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Crazy Prices on Marvel Keys?

Started by sfilosa,

121 posts in this topic

sfilosa

sfilosa

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FF48 cgc 9.2 with white pages from the Cleveland collection, purchased for about the same price that an FF49 cgc 9.2 white (Boston) reached during the same week. While I realize that the 49 is a less common find in high grade, the character introductions makes the 48 one of the most important silver age Marvel books of all.

 

An interesting example, and a good illustration of the fact that either people have forgeton why they are collecting comic books in the first place or a lot of the buyers are not 'collectors' at all.

 

 

There are probably two reasons for this:

 

1) FF #48 has been a "HOT" but attainable book for the past 25 years. There are lots of copies in high grade (see census) and therefore many serious collectors (be it FF fans or just Marvel Silver-Age fans) have a nice copy of this book.

 

) This book is seems to be offer in high-grade every week (either eBay or Heritage). So if you do need a copy for your collection, there is no rush to buy it today when another will come around tomorrow.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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An interesting example, and a good illustration of the fact that either people have forgeton why they are collecting comic books in the first place or a lot of the buyers are not 'collectors' at all. 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

I disagree...the significantly lower supply of #49 entirely explains the similarity in price. More people want just #48, but enough people want the entire 48 to 50 run to force the prices up on the less-available #49 and #50 issues. Because the storyline spanned three issues, I find it difficult to look at #48 as the most key of the three. Even if you've read the story and just want the highest-graded copies you can get, #49 has a much cooler cover than #48 since both Galactus and Silver Surfer are on it (not that the cover to #48 isn't cool also).

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awe4one

awe4one

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Because the storyline spanned three issues, I find it difficult to look at #48 as the most key of the three.

 

What? Isn't FF #48 the 1st appearance of the Silver Surfer? I think that trumps the others by a tad......

 

Jim

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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Because the storyline spanned three issues, I find it difficult to look at #48 as the most key of the three.

 

What? Isn't FF #48 the 1st appearance of the Silver Surfer? I think that trumps the others by a tad......

 

Not for me personally, as FF 49 is the first full Galactus appearance and has a killer cover. I never liked Surfer that much, and I feel that Galactus is the more significant appearance, at least from a Marvel Universe perspective.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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What? Isn't FF #48 the 1st appearance of the Silver Surfer? I think that trumps the others by a tad......

 

Does Fellowship of the Ring trump the Two Towers and Return of the King simply because it's the first in the trilogy?

 

I know what you're saying and I understand how more people will flock to #48 because it's a first appearance and that people fixate on single issues like that, but I find it difficult to separate those three issues from each other since they're one continuous storyline. Because it's a three-part story, I'd say at least 30% to 60% of the people who want #48 will also want #49 and #50.

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clobberintime

clobberintime

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I am really starting to think that I may be right about all the big money coming from Uk buyers. I talked to eides today and they said that in that recent high grade run of ToSs that sold for wild money on ebay, one guy from the UK bought just about all of them and pissed about the few he lost! Josh and others are very secretive about who they sell to but I know of several high grade JiM and FF collectors from the Uk and bet they have snapped up those keys that have been popping up. It only makes sense with the weak dollar right now. And it does not suck to be Josh right now. Looks like his new format has really taken off - he is really moving a lot of high dollar high grade Marvel stuff. Remember when that FF 12 8.0 came up awhile ago that went just under $2000 that almost none of us thought would go for that? The 8.5 was up for about 24 hours before it went for $2400! I was stunned by that JiM 83 8.5 price though - less than a year ago I picked up an 8.0 for about $2500!

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blowout

blowout

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More people want just #48, but enough people want the entire 48 to 50 run to force the prices up on the less-available #49 and #50 issues. Because the storyline spanned three issues, I find it difficult to look at #48 as the most key of the three.

 

I agree in principle with what you are saying, but there is no getting away from the fact that #48 is the first app of the Silver Surfer and cameo of Galactus, and is probably one of the top 10 Marvel books EVER. This fact will always push demand way higher than 49 & 50, which don't get me wrong are great books, but is the smaller supply ever going to make up for the lesser demand? Personally, I don't think so.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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I don't even like the Silver Surfer alone all that much, but Silver Surfer + Galactus = a scale of villainy and tragic heroism unlike any other in the Marvel universe. I wouldn't be collecting FF if not for issues 48 to 50.

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murph0

murph0

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Perhaps important to you, but..

I can come up with, off the top of my head, at least 10 books that are more important on a broader scale than FF 48..

 

FF 1

FF 2? (what's the first app of Namor?)

FF 5

AF 15

ASM 1

ASM 14

Avengers 1

Avengers 4

ToS 39

Hulk 1

Hulk 181

Daredevil 1

X-men 1

JiM 83

 

To a lesser degree

 

TTA 27

STT 110

STT 101

Sgt Fury 1

etc etc

 

I could live with perhaps top 20, but I don't see it as remotely top 10.

 

Brian

 

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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I don't even like the Silver Surfer alone all that much, but Silver Surfer + Galactus = a scale of villainy and tragic heroism...

 

I agree, but remember that FF 49 is Galactus' actual first appearance.

 

If you want to disagree, keep in mind I've got Bruce in the waiting room with his Hulk 180's, ready to pounce. 893naughty-thumb.gif

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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It depends on what quality any particular person is thinking of when they say "top books." FF 48 has always ranked highly on the merits of its story...if you're ranking by price, then yea, you're right, we can all read Overstreet and figure that out--there's nothing to debate.

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JiveTurkeyMoFo

JiveTurkeyMoFo

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I could live with perhaps top 20, but I don't see it as remotely top 10.

 

I'm not going to throw myself on either side of this debate, but I can recall a time when FF 48 was more desirable to many collectors then a JIM 83, TOS 39, TTA 27 and the like.

 

For some reason, the character didn't quite catch on with younger collectors and his popularity has faded a great deal. Perhaps the fact that his regular series became drek had something to do with it, or that Marvel decided to showcase Warlock in all their 90s Infinity series of titles instead of the Surfer.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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If you want to disagree, keep in mind I've got Bruce in the waiting room with his Hulk 180's, ready to pounce. 893naughty-thumb.gif

 

I DISAGREE! The whole issue portends Galactus's coming...even though he doesn't appear until the last page, the entire issue is about him, aside from the end of that Inhumans plot at the very beginning. The fact that he ISN'T on the cover is exactly what makes that cover so cool...you know they're all watching for his arrival.

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Bronty

Bronty

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I don't think it's a top 10 book in terms of story either. If we're talking quality of story I'd take issues 56-59 or so.

 

I agree with Brian on this one. It's definitely a top tier book but not top 10. That being said, surfer and galactus were a big part of what made the FF run so great. If we're talking quality of the story, not a top 10. If we're talking price tag of the story, not a top 10.

 

If we're talking importance of the story... almost.

 

Dan

 

And the first SA Namor is FF 4 makepoint.gif

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