Pretty Book 1/07/04

[greggy]

[garthgantu]

Can I get a round of applause for the crash theorists?

Good luck with starting that nest egg, Eric. It's a shame ppl scared you out of the hobby.

 

Brian

 

He doesn't sound scared to me...(regretful, maybe)? Seems like everyone makes difficult choices now and then, and sometimes comic books factor in...

[garthgantu]

I'll have to admit I don't really collect DC comics but even I am jelous of your DC books. Makes me want to collect DC

 

Eric

 

If you're selling your entire collection (as indicated in your Marketplace thread) then you not only don't collect DC's, you don't collect any comics.

 

Just a ray of sunshine all the time, aren't ya, OldGuy? Sheesh.

[murph0]

Guess you and I have a different definition of the word "spooked".

 

Brian

[ericc123]

Regretful and scared. I love my comics and truth be told I have enough money that I wouldn't need to sell them quite yet aka I don't really need the money. But if these comics are going to be worth less in one or two years from now due to more books on the census and a crash I can't afford to take that risk at my age. I've been collecting comics for 14 years of my life and I can't seem to break even after some of the offers I've gotten on the boards. Maybe I will buy a nice car. Or perhaps I will buy the apartment I am living in in Downtown Pittsburgh from our family friend. I just can't afford to lose big money at my age.

 

Eric

[acesilver]

Hi All: Tim this one's for you. Showcase 36 9.6 W Pa.

 

Tom

 

Thanks Tom, your books are truly mindblowing. There's nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that you have the best copy in existence!

 

 

Top notch Tom! I'd feel quite proud to own those books if I were you. But I'm not so I'll just have to enjoy them vicariously Thanks for sharing these gems

[JohnBull]

Beautiful and yet so depressing at the same time. Until my numbers come up...

[Red Hook]

Regretful and scared. I love my comics and truth be told I have enough money that I wouldn't need to sell them quite yet aka I don't really need the money. But if these comics are going to be worth less in one or two years from now due to more books on the census and a crash I can't afford to take that risk at my age. I've been collecting comics for 14 years of my life and I can't seem to break even after some of the offers I've gotten on the boards. Maybe I will buy a nice car. Or perhaps I will buy the apartment I am living in in Downtown Pittsburgh from our family friend. I just can't afford to lose big money at my age.

 

Eric

 

Eric, Grandpa has got to sit you down and have a talk with you! You're 22 right? Put the best 25% of your collection in a nice acid-free box and put a BIG sign on it, and write on it, (preferably with a day-glo green sharpie marker), "I will never part with these! I will never sell these! I will never regret not selling these! Red Hook told me so!"

 

Of COURSE you can afford to take a risk....you're 22! My 72 year old mother can't afford to take a risk, but you have 50 YEARS ON HER! This is EXACTLY the time you can afford to take risks. So what if the values go down in one or two years. SO WHAT? Extend your time horizon a bit. In 5, 10, 15 years you'll be patting yourself on the back, and thankfully leaving flowers on my grave! (Ok, ignore that last part.)

 

I sold the bulk of my collection in 1978 when I was 23. I still rue the day. I sold a solid, raw, pristine Marvel collection of over 1,000 books for $375. (That sound you hear is my head being pounded on my keyboard while I type.). The books might have even qualified as a pedigree if they were still around. I sold them to pay off a crumby IRS tax bill I owed.

 

I am one of those folks that couldn't care less if there is a crash. I don't believe it to begin with, but everyone is welcome to their predictions. And in the long term, EVERYTHING IS CYCLICAL! Even if there is a crash? So what? Enjoy your books. Take it from someone who sold and would love to jump in a time machine and go back and hit my 23 year old self in the head.

 

Oh, one other thing.....DON'T SELL OUT OF FEAR!

 

Ok, gotta go find a bag of ice now.

 

 

[OldGuy]

I'll have to admit I don't really collect DC comics but even I am jelous of your DC books. Makes me want to collect DC

 

Eric

 

If you're selling your entire collection (as indicated in your Marketplace thread) then you not only don't collect DC's, you don't collect any comics.

 

Just a ray of sunshine all the time, aren't ya, OldGuy? Sheesh.

 

Just pointing out the obvious, nothing to do with "sunshine".

[Red Hook]

Yeah, leave us old dudes ALONE!

 

Hey, OldGuy, get your AARP card yet? They keep mailing me, and I keep making the sign of the cross and trashing them unopened!

[OldGuy]

[ghoulaid]

Eric, Grandpa has got to sit you down and have a talk with you! You're 22 right? Put the best 25% of your collection in a nice acid-free box and put a BIG sign on it, and write on it, (preferably with a day-glo green sharpie marker), "I will never part with these! I will never sell these! I will never regret not selling these! Red Hook told me so!"

 

Of COURSE you can afford to take a risk....you're 22! My 72 year old mother can't afford to take a risk, but you have 50 YEARS ON HER! This is EXACTLY the time you can afford to take risks. So what if the values go down in one or two years. SO WHAT? Extend your time horizon a bit. In 5, 10, 15 years you'll be patting yourself on the back, and thankfully leaving flowers on my grave! (Ok, ignore that last part.)

 

I sold the bulk of my collection in 1978 when I was 23. I still rue the day. I sold a solid, raw, pristine Marvel collection of over 1,000 books for $375. (That sound you hear is my head being pounded on my keyboard while I type.). The books might have even qualified as a pedigree if they were still around. I sold them to pay off a crumby IRS tax bill I owed.

 

I am one of those folks that couldn't care less if there is a crash. I don't believe it to begin with, but everyone is welcome to their predictions. And in the long term, EVERYTHING IS CYCLICAL! Even if there is a crash? So what? Enjoy your books. Take it from someone who sold and would love to jump in a time machine and go back and hit my 23 year old self in the head.

 

Oh, one other thing.....DON'T SELL OUT OF FEAR!

 

Ok, gotta go find a bag of ice now.

 

 

 

Excellent post Redhook! I agree completely! He has his whole life ahead of him to make up for any mistakes made today (such as SELLING his books). Hang on to them for 10 more years and you'll be so glad you didn't sell them.

[joe_collector]

Eric, Grandpa has got to sit you down and have a talk with you! You're 22 right? Put the best 25% of your collection in a nice acid-free box and put a BIG sign on it, and write on it, (preferably with a day-glo green sharpie marker), "I will never part with these! I will never sell these! I will never regret not selling these! Red Hook told me so!"

 

Great advice.

 

Blow off some books if you want to transfer the cash to a safer environment, but also keep in mind that the market is quite different now, than when redhook was a fresh-faced lad.

 

He got $350 for his books, but how much would you be looking at? Big difference.

[Red Hook]

The one asset that Eric has that someone like me has less of, is TIME. You can't buy it, you can't trade it. If you try to anticipate the stock market, the economy, or the market for your comics, odds are you will simply mess yourself up. I am a reformed buy-and hold-and enjoy type of guy when it comes to my collection!

 

I would like to add one thing......having gotten back into the hobby and starting to piece back my collection has been a blast. But I do remember at the age of 13, picking out TWO copies of Iron Man #1, and Submariner #1, off the stands (I bought basically the whole Marvel lineup in those days, minus the Westerns and Millie) and carefully storing them at home in the drawers of my desk. I was a smarter investor then than I am now, but I was just doing something I loved. Loved the art, loved the stories and was just anal enough not to bend a page or crease a cover.

 

I had no bags, no mylars, so it's quite possible they might NOT be pedigree grade now due to page quality. But anyway, it's memories like those, that make it impossible for me to add copies of those books to my collection-redux, because I remember paying 12 cents for each new minty copy! So on some level, it still really hurts.

 

These days, I'm still a condition freak, but I am happy to roam the 7.0 to 8.5 landscape. And anyway, I know that Chrisco37 is going to get my collection when I'm worm-food! He already started the memorial thread.

 

 

 

 

[PUNYHUMAN]

Hey Redhook,Your post makes alot of sense! I agree ,Eric don't sell your collection unless your sure that's what you really want to do,not out of fear.I've been collecting one way or another since the 60's so I'm one of the old timers here I guess too,46 years old.You have plenty of time to make choices in your life,but don't make them out of fear.I've bought & sold some books over the years but mostly I'm a collector "really anal about it.don't like parting with them" I've never met a true collector who left the hobby,and hasn't regretted it .So think it over!!! Ray!

[garthgantu]

I'll have to admit I don't really collect DC comics but even I am jelous of your DC books. Makes me want to collect DC

 

Eric

 

If you're selling your entire collection (as indicated in your Marketplace thread) then you not only don't collect DC's, you don't collect any comics.

 

Just a ray of sunshine all the time, aren't ya, OldGuy? Sheesh.

 

Just pointing out the obvious, nothing to do with "sunshine".

 

Nothing to do with anything, really, just [!@#%^&^] on someone else's parade. Why is it that you're always the first to point out the obvious, especially when there's some element of schadenfreude involved?

[dam60]

Regretful and scared. I love my comics and truth be told I have enough money that I wouldn't need to sell them quite yet aka I don't really need the money. But if these comics are going to be worth less in one or two years from now due to more books on the census and a crash I can't afford to take that risk at my age. I've been collecting comics for 14 years of my life and I can't seem to break even after some of the offers I've gotten on the boards. Maybe I will buy a nice car. Or perhaps I will buy the apartment I am living in in Downtown Pittsburgh from our family friend. I just can't afford to lose big money at my age.

 

Eric

 

Eric, Grandpa has got to sit you down and have a talk with you! You're 22 right? Put the best 25% of your collection in a nice acid-free box and put a BIG sign on it, and write on it, (preferably with a day-glo green sharpie marker), "I will never part with these! I will never sell these! I will never regret not selling these! Red Hook told me so!"

 

Of COURSE you can afford to take a risk....you're 22! My 72 year old mother can't afford to take a risk, but you have 50 YEARS ON HER! This is EXACTLY the time you can afford to take risks. So what if the values go down in one or two years. SO WHAT? Extend your time horizon a bit. In 5, 10, 15 years you'll be patting yourself on the back, and thankfully leaving flowers on my grave! (Ok, ignore that last part.)

 

I sold the bulk of my collection in 1978 when I was 23. I still rue the day. I sold a solid, raw, pristine Marvel collection of over 1,000 books for $375. (That sound you hear is my head being pounded on my keyboard while I type.). The books might have even qualified as a pedigree if they were still around. I sold them to pay off a crumby IRS tax bill I owed.

 

I am one of those folks that couldn't care less if there is a crash. I don't believe it to begin with, but everyone is welcome to their predictions. And in the long term, EVERYTHING IS CYCLICAL! Even if there is a crash? So what? Enjoy your books. Take it from someone who sold and would love to jump in a time machine and go back and hit my 23 year old self in the head.

 

Oh, one other thing.....DON'T SELL OUT OF FEAR!

 

Ok, gotta go find a bag of ice now.

 

[Red Hook]

Thanks Dave. I figure you would have said pretty much the same thing!