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Is it better to invest in Silver or Gold?

Started by Apotheosis,

68 posts in this topic

Apotheosis

Apotheosis

Posted
Posted

I've been collecting SA stuff for a while now and have seen the definite potential that it has for investing. The folks over in the GA forum have definitely piqued my interest in stuff a bit older. I'm wondering what the better investment is though.

 

Seems to me that, for the most part, SA books are valued correctly in Overstreet. There are a few exceptions to this such as high grade keys, but on the whole... fairly close to what people will pay.

 

GA on the other hand seems very under valued. These books are much harder to find in any condition let alone high grade. Keep in mind that the collectors mentality for comics starting hitting in the late 60's to early 70's. That means that alot of the Silver stuff was less than 10 years old when people started to really protect their comics. GA's were more than a decade or more older so not nearly as many could make it in high grade.

 

SA books definitely have the much higher interest right now due to the high number of people that started reading them as kids versus the GA books that were read by an ever declining population. Even with that being the case it seems that if GA ever makes the value jump that it needs to make (and that's a big If) then people holding on to those will have made the better investment than those hoarding/collecting the high grade silvers.

 

What do you all think? Better to invest in Silver or Gold?

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sckao

sckao

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Posted
What do you all think? Better to invest in Silver or Gold?

 

Invest is a strange word in relation to comics, but Follow the Money.

 

Buy what the Baby Boomers are buying or collecting. Most of them grew up in the Silver Age.

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Rocketeer

Rocketeer

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Ummm,...I just bought microsoft at $25.13 today,....lowest it's been in almost a year,...slap 20 G's down on it,.. set the sell $25.38...cash out in two days then take the $200.00 and buy a nice Silver DC......

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Rob

Rob

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Buy what you like and will enjoy owning, comic book collecting should be considered a hobby/fun pastime, not an investment opportunity.

 

I think it can be both. When individual items of a hobby sells for thousands, people are going to use it as an investment as well. Half of my comic collecting hobby is the fun of realizing a profit. You can collect for many different reasons. Some comics I buy to keep, some I buy because the price is right and I can profit from it. What better thing to flip than the hobby you're passionate about?

 

As for OP's question, if you ever read the market reports in CBG, it seems every single one has the line "Of course, Gold is selling well." Or, "Gold seems to sell as fast as it comes in." It comes down to how much you have to invest. Gold will obviously be more expensive than Silver.

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Aman619

Aman619

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SIlver has greater demand and the characters are all still active...

Gold is "rarer" than Silver, but the demand is less, so I would only stick to 3 or 4 top characters and stay away from the dead heroes' books and esoteric stuff as cool as they may be. If you are thinking investment first, you want to stay as liquid as you can, and thats comics with greater demand that will sell when YOU want to sell, not sit around.

 

Also, with Silver prices havingtaken off in recent years, there is a solid argument that Gold will now "catch up" as it has done in the past.

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Rob

Rob

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Gold is "rarer" than Silver, but the demand is less,

 

This sounds misleading. I think a Gold book will move much faster than a Silver book. The demand may be less than Silver, but in relation to the supply, I think it's greater. For example, let's say that the demand for Silver is 100 books/month, well your supply is about 100 books/month. The demand for Gold may only be 50 books, but you may only see 20. Gold is hot.

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kryptonitecomics

kryptonitecomics

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I like the buy what you like theory, which doesn't necessarily relate well to investment criteria.

 

What I started doing about a year ago was to buy key issues (Bronze, Silver). The thought behind it was since I love comic books period, I might as well buy the key issues first. This will save me money down the road as the key's appreciate a lot quicker then common issues, plus if I ever decide to sell any of my collection, they will bring greater returns.

 

When it comes to GA books it's all about the amount of capital you have to invest over a certain period of time. Since GA books are more expensive when it comes to the key's (Action #1, Detective #27, Superman #1) etc you need a lot of capital to invest in these rare beauties. That's not to say that you have to stick with the key's or DC for that mater, but again the return is typically better if you stick to popular titles with key character appearences etc.

 

I think most of us on these boards would say that comics aren't an investment or at least that's not what drives the majority of us to collect. I can say that I am a collector first and an investor/speculator second so value does cross my mind when I make a purchase.

 

It really comes down to identifying the drivers in the market that make a book heat up. If you can do that it doesn't mater what era comics you purchase, you'll do well! This might mean a movie on the way, knowing the population reports and going after nice raw books that are rare in the CGC Registry or any number of other drivers.

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Timely

Timely

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I enjoy Golden Age books more than Silver. I think Gold has a lot more to offer than Silver. SA is basically a 50/50 decision...do I collect Marvel Superheroes or DC Superheroes.

 

With GA you have about 50 Publishers to choose from. You can collect WWII covers, classic covers, Schomburg Covers, titles, Hitler covers, Robot Covers, Air Brushed covers, Keys, runs, Horror, Sci-fi, Good-girl, Funny Animal, companies...the list goes on and on.

 

Don't get me wrong, Silver Age is great, but I enjoy holding those wide, thick 68 page GA books over the skinny and thinner 32 paged SA stuff.

 

Timely

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valiantman

valiantman

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He are the scenarios that I often toss around in my head...

 

Assuming that your intent is to buy "quality books" of your choosing...

What are the possibilities if you want to make "ten times your investment"?

 

Golden Age - pick a book for $5,000... you sell someday for $50,000.

Silver Age - pick 10 books for $500 each... you sell someday for $5,000 each.

Bronze Age - pick 100 books for $50 each... you sell someday for $500 each.

Modern Age - pick 1,000 books for $5 each... you sell someday for $50 each.

 

All of these are $5,000 "investments"... and all of them "someday" earn $50,000.

So the question is...

How long will it take for each investment option to pay off?

Of course, no one knows... but it's something to think about.

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Mephisto

Mephisto

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I think a Gold book will move much faster than a Silver book.

 

27_laughing.gif Depends on the book, some Silver goes like hot cakes and some Gold is dead in the water.

 

A lot of it depends on the price tag someone puts on it...

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RushComics

RushComics

Posted
Posted
He are the scenarios that I often toss around in my head...

 

Assuming that your intent is to buy "quality books" of your choosing...

What are the possibilities if you want to make "ten times your investment"?

 

Golden Age - pick a book for $5,000... you sell someday for $50,000.

Silver Age - pick 10 books for $500 each... you sell someday for $5,000 each.

Bronze Age - pick 100 books for $50 each... you sell someday for $500 each.

Modern Age - pick 1,000 books for $5 each... you sell someday for $50 each.

 

All of these are $5,000 "investments"... and all of them "someday" earn $50,000.

So the question is...

How long will it take for each investment option to pay off?

Of course, no one knows... but it's something to think about.

 

More accurate:

 

Modern Age - pick 1,000 books for $5 each... you sell someday for $0.05 each, except one, which you sell for $50. No way to tell which one. Probably the mutant that will become important in 10 years that seems stupid today.

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