Silver Age Dump?

[UnrulyAppendage]

I have been watching Ebay for silver age runs and I have noticed that there are quite a few. My guess is old collectors are either passing away , or their houses are being cleared out because they are going to assisted care homes or nursing homes. Are we going to see more and more silver age runs as your older collector's collections are getting passed on to relatives who do not collect?

 

Kind of makes one wonder what will happen to our collections that we are amassing. Some of must think we are doing our future generation a favor by collecting and keeping, but instead it may become a burden as they will sell it off at 1/10 of the value just to make space.

[RedRaven]

The Future

 

 

 

[UnrulyAppendage]

Thanks for the link.

[fazman]

Great article , and a " word to the wise "

[joe_collector]

IKind of makes one wonder what will happen to our collections that we are amassing. Some of must think we are doing our future generation a favor by collecting and keeping, but instead it may become a burden as they will sell it off at 1/10 of the value just to make space.

 

That's it in a nutshell, but the key is to not hold them up until that point, and know when to sell for maximum return.

[delekkerste]

I have been watching Ebay for silver age runs and I have noticed that there are quite a few. My guess is old collectors are either passing away , or their houses are being cleared out because they are going to assisted care homes or nursing homes. Are we going to see more and more silver age runs as your older collector's collections are getting passed on to relatives who do not collect?

 

The Wall Street Journal did an article a couple of months ago which said that older people are basically selling everything they own that isn't bolted down, including their collectibles holdings. The article said that interest rates are too low (thank Greenspan's mismanagement for that) for these people to live on fixed interest alone. Furthermore, their kids are way too financially leveraged to count on for financial support.

 

 

Kind of makes one wonder what will happen to our collections that we are amassing. Some of must think we are doing our future generation a favor by collecting and keeping, but instead it may become a burden as they will sell it off at 1/10 of the value just to make space.

 

I have lately been wondering the same thing. Where do old comic books go when they die? My apartment is in danger of being overrun by comic boxes - lack of space has become much more of a concern than even high prices. I can't imagine how much space my collection will take up in 30 years.

 

As far as passing things down to the next generation, I am not sure I will even try to get my future offspring into collecting...while I enjoy the hobby immensely, it does consume an extraordinary amount of time, space and money. More likely is that I will try and get them into reading TPBs and appreciating the art form and maybe keeping the best of Daddy's collection (high grade keys and choice artwork). I don't know if I want to burden them with the responsibility of preserving and growing the many thousands of books I currently own and will own by then. "Hey, sorry Junior, but you're going to have to devote an entire room in your family's house to store Daddy's comic collection. What, you don't want to? Oh come on, the baby can sleep in the living room..."

 

Gene

[mcd-migration]

Jim Lee’s X-Men #1 sold more copies in 1991 than the Top 300 comic book titles COMBINED sold in September 2003.

 

Quite the eye opener. I'd guess if the market rises over the next 5 years that this period, especially the year or so that Marvel didn't print over runs, could really jump.

[PovertyRow]

Interesting article. I rarely chime in on the speculator aspect because I'm not a speculator, but this bit from the article makes sense to me: "There are countless pieces now selling for between 10 and 100 times their price of the early 1990s. The worst thing you can do is to fall for specious arguments like, “if you had bought Book X in 1990, you would have made 100 times your money.” That kind of rearview mirror analysis is irrelevant to your decision on where to put your money NOW."

 

Because I have to wonder if people who DO spend those multiples with an eye to seeling 10 years down the road are gonna think that incomes (or the amount of dispoable cash) will be 10-100 times what they are today.

[JohnBull]

I have a theory here that the prices for the top order books remains fairly stable, it's just the books themselves that change. That is to say, 30 years ago, people with high incomes bought an Action 1. That then became unafordable to future high earners, so they bought a Showcase 4. That's now beyond reach of the majority, so the next lot buy Hulk 181's. There is a figure, maybe five to ten thousand dollars, that most collectors can aim at. After that, you go from a grail to an item that competes with a car or a bigger house and most of us are passed over.

 

Obviously the biggest books still rise, but the potential market dwindles. I think it's just a question of which books cost $5K-$10K in 5-10 years time, not what todays $5K-$10K books cost then.

[goldust40]

Certainly an article that readjusts perspective. Particularly liked that bit about the first baby boomers approaching retirement, which subtly inferred that the hobby was over the hill, too. We've heard these homilies before, but never with such logic - it has to be said, at the SD Con this year anyone below the age of 20 was generally uninterested in the dealers' section.

However the article did have one specious comparison - the fact that the sales of Jim Lee's X-Men 1 were equal to the combined total of the top three hundred titles' sales last month (or whenever) is irrelevant. That book had an absurd print run, an idiotic amount of hype attached to it, and a legion of stupid, gullible speculators who were willing to buy 50+ copies each of it. Granted, print runs were definitely higher in the early '90s, but apart from the abysmal X-Force 1 that book had at least 10 times as many copies printed as anything else published at the time.

 

In the end the hobby will survive, but it'll depend less and less on nostalgia, and more on whether comics as a medium will continue to be recognised as a worthy and entertaining artform by those who don't care about owning an AF15.

[murph0]

These must not be high grade runs? I've been waiting and watching for a while now for the ASMs that I need to finish up with and there hasn't been much. There's been NO Caps, really.

 

Brian

[Thegoldenage]

Good Article! I collect for the enjoyment of it and not as an investment and have to agree that anyone who collects as an investment alone is really taking a big chance.

[Thegoldenage]

These must not be high grade runs? I've been waiting and watching for a while now for the ASMs that I need to finish up with and there hasn't been much. There's been NO Caps, really.

 

If I'm not mistaken, Comiclink just listed some really nice Caps.

[murph0]

Those were already there, the guy just relisted them so they'd show up on "Newly Listed". The only book I'd want is the 9.6 101 and the book is way too off-center with a way too high price to match. :\

 

Brian

[GoodyRickles]

In this Article, This Guy "CLAIMS" he Knows a Collector who Got TWO Near-Mint AF #15's for $600 Each in 1990........ Makes me Have All the Faith in the world in the rest of his writing.... Did he also Pick up some VF Action #1's for $1000 Each at the Same time??? Got the Feeling some other Facts might be embellished MORE in that article, than the Current Overheated Collectible Market.

[delekkerste]

In this Article, This Guy "CLAIMS" he Knows a Collector who Got TWO Near-Mint AF #15's for $600 Each in 1990........ Makes me Have All the Faith in the world in the rest of his writing.... Did he also Pick up some VF Action #1's for $1000 Each at the Same time??? Got the Feeling some other Facts might be embellished MORE in that article, than the Current Overheated Collectible Market.

 

The collector is JDuran1, a noted uber-bull and collector on both eBay and here on the Boards who made this claim here on the Boards on Dec. 3:

 

I bought 2 AF 15 NM in 1990 for 600 each. Two Hulk 181's NM for 250 and Iron Fist 14s NM for 20 bucks each and on and on. Liquidity yes, return incredible. Everytime I drive my Benz I think of the NM Silve Age Batmans I sold. I bought 100 Spawn 1s for a buck and sold them for 2 bucks (100 % return in two years) Stocks are ok. Volume baby on moderns and only buy keys.

 

I defy you to prove any intentional embellishment in the article.

 

Gene

[Foolkiller]

The article itself was actually interesting, and the main reason why I think that there should be hesitation for people in their 30s and 40s to count on comics as an investment... there's a lot of material and several collections that are being held that when liquidated present problems and enough demand to liquidate those collections to... I don't look at a crash or the investment issue for the next 5 or so years only, but more for the next 10 years or so when I think several collectors will sell and their collections open to the market due to the fact there are fewer younger collectors of comics in general.

 

[murph0]

I find that quite hard to believe as well, but I let it pass.

 

Brian

[Foolkiller]

Brian:

 

I actually agree that it's hard to believe, but I think it's also a distinct possibility though... you never know what can be had at these local shows. I'm sure he didn't buy it from a national dealer... but if he found it at a local show for a good price, and the guy just wanted to move it, and wasn't aware of just how nice the book was, I can see it happening. It's very lucky, but yes, I can see it happening.

 

On the other hand, it is hard to believe stories like this so I expect that there has to be some skeptism.

[delekkerste]

Even if there was embellishment on JDuran1's part, I think we've all seen other examples of comic related collectibles soaring 10x, 50x, 100x or more in value in the last 13 years. For example, that ASM #155 cover by JR SR sold for $100 in 1990 and fetched over $10K this year. A 100-fold increase. That kind of increase is actually not uncommon at all in the original art world where prices have exploded. I'm sure the same can be said for many high grade key books as well.

 

Gene