Post your Garage Sale/Flea Market/Antique Mall Finds Here 59 59

[Namtak]

Got few new games in my collection. Gon is awesome!

[Beige]

 

[John Grumbledook]

So about 8 years ago I bought some comics from someone on craigslist. Maybe 40 long boxes or so for about $400. Mostly 90s drek, but some 70s, 80s, and 00s stuff as well. He was an amateur dealer whose girlfriend demanded he make space in their apartment before she moved in. So I took my Volvo station wagon, folded down the seats, and crammed these boxes in. I kind of went through it looking for anything of obvious value or some titles I collected, but mostly it was stuff I didnt really care for so away the boxes went into various closets to be moved around occasionally when I needed to move stuff around. 

Fast forward 8 years, and what a difference that time makes. I was encouraging my teenage son to sell stuff on eBay for his Boy Scout entrepreneurship badge and volunteered my forgotten drek. But after multiple marvel and DC movies and shows a lot of the stuff I considered junk, or at least not of interest to me, is showing up in these boxes. A lot of first appearances of minor characters whose popularity has really taken off.

Moon Knight 1

West Coast Avengers with white vision

first squirrel girl

what if Jane foster found Thors hammer

TWO copies of Marvel Team up 1

morbius 1

2nd appearance of deadpool

she hulk 1

spider woman 1

wonder man 1

lobo 1

spawn 1

 

and so on and so forth....its been really fun going through all of these boxes and collating and inventorying all these books that I considered near worthless last decade. its almost like inheriting a nice little collection.

 

 

[spreads]

Haven't been buying much lately, but I still keep my eyes open....saw an ad yesterday (50 minute drive from my house), of 2,000 comics for $550.  The pictures weren't promising but there were a few ASMs, SSM 1 and some other titles so I figured it would be worth it based on bulk rates alone.  Met the guy at his old farmhouse his parents own, right away (the three boxes and two tote bags) I knew there wasn't 2k comics.  He was receptive and told me to go through it, as I start looking through the first tote, I see low grade ASM 300 and 101. 

I didn't bother going through any of the others boxes, I told him this is fine.  I could have definitely negotiated lower, but I didn't have time to go through them nor would I have felt right had I found some real big books after beating him up at an already good price.  Chatted for maybe another 20 minutes, left my business card then hit the road.  Went through all them yesterday, as expected the rest of the comics (about 1k total) is almost entirely bulk with a handful of maybe a few 5-10 books.  Everything that isn't pictured below is going to be bulked out dirt cheap.....the ASMs are low grade, they have a 'gritty' feel to them of being worn down from years without bags/boards.  

[davidpg]

On 10/6/2022 at 8:52 AM, spreads said:

Haven't been buying much lately, but I still keep my eyes open....saw an ad yesterday (50 minute drive from my house), of 2,000 comics for $550.  The pictures weren't promising but there were a few ASMs, SSM 1 and some other titles so I figured it would be worth it based on bulk rates alone.  Met the guy at his old farmhouse his parents own, right away (the three boxes and two tote bags) I knew there wasn't 2k comics.  He was receptive and told me to go through it, as I start looking through the first tote, I see low grade ASM 300 and 101. 

I didn't bother going through any of the others boxes, I told him this is fine.  I could have definitely negotiated lower, but I didn't have time to go through them nor would I have felt right had I found some real big books after beating him up at an already good price.  Chatted for maybe another 20 minutes, left my business card then hit the road.  Went through all them yesterday, as expected the rest of the comics (about 1k total) is almost entirely bulk with a handful of maybe a few 5-10 books.  Everything that isn't pictured below is going to be bulked out dirt cheap.....the ASMs are low grade, they have a 'gritty' feel to them of being worn down from years without bags/boards.  

I'll assume you're a fellow Canadian.  Looks like you have some Canadian price variants in there!

[littledoom]

On 10/5/2022 at 7:35 PM, John Grumbledook said:

Maybe 40 long boxes or so for about $400

$10 each longbox?! Wow. That’s a great price even for drek 

[spreads]

On 10/6/2022 at 9:47 AM, davidpg said:

I'll assume you're a fellow Canadian.  Looks like you have some Canadian price variants in there!

Correct.  I don't pay much attention to them anymore...especially in low grade.  High grade and key issues, that's different....

[spreads]

On 10/6/2022 at 11:11 AM, littledoom said:

$10 each longbox?! Wow. That’s a great price even for drek 

Idk, is it?  40 boxes is a lot...the greater the volume the less the rate...I've seen comic shops offer less than 3 cents a book on a collection that definitely was drek.  I'm going to be bulking this stuff out in the 20-30 cent a piece range and it's not all drek, some decent stuff in there. 

[littledoom]

On 10/6/2022 at 8:28 AM, spreads said:

Idk, is it?  40 boxes is a lot...the greater the volume the less the rate...I've seen comic shops offer less than 3 cents a book on a collection that definitely was drek.  I'm going to be bulking this stuff out in the 20-30 cent a piece range and it's not all drek, some decent stuff in there. 

It is because majority selling or bulking out longboxes want around the $50/70/100+ range..

[spreads]

On 10/6/2022 at 12:08 PM, littledoom said:

It is because majority selling or bulking out longboxes want around the $50/70/100+ range..

$100+ a long box....you ain't getting that where I am, going rate is probably closer to $50.   I have a guy picking up the bulk for 20 cents a piece; there's decent stuff in there, minor keys, etc. but it's not worth my time to try and sell them for $1 piece - I'll let the guys that setup at shows do that. 

[spreads]

On 10/6/2022 at 8:52 AM, spreads said:

Haven't been buying much lately, but I still keep my eyes open....saw an ad yesterday (50 minute drive from my house), of 2,000 comics for $550.  The pictures weren't promising but there were a few ASMs, SSM 1 and some other titles so I figured it would be worth it based on bulk rates alone.  Met the guy at his old farmhouse his parents own, right away (the three boxes and two tote bags) I knew there wasn't 2k comics.  He was receptive and told me to go through it, as I start looking through the first tote, I see low grade ASM 300 and 101. 

I didn't bother going through any of the others boxes, I told him this is fine.  I could have definitely negotiated lower, but I didn't have time to go through them nor would I have felt right had I found some real big books after beating him up at an already good price.  Chatted for maybe another 20 minutes, left my business card then hit the road.  Went through all them yesterday, as expected the rest of the comics (about 1k total) is almost entirely bulk with a handful of maybe a few 5-10 books.  Everything that isn't pictured below is going to be bulked out dirt cheap.....the ASMs are low grade, they have a 'gritty' feel to them of being worn down from years without bags/boards.  

Bagged and boarded some of these last night, turns out the gritty feeling is dirt.  I can't believe how much dirt/soot it is - the goblin for example which looks like mold is all dirt that easily wiped away.  

[F For Fake]

On 10/7/2022 at 8:30 AM, spreads said:

$100+ a long box....you ain't getting that where I am, going rate is probably closer to $50.   I have a guy picking up the bulk for 20 cents a piece; there's decent stuff in there, minor keys, etc. but it's not worth my time to try and sell them for $1 piece - I'll let the guys that setup at shows do that. 

Yeah, five years ago around here, at estate sales and auctions, I could still get longs for even $25-$35. These days it has been more like $50-75, on the rare occasion I even have the chance to buy them. That's the worst part. I wouldn't mind paying more, I just have so much more competition. I'm hoping that the 1099ks and the general market "downturn" will scare off some of the fly by night folks, and I can start finding books again. Aside from collections I've bought from friends and acquaintances, I haven't bought a sizeable collection in the wild for over a year and a half. Just too many people out there that apparently have more money and time than I do!

[Robot Man]

On 10/7/2022 at 5:30 AM, spreads said:

$100+ a long box....you ain't getting that where I am, going rate is probably closer to $50.   I have a guy picking up the bulk for 20 cents a piece; there's decent stuff in there, minor keys, etc. but it's not worth my time to try and sell them for $1 piece - I'll let the guys that setup at shows do that. 

I’m with you. I’ve been at it a LONG time. The work and storage space this takes is just not worth it to me.

I really commend you guys that are out everywhere hunting and buying. It is HARD work. I know. Everything you are doing is what I did for many years.

Now days, I have other interests. I am more that happy to enjoy your scores.

Not saying I don’t still do it too but now I have limited my focus a lot. I’d rather have one box of great stuff than 20 boxes of just OK stuff. It has always been mostly about the “hunt”!

 

[Namtak]

Never taught id find those in flea market  very happy to add jeremy bulloch to my autograph collection,now in my card frame

Edited October 8, 2022 by Namtak

[ADAMANTIUM]

Looked in decent shape. 1st of a person who becomes Hummingbird and 1st harvester, or something.

 

[littledoom]

Surprising estate sale find. It’s not everyday I except to find golden age in a garage. I paid $80 for the lot

[BlowUpTheMoon]

That Challenger #2 is a cool book. 

[paqart]

I don't have it any longer but the coolest find I ever made at a flea market happened in Santa Barbara in 1980. At the time, I was 15 and went to every flea market, garage sale, and used book store I could find in my quest for comics. This particular day, I ran across a box of comics. The top of the box contained about 20 or so modern Archies that were essentially worthless. Below them was about 50 Platinum Age comics. How often does that happen? The guy selling them wanted $50 for the entire box. I didn't have that much on me, so I had to make an appointment to meet the seller at his motel room near the beach to make the buy. My mom drove me over, and I got the comics.
We drove back to the roach-infested motel room we lived in and I started unpacking the box. Most of the comics were from around 1929-1935 or so. The best of the group was Feature Book NN (MR. Tracy). At the time, the Overstreet guide said there were only 1-3 known to exist. This copy made it 2-4.

The comics were in atrocious condition but their rarity made up for it. I sold the Feature Book to an LCS for enough money to cover the cost of everything else and then some. I found out later that it was sold for $450 to a producer working for Warren Beatty who used it as reference for the MR. Tracy movie he made.

[ThatNerdyCanuck]

Got lucky at an antique store in Washington State a few days ago! 

[littledoom]

On 10/8/2022 at 1:42 PM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

That Challenger #2 is a cool book. 

Seriously. I’m keeping that