In all your years of collecting, have you ever “hit the big one”?

[The Troll King]

Back when I was selling toys I use to come across garage sale deals all the time.

 

At-At I paid $5 for sold for $175

Original Ewoks animation cell framed with a rough sketch of same I paid $30 sold for $400

Large Han Solo doll was always missing his medallion which made the doll about $40-50. Found the medallion on someones beat up Wonder Woman doll at a flea market and asked if I could just buy the medallion and they said, "No, because then I wouldn't be able to sell the Wonder Woman". How right they were so I paid the $20 for the Wonder Woman. Threw her in the trash, put the medallion on the Han and sold him for $400.

etc. etc.

 

In the comics world I paid $6 for a Hulk 181 had it graded, came back 9.2 and I sold it very early when I came to these boards for full guide at the time. I didn't know what GPA was so I didn't realize full guide was a little under the "going price" but I think I did ok.

 

Recently bought a collection with someone and there was a book which average price we paid probably less than $1 a book one book sold for over $500

 

Another collection we shared of mixed golden age for about $250 scored us a $1400 book.

 

There are definitely still deals to be had.

[Comics-n-ERB]

2nd story.

 

This is a three month long story, but I will shorten it a little

 

In the local book store and overheard an older gentleman asking the clerk for a comic book price guide. Said she didn't have one. He said oh well, he wanted to see what some old comics he had might be worth.

 

So of course I tackled him before he could get out of the store.

 

My wife and I made it over to his house a few days later. There laying on the coffee table and on the floor around it were 11 Kellogg Cereal Boxes from the 1950's. He told me that he was drafted for the Koren War. He didn't want his mom to throw away his books while he was gone to war. So he packed them in the Cereal Boxes and then pulled off the base boards in his bedroom and hid them there. He had just remembered he put them there a couple of weeks past.

 

So, all the boxes were taped shut. He pulls out a pocket knife and shakily cuts open the first box. I ask him to let me pull the books out since he was so shaky. I pulled out the books and it looked like they had just come off the press. Unbelievable looking colors and condition wise some of the best books I had ever seen.

 

Ended up with 225 books dating from 1948 to 1952. All across the board. Super Hero, War, Funny Animal, Archie's.

 

It took three months but I finally was able to work out a deal with him. I gave him $5,000.00 for those 225 books.

 

Within 24 hours I had made $17,000. All told I did a little over $60,000 and still have a few of the lesser books.

 

This was right at the beginning of CGC. If I had sent them all in to be graded I feel I would of had around $150,000. I sent in 5 books to be graded (after the 24 hour sales). I'm pretty sure they are all still the highest graded copies.

 

Ask Capt. Comics (Rick) and TSP99 (Tyler) they remember this collection!

 

 

[MrBedrock]

It has been told repeatedly, but this walked in the store a couple of years back...

[BlissComics]

It has been told repeatedly, but this walked in the store a couple of years back...

 

Hey Richard.

[Comicdey]

That's quite a beauty TEC 31 but didn't you have to pay at least a decent percentage for it? :: I'm sure you have better finds on a percentage return basis. Think hard and share the best deal/return. Plus you still have it and are unlkely to sell. I saw how you looked at it and held it lovingly.

[thirdgreenham]

I bought a Michael Jordan rookie for $2. Sold it, thinking it was his 2nd year card, for $12.

 

I made thousands of dollars off of the Valiant craze, pre-Unity, that is. Lost hundreds on the post-Unity.

 

Someone gave me a tip, hush hush info on a new character replacing Batman. So, I bought 250 copies of Sword of Azrael #1 for half cover price. Sold them for $6.00 each US.

 

Bought some coins for their silver value and found a 1947 Canadian 50-cent piece with the Maple Leaf and the 7 was curved to the right. That's a couple of thousand bucks for that one. Would have cost me about $5.00 at the time.

 

 

[Ze-man]

Wasn't Maple Crispette kinda big?

 

[Ze-man]

One of my early Ebay buys was a Boxed GR Superman set for $50

 

The box was a little worn, but everything inside had never seen the light of day.

 

Got the Comic graded last year with one of my coupons.

 

 

 

[G.A.tor]

It has been told repeatedly, but this walked in the store a couple of years back...

[thirdgreenham]

Wasn't Maple Crispette kinda big?

 

 

pretty big, yep. (thumbs u

[micmack]

Or the ones that got away...

Back in the mid eighties, my brothers handed down some loose baseball cards they got from some other kids. I saw it had some value but I was more into comics. This was before grading came about. I traded the entire lot for some midgrade uncanny x-men (this was when NM was really VF+). A year later, baseball card prices went through the roof. The years were from 1966-1970. Included were the Nolan Ryan Rookie, 2 Reggie Jackson Rookies, Tom Seaver Rookie, etc. etc

[Schmakt]

those are the worst...

Someone tried to sell me a set of Beta Magic cards in 1994 for $300, but I couldn't get the money... Looks like I can go buy that for about $14,000 these days...

 

 

Similarly, I sold a very minty Beta Black Lots for about $600 in 2002-ish... stupid thing's worth 3 times as much now... AND the guy to whom I sold it spilt a coffee on it the day he got it in the mail.

[the blob]

I bought 15 copies of New Mutants #98 off the comic store rack in Dec, 1990 for 90 cents each.

 

9 of them have come back 9.8s....so far.

 

Does that count?

 

Oh, and I found an Albedo #2 for 75 cents (plus tax) at my LCS 2 years ago.

 

 

why is that nearly every book you own seems to come back a 9.8?

[bill977]

bought 2 boxes of 86 fleer basketball in 1986 for 12.00 a box. .35 cents a pack retail i think. turned down a 12 box case of 86 fleer bskt. for 50.00 in 1987 at a strongsville,ohio show. the case was not sealed,they were remainder boxes. better known at returns from retail outlets. what was i thinking? but did get 3 sets from each box and sold all but one in the early 90s

[RockMyAmadeus]

Bought some coins for their silver value and found a 1947 Canadian 50-cent piece with the Maple Leaf and the 7 was curved to the right. That's a couple of thousand bucks for that one. Would have cost me about $5.00 at the time.

 

 

 

Ok, now that's just ridonkulous.

 

My best find was a VG 1927S SLQ for melt.

 

[marmat]

I bought 30 DAys of Night 1 for $1 and got a CGC 9.6. Sold it for $390

 

When Dime Press 4 started to be popular, I manged to buy a dozen copies from different sources (LCS, Ebay, Con) in Italy. Sold two of them raw for $270 each during Hellboy 2 movie hype. Sold a thirdh copy for $99 and submitted three copies to CGC. One came back 9.0, sold for $220, the other two are now CGC 9.6 and still have them.

[RockMyAmadeus]

I bought 15 copies of New Mutants #98 off the comic store rack in Dec, 1990 for 90 cents each.

 

9 of them have come back 9.8s....so far.

 

Does that count?

 

Oh, and I found an Albedo #2 for 75 cents (plus tax) at my LCS 2 years ago.

 

 

why is that nearly every book you own seems to come back a 9.8?

 

Cause I'm, first and foremost, a coinee.

 

 

But are you wondering why my books actually come back 9.8, or if I just *say* they come back 9.8...?

 

In case there are doubts....

 

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

It has been told repeatedly, but this walked in the store a couple of years back...

 

Drek.

 

 

[mystrymachine]

I purchased a set of Walking Dead 1 and 2 on Ebay for $30.00, Read them once and put them in my dresser drawer for awhile. Sent them to be graded last year and they both came back 9.8's. That's about the extent of my comic collecting luck. I did get to second base with a girl once though.

[AGGIEZ]

I bought 15 copies of New Mutants #98 off the comic store rack in Dec, 1990 for 90 cents each.

 

9 of them have come back 9.8s....so far.

 

Does that count?

 

Oh, and I found an Albedo #2 for 75 cents (plus tax) at my LCS 2 years ago.

 

 

why is that nearly every book you own seems to come back a 9.8?

 

Cause I'm, first and foremost, a coinee.

 

 

But are you wondering why my books actually come back 9.8, or if I just *say* they come back 9.8...?

 

In case there are doubts....

 

 

 

 

1,2,3,4,5,6,7....So you're only fibbing about the other 2 then... (thumbs u