Foolkiller's C2E2 2011 Report (Pics and Scans)

[Foolkiller]

Chicago was a whirlwind. I've been on the road almost non stop these days. My week of Chicago started in San Francisco with a fantastic dinner with Jeff Li and Scott Bonogofsky. While there I was able to purchase a group of ultra high grade mid 70s to early 80s books. Most were raw 9.6 or 9.8 books. Simply stunning and the best universal quality in a collection not called the Golden State collection. And these are unpressed, a little preview before my thread tomorrow (shameless plug)

 

 

 

 

 

I flew into Philadelphia, spent a few days there, stopped over for a second at home in Baltimore, and then on to Chicago.

 

I landed in Chicago on Thursday morning around 10:30 AM and headed straight to hotel, the Sofitel. While it was very nice, it was a pain traveling back and forth to the con every day because the friggin' hotel was a 20 minute cab ride down Michigan Ave. I will stay at the Blackstone next year.

 

Here I am in the Hyatt (from a Friday shot where my friend Mary Ann and I had to buy a camera out of one of the Best Buy vending machines because we both forgot them)

 

 

I checked in, went straight to the show, picked up my badge, ran into Joe Verenault in line and then the Blazing One.

 

Started walking the floor, lots of people loading in and setting up. Ran into Dave Kapelka and his wife to get the low down as to when we would be starting the "feeding frenzy" later in the day. I walked around for awhile to scope things out, but most guys just weren't set up yet. I did go down to a smaller type dealer and looked through 4 boxes of high grade bronze and was able to score a few nice books -- I think this was Dan Davis -- he was set up with another gentleman who was super nice. While the primary owner did not have any high grade with him, he told me he'd have more later, so check back with him later -- and that paid off.

 

A few of the bronze beauties...

 

 

 

 

(can't scan all the books I bought, just too many!)

 

If I didn't have to worry about carrying books back, I would have certainly bought more, but I carried a magazine box and a full back pack back and still would have had more!

 

Decided to go to lunch, so Bob Storms and I wandered out to find some food. We were frightened by the choices in the convention center since nothing was open (when the food subsequently improved) but on Thursday, it was a bit scary. We walked over to the Hyatt instead and ate at the restaurant. I was starving so it was nice to sit down and have something. Had a nice lunch and then it was time to prepare for the coming madness... I stole Roy's picture, but the ten invited dealers were...

 

Vincent Zurzolo, Bob Storms, Al Stoltz, Jeff Weaver, Tom Brulato, Matt Nelson/Steve Ritter, Roy Delic, Harley Yee, Dale Roberts and myself. I'll detail the whole story in my next post along with some books...

 

[Arcade]

Awesome.

Can't wait for more book for sale.

[Foolkiller]

Thursday continued, the Kapelka collection story:

 

Okay, for all those that want the full details on the collection, here's how it worked:

 

Dave invited his "dealer friends" for the opportunity to preview the collection on Thursday between 3 and 4 PM. I've read in Roy's thread some of the complaints of how it doesn't give collectors a fair shot. 70% of all of Dave's business comes from dealers. They buy more -- and when the collection was open to the public on Friday, Dave told me he only had one or two guys buy anything significant and only a few others show more interest. Collectors just don't give him the same level of attention as dealers. The reality is, there were PLENTY of great books left Friday morning and afternoon, yet the collecting base was not snapping up this stuff. As a collector had I seen the "leftovers" I would have been thrilled.

 

The rules were basically this: 1) Starting at 3 PM, the invited dealers were given an hour or so to "preview" the boxes so that they would know what box they wanted. 2) We drew cards so that we would know what box we wanted to choose first 3) We then selected the box we wanted. If you were last, you got to pick the box you wanted first in the "second" round and so forth 4) We only got 10% off, because Dave had paid so high for the collection.

 

At 3 PM, people started to trickle over, Bob, myself, Roy and Steve Ritter were some of the first there. Then the analysis started, what box was best? Were any of the books improveable? Calling for grader's notes from the floor. GPA on mobile devices. Trying to grade the raw books. Notes on ranking the boxes so you knew what to choose. There were 3 boxes of CGC material, then 6 boxes of raw material, then a 5 box lot of high grade Marvels $100 and under (which counted as 1 box). I forgot to mention Doug Gillock, of Comiclink, was one of the invited dealers. He was very high on the ASM 3 CGC 9.6 -- and was hoping to draw that box. Other graded highlights included:

 

TOS 39 CGC 9.0 (but looked a 9.2)

TOS 40 CGC 9.2

JIM 85 CGC 9.2

JIM 91 CGC 9.2

ASM 18 CGC 9.4

Avengers 8 CGC 9.4

Avengers 10 CGC 9.4

 

Plenty of raw beauties:

 

high grade GL 76, 77 etc.

high grade ASMs, Avengers, DDs, FFs, TOS, TTA, JIM and X-Men.

A box of Atlas era esoteric.

 

Cards were then drawn at 4 PM. The order was as follows:

 

1. Vincent Zurzolo (won tie breaker with Dale Roberts) - chose TOS 39 slab box

2. Dale Roberts (chose raw box with JIMs, TTA, TOS)

3. Doug Gillock (comiclink) (chose ASM 3 CGC 9.6 box)

4. Roy Delic (chose raw ASM box)

5. Al Stoltz (chose esoteric box)

6. Matt Nelson (won tie with me) (chose FF box)

7. Me (chose Avengers/DD box)

8. Bob Storms (chose lot of 5 boxes lot)

9. Harley Yee (chose X-Men box)

10. Tom Brulato (x-men slab box, which was what was left)

 

We then switched boxes, I ended up choosing the 5 box lot even though Storms had a giant stack, the others didn't really appeal to me. Tom took the JIM box second, and Roy was basically pulling everything in sight out of the ASM box, so I wanted the 5 box lot and found a few nice things. Bob already had the FF box next.

 

After looking for about 2 hours, things started to slow down, and by 6:30, I was ready to leave. Roy, Bob and a few others were still going through the boxes, but I cut my boxes down and was ready to head out. My stack was nice, and while I had some kick backs, there were some real beauties. Here's a small sampling below:

 

TOS 65 (Ohio copy)

 

 

Avengers 8 CGC 9.4 oww

 

 

Avengers 16

 

 

Avengers Ann. 2 (just a stunning book)

 

 

FF Ann 2. (smoker)

 

 

DD 16 (smoker)

 

 

Just a small sampling of what I bought from Kapelka.... more pics and books tomorrow!

[VintageComics]

Wow, I never even saw the DD #16, great snag.

 

Brian is correct in that all weekend long, even after several dealers had gone through the boxes for two days, dealers and collectors were still pulling out gems from the boxes.

 

 

[Speedy-D]

Dave invited his "dealer friends" for the opportunity to preview the collection on Thursday between 3 and 4 PM. I've read in Roy's thread some of the complaints of how it doesn't give collectors a fair shot. 70% of all of Dave's business comes from dealers. They buy more -- and when the collection was open to the public on Friday, Dave told me he only had one or two guys buy anything significant and only a few others show more interest. Collectors just don't give him the same level of attention as dealers. The reality is, there were PLENTY of great books left Friday morning and afternoon, yet the collecting base was not snapping up this stuff. As a collector had I seen the "leftovers" I would have been thrilled.

 

I don't really care either way, but why not let collectors get first crack, and sell to the dealers at the end of the show? If collectors don't buy much, so what? The dealers will still buy what they would have bought at the beginning of the show. And if the collectors do buy stuff, then Dave doesn't have to sell at the reduced rate. Given how all the dealers seem to have been salivating over the comics, it sounds like they would have been willing to do their buying a day or two later.

[VintageComics]

Here I am in the Hyatt (from a Friday shot where my friend Mary Ann and I had to buy a camera out of one of the Best Buy vending machines because we both forgot them)

 

 

I thought it was absolutely brilliant marketing for Best Buy to have a vending machine selling phones, cameras and other techie gadgets. Just brilliant.

[comicalgems]

Dave invited his "dealer friends" for the opportunity to preview the collection on Thursday between 3 and 4 PM. I've read in Roy's thread some of the complaints of how it doesn't give collectors a fair shot. 70% of all of Dave's business comes from dealers. They buy more -- and when the collection was open to the public on Friday, Dave told me he only had one or two guys buy anything significant and only a few others show more interest. Collectors just don't give him the same level of attention as dealers. The reality is, there were PLENTY of great books left Friday morning and afternoon, yet the collecting base was not snapping up this stuff. As a collector had I seen the "leftovers" I would have been thrilled.

 

I don't really care either way, but why not let collectors get first crack, and sell to the dealers at the end of the show? If collectors don't buy much, so what? The dealers will still buy what they would have bought at the beginning of the show. And if the collectors do buy stuff, then Dave doesn't have to sell at the reduced rate. Given how all the dealers seem to have been salivating over the comics, it sounds like they would have been willing to do their buying a day or two later.

 

Be careful...you'll turn this into "one of those threads".

[Speedy-D]

Dave invited his "dealer friends" for the opportunity to preview the collection on Thursday between 3 and 4 PM. I've read in Roy's thread some of the complaints of how it doesn't give collectors a fair shot. 70% of all of Dave's business comes from dealers. They buy more -- and when the collection was open to the public on Friday, Dave told me he only had one or two guys buy anything significant and only a few others show more interest. Collectors just don't give him the same level of attention as dealers. The reality is, there were PLENTY of great books left Friday morning and afternoon, yet the collecting base was not snapping up this stuff. As a collector had I seen the "leftovers" I would have been thrilled.

 

I don't really care either way, but why not let collectors get first crack, and sell to the dealers at the end of the show? If collectors don't buy much, so what? The dealers will still buy what they would have bought at the beginning of the show. And if the collectors do buy stuff, then Dave doesn't have to sell at the reduced rate. Given how all the dealers seem to have been salivating over the comics, it sounds like they would have been willing to do their buying a day or two later.

 

Be careful...you'll turn this into "one of those threads".

No!!!!! It's just a question. They're Dave's comics, he can sell them to whoever he wants, whenever he wants. Just seems like he'd make more money if he gave first crack to those who'll pay most, and they'll appreciate it.

[Bruno_s4]

Thanks for the write-up Brian!

Very interesting to see the "players" in action.

Would love to be someone's assistant in a room like that one day

[Subliminal]

Dave invited his "dealer friends" for the opportunity to preview the collection on Thursday between 3 and 4 PM. I've read in Roy's thread some of the complaints of how it doesn't give collectors a fair shot. 70% of all of Dave's business comes from dealers. They buy more -- and when the collection was open to the public on Friday, Dave told me he only had one or two guys buy anything significant and only a few others show more interest. Collectors just don't give him the same level of attention as dealers. The reality is, there were PLENTY of great books left Friday morning and afternoon, yet the collecting base was not snapping up this stuff. As a collector had I seen the "leftovers" I would have been thrilled.

 

I don't really care either way, but why not let collectors get first crack, and sell to the dealers at the end of the show? If collectors don't buy much, so what? The dealers will still buy what they would have bought at the beginning of the show. And if the collectors do buy stuff, then Dave doesn't have to sell at the reduced rate. Given how all the dealers seem to have been salivating over the comics, it sounds like they would have been willing to do their buying a day or two later.

 

Be careful...you'll turn this into "one of those threads".

No!!!!! It's just a question. They're Dave's comics, he can sell them to whoever he wants, whenever he wants. Just seems like he'd make more money if he gave first crack to those who'll pay most, and they'll appreciate it.

 

Dealers with deep pockets can afford to buy and hold these and hold out for higher prices when they sell them.

Every sale to collectors that they prevent keeps eventual sale prices high and sustains prices and profit in the market and them in the business for you and I to still find them at future shows. Your only choice is to haggle and try to pay less than the next collector or buy at their price to block the next hungry collector before he sees it at your show or the next show the dealer goes to.

Dealer to dealer sales also serve the purpose of spreading books they buy to areas where the books are not in great supply in other places they sell that the dealer they bought them from doesn't travel to. That helps collectors see a greater variety of rare issues.

[NewWorldOrder]

Sad I missed the show this year, but hopefully Brian I will see you in SF in two weeks for Wondercon.

 

But SOT gets the last laugh tomorrow as I get to pull out my own Ace card tomorrow at my private comic con scheduled for tomorrow at 10 am for pre-65 keys just for me.

[VintageComics]

But SOT gets the last laugh tomorrow as I get to pull out my own Ace card tomorrow at my private comic con scheduled for tomorrow at 10 am for pre-65 keys just for me.

 

We let SOT think he has the last laugh because that's what Alpha males do.

 

 

[NewWorldOrder]

But SOT gets the last laugh tomorrow as I get to pull out my own Ace card tomorrow at my private comic con scheduled for tomorrow at 10 am for pre-65 keys just for me.

 

We let SOT think he has the last laugh because that's what Alpha males do.

 

 

Well I have to cheer myself up about missing the con.

[VintageComics]

But SOT gets the last laugh tomorrow as I get to pull out my own Ace card tomorrow at my private comic con scheduled for tomorrow at 10 am for pre-65 keys just for me.

 

We let SOT think he has the last laugh because that's what Alpha males do.

 

 

Well I have to cheer myself up about missing the con.

 

[NewWorldOrder]

But SOT gets the last laugh tomorrow as I get to pull out my own Ace card tomorrow at my private comic con scheduled for tomorrow at 10 am for pre-65 keys just for me.

 

We let SOT think he has the last laugh because that's what Alpha males do.

 

 

Well I have to cheer myself up about missing the con.

 

 

Looks like it was a good show with a lot of good material in the room. (thumbs u

[Guardian Comics]

But SOT gets the last laugh tomorrow as I get to pull out my own Ace card tomorrow at my private comic con scheduled for tomorrow at 10 am for pre-65 keys just for me.

 

We let SOT think he has the last laugh because that's what Alpha males do.

 

 

Well I have to cheer myself up about missing the con.

 

Unfortunately I will never be able to look forward to another Con again as I know that somehow it will always fall short of C2E2 2011...Miles, Transplant and I tore that city apart, it was freaking Epic and will probably never be repeated.

 

JJ

[EastEnd]

Dave invited his "dealer friends" for the opportunity to preview the collection on Thursday between 3 and 4 PM. I've read in Roy's thread some of the complaints of how it doesn't give collectors a fair shot. 70% of all of Dave's business comes from dealers. They buy more -- and when the collection was open to the public on Friday, Dave told me he only had one or two guys buy anything significant and only a few others show more interest. Collectors just don't give him the same level of attention as dealers. The reality is, there were PLENTY of great books left Friday morning and afternoon, yet the collecting base was not snapping up this stuff. As a collector had I seen the "leftovers" I would have been thrilled.

 

I don't really care either way, but why not let collectors get first crack, and sell to the dealers at the end of the show? If collectors don't buy much, so what? The dealers will still buy what they would have bought at the beginning of the show. And if the collectors do buy stuff, then Dave doesn't have to sell at the reduced rate. Given how all the dealers seem to have been salivating over the comics, it sounds like they would have been willing to do their buying a day or two later.

 

This is why I rarely buy books at conventions... it's simply not a level playing field for collectors. Have a lot of fun walking around and checking out the overpriced books that have already traded hands though!

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Dave invited his "dealer friends" for the opportunity to preview the collection on Thursday between 3 and 4 PM. I've read in Roy's thread some of the complaints of how it doesn't give collectors a fair shot. 70% of all of Dave's business comes from dealers. They buy more -- and when the collection was open to the public on Friday, Dave told me he only had one or two guys buy anything significant and only a few others show more interest. Collectors just don't give him the same level of attention as dealers. The reality is, there were PLENTY of great books left Friday morning and afternoon, yet the collecting base was not snapping up this stuff. As a collector had I seen the "leftovers" I would have been thrilled.

 

I don't really care either way, but why not let collectors get first crack, and sell to the dealers at the end of the show? If collectors don't buy much, so what? The dealers will still buy what they would have bought at the beginning of the show. And if the collectors do buy stuff, then Dave doesn't have to sell at the reduced rate. Given how all the dealers seem to have been salivating over the comics, it sounds like they would have been willing to do their buying a day or two later.

 

That's pretty silly. You don't tell the guy ready to drop $30,000 with you to wait until the end of the show, just because you might make a couple of $100+ sales to collectors here and there.

 

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Dave invited his "dealer friends" for the opportunity to preview the collection on Thursday between 3 and 4 PM. I've read in Roy's thread some of the complaints of how it doesn't give collectors a fair shot. 70% of all of Dave's business comes from dealers. They buy more -- and when the collection was open to the public on Friday, Dave told me he only had one or two guys buy anything significant and only a few others show more interest. Collectors just don't give him the same level of attention as dealers. The reality is, there were PLENTY of great books left Friday morning and afternoon, yet the collecting base was not snapping up this stuff. As a collector had I seen the "leftovers" I would have been thrilled.

 

I don't really care either way, but why not let collectors get first crack, and sell to the dealers at the end of the show? If collectors don't buy much, so what? The dealers will still buy what they would have bought at the beginning of the show. And if the collectors do buy stuff, then Dave doesn't have to sell at the reduced rate. Given how all the dealers seem to have been salivating over the comics, it sounds like they would have been willing to do their buying a day or two later.

 

This is why I rarely buy books at conventions... it's simply not a level playing field for collectors. Have a lot of fun walking around and checking out the overpriced books that have already traded hands though!

 

I've been to plenty of shows were there was still tons of good stuff left on Sunday, three days after dealer set-up and two days after the general public has been going through it. Yes, it pays to get there early, but if you are willing to put in the work, you can still find gems even after the dealers get theirs.

 

 

[etanick]

Dave invited his "dealer friends" for the opportunity to preview the collection on Thursday between 3 and 4 PM. I've read in Roy's thread some of the complaints of how it doesn't give collectors a fair shot. 70% of all of Dave's business comes from dealers. They buy more -- and when the collection was open to the public on Friday, Dave told me he only had one or two guys buy anything significant and only a few others show more interest. Collectors just don't give him the same level of attention as dealers. The reality is, there were PLENTY of great books left Friday morning and afternoon, yet the collecting base was not snapping up this stuff. As a collector had I seen the "leftovers" I would have been thrilled.

 

I don't really care either way, but why not let collectors get first crack, and sell to the dealers at the end of the show? If collectors don't buy much, so what? The dealers will still buy what they would have bought at the beginning of the show. And if the collectors do buy stuff, then Dave doesn't have to sell at the reduced rate. Given how all the dealers seem to have been salivating over the comics, it sounds like they would have been willing to do their buying a day or two later.

 

This is why I rarely buy books at conventions... it's simply not a level playing field for collectors. Have a lot of fun walking around and checking out the overpriced books that have already traded hands though!

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with this. While it might not be a perfect analogy, to me, it is similar to sell books here on the board or sell books on Ebay.

 

I can choose to waste hours listing hundreds of books on Ebay and make a little more or sell them in bulk/lots here to board members at a cheaper rate for faster sale with less time and hassle.

 

simply bird in a hand, 2 in the bush. The people that buy my books can re sell those books on Ebay or keep them, doesn't matter one bit to me. The only thing that mattered is I got rid of the books at a price I wanted and the buyers are happy.

 

sure Dave can make more selling to the public but he probably made more money in those few hours than all weekend long...and the rest of the convention is more about fun than trying to watch like a hawk over the boxes and haggle with hundreds of people.