Forgive me brothers for I have sinned!!

[valiantman]

I wonder if the sheer volume of low grade but still expensive early Amazing Spider-Mans and Fantasic Fours being graded dropped the averages there in 63 and 64.

I was just about to point that out, but it keeps things complicated, doesn't it?

 

In order to avoid averaging in the low-grade ASM #1s, for example,

on my website I calculate the average grade of books from 8.0 to 10.0.

Since books below 8.0 had no shot at receiving a 9.0 or better anyway.

 

I'll recalculate the percentages of 9.0 or better among only books 8.0 or better.

(If that makes any sense at all...)

 

Percentage of CGC 9.0 (or better) among books certified as CGC 8.0 or better

1960 - 60%

1961 - 55%

1962 - 59%

1963 - 62%

1964 - 62%

1965 - 67%

1966 - 73%

1967 - 77%

1968 - 77%

1969 - 79%

[fantastic_four]

The reason is that I would like to eventually get as close to a complete set of 60's superhero marvels in high grade as possible, and if I bought CGC 9.4/9.6 copies of every run of the mill, non-key issue(especially with an expensive title like ASM) it would never get done. I'm in my 20's, and just don't have the resources for that.

 

What, do you want to reach your collecting goals by the time you're 30 or something? You've got 30-40 more productive years to complete those runs in whatever grade you want.

[Apotheosis]

What, do you want to reach your collecting goals by the time you're 30 or something? You've got 30-40 more productive years to complete those runs in whatever grade you want.

 

30 or 40 more years yes... but do you have any idea what kind of prices he's looking at for a mid to high grade 60's comics in 40 years? We're looking at a 70 to 80 year old comic at that point. Better to get them at their current high prices instead of the future high prices. At least that's the way I justify buying comics that wipe out my "extra" cash.

[fantastic_four]

30 or 40 more years yes... but do you have any idea what kind of prices he's looking at for a mid to high grade 60's comics in 40 years?

 

Spend it now, spend it later...it's all roughly the same to me on most books with a number of notable exceptions (keys and undervalued titles/issues). Comics go up every year, and so does your money in other types of investments. And up goes your salary, on average, with a few peaks and valleys over the decades.

 

I would like to land an AF 15 and FF 1 ASAP, before they go into the absolutely insane stratosphere.

[Apotheosis]

I would like to land an AF 15 and FF 1 ASAP, before they go into the absolutely insane stratosphere.

 

I thought they had already Maybe that's just my sub $100K income talking

 

 

[COI]

The reason is that I would like to eventually get as close to a complete set of 60's superhero marvels in high grade as possible, and if I bought CGC 9.4/9.6 copies of every run of the mill, non-key issue(especially with an expensive title like ASM) it would never get done. I'm in my 20's, and just don't have the resources for that.

 

What, do you want to reach your collecting goals by the time you're 30 or something? You've got 30-40 more productive years to complete those runs in whatever grade you want.

 

Maybe, but I'd rather focus the $$$ into the pre-65' stuff. Once I finish the VF/NM runs of the post 65' stuff(up to around 1973) I don't want to look back, even to upgrade. There are a few favorites that would be an exception, but I'd rather get the non-key mid-late silver and early bronze done in the next 5 years or so. Then I can focus on putting together killer sets of ASM 1-20, FF 1-20, STT 101-120, etc..... in CGC 9.0 or higher, and continue to upgrade these where possible. There's just too much mid-late 60's out there, and it takes away my incentive to put real money into them.

[COI]

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I think acurately graded RAW VF+ and VF/NM post-66' books are the biggest bargains in the hobby

 

 

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The absolute smartest thing I have read here in a LONG time.

 

 

As a collector, I would say you are absolutely correct.

As an investor, I'm not so sure.

 

 

 

I was speaking as a collector, but it can apply to "investing" too. Paying 6-8X guide for a 9.6 non-key from 1967 is not my idea of a good investment. Paying 40%-60% of guide for a nice raw VF/NM is. And yes, you can get non-key books that cheap from quality sources, you just have to look. Assemble a small run of books at that price, then sell it as a set, or offer them individually but at the same time, and you'll see the kind of returns you could make. The reason a seller like Showcase New England does so well is that they offer huge runs at one time, which encourages people to bid aggressively inorder to get as many possible books in one shot as they can. Or, you can assemble the run and wait it out a few years, letting guide values apreciate slowly, then sell. When I say buy or sell, I'm not necessarily talking about Ebay either. If you're a good grader who provides an unconditional return policy, you should have no problem networking and finding eager buyers to sell to. Most of the raw books I buy are done so privately from a few trusted sources, and I sell raw books the same way. Don't forget that the pool of buyers for nice high grade raw is still larger than the CGC 9.4-9.8 croud, it just isn't noticed as much because the amount of money being thrown around per-book is much less, and therefor attracts less attention.

 

So, considering that the determining factor of a good investment is the price paid, please explain again why paying 6-8X guide for a 9.4/9.6 book whose numbers are likely to continue to swell in the census over time, is a better investment than a raw VF/NM bought at 40-60% of guide, which has a bigger overall collecting base, and the aid of yearly increases in the overstreet?

[sfilosa]

So, considering that the determining factor of a good investment is the price paid, please explain again why paying 6-8X guide for a 9.4/9.6 book whose numbers are likely to continue to swell in the census over time, is a better investment than a raw VF/NM bought at 40-60% of guide, which has a bigger overall collecting base, and the aid of yearly increases in the overstreet?

 

 

I never said paying 6-8X guide for 9.4/9.6 is a better investment than raw VF/NM.

 

Yes, you can get raw VF/NM sometimes for 40-60% or guide.

 

Based on what you are saying it's better to buy raw books at 40-60% of guide than CGC books at 6-8X guide. I AGREE!!!!!!

 

But is it better to buy raw books at close to guide value than to find some reasonable deals on CGC 9.4 for 2.5-3.0X guide. PROBABLY NOT.

 

In either case, you have to have some patience and some luck.

 

But I will say this again. Raw VF+ to VF/NM books (excluding key issues), really have not gone up significantly in the past 5-10 years. Yet, mostly because of CGC, true NM books have skyrocketed. Is that day over. Maybe, but maybe not.