Heritage Auction Results

[sterlingcomics]

Anyone get any cool books from the recent Heritage Auction that you'd like share?

 

I picked up:

 

Chamber of Chills #4 (Marvel, 1973) CGC NM 9.4

Chamber of Chills #17 (Marvel, 1975) CGC NM 9.4

Crypt of Shadows #2 (Marvel, 1973) CGC NM 9.4

Crypt of Shadows #5 (Marvel, 1973) CGC NM+ 9.6

Crypt of Shadows #7 (Marvel, 1973) CGC NM+ 9.6

Dead of Night #2 (Marvel, 1974) CGC NM 9.4

Journey into Mystery (2nd Series) #4 (Marvel, 1973) CGC NM+ 9.6

Journey into Mystery (2nd Series) #15 (Marvel, 1975) CGC NM 9.4

Journey into Mystery (2nd Series) #17 (Marvel, 1975) CGC NM+ 9.6

Journey into Mystery (2nd Series) #18 (Marvel, 1975) CGC NM 9.4

 

[Timely]

I won nothing this time.

 

I looked at the upcoming offerings for the next ACA and it really sucks! I wonder if they are running out of books to auction? You can't keep 6 major auction a year, 24 minor auction a year and sell stuff on ebay, and expect to maintain an indefinate supply of books.

 

Over the past year or two several MAJOR Golden Age collections went up on the market. I don't expect many more to come around.

 

Silver Age seems to be heating up. Many Silver Age collections are now hitting the market, as can be seen in Comiclink, Hoodeedoo and Blazingbob.

 

The GA books were absorbed, it will be interesting to see how the SA books fair.

 

Timely

[sterlingcomics]

Yikes, I saw that--only 165 books?!?

 

I guess whatever has a beginning...must come to an end.

[tth2]

Yikes, I saw that--only 165 books?!?

 

I guess whatever has a beginning...must come to an end.

 

Not surprising. They took a good franchise and after a great start are surely but slowly running it into the ground by running too many auctions and, perhaps most importantly, alienating many of the major dealers. No dealers means reduced demand AND reduced supply of quality books. Although I'd be the last person to ever sympathize with the dealers, I simply can't understand why Heritage has gone out of its way to pick a fight with them.

[BachelorOfComix]

I simply can't understand why Heritage has gone out of its way to pick a fight with them.

How so?

[murph0]

I'd have to wonder how much they really care. One can only imagine the amount of money they've made at this point. Their "rip" on consigned books is simply outrageous.. 30 percent?

 

Brian

[BachelorOfComix]

Exactly. Plus, coins are their bread & butter. I mean heck, there are coins out there that sell for a million bucks.

[tth2]

I simply can't understand why Heritage has gone out of its way to pick a fight with them.

How so?

 

By holding their Signature/floor auctions in conjunction with major conventions, thus directly competing with dealers who've set up at the cons. Bob Storms has touched on this point in numerous of his Rants & Raves, and several major dealers have told me that they no longer bid on Heritage auctions.

[BachelorOfComix]

By holding their Signature/floor auctions in conjunction with major conventions, thus directly competing with dealers who've set up at the cons. Bob Storms has touched on this point in numerous of his Rants & Raves, and several major dealers have told me that they no longer bid on Heritage auctions.

Strange. Doesn't Bob still consign to Heritage? I could have sworn I saw some of his comics in the last Signature auction.

[awe4one]

By holding their Signature/floor auctions in conjunction with major conventions, thus directly competing with dealers who've set up at the cons. Bob Storms has touched on this point in numerous of his Rants & Raves, and several major dealers have told me that they no longer bid on Heritage auctions.

 

Couldn't this help the dealers as well? Considering the prices that Heritage auctions routinely end at, I'd suspect that the dealers would be able to move their similiar HG copies under the Heritage price. Also, the Sig auctions should attract the BSDs to the con and alternatively access to the dealer's books.

 

Jim

[tth2]

I'd have to wonder how much they really care. One can only imagine the amount of money they've made at this point. Their "rip" on consigned books is simply outrageous.. 30 percent?

 

Good question. I'm sure they've made a ton of money, but as with any business, you never get to rest on yesterday's laurels but have to show constant increasing profits. In my opinion, the long-term prospects aren't good if they've alienated the part of the buyer side of the equation (the dealers), drying up demand, which in the auction business will always ultimately result in drying up of supply. If the Feb Signature auction is a portent of things to come, it's going to be a pretty down year for Heritage.

 

I agree that their prices are outrageous, but it's certainly not driving people to eBay's lower pricing, as the quality of books on eBay seems to have markedly dropped over the last few years. Perhaps the biggest beneficiary is Comiclink, where dealers can sell and buy anonymously, and the selling commission is much lower than Heritage's?

 

[tth2]

By holding their Signature/floor auctions in conjunction with major conventions, thus directly competing with dealers who've set up at the cons. Bob Storms has touched on this point in numerous of his Rants & Raves, and several major dealers have told me that they no longer bid on Heritage auctions.

 

Couldn't this help the dealers as well? Considering the prices that Heritage auctions routinely end at, I'd suspect that the dealers would be able to move their similiar HG copies under the Heritage price. Also, the Sig auctions should attract the BSDs to the con and alternatively access to the dealer's books.

 

All valid points. But I guess the dealers don't look at this way. I'm not saying I necessarily agree or understand with what they're doing, I'm just saying my understanding is that many are boycotting Heritage. Now that I think of it, I seem to recall mention of a petition being circulated by dealers at one of the cons (maybe last year's SD?).

 

 

[awe4one]

But I guess the dealers don't look at this way.

 

Apparently not. I'm sure there's something else involved. Be interesting to hear a dealer's viewpoint on this.

 

Jim

[sfilosa]

I think I won two Atlas Mystery Tales (both White Mountain copies).

 

Regarding Heritage's next auction, no question the worst I've seen in a year. Plus, it's a three week wait.

 

I really believe there are two factors involved.

 

 

1) Other than a selected amount of Key books (and mostly those in high grade), prices on most books have not increase significantly since the last price guide came out. In general, you can buy tons of Silver-Age Marvel's, even in 9.0-9.4 for about what you could have bought them for a year ago.

 

Here is the sales of Iron-Man #1 for the past 11 months.

 

Average Hi/Low Month

 

2 $926.50 1,142/711 Mar 2003

 

3 $862.33 995/677 Apr 2003

 

4 $806.50 990/675 May 2003

 

3 $673.99 760/559 Jun 2003

 

3 $919.83 960/862 Jul 2003

 

1 $910.00 - Aug 2003

 

1 $830.00 - Sep 2003

 

3 $758.00 811/710 Oct 2003

 

1 $776.25 - Nov 2003

 

1 $799.00 - Dec 2003

 

1 $800.00 - Jan 2004

 

2 $831.39 887/775 Feb 200

 

As you can see, very little movement in average sale prices.

 

This is fairly consistent with most Silver-Age Marvel books (except the TRUE Keys from pre-1965).

 

2) ComicLink. Said it before and will say it again. Unless you HAVE to SELL your books, why not put them on ComicLink and ONLY pay when they do sell. 10% commission is much better than 30%.

 

All that said, I will still enjoy buying books from Heritage, as every once in a while they have books that sell at very reasonable prices and they have books not available anywhere else.

 

 

 

[texasknight]

I won the only book I was bidding on in this past auction, but on another note...

After going back and forth with Heritage over an auction I won but was never invoiced for, they finally figured out that I had 2 different customer numbers. No idea why that was, since I never changed anything between auctions. Anyway, they got my past wins all straight and everything was in order.

Saturday I open the mailbox, and what is in there but a nice little gift certificate from them for 50$ off my next auction win. A small note said that they were sorry for the latest mix up and hoped this would make it up. Say what you want about Heritage, but they sure treated me right.

[jkrk]

Is it possible that the March 6 auction is light since most sellers are holding off for the NY (April 1-4) auction? Just a thought. With that said, all the views about the total quantities of comics offered spread over the larger number of auctions is valid and is leading to smaller less exciting quarterly event .

[delekkerste]

Who's planning on attending the April Signature Auction in New York??

 

I hope to at least make the original art night and possibly one of the comic nights depending on what is being auctioned.

 

Gene

[jkrk]

I will. It's the only auction I can walk to.

[sfilosa]

Looks like they have more to auction than was originally shown.

[tth2]

Say what you want about Heritage, but they sure treated me right.

 

I've never had an issue with their customer service or order fulfillment. They answer queries promptly, and they actually seem to read email queries and answer the question that was asked (compare to eBay's form responses, which more likely than not will not answer the question that's being asked). Heritage's order fulfillment, particularly if you're buying on the 6-month plan, can be surprisingly unsophisticated at times, but their heart always seems to be in the right place and they always get it right in the end.