Thoughts about print runs and the census...

[valiantman]

Whoa, look at that print run. I thought books in the 70s saw print runs in the 200K to 500K range? Were the DC runs smaller than the Marvel ones, or was Green Lantern just not a high demand title at the time? The circulation for Green Lantern in the mid-70s looks about like the most popular titles today.

Let's see... 1970...

DC

Batman - 293,897

Brave and Bold - 211,266

Detective - 209,630

Green Lantern - 134,150

Superboy - 377,525

Superman - 446,678

 

Marvel

Amazing Spider-man - 322,195

Avengers - 217,394

Daredevil - 212,935

Fantastic Four - 285,639

Incredible Hulk - 222,619

X-Men - 180,589

[comicwiz]

Still a lot of high grade SA books sitting in private collections. Owners have no interest in getting them CGC at this point in time. It is silly to assume that everybody gets their high grade books CGC'd. As a result, still probably a lot of ungraded high grade copies of ALL Marvel SA books out there.

 

I agree with lou fine. I know of at least 2 very deep HG SA collections whereby the owners are far too complacent to slab any of their books.

 

As far as the CGC census is concerned, I think it is a valuable resource to a collector who is in the market for a high-grade, high premium book, to make a more informed choice about deciding just "how much" he's willing to pay should a copy surface, based on the current availability of that book. This is however largely dependent on the census data, its accuracy, and how often it is updated. So far, it appears that CGC is doing a very good job of keeping the information current and accurate (I've caught just a handful of errors myself since it was started).

 

With regard to establishing print runs, this is an ambitious endeavour with anything pre-Bronze, or pre-diamond distribution reporting. Too much time has passed since the days pre-Bronze comics came off press, and it wasn't until the Modern age where we saw publishers like Marvel and DC adopting whole-hearted strategies to keep track of print runs numbers. It goes without saying that the best time to gather information on print-runs is when the books are being printed, while also recognizing that proper coordination of production and print run strategies are aligned with recording/information gathering pursuits. Recording information after any passage of time will always produce holes and gaps in the research.

 

Moving forward, I think the best approach to gauge the "availability" of comics is through a comic registry. CGC"s concept is a step in this direction, however, the data would only account for books which are already CGC graded. IMO, the best people in a position to produce an all-encompassing registry is a collectible/comic specific insurance provider. As it stands, most insurance companies will ask that you produce a schedule which lists all the books in your collection. Such information allows them to establish the value of a collection, and the appropriate policy or plan to protect it in the event of a loss.

 

Scheduling/listing all the books in a comic collection, regardless of its size, is an effort which takes a significant amount of time and effort. I know plenty of collectors who don't even bother with collections consisting of several hundred books. However, if an insurance provider (specifcally ones that provides comics/collectibles coverage products) where to assemble an online registry, and offer membership along with its policy (essentially allowing the policy holder to list books from their collection withn the comic registry) I believe that this would be one of the best ways to understand just how many books exist, in what grade, etc. Provided of course that everyone buys-in to the idea of getting insurance coverage for the comics, and that the rate being offered is aggressive enough to allow enough people to join, while incenting current policy holders to take advantage of the registry by offering a discount on their coverage if they list their comics.

 

It is IMO that a resource to the comic collector community in the way of a comic registry would serve as a useful tool for not only the collector community, but for insurance providers, its agents selling policies, and appraiser/adjusters alike -- the kind of information which would allow everyone the opportunity to better understand and gauge market influences such as rarity, and high-demand in relation to claims which request multiple of guide replacement values.

[valiantman]

As it stands, most insurance companies will ask that you produce a schedule which lists all the books in your collection.

Collectibles Insurance Agency - CollectInsure.com doesn't require such a list.

[Calamerica]

Does this Collectibles Insurance Agency have any clout or credibility here???

[valiantman]

Does this Collectibles Insurance Agency have any clout or credibility here???

They advertise in a few publications...

and my paperwork shows them backed by the Hartford Group

(which is a pretty solid insurance company).