proud to say that all of my SA books are true American editions.

 

 

I think there are quite a lot of collector's like me. Would I own one? Sure. But it would still be a pence edition at the end of the day.

[He11blazer]

I gotta agree with Comicsarefun and with no disrespect towards our Boardies accross the pond, but I avoid pence copies at all costs. I own none, and am proud to say that all of my SA books are true American editions.

 

 

I think there are quite a lot of collector's like me. Would I own one? Sure. But it would still be a pence edition at the end of the day.

 

I prefer cents copies myself because they just 'look right' and have that exotic foreignness about them! Having said that, pence copies are cool too, and much harder to find in high grade.

 

The fact that they traditionally sell for half as much is justified in both directions I think.

 

EDIT: I've just got to add, this is pretty much the point I was making. Most pence copies sell on the UK market and the UK market has not yet seen the explosion in price for AF #15 that the US has this last year. THEREFORE, perhaps the UK market will follow soon, raising that pence copy from 25% of current cents value back up to 50%?

[Ogami]

I gotta agree with Comicsarefun and with no disrespect towards our Boardies accross the pond, but I avoid pence copies at all costs. I own none, and am proud to say that all of my SA books are true American editions.

 

 

I think there are quite a lot of collector's like me. Would I own one? Sure. But it would still be a pence edition at the end of the day.

 

I prefer cents copies myself because they just 'look right' and have that exotic foreignness about them! Having said that, pence copies are cool too, and much harder to find in high grade.

 

The fact that they traditionally sell for half as much is justified in both directions I think.

 

EDIT: I've just got to add, this is pretty much the point I was making. Most pence copies sell on the UK market and the UK market has not yet seen the explosion in price for AF #15 that the US has this last year. THEREFORE, perhaps the UK market will follow soon, raising that pence copy from 25% of current cents value back up to 50%?

 

nothing in there to disagree with, HB, so I'll just put one of these to let you know I read your post. (thumbs u

 

 

i would love to own some pence copies, but the priority to do so is very low, and as they rise in value, becomes even moreso.

[goldust40]

I gotta agree with Comicsarefun and with no disrespect towards our Boardies accross the pond, but I avoid pence copies at all costs. I own none, and am proud to say that all of my SA books are true American editions.

 

 

I think there are quite a lot of collector's like me. Would I own one? Sure. But it would still be a pence edition at the end of the day.

 

I prefer cents copies myself because they just 'look right' and have that exotic foreignness about them! Having said that, pence copies are cool too, and much harder to find in high grade.

 

The fact that they traditionally sell for half as much is justified in both directions I think.

 

EDIT: I've just got to add, this is pretty much the point I was making. Most pence copies sell on the UK market and the UK market has not yet seen the explosion in price for AF #15 that the US has this last year. THEREFORE, perhaps the UK market will follow soon, raising that pence copy from 25% of current cents value back up to 50%?

 

I'd say that that's unlikely - there aren't that many collectors in the U.K. who are on the market for an AF 15, and those who are in a position to buy one will nearly always opt for the cents version.

[THE_BEYONDER]

I want an AF 15 to read. Find me a 2.0ish pence copy on the cheap.

[conditionfreak]

Personally, I owned a pence copy of Batman #72 a while back and put it on Ebay. It was in VF/NM condition raw. It went for 8 dollars U.S. This was about three years ago.

 

It probably does not make much sense to be sure, but I would not pay anywhere near half price for a comparable pence copy vs what I would pay for a U.S. version of AF #15, and I REALLY WANT an AF #15.

 

So. if your plan is to get some pence copies and sell them to me, I can only assume that there are many like me out here.

 

But, as they say. Any plan is better than no plan. So, good luck.

 

Don't a lot of the pence copies have color covers but black and white interiors?

 

 

[goldust40]

Personally, I owned a pence copy of Batman #72 a while back and put it on Ebay. It was in VF/NM condition raw. It went for 8 dollars U.S. This was about three years ago.

 

It probably does not make much sense to be sure, but I would not pay anywhere near half price for a comparable pence copy vs what I would pay for a U.S. version of AF #15, and I REALLY WANT an AF #15.

 

So. if your plan is to get some pence copies and sell them to me, I can only assume that there are many like me out here.

 

But, as they say. Any plan is better than no plan. So, good luck.

 

Don't a lot of the pence copies have color covers but black and white interiors?

 

 

Pence copies of U.S. comics are identical to cents versions inside and out, except for the price and the absence of a date (plus in the 70s Brit versions had "Marvel All Colour Comics" instead of "Marvel Comics Group" printed above the masthead).

 

You're thinking of the outsize British Marvels that came out on a weekly basis in the U.K. for most of the 1970s - The Titans, Might World Of Marvel, Spider-Man Comics Weekly etc. Those had b & w interiors.

[goldust40]

I want an AF 15 to read. Find me a 2.0ish pence copy on the cheap.

 

I'll keep an eye out, you never know. I used to find low grade AF 15 pence copies relatively easily until several years ago...there are a fair few out there.

[Sal]

Pence copies aren't reprints, either. This might be an example of ignorance on the part of the consuming public assisting in keeping prices down.

 

Of course, no one stands to make money touting the fact that pence copies are identical to American copies excepting the obvious, unless there are some people out there hoarding them...which I doubt

[TFL-migration]

To me there the exact same book. Which in reality, is true. They were printed and released at the same time the cent's copies were. Just one was released in North America the other in the U.K. It wouldn't make any difference to me. It is actually a very good way to get those key book's for a fraction of the cost. It isn't a reprint in any sense of the word.

[BrianR]

From someone who collects pence copies can we please end this thread. I don't want fellow Americans' interest peaked on the subject.

[THE_BEYONDER]

This was a sweet book....

 

[Ares]

From someone who collects pence copies can we please end this thread. I don't want fellow Americans' interest peaked on the subject.

 

To late

[Flaming_Telepath]

From someone who collects pence copies can we please end this thread. I don't want fellow Americans' interest peaked on the subject.

 

 

Hey, Brian!

 

How are things at your end at the moment?

[Flaming_Telepath]

There's actually a train of thought that suggests the 'pence' copies were first off the print run, then they swapped the price plates for the cents versions and started running again.

 

In truth, these are actually price variants, as like the 30c and 35c variants, they were printed for a specific geographical area. (thumbs u