CLink auction results.

[fantastic_four]

I hope you are right James, I'd like to pay $5k-$6k for a nice mid grade (5.5-6.0) FF # 1 again.

 

That'd be a BIG decrease. I don't think popular keys have ever decreased that much in the history of the comics market. I've barely bought books the last 5 years and now have enough to buy nice copies of AF15 and FF1, but since I don't expect prices to rise further, I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy now or just wait a year or two.

[ChasingKingKirby]

I hope you are right James, I'd like to pay $5k-$6k for a nice mid grade (5.5-6.0) FF # 1 again.

 

That'd be a BIG decrease. I don't think popular keys have ever decreased that much in the history of the comics market. I've barely bought books the last 5 years and now have enough to buy nice copies of AF15 and FF1, but since I don't expect prices to rise further, I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy now or just wait a year or two.

 

My money is on wait... I think mid to low grade are in for a fairly significant correction.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Except the 100, most of the Cap prices seemed a little soft, as there were many soft results in this auction. Now this auction has followed a few major shows, so there may be some tapped people. My own two cents is that we are seeing some market correction here -- which to me, is a good thing.

 

Avengers 16 9.0 coming back to a level that is normal and healthy ($425) and it's pre run up levels just says that someone can certainly get stuck holding the bag if there are artificial run ups on prices.

 

 

Which ones other than the 117 did you think were soft? I tried to buy about 20 of them and ended up with one.

 

All copies of 100 went for around GPA, the 9.4 was a little low...

101 9.6 200 bucks over GPA

102 9.6 3X GPA

103 9.6 was a little soft but it had a bad miswrap.

105 9.6 2x GPA

106 9.4 at GPA

107 9.6 wasn't a bad deal at under GPA.

 

Steranko issues 110, 111 and 113 did well, selling above short-term highs. Unless, you're talking about the bronze Caps, I thought they sold above average.

 

I won quite a few Caps in the last auction, including a few Heartland 15-centers in 9.4 for $50-$55. I even snagged the Boston # 103 for $157 last time, and that book is super nice.

 

This time, I was 0 fer on the Caps...must've bid on 20, won nothing.

 

So, it seems prices were firmer this time around. I won one Spidey, and I bid on over 50 of them. I did snag a few Avengers, but only Bronze and Copper issues.

 

Based on one day in the books, I'd have to say the prices in this auction have held up a lot better then the last time around. I'm guessing it might have to do with the "wealth effect" of everyone's stock portfolio looking a little better these days, and perhaps the fact that C-Link has 1,000 fewer books this time around to dilute the bidding pool with.

 

 

 

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

I hope you are right James, I'd like to pay $5k-$6k for a nice mid grade (5.5-6.0) FF # 1 again.

 

That'd be a BIG decrease. I don't think popular keys have ever decreased that much in the history of the comics market. I've barely bought books the last 5 years and now have enough to buy nice copies of AF15 and FF1, but since I don't expect prices to rise further, I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy now or just wait a year or two.

 

There is no reason why a 6.0/6.5 FF # 1 should cost you as much as a one year old, well-equipped car. They are far too common, and the run-up was due to people pulling money from other assets and pumping into something they thought was "safe".

 

Now, those days are over and prices are coming back to reality.

 

I would wait James, good deals are still on the horizon....

[ChasingKingKirby]

Except the 100, most of the Cap prices seemed a little soft, as there were many soft results in this auction. Now this auction has followed a few major shows, so there may be some tapped people. My own two cents is that we are seeing some market correction here -- which to me, is a good thing.

 

Avengers 16 9.0 coming back to a level that is normal and healthy ($425) and it's pre run up levels just says that someone can certainly get stuck holding the bag if there are artificial run ups on prices.

 

 

Which ones other than the 117 did you think were soft? I tried to buy about 20 of them and ended up with one.

 

All copies of 100 went for around GPA, the 9.4 was a little low...

101 9.6 200 bucks over GPA

102 9.6 3X GPA

103 9.6 was a little soft but it had a bad miswrap.

105 9.6 2x GPA

106 9.4 at GPA

107 9.6 wasn't a bad deal at under GPA.

 

Steranko issues 110, 111 and 113 did well, selling above short-term highs. Unless, you're talking about the bronze Caps, I thought they sold above average.

 

I won quote a few Caps in the last auction, including a few Heartland 15-centers in 9.4 for $50-$55. I even snagged the Boston # 103 for $157 last time, and that book is super nice.

 

This time, I was 0 fer on the Caps...must've bid on 20, won nothing.

 

So, it seems prices were firmer this time around. I won one Spidey, and I bid on over 50 of them. I did snag a few Avengers, but only Bronze and Copper issues.

 

Based on one day in the books, I'd have to say the prices in this auction have held up a lot better then the last time around. I'm guessing it might have to do with the "wealth effect" of everyone's stock portfolio looking a little better these days, and perhaps the fact that C-Link has 1,000 fewer books this time around to dilute the bidding pool with.

 

 

 

I had the exact same experience. I won 5 Caps out of the last auction, all peds if you count Heartland, one this go around. Of course, I've got all of the early run in 9.2 or better, so I haven't been chasing those. But I thought Caps were tough to get last night. Especially the early run.

[Hedge Collector]

I hope you are right James, I'd like to pay $5k-$6k for a nice mid grade (5.5-6.0) FF # 1 again.

 

That'd be a BIG decrease. I don't think popular keys have ever decreased that much in the history of the comics market. I've barely bought books the last 5 years and now have enough to buy nice copies of AF15 and FF1, but since I don't expect prices to rise further, I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy now or just wait a year or two.

 

There is no reason why a 6.0/6.5 FF # 1 should cost you as much as a one year old, well-equipped car. They are far too common, and the run-up was due to people pulling money from other assets and pumping into something they thought was "safe".

 

Now, those days are over and prices are coming back to reality.

 

I would wait James, good deals are still on the horizon....

 

I've asked about this in other threads (even starting my own thread to discuss it). Seems that though it's good "in theory", it doesn't seem to hold up in reality.

[fantastic_four]

There is no reason why a 6.0/6.5 FF # 1 should cost you as much as a one year old, well-equipped car. They are far too common, and the run-up was due to people pulling money from other assets and pumping into something they thought was "safe".

 

I'm looking at the 7.0 to 8.5 range. Not common at all...you're lucky to see one per year, although this year we've seen at least three copies of FF 1 in that range, I'm guessing due to people looking to cash in on the increases--definitely a better time to sell than buy right now. I think that 8.5 with the slanted miswrap in the next Pedigree auction used to be on Parrino's site like 7 years ago for $18K or so...quite a jump for it to likely go for $60K to $90K today.

 

I'm thinking about a nice copy of Spidey 1 in the meantime, that book hasn't skyrocketed the last few years like AF15 and FF1 have, I don't expect significant decreases or increases on that book the next few years.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

I hope you are right James, I'd like to pay $5k-$6k for a nice mid grade (5.5-6.0) FF # 1 again.

 

That'd be a BIG decrease. I don't think popular keys have ever decreased that much in the history of the comics market. I've barely bought books the last 5 years and now have enough to buy nice copies of AF15 and FF1, but since I don't expect prices to rise further, I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy now or just wait a year or two.

 

There is no reason why a 6.0/6.5 FF # 1 should cost you as much as a one year old, well-equipped car. They are far too common, and the run-up was due to people pulling money from other assets and pumping into something they thought was "safe".

 

Now, those days are over and prices are coming back to reality.

 

I would wait James, good deals are still on the horizon....

 

I've asked about this in other threads (even starting my own thread to discuss it). Seems that though it's good "in theory", it doesn't seem to hold up in reality.

 

If someone could provide an alternate theory as to why fairly common comic books (whether they be keys or not) were going up in price in the violatile, deflationary environment that existed from October 2007-April 2009, I'd like to hear it. I don't think its a coincidence that those prices have leveled out and have come back down now that risk is back in the marketplace and people are willing to invest again.

 

 

[cujobyte]

I hope you are right James, I'd like to pay $5k-$6k for a nice mid grade (5.5-6.0) FF # 1 again.

 

That'd be a BIG decrease. I don't think popular keys have ever decreased that much in the history of the comics market. I've barely bought books the last 5 years and now have enough to buy nice copies of AF15 and FF1, but since I don't expect prices to rise further, I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy now or just wait a year or two.

 

There is no reason why a 6.0/6.5 FF # 1 should cost you as much as a one year old, well-equipped car. They are far too common, and the run-up was due to people pulling money from other assets and pumping into something they thought was "safe".

 

Now, those days are over and prices are coming back to reality.

 

I would wait James, good deals are still on the horizon....

 

I hope you are correct George. I sold my FF 1 5.5 for $5500 in late 2002 for the last part of my house downpayment, and am ready to own one again.

[fantastic_four]

If someone could provide an alternate theory as to why fairly common comic books (whether they be keys or not) were going up in price in the violatile, deflationary environment that existed from October 2007-April 2009, I'd like to hear it. I don't think its a coincidence that those prices have leveled out and have come back down now that risk is back in the marketplace and people are willing to invest again.

 

It's my best guess as well. However, given that a lot of people are predicting the stock market will fall again within the next year, possibly to worse depths than we've seen yet during this recession, it'll be interesting to see if people start paying a lot for keys again if it happens.

[Hedge Collector]

I hope you are right James, I'd like to pay $5k-$6k for a nice mid grade (5.5-6.0) FF # 1 again.

 

That'd be a BIG decrease. I don't think popular keys have ever decreased that much in the history of the comics market. I've barely bought books the last 5 years and now have enough to buy nice copies of AF15 and FF1, but since I don't expect prices to rise further, I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy now or just wait a year or two.

 

There is no reason why a 6.0/6.5 FF # 1 should cost you as much as a one year old, well-equipped car. They are far too common, and the run-up was due to people pulling money from other assets and pumping into something they thought was "safe".

 

Now, those days are over and prices are coming back to reality.

 

I would wait James, good deals are still on the horizon....

 

I've asked about this in other threads (even starting my own thread to discuss it). Seems that though it's good "in theory", it doesn't seem to hold up in reality.

 

If someone could provide an alternate theory as to why fairly common comic books (whether they be keys or not) were going up in price in the violatile, deflationary environment that existed from October 2007-April 2009, I'd like to hear it. I don't think its a coincidence that those prices have leveled out and have come back down now that risk is back in the marketplace and people are willing to invest again.

 

 

I know what you're saying. I find it more than a coincidence myself. But, to play devil's advocate, correlation does not make for causation.

 

I'll offer other theories that have crossed my mind.

 

1) The hollywood movie offerings containing comic characters have continued unabated by the recession. This has continued to fuel the marketplace during the recession.

 

2) A few UHG collectors were paying no-limit prices on books which caused a rising tide. We will never know their reasons, but they were buying non-key books also, so it was likely they were trying to complete top census runs. This fueled the marketplace in spite of the recession.

 

These theories are actually have cause and effect.

 

The stock market going down (and seeking a "safer" asset) does't completely make sense because it's just as likely that people are poorer when the stock market goes down, in which comic prices would suffer as well.

[DKeeneman]

The 6.5 Amazing Fantasy 15 copy going for $17K was also lower than I expected. Yea, it was cream/offwhite, but that's still $7K or so lower than the last sale. My general expectation is that key Marvel prices went up too fast the last two years, and that for the next 2-5 years we'll see slight decreases or just overall non-increases to offset the fast rise.

 

Wow, that's shocking...didn't a 6.0 fetch close to $30k earlier this year, by a Board member no less?

 

 

Unfortunately, that 6.5 was my book. I keep telling myself that I needed to sell and made a nice profit, but I still feel really ripped off. It is hard enough to part with the book (the first comic I've ever sold), but to do so at thousands less than I thought it would bring is tough to swallow.

 

I don't know if it is a market dip, or if this CL auction was just a bad venue.

[NewWorldOrder]

My thoughts…..

 

1. Comiclink would be wise to go to every other month for their auctions as every month is just too much

 

a. Not enough time for the average collector to refuel their comic bank

 

b. Doesn’t help they put the same book with the same CGC grade sometimes in the acution as well

 

c. Non-key SA/Late SA/Key BA in High grade (ASM’s especially) are just the same old stuff every month and collectors know they can just get it next month if they don’t feel like being bothered this month

 

i. ASM’s 121,122,129,98,97,100 are just some examples

 

d. There also was a lot of comic conventions in the past month, and a lot in general over the last year, so I would imagine that plays a factor in the auctions results.

 

 

 

2. AF 15 needs to come down in price in the 05-7.0 range as the book is just to common for people to have to spend over 3k for that book in 3.0. My god.

 

a. I have seen more copies of AF 15 at shows over Walking Dead #1 or Y: The Last Man #1..haha

 

 

 

3. I think we are seeing the market correction of common books in HG that needed to come down anyway, so that’s a good thing

 

 

 

4. Unless you have Uber HG 9.8/9.6 then I think for the most part on common books (again back to ASM’s) at 9.2/9.4 with average PQ and centering your rolling the dice pretty hard.

 

 

 

5. I am hoping sellers will slow down their submissions to auction houses in general just to give the market a chance to breath and not have this abundance of the same old books every single time which hurts sales for the seller.

 

 

6. Comic-Link/Comic-Connect/Heritage are very good places to sell new Pedigree collections, Uber HG Books, top census books, rare books (ie..action comics #1) or early Mid-High Grade GA/SA books in the auction format.

 

7. For the wait for your money and time the other stuff I think is much better to try to sell elsewhere first

 

Just my Opinion

 

[fantastic_four]

I don't know if it is a market dip, or if this CL auction was just a bad venue.

 

Besides the fact that I would've set a reserve if I were you, here's what I assumed went into it, in order of impact:

 

1) This was one of those monthly ComicLink auctions, not the quarterly one that has the primo material. I'd run a book like this in their quarterly auctions along with lots of other good stuff, otherwise you run the risk of people choosing to ignore the auction because they don't see much they're looking for. I almost chose not to log in and look at all, but I ended up being at home when I hadn't planned to be, so I did watch that 6.5 end. I considered bidding and slightly regretted not doing so when the price didn't jump at the end.

2) The page quality. A 6.5 copy with cream pages hasn't sold for a while, and you'd expect it to sell for less than other recent copies with better PQ.

3) There's almost a glut of upper-mid and lower-high grade copies of Amazing Fantasy 15 on the market right now or soon to be out. There are 7.0 and 7.5 copies in the November ComicLink auction, an 8.0 in the Mound City auction, and an amazing array of 6.5, 7.0, 8.0, and 8.5 copies in the November Heritage signature auction. People in the market for the issue--and I'm one of them and this is what I was thinking--could easily just wait to see what the other copies with better page quality end up going for.

[gcstomp]

There was a thread recently about what would be a good comic investment to grow play money, with a 10 year time frame, (was it 10k? 50k?).

 

I know that virtually every post in that thread was listing the top Overstreet keys as the vehicles to plop money in, with post after post explaining why they were keys.

 

In my mind, those books that had the fastest run up, the AF 15 as example, had to be the riskiest and most vulnerable to massive correction. I suggested lots of $50 and $100 copper and modern books with upcoming movies being made (like the Walking Dead # 1, Y Last Man # 1, Miracleman 15, Sandman 1 etc) would be a way more upside approach to actually grow as opposed to the hyper inflated gold and silver keys which have had crazy fast run ups. I was mocked, but I still have zero doubt that when we revisit that thread in 10 years, the truth would be clear, but of course too late at that point.

[DKeeneman]

Besides the fact that I would've set a reserve if I were you ...."

 

 

I thought about setting a reserve, but needed to sell it. Oh well, live and learn.

[fantastic_four]

In my mind, those books that had the fastest run up, the AF 15 as example, had to be the riskiest and most vulnerable to massive correction. I suggested lots of $50 and $100 copper and modern books with upcoming movies being made (like the Walking Dead # 1, Y Last Man # 1, Miracleman 15, Sandman 1 etc) would be a way more upside approach to actually grow as opposed to the hyper inflated gold and silver keys which have had crazy fast run ups. I was mocked, but I still have zero doubt that when we revisit that thread in 10 years, the truth would be clear, but of course too late at that point.

 

I'll still take AF15 at today's prices over a 10-year time span, for all the reasons listed in the thread you're referring to. Even if it's inflated today, I just look at the prices as maybe 2-5 years ahead of their time, but sustainable with an excellent chance of appreciation over a longer term. That doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong, but I just can't see how those Copper books appreciate as much as an AF15 given that they're in SUCH high supply.

[VintageComics]

Besides the fact that I would've set a reserve if I were you ...."

 

 

I thought about setting a reserve, but needed to sell it. Oh well, live and learn.

 

Don't feel bad, I sold some really big SA Marvel keys literally 2 weeks before the market exploded last spring.

 

 

You probably still made decent money unless you bought recently.

 

No reserve on premium items is still really the best way to go IMO.

 

There are always roller coaster rides. Look on the bright side, you could have sold it for under $10K a year ago.

 

[gcstomp]

I'll still take AF15 at today's prices over a 10-year time span

 

Well, not todays prices. You would have the prices as of the thread, which was a few months ago. In other words, you are already down 10 or 20%. I would have the prices from a few months ago, which means I am already 10 or 20% up.

[fantastic_four]

No reserve on premium items is still really the best way to go IMO.

 

Probably true, but I lean towards an AF15 with cream pages not being "premium" in today's market. Really, really, really good, but cream isn't drawing the same crowds that white does. I'd set a reserve on almost any key book with cream pages.