25 Sleepers For Under $25 from the 70s- Overstreet Monthly 10/93

[goldust40]

They missed a lot of books, and the big problem was, that for true high-grade copies (which you would need to make the %), these were already selling for much higher than listed.

 

And they're selling for much higher than listed now. Especially in 9.4 and above.

[the blob]

1) Amazing Adventures 1 - Black Widow & Inhumans in new series - $12 (inflation adjusted $18.11)/100 average annual rate of return after inflation 10.57%

2) Amazing Adventures 11 - 1st furry beast - $10/350 average annual rate of return after inflation 20.31%

3) Amazing Adventures 18 - 1st Killraven + Adams art - $12/38 average annual rate of return after inflation 4.46%

4) Astonishing Tales 1 - Dr Doom inhis own series + Kazar - $20/100 average annual rate of return after inflation 7.30%

5) Batman 232 - 1st Ra's Al Ghoul - $22/325 average annual rate of return after inflation 14.36%

6) The Cat 1 - 1st appearance of Cat/Tigra - $12/50 average annual rate of return after inflation 6.16%

7) Champions 1 - $18/50 average annual rate of return after inflation 3.66%

8) The Demon 1 - $20/100 average annual rate of return after inflation 7.30%

9) Detective 400 - 1st Man-Bat - $25/375 average annual rate of return after inflation 14.46%

10) Detective 437 - New Manhunter - $12/75 average annual rate of return after inflation 8.72%

11) E-Man 1 - $15/30 average annual rate of return after inflation 1.67%

12) First Issue Special 8/Warlord 1 - 1st Warlord - $15 ea/45/40average annual rate of return after inflation 4.12%/3.40%

13) Frankenstein (Monster of) - $15/110 average annual rate of return after inflation 9.74%

14) Iron Fist 1 - $25/95 average annual rate of return after inflation 5.58%

15) Jonah Hex 1 - $25/175 average annual rate of return after inflation 9.45%

16) Man-Thing 1 - $16/85 average annual rate of return after inflation 7.69%

17) Marvel Two-In-One 1 - $20/100 average annual rate of return after inflation 7.30%

18) Mister Miracle1 - $15/130 average annual rate of return after inflation 5.58%

19) Powerman 17 - 1st issue - $12/25 average annual rate of return after inflation 1.91%

20) Son of Satan 1 - $10/35 average annual rate of return after inflation 5.07%

21) Star Spangled War Stories 151 - 1st Unknown Soldier - $25/360 average annual rate of return after inflation 14.49%

22) Star Wars 1 - $18/95 average annual rate of return after inflation 7.64%

23) Strange Tales 178 - Warlock begins - $18//40 average annual rate of return after inflation 2.30%

24/25) Submariner 34 & 35 - Pre Defenders #1 appearances - $15 ea/130/95 average annual rate of return after inflation 10.83%/8.80%

 

These rates of return blow - I'm positive there are thousands of stocks and hundreds of comics that have real rates of return better than most of these. Here's just one - AAPL. Share price on March 2, 1993 (random date I just picked) $13.56 (inflation adjusted to $20.46). Current price $336.10, average annual rate of return after inflation 17.90%

 

If you could have gotten a liquid 10% adjusted for inflation, the rate of return would be phenominal. Bernie Madoff snookered cadjillions out of people by giving out a steady 8-10% return (not adjusted for inflation). Average out the "returns" on this list and if a fund manager averaged out those returns in the last 17 years they would be touted as a genius on the cover of Money or Forbes or something. If these were stock returns, most would be excellent over the last 17 years (ok, I should average them out on a claclulator first though, eyeballing it the list looks like about a 9-10% average and that's inflation adjusted, so I guess add 2-3% for inflation...it's a good number for a "real" investment, but alas....

 

Problem is, these low dollar books aren't so liquid, chances are the 9.4 you bought then would grade out to a 8.5 now, etc. etc. etc. and guide is probably high on some of these (if not all, for 9.2).

[the blob]

Not all of those are mind blowing increases but even the worst is a 100% increase.

 

It would be VERY interesting for someone to find a list of the top 25 stocks to watch from 1993 and see what their prices are today to compare against the comics

 

That $12 is now $18.11, due to inflation, so the annual percentage rate increase for that book is 4.46% after inflation, which sucks.

 

When they say "the DJIA is up 12% this year" they are not adjusting for inflation. No returns touted by any funds or anything like that adjusts for inflation. the stock market, historically, has returned something like 7-9%, but that isn't adjusted for inflation.

[the blob]

Yeah, that is the thing that is never brought up when going back to the "Coulda bought for guide prices and made a killing" threads. Early bronze was TOUGH in high grade. It was hard to even see a single copy of Weird War #1 with your own eyes back then. Maybe a con would have one, maybe you ordered one blind from CBG or a catalog, but the pickens were Slim. Dealers who started carrying high grade bronze early on, like Avalon comics, were charging a lot. I remember feeling sick after ordering my HOM 174 in NM from Larry Curcio for the then staggering price of $45. And his grading was dead on.

 

Honestly, I did not see this much then, but then again, how much true HG stuff was I seeing? My local shop would never charge more than guide for any HG bronze that came in. He felt obligated to not charge more than guide for anything unless he knew it was a "hot" book that OPG did not yet address (in which case he'd look at Wizard). Problem is, one of his employees, who only collected high grade books, had first dibs on everything that came in and he just worked there for fun as his folks were loaded, so what was left I could have for 15% off guide for the high grade stuff (which had usually been cherry picked to oblivion).

[FlyingDonut]

1) Amazing Adventures 1 - Black Widow & Inhumans in new series - $12 (inflation adjusted $18.11)/100 average annual rate of return after inflation 10.57%

2) Amazing Adventures 11 - 1st furry beast - $10/350 average annual rate of return after inflation 20.31%

3) Amazing Adventures 18 - 1st Killraven + Adams art - $12/38 average annual rate of return after inflation 4.46%

4) Astonishing Tales 1 - Dr Doom inhis own series + Kazar - $20/100 average annual rate of return after inflation 7.30%

5) Batman 232 - 1st Ra's Al Ghoul - $22/325 average annual rate of return after inflation 14.36%

6) The Cat 1 - 1st appearance of Cat/Tigra - $12/50 average annual rate of return after inflation 6.16%

7) Champions 1 - $18/50 average annual rate of return after inflation 3.66%

8) The Demon 1 - $20/100 average annual rate of return after inflation 7.30%

9) Detective 400 - 1st Man-Bat - $25/375 average annual rate of return after inflation 14.46%

10) Detective 437 - New Manhunter - $12/75 average annual rate of return after inflation 8.72%

11) E-Man 1 - $15/30 average annual rate of return after inflation 1.67%

12) First Issue Special 8/Warlord 1 - 1st Warlord - $15 ea/45/40average annual rate of return after inflation 4.12%/3.40%

13) Frankenstein (Monster of) - $15/110 average annual rate of return after inflation 9.74%

14) Iron Fist 1 - $25/95 average annual rate of return after inflation 5.58%

15) Jonah Hex 1 - $25/175 average annual rate of return after inflation 9.45%

16) Man-Thing 1 - $16/85 average annual rate of return after inflation 7.69%

17) Marvel Two-In-One 1 - $20/100 average annual rate of return after inflation 7.30%

18) Mister Miracle1 - $15/130 average annual rate of return after inflation 5.58%

19) Powerman 17 - 1st issue - $12/25 average annual rate of return after inflation 1.91%

20) Son of Satan 1 - $10/35 average annual rate of return after inflation 5.07%

21) Star Spangled War Stories 151 - 1st Unknown Soldier - $25/360 average annual rate of return after inflation 14.49%

22) Star Wars 1 - $18/95 average annual rate of return after inflation 7.64%

23) Strange Tales 178 - Warlock begins - $18//40 average annual rate of return after inflation 2.30%

24/25) Submariner 34 & 35 - Pre Defenders #1 appearances - $15 ea/130/95 average annual rate of return after inflation 10.83%/8.80%

 

These rates of return blow - I'm positive there are thousands of stocks and hundreds of comics that have real rates of return better than most of these. Here's just one - AAPL. Share price on March 2, 1993 (random date I just picked) $13.56 (inflation adjusted to $20.46). Current price $336.10, average annual rate of return after inflation 17.90%

 

If you could have gotten a liquid 10% adjusted for inflation, the rate of return would be phenominal. Bernie Madoff snookered cadjillions out of people by giving out a steady 8-10% return (not adjusted for inflation). Average out the "returns" on this list and if a fund manager averaged out those returns in the last 17 years they would be touted as a genius on the cover of Money or Forbes or something. If these were stock returns, most would be excellent over the last 17 years (ok, I should average them out on a claclulator first though, eyeballing it the list looks like about a 9-10% average and that's inflation adjusted, so I guess add 2-3% for inflation...it's a good number for a "real" investment, but alas....

 

Problem is, these low dollar books aren't so liquid, chances are the 9.4 you bought then would grade out to a 8.5 now, etc. etc. etc. and guide is probably high on some of these (if not all, for 9.2).

 

None of these books will sell for "Guide" in this grade. Not one of them.

[Hey Kids, Comics!]

A raw Batman 232 just sold for $360 on ebay. It could have been a 9.4 or better (not sure), but that's solid for an unslabbed issue.

[joe_collector]

They missed a lot of books, and the big problem was, that for true high-grade copies (which you would need to make the %), these were already selling for much higher than listed.

 

And they're selling for much higher than listed now. Especially in 9.4 and above.

 

Sure, but you couldn't find them back then.

 

All this "woulda, coulda" BS totally ignores the fact that paying standard 2-3X OS for "NM copies" usually got you VF (or worse) and if you actually did find a high-grade copy, you had to pay through the nose for it.

 

Translation: It was a lot of W-O-R-K and often yielded less-than satisfactory results.

 

There was no way to phone someone up and say, "Gimme 2 long boxes of NM or higher All-Star Western 10, and make it snappy!".

[the blob]

They missed a lot of books, and the big problem was, that for true high-grade copies (which you would need to make the %), these were already selling for much higher than listed.

 

And they're selling for much higher than listed now. Especially in 9.4 and above.

 

Sure, but you couldn't find them back then.

 

All this "woulda, coulda" BS totally ignores the fact that paying standard 2-3X OS for "NM copies" usually got you VF (or worse) and if you actually did find a high-grade copy, you had to pay through the nose for it.

 

Translation: It was a lot of W-O-R-K and often yielded less-than satisfactory results.

 

There was no way to phone someone up and say, "Gimme 2 long boxes of NM or higher All-Star Western 10, and make it snappy!".

 

I cannot say because I was not on a quest for these specific things at that time, but if you were located correctly (let's say in the Northeast/Tri-State (NY, NJ CT) area) and hit a lot of shows around then (NY, Philadelphia, Boston....I guess N.C. is within the right kind of schlep) I think you could have hunted them down with some regularity, but yeah, it would be a huge project.

 

I just didn't see much of over guide (well, putting aside overgraded books, Fines, priced as NMs and so on) unless a book had gotten hot and was not reflected in the guide (or wizard, which was unlikely) yet. that wouldn't have applied to a lot of those books on the list in 1993, but i guess applied to, for example, the Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel Presents books, which briefly got hot for a minute, or the Marvel Spotlights when Ghost Rider #1 came out and so on.

[RockMyAmadeus]

They missed a lot of books, and the big problem was, that for true high-grade copies (which you would need to make the %), these were already selling for much higher than listed.

 

And they're selling for much higher than listed now. Especially in 9.4 and above.

 

And you were FORCED to find books in person, and then hope you knew how to grade. Yes, yes, let's not bring up the exceptions. The fact was, if you didn't know how to grade, and you relied on other people to grade for you, you didn't do very well.

 

How many of us bought "NM" books for Near Mint prices, only to end up with CGC 6.5 books, Apparent, Moderate Amateur Resto....?

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Speaking of the fabulousity of buying then brand new books, someone at the Cal Comic Con today was trying to unload about 3.5 long boxes of stuff. I was going through books, and heard he had some Valiants...which always gets my ear going.

 

Went to look...there was one single book I would have bought: a NM copy of Hulk #334.

 

The rest was a glut of Bloodshot #1-4, Youngblood, Supreme, Deathmate, etc. Nothing except the Hulk worth more than cover price, and most of it dime books. I told the guy they were pretty much worthless, and I had no interest in buying them....and I can usually be counted on to buy anything if the price was right.

 

He wandered around the rest of the con, trying to get dealers to buy it...telling them it was "good stuff."

 

Ah well.

 

The stuff would be better off burned.

[goldust40]

They missed a lot of books, and the big problem was, that for true high-grade copies (which you would need to make the %), these were already selling for much higher than listed.

 

And they're selling for much higher than listed now. Especially in 9.4 and above.

 

Sure, but you couldn't find them back then.

 

All this "woulda, coulda" BS totally ignores the fact that paying standard 2-3X OS for "NM copies" usually got you VF (or worse) and if you actually did find a high-grade copy, you had to pay through the nose for it.

 

Translation: It was a lot of W-O-R-K and often yielded less-than satisfactory results.

 

There was no way to phone someone up and say, "Gimme 2 long boxes of NM or higher All-Star Western 10, and make it snappy!".

 

Tremendous point.

[Jeffro.]

There was no way to phone someone up and say, "Gimme 2 long boxes of NM or higher All-Star Western 10, and make it snappy!".

 

I remember wanting a copy of HoS 92 back when it languished in the guide for years at $25. Guess what? No one had one at shows. No one. Not even a low grade copy. Dealers didn't bring that stuff with them. Once the book started getting how, surprise, surprise, they started showing up. I finally got one at a show in New Haven CT around '91 or '92 and paid well over guide.

 

How many of us bought "NM" books for Near Mint prices, only to end up with CGC 6.5 books, Apparent, Moderate Amateur Resto....?

 

Indeed. The aforementioned HoS 92 was sold to me over NM guide (NM guide back in the early 90s). It was nowhere near what is considered NM today.

[ComicConnoisseur]

The question now is are these 25 books still good investments if bought now in high grade or has time passed them by as most of these characters have lost popularity this decade?