Went to an estate auction tonight in rural Indiana.

[PreHero]

No matter the grade, it's always exciting to see some early rare issues of the GA! Just crazy seeing those book on the table unprotected by a Mylar, bag or board.

 

Looks like you still were able to take a cool book home! Thanks for sharing.

[Comicopolis]

I was always jealous of my American cousins being able to turn up to auctions in the middle of nowhere and pick up great comics at dirt cheap prices - guess I was wrong all along

[tabcom]

It was certainly FUN. I'm still thrilled at being at the event. The Action #2 and Detective #2 were very desirable. I wasn't interested in paying near FMV at an auction out in the cornfields. Also, just not the direction my collecting is going in these days.

 

The DC30 was nearly completely split at the spine with long tears and mildewy. At $500, it was a good price. Once again, if I continued bidding, the price would have easily doubled without me wining.

[tabcom]

I'll be seeing the books tomorrow night!

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the Action 2 & Detective Comics 2 in particular!

We are looking forward to seeing them also.

[GACollectibles]

I saw the books, it was a treat!

 

The Action 2 and the Detective Comics 2 were very decent pickups based on what grades I think they are. Sorry, no pics.

[tabcom]

The Detective Comics #1 is on the market.

 

Buy It Now price $25,000

Auction House purchase price $18,000 x 7% sales tax = $19260

Market value $9-12K

 

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-Comics-First-ever-Comic-Detective-Comics-Vol-1-March-1937-/290636127185?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item43ab435bd1

[Silver Surfer]

For $10kish that would be a sweet buy and a neat book to own.

[G.A.tor]

For $10kish that would be a sweat buy and a neat book to own.

I be sweating too if I could buy it for 10 K

[Silver Surfer]

For $10kish that would be a sweat buy and a neat book to own.

I be sweating too if I could buy it for 10 K

 

[Flex Mentallo]

For $10kish that would be a sweat buy and a neat book to own.

I be sweating too if I could buy it for 10 K

 

Surely a man of breeding such as yourself would perspire, not sweat!

[Silver Surfer]

For $10kish that would be a sweat buy and a neat book to own.

I be sweating too if I could buy it for 10 K

 

Surely a man of breeding such as yourself would perspire, not sweat!

 

As long as I don't stink in the process.

[thehumantorch]

The Detective Comics #1 is on the market.

 

Buy It Now price $25,000

Auction House purchase price $18,000 x 7% sales tax = $19260

Market value $9-12K

 

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-Comics-First-ever-Comic-Detective-Comics-Vol-1-March-1937-/290636127185?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item43ab435bd1

 

Seller is an auto dealer. Perhaps not that experienced in selling comics.

[Silver Surfer]

Do the pages look a bit "dry" to anyone [possible slight brittle notation?].

[tabcom]

The rumor in the auction house was that he was a local auto dealer. I flipped thru the pages myself, they were cream to ow. The covers had too many rips to grade past a 3.o

[hockeyboy13]

i'm a little confused. you told me you had maxxed out all your credit cards. how would you have paid for these books?

[jdjunker]

I was talking to a friend of the family today about the auction. He made an excellent suggestion.

 

Take a box of junk next time. Leave it in the trunk. When the auction is over, go up to the guy that is throwing away money and ask him, "I have some comics in my car. Would you like to take a look?"

Not a bad idea

 

+1

 

 

Actually, all kidding aside, this is a great way to find a buyer for anything you have to sell. I basically did exactly this about two years ago.

 

Went to a nearby estate auction that was featuring comic books. They had a couple dozen GA and a whole table full of stacks of SA books. The SA books were nothing special, the stacks were about 12-20 comics each. A friend and I put the best stacks at about $50-60 max. One bidder won first choice of the stacks at something around a $75 bid. Instead of taking just the one or two best stacks, he took them all at that price (about 20 stacks!). Btw, it wasn't just me and my friend, there were about a half dozen collectors there, the same crowd that I'm used to seeing at auctions in WI with comics.

 

I forget what the GA stuff was, but this same bidder walked away with just about everything, usually paying well over guide.

 

Anyway, as luck would have it, I happened to meet the bidder while having a smoke. I had just gone through a divorce at the time and was considering selling my collection, so I asked him if he was interested.

 

Long story short, I ended up selling him the collection. He seemed to know what he was doing and spent several hours going through it. He told me he had been buying collections for decades and even that he had buyers lined up for some pieces of it. Still, he paid about 3X what I would have expected any dealer or other bulk buyer to offer, and a price that it would have taken me literally years to achieve piece meal and even then I'm not sure I could have gotten this much.

 

Like I said, he seemed to know what he was doing and he'd apparently been making money off comics and other collectibles for years, I just don't get how. How do you pay top retail and still make money?

[Silver Surfer]

The Detective Comics #1 is on the market.

 

Buy It Now price $25,000

Auction House purchase price $18,000 x 7% sales tax = $19260

Market value $9-12K

 

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-Comics-First-ever-Comic-Detective-Comics-Vol-1-March-1937-/290636127185?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item43ab435bd1

 

3 offers made on the book. Anyone here?

[tabcom]

My $7500 offer was . . . . declined

 

I see he prefers local pick-up only.

[tabcom]

. . . . How do you pay top retail and still make money?

Own an auto dealership like the guy that is trying to sell the DC#1

 

Thanks for sharing the story.

[Sal]

always nice to see a person spend ~20k for an item he wants to flip, especially when said person also admits he knows nothing about the market in his auction listing