• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

WHO IS THE SMARTEST COMIC BOOK COLLECTOR YOU HAVE EVER KNOWN AND WHY BY MM

Started by Mmehdy,

292 posts in this topic

Mmehdy

Mmehdy

Posted
Posted

ALL my life I have know comic book collectors. Around 1966, I tried to start a comic book "club" in Sacramento. Over the years, there is one collector who I was so mistaken about.

 

Looking back at so many great people, so many different people, I was thinking " who was the smartest comic book collector that I had ever known". Always in the back of my mind is the guy that "got away" or the guy that just plain "disappeared". At time, he was very well known.....and then many years and years go by and the people that could remember...fade away too......and then he is not real anymore and just a memory from a distant past.

 

I have known many of the Giants of our collecting world. Bruce Hamilton who helped create the Carl Barks art market, Russ Cochran who helped jump start the original art market, Burrell Rowe, who bought ever good comic book in sight in the early 70's, The American Comic book company ( Terry and David) who helped pioneer mail order and championed collectable pulps). Comics and Comics( Bob and John and Bud) who brought retailing to a new level with muti- stores and mail order etc...etc.. But it is always the unexpected, the one who changes your collecting attitude.

 

But for me, there was one guy, who was waayyyy ahead of the curve. I first saw him in Berkeley, California in all places a basement of a book store on Telegraph ave. He was there in the Magazine section with his suitcase on the floor. He had golden age comics as well as marvels. I bought Spiderman #1 for 10 bucks over a golden age Captain America he was selling, I will never forget that, it was circa about 1968 or there abouts. Barry B. was his name. I asked him about his phone number and he became very quiet. In the old days you did not give out your number or tell "anybody" your address...that was off limits. it was a very different world back then.

 

A few years later, either we ran into to each other and exchanged numbers or I found his number thru another collector ( I think that it is it), anyway, I got in touch with him and I told him I was buying certain comic books at very high prices and such and he invited me to come over to his mom's house. He told me he had a real good collection. We we to his room and he had some comics there and I said is this all you have a few stacks of DC comics, because this is not a good collection, he was scoping me out and again this went on in the early days which might account for my attitude today. I was not impressed and he could tell and I said " I brought all this money for this", Finally, he said" this is nothing". We go upstairs to a attic floor, he opened the door and ....my God stacks and stacks of comic books well over 20,000+ in mint condition were there in front of my eyes and I had just blown my collecting mind. It just was not the amount either, everything was stacked so neatly and every comic book was like "brand new" and we did not have comic bags back or he did not use then and that impressed me how he stored his collection and the way it looked. Even a comic book store did not have anything close to this and every stack had good stuff in it. At the time I was collecting late 1950's and very early 1960 DC's only. I had the pure joy to go thru just about ever stack of DCs we did not even get to the Marvels stacks....let me tell you that is "nothing" in the world like looking at a stack of early square box 10 and 12 cent DC's in brand new unread condition, holding them, the smell of them. He was very cool sort of hip guy that you would not expect to collect comics at that time, sort of the "guy" that "gets a lot of chicks" type and very well spoken, and knew his comics "cold". He was a generation up from me and at the time that was maybe 6 or 7 years. But he knew his stuff and you had to "respect" that.

Owning what he did is not the reason, why I thought he was the "smartest" collector I had ever known. What he showed me next, did.

 

What are those stacks of new comcs over there. "just an investment he said". Where did you get them....from Magazine Distributors. Wow, I had never thought of that. Buying comics not from the store, but from wholesalers directly and I did not think you could buy them that way. "I went to more than one" he said.. Wow, that blew my mind. Did you get a discount. "No, as a matter of fact I had to pay a slight premium for the guys to get them all for me". Why in the world would somebody ever pay over cover price for a new comic book. I thought this guy was the biggest fool on the planet. You could get much order comics at a bookstores all over the place and much more valuable too and even cheaper than the cover price of the new comic sometimes.

.

MM: "What did you buy"

 

BB: "One thousand copies"

 

MM: "Are you Kidding me"

 

BB: "Look for yourself"

 

MM:" It is all the same comic book"

 

BB:" I know"

 

MM: "That is $150 bucks and that is a lot of collecting money"

 

BB: "yep"

 

I bought some nice books from him, but his prices were a bit "high" but condition made up for it. I should of bought "more". Over the next few months I thought over and over how much of fool this guy was. Then something began happening.

 

As time began to set in, and the book became one of the biggest hits ever in its day.

Less than two years later...I began buying from a distributor directly....I made my first purchase of 100 copies of the DC's " Demon #1". My entire attitude towards him changed and now I was doing what he did. I began to see, that he was "far" "far" ahead of me in his thinking, nobody and I mean nobody had ever done what he did on that "scale" at that time.

 

I will always remember you BarryB for who you are and the vision that you had:

 

The "MAN" of 1000 Conan #1's

 

 

WHO IS YOUR CHOICE AND WHY ....?????????

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Annihilus

Annihilus

Posted
Posted

I didn't know any 'smart' comic book collectors until I found this place back in 2007. I still don't really 'know' any, since I haven't met anyone here...but I'd like to eventually.

 

Heck, I only new one other guy that collected comics back when I was a teenager and he quit collecting quite a while ago. None of my other friends (current or past) ever collected.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ameri

Ameri

Posted
Posted

If I were to measure smartness in terms of people who have provided me with very sound advice regarding prices which thereby kept me from overpaying on books I was pursuing, I'd have to give it to Mr. Gator...truly one smart cookie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pat Calhoun

Pat Calhoun

Posted
Posted

BB = Barry Bauman. Barry came down to San Diego to see me a couple of times. Sold me a Cap #1 for $125, by far the most I ever paid for a comic- before or since. I loved that S&K had put a soul into the darn thing but (don't hate me Billy) even back then the propaganda overwhelmed me. Kafka described WWI as a 'great failure of the human imagination'. Ditto WWII, but even more so. Especially once I saw that both happened on purpose instigated by those out to make a buck etc. God I loved the early GA so much and the WWII covers ruined it for me. All things pass.

 

on the forum I have seen a number of smart collectors. Bear in mind that when I formed my opinions there was no 'guide' etc, and I respect that others have found merit in material I was dubious of... I am grateful for their (your) insight and company, and even like to think my 15 years with CBM may have helped 'school' some of you...

 

Pat

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pat Calhoun

Pat Calhoun

Posted
Posted

Mitch-

 

Just so you know, I have finally found a collecting thing I can 'mannup' on. I like netsuke- antique Japanese mini-sculptures (1-1/2") of ivory and wood etc with many of them mythological and fantastic creatures and characters.

 

hyottoko.jpg

 

ryusa.jpg

 

bighead.jpg

 

dd-mokygyo.JPG

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pat Calhoun

Pat Calhoun

Posted
Posted

yeah, Bangzoom talked about that (with his Supe #1 for $55). it is hard to convey - part of the Cap #1 thing wasn't the book itself (Billy's copy looks like mine- would be great!) but that prices were moving up so that you couldn't just go out and buy 'anything'. when I paid $20 for Supe #2 that WAS manning up! I might have had some personal issues back then re: $$$- maybe still do... I have my memories...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ted Knight

Ted Knight

Posted
Posted
BB = Barry Bauman. Barry came down to San Diego to see me a couple of times. Sold me a Cap #1 for $125, by far the most I ever paid for a comic- before or since. I loved that S&K had put a soul into the darn thing but (don't hate me Billy) even back then the propaganda overwhelmed me. Kafka described WWI as a 'great failure of the human imagination'. Ditto WWII, but even more so. Especially once I saw that both happened on purpose instigated by those out to make a buck etc. God I loved the early GA so much and the WWII covers ruined it for me. All things pass.

 

on the forum I have seen a number of smart collectors. Bear in mind that when I formed my opinions there was no 'guide' etc, and I respect that others have found merit in material I was dubious of... I am grateful for their (your) insight and company, and even like to think my 15 years with CBM may have helped 'school' some of you...

 

Pat

 

It helped school me, Pat. Always appreciate your insights. (thumbs u

 

Mitch, it seems like you're talking about purely the money side of collecting and buying low and selling high mentality. One of the things that I've always tried to follow is to buy the things I like, regardless of what the potential upside a few years in the future might be. It just seems smart to buy things now that you know you'll want if you think they'll cost you a lot more later.

 

I never knew any smart comic collectors, even when I ran a LCS in a small town in Wisconsin. The most wisdom about comics that I've ever come across is on these boards. Thanks to all of you.

 

And Hamlet, yes, we learn more from mistakes than we do from successes. Sorry you got stuck with those things. I feel like I should buy half of them back from you.

 

doh!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
etanick

etanick

Posted
Posted

The only one that came to mind is a collector that sold me a chunk/majority of his books a few years back. Too bad he didn't have the "vision" 10 or 15 years earlier. This person knew nothing about comic books or even collect comic books but when he was in college back in the mid 70's, he dreamed of someday owing a baseball, comic books shop to spend his days after he retired.

 

So, he decided that if he was to open a store in 2010 or later, he should buy some books now so the store will have some back issues. He figured if in the 70's, some comic books that were 30 to 40 years old then can sell for 10 or 20 or 40 times the face value...what he can buy today in 1976 could be worth 20 or 30 or 40 times in 40 years. Flawed logic but that was what he thought.

 

So he went to the local comic store near his college and asked the owner to give him a deal so he can buy bulk lot and split them with the owner and get a little discount. Since he knew nothing about comic books, he asked the store owner to order whatever the owner liked or think that will sell well. He had a monthly budget of set amount of books per month so the store owner knows how many extra books he could order.

 

Each week, he would pick up a small box and carefully put them away. This went on for 4 years from 1976 to 1980...until he graduated from college.

 

Fast forward 20 plus years later. He is not retired yet but he also don't care to open a comic store either. I met him and bought the majority of his "inventory"of a few thousands books.

 

The books are incredibly nice and I slabbed well over 600 of those books to get 9.8 white pages pristine books. I remember listening to each book that I opened and feel and heard the stickiness of the cover to the first page and smiled.

 

I only wish he was 10 or more years older so when he started to buy books, it would have been mid 60's and he could have build one of the nicest Silver Age collection I can imagine...heck even 5 years earlier would have been sweet. The collection could have had multiple issues of GL 76, X-men 94, Conan 1, GS X-men 1, Hulk 181, etc...instead of multiple copies of Red Sonja 1, Machine Man 1, Devil Dinosour 1, etc..

 

He made a decent profit selling those books to me...nothing great but he wasn't complaining when he paid 25 cents or less per book and I paid him $2 to $3 per book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing