A grail on Tuesday: For sale on Friday

[catrick339]

Is THAT why I gave up hookers and blow? Because I got married? I just thought I was getting old and stuff. (And for me it's Fantastic Four, not Spidey, )

[Reno McCoy]

Maybe you will eventually realize that brunettes are for the end user.

 

I'm dating a brunette now, but I'm definitely not going to be the end user.

 

Don't knock it 'til you try it, dude.

[scottish]

Then why not just buy what you can afford

 

It's not about buying what you can or can't afford. It's about buying what appeals to you at that time. Everybody has something that they'd want that they can't afford...whether it's season Hockey tickets, a trip across Europe or a G.I. Joe collectors edition blow up doll. Thing is if you can't afford everything then you have to prioritize.

 

A good friend of mine once said "You can have everything you want. You just can't have it all at the same time."

 

 

 

 

[the blob]

I think many in this thread are underestimating the number of collectors. Simply seeing a handful of books (in the grander scheme of things, it's only a very small number after all) change hands repeatedly is not a good indicator. Simply seeing alot of board members sell books in the Forum is not a good indicator.

 

There are collectors who accumulate books for the long-term and are members of the Collectors Society whom you may not know about, because they post either infrequently or not at all. I know I've sold books to more than a few collectors of this type. Check out the top one hundred names on the CGC Registry for total registry points, and you'll find lots of people who don't sell books at all or do so only infrequently, but prefer to buy and hold. Then there are boardies like me who, after buying and holding comics for nearly 40 years, are finally parting with a fraction of their collection to provide money for retirement or to get away from the commoditization of the hobby. Finally, there are many collectors who buy predominantly or exclusively unslabbed comics, and so fall outside the recognition of participants on these boards.

 

I'm lucky if I find the time to sell 5% of what I buy. The collection keeps growing. Sure, we're not talking about high end stuff. Mostly stuff with a FMV of $1-$25. Haven't bought a slab in years though. Was once more active in that area though...GA books. But decided I have more fun picking up a box of 60's - 70's books for what what one decent not particularly key GA slab would cost.

 

Aside from picking up some $ to offset my comic $ outlays, I also sell stuff I might have acquired within the last year to test whether I continue to have a realistic sense of what constitutes a good "deal".

 

 

[COI]

Wait, you lost me. Are you saying that my 20 year obsession with ASM is suddenly going to end when I hit puberty?

 

More like when some brilliant hottie calls you on all your bullllcrap, you love her, get married, have to give up on hookers n' blow, and have only Peter Parker to allow you to relive your misspent youth.

 

Sounds horrible.

[VintageComics]

Maybe you will eventually realize that brunettes are for the end user.

 

I'm dating a brunette now, but I'm definitely not going to be the end user.

 

Watched "The Assassination of Richard Nixon" last night with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.

 

Naomi, while somewhat cute, and a decent actress, wouldn't play runner up in a "Ms. Miami Beach beauty contest for crack whores contest" IMO.

 

And it's not because her hair was colored dark in the movie.

 

Sean Penn was awesome as usual.

[COI]

IMO, there can only be one "grail". The rest are non-grails.

 

For sure, the number one grail for almost all of us, is Action #1. But yet, I suspect that some of the owners of the primo collections here on these boards, would not trade their entire collection for the highest graded Action #1.

 

Is there anyone here that would not make that trade (besides you guys that have small or mid-grade collections)?

 

, I have no interest in owning an Action #1. For me, the top book in the hobby is the AF 15 in 9.6.

[seanfingh]

Naomi, while somewhat cute, and a decent actress, wouldn't play runner up in a "Ms. Miami Beach beauty contest for crack whores contest" IMO.

 

 

This sentence has its own Wiki under "How to goad COI into a fistfight."

[VintageComics]

IMO, there can only be one "grail". The rest are non-grails.

 

For sure, the number one grail for almost all of us, is Action #1. But yet, I suspect that some of the owners of the primo collections here on these boards, would not trade their entire collection for the highest graded Action #1.

 

Is there anyone here that would not make that trade (besides you guys that have small or mid-grade collections)?

 

, I have no interest in owning an Action #1. For me, the top book in the hobby is the AF 15 in 9.6.

 

Action #1 is cool but I too would prefer something else if I had to make a choice.

 

 

[VintageComics]

Naomi, while somewhat cute, and a decent actress, wouldn't play runner up in a "Ms. Miami Beach beauty contest for crack whores contest" IMO.

 

 

This sentence has its own Wiki under "How to goad COI into a fistfight."

 

[COI]

Naomi, while somewhat cute, and a decent actress, wouldn't play runner up in a "Ms. Miami Beach beauty contest for crack whores contest" IMO.

 

True, simply because 1) She isn't a crack whore and 2) everyone knows that the "Ms. Miami Beach beauty contest for crack whores contest" is rigged.

[VintageComics]

[NewWorldOrder]

I think many in this thread are underestimating the number of collectors. Simply seeing a handful of books (in the grander scheme of things, it's only a very small number after all) change hands repeatedly is not a good indicator. Simply seeing alot of board members sell books in the Forum is not a good indicator.

 

There are collectors who accumulate books for the long-term and are members of the Collectors Society whom you may not know about, because they post either infrequently or not at all. I know I've sold books to more than a few collectors of this type. Check out the top one hundred names on the CGC Registry for total registry points, and you'll find lots of people who don't sell books at all or do so only infrequently, but prefer to buy and hold. Then there are boardies like me who, after buying and holding comics for nearly 40 years, are finally parting with a fraction of their collection to provide money for retirement or to get away from the commoditization of the hobby. Finally, there are many collectors who buy predominantly or exclusively unslabbed comics, and so fall outside the recognition of participants on these boards.

 

Bob’s post above is absolutely the way it is.

 

The CGC Boards barely represents the actual number of comic collectors out there.

 

A lot of collectors who are especially deep pocketed HG Collectors don’t post here.

 

To be quite honest a lot of them just don’t like the boards or can’t be bothered.

 

We all have to realize that there are also hundreds of lurkers here on the boards that never post just like to read.

 

I lurked for years before I joined.

 

Selling here is a good way to get a couple nice quick sales and save on fees etc, but you can’t judge the market just on here that’s not enough.

 

The vast majority of sales I have seen working the convention circuit all year long have been to NON-Boards Members, and most them have never even heard of the CGC Boards when I ask them and are buying for their collections.

 

Flipping is nothing has hasn’t been done for years in this hobby.

 

[seanfingh]

Naomi, while somewhat cute, and a decent actress, wouldn't play runner up in a "Ms. Miami Beach beauty contest for crack whores contest" IMO.

 

True, simply because 1) She isn't a crack whore and 2) everyone knows that the "Ms. Miami Beach beauty contest for crack whores contest" is rigged.

 

No, wait . . .

[Shootydog]

Naomi, while somewhat cute, and a decent actress, wouldn't play runner up in a "Ms. Miami Beach beauty contest for crack whores contest" IMO.

 

True, simply because 1) She isn't a crack whore and 2) everyone knows that the "Ms. Miami Beach beauty contest for crack whores contest" is rigged.

 

Naomi Watts....

[ChasingKingKirby]

Thing is if you can't afford everything then you have to prioritize.

 

Right, but buying something you've wanted for years, holding it for 5 mintues, then selling it for something else isn't prioritizing. Prioritizing is saying, for example, that as cool as that Batman book looks to me right now, I'm in this hobby because of my love for Cherry Poptart, so I'm going to pass on that book for now and keep my Poptart run intact.

 

I think people are always using certain books, runs or "grails" as step ladders or land marks on their way up the hierarchy. Much as they do in the real world with homes.

 

It's a grail for many to own their own home, but for many their first is not their last.

 

Yup. That's it exactly in my case. I've sold two copies of House of Secrets 92 in the last month, a 7.5, that I replaced with a 8.0, and I just sold the 8.0 to replace with a 9.0. It's not that I don't love that book, I do, alot, it's that I want to get the best copy that I can afford and if I can better my copy at a good price, then I'm going to flip the undercopy. The end game for me is the mythical 9.8, but that's another story.

[Norrin_Radd]

Comics have gotten so expensive that it's hard to have that much money tied up in a comic that you don't absolutely love. I'm always looking for keepers that I'll enjoy for years. But all too often I later decide that I don't really want a comic and sell to use the money for something else.

 

It's the economics of the hobby.

[Green]

(I won't change topics this time )

 

It seems as though people aren't holding onto books like they used to. What was a grail on Monday is sold on Friday to pay for something else, or to prevent a divorce. It also seems as though the "dealing collector" always has his price, even on books that are supposedly part of his "personal collection", and that price is usually somewhere around GPA.

 

When perusing auction listings or dealer offerings, or even when I sell books myself, I often wonder: is this book going to a collection, or someone's inventory? Am I going to see it offered again in a couple of months. or is it going to disappear for years?

 

As if any of you haven't noticed, Brian (Foolkiller) just had a tremendous holiday sales thread, where he was offering great books at low, low prices. As I was watching the sparks fly, I couldn't help but wonder if people were going ape- simply because they wanted to score great books that they actually wanted for their collections, or if they were simply "re-stocking".

 

As everyone knows, I collect what may be the most common SA books out there. But even still, I've noticed that certain copies are being sold over and over and over again. Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with buying and selling books, but there is something sad about seeing great books pop up for sale over and over again. Almost a year ago, I sold a spidey slab on ebay for way under GPA; the buyer immediately listed the book with a BIN that was more than double what he paid. While I have no problem with that, I find it sad that it's STILL THERE, listed at the same price. It's a great book, but it has no home.

 

At what point is this constant re-circulating of books no longer going to be sustainable? Are there enough books actually being purchased as "keepers", or is there eventually going to be a huge glut of material sitting out there, untouched and unwanted? Has collecting ADD become so prevailent that the concept of a "grail" no longer has any meaning? Is this segment of the hobby (higher grade, higher end) really just a network of dealers, passing books around?

yes.

[Bunky Brian]

"Is this segment of the hobby (higher grade, higher end) really just a network of dealers, passing books around? "

 

Great question, I believe the above is a LOUD YES!!!

 

 

 

[500Club]

"Is this segment of the hobby (higher grade, higher end) really just a network of dealers, passing books around? "

 

Great question, I believe the above is a LOUD YES!!!

 

 

 

In general, I'd probably agree, but then you see a NM 98 go for 12K and realize that there are some big time end users out there. Any dealer/flipper paying that and hoping to turn it is taking a huge gamble.