Doug Schmell cashing in his vaulted massive collecion. Poll: Is this the top?

[500Club]

As I have predicted from DAY One 2012 will be a record year...........

 

I agree with Mitch...

 

I'm seeing a general increase in interest in comics - possibly from lapsed collectors, possibly from critical mass of media exposure...

[VintageComics]

(Actually, I meant DiCaprio's board ID. )

 

I don't know, I'll have to check. He was PMing me yesterday about some of the stuff people said about Titanic.

 

[KingOfRulers]

(Actually, I meant DiCaprio's board ID. )

 

I don't know, I'll have to check. He was PMing me yesterday about some of the stuff people said about Titanic.

 

 

TupennyConan is Leo DiCaprio. That fellow that shows up at some cons posing to be Tupenny is Leo's man-servant. However, the posting that TupennyConan does is DiCaprio. You can tell it's DiCaprio by how insane, incoherent and looney the posts are.

 

[Tsimanga]

I think the quality of the 678 books being sold by doug speak for themselves, if you are a collector...this is it....put your money where you mouth is...it anit gonna get any better than this.....marvel wise

 

Yeah, Doug by far has the best CGC silver age superhero collection on Earth. I'm sure whoever is #2 on the registry is happy... saying "whew.. finally"

[lambfan68]

I was listening to a recent podcast that Kevin Smith was on; it isn't a comic-related podcast, but comic book collecting came up in the conversation, and it didn't sound like he was collecting in any significant capacity.

 

I'll just point out the obvious fact that not everyone wants slabbed comics.

 

There's a bit in Comic Book : The Movie where Smith talks about ripping comics in half when he's done reading them instead of bagging and boarding them. I always thought that was his little comment on the reading vs. collecting thing.

 

 

[namisgr]

There are many monied individuals outside of the entertainment industry who may be looking to covert their cash into hard assets like comics:

 

[VintageComics]

There are many monied individuals outside of the entertainment industry who may be looking to covert their cash into hard assets:

 

Yup. Just look at coin markets.

 

Coins regularly sell for 6 figures. I've heard that NGC is 10 times as big as CGC, so for a big time coin collector to drop a few $100,000 is not a lot of scratch relatively speaking.

 

There are lots of people wondering where to put there money in this economy and hobbies have generally fared well in down times, especially when you are talking about the best of the best.

 

 

[FlyingDonut]

DR Banner you can quote me on this......

 

" I was buying action comics # 1 before you were a ZYGOTE".......live and learn from your Daddy.

 

This is an erroneous statement.

[fantastic_four]

Doug Schmell is cashing in the comics from the vault, in a heritage auction, basically the highest graded 9.8-9.6-9.4s of the first marvel age comics including keys.

 

Interesting to note that he is auctioning them off through Heritage, instead of through his own Pedigree auction website.

 

So, I assume that he is telling all potential consignors to Pedigree that if you have something really valuable to sell, you should really be putting them through Heritage as opposed to his own website.

 

He's actually explicitly saying this on his site--here's his exact quote

 

"The choice to select Heritage Auction Galleries for the sale of my collection was actually a no-brainer. I have watched Heritage become, by far, the world’s largest comics auction house and knew that they were the perfect venue for me to sell my private collection and realize the highest prices with no conflict of interest for the consignors on my site."

 

Not sure Heritage is the best venue given their default buyer/seller premium, but given the reduced rate he certainly bargained for, it likely is the best venue for a collection like this to sell.

[Mark 1]

Doug Schmell is cashing in the comics from the vault, in a heritage auction, basically the highest graded 9.8-9.6-9.4s of the first marvel age comics including keys.

 

Interesting to note that he is auctioning them off through Heritage, instead of through his own Pedigree auction website.

 

So, I assume that he is telling all potential consignors to Pedigree that if you have something really valuable to sell, you should really be putting them through Heritage as opposed to his own website.

 

He's actually explicitly saying this on his site--here's his exact quote

 

"The choice to select Heritage Auction Galleries for the sale of my collection was actually a no-brainer. I have watched Heritage become, by far, the world’s largest comics auction house and knew that they were the perfect venue for me to sell my private collection and realize the highest prices with no conflict of interest for the consignors on my site."

 

Not sure Heritage is the best venue given their default buyer/seller premium, but given the reduced rate he certainly bargained for, it likely is the best venue for a collection like this to sell.

 

And it probably will avoid all the speculation that he would be shilling his own auctions if he had them on Pedigreecomics.com

[greggy]

Wow, I just realized my 10-year anniversary on the boards was earlier this week, I'm getting old!

 

Happy Anniversary, Banner!

 

 

Thanks!

 

The Gator FB team needs to turn it around next year.

They won't.

Neither will any National Championships come your way so I wouldn't be so happy, jackazz.

You're out of your mind.

You won one with bogus eligible running back and a fortunate call in OT so suck it.

Re-watch the UM/OSU game, UM had a call go their way, scored and then the game went into overtime.

Verbal test for your running back to make him eligible!

 

He's gone now. Athletes all over the country get plenty of special treatment, not enough get caught.

[Dr. Balls]

(Actually, I meant DiCaprio's board ID. )

 

I don't know, I'll have to check. He was PMing me yesterday about some of the stuff people said about Titanic.

 

 

TupennyConan is Leo DiCaprio. That fellow that shows up at some cons posing to be Tupenny is Leo's man-servant. However, the posting that TupennyConan does is DiCaprio. You can tell it's DiCaprio by how insane, incoherent and looney the posts are.

 

 

So, that means I have a naked pic of Leonardo DiCaprio's man-servant hacked from his cellphone? That's a bummer.

[red rocks-migration]

Isn't Doug's collecting a hobby not a for profit business (his auction site by contrast is a business for profit).

 

I know the IRS doesn't let you take losses for hobbies (like part time horse breeding etc), so under IRS rules the opposite would be true: you wouldnt have to pay taxes on gains from hobbies? So there are no capital gains taxes for Doug?

[fantastic_four]

Isn't Doug's collecting a hobby not a for profit business (his auction site by contrast is a business for profit).

 

I know the IRS doesn't let you take losses for hobbies (like part time horse breeding etc), so under IRS rules the opposite would be true: you wouldnt have to pay taxes on gains from hobbies? So there are no capital gains taxes for Doug?

 

1) I'd be surprised if Doug doesn't sell more comics from his personal collection yearly than you can and still be considered a hobbyist. Having said that, I also bet that if he does report those sales, he does it under his business.

2) No, you're not exempt from taxes as a hobbyist. Nothing exempts you from taxes on income that I'm aware of. You're right that hobbyists can't claim losses, although you can deduct them from gains for that year, just can't get credits if you net a loss on the year.

3) The income from comics as a hobbyist or a business isn't considered a capital gain and taxed at the lower rate of 15%, it's taxed at the full rate for your tax bracket, i.e. 25% to 30% or more. The lower capital gain tax only applies to certain types of investments, mostly stocks.

[namisgr]

I've posted it before, and I'll post it again. Comics are collectibles and as such are taxed at the current IRS rate of 28% of profits if you've owned them for at least one year. For any shorter duration, the profit is taxed as normal income.

[red rocks-migration]

Isn't Doug's collecting a hobby not a for profit business (his auction site by contrast is a business for profit).

 

I know the IRS doesn't let you take losses for hobbies (like part time horse breeding etc), so under IRS rules the opposite would be true: you wouldnt have to pay taxes on gains from hobbies? So there are no capital gains taxes for Doug?

 

1) I'd be surprised if Doug doesn't sell more comics from his personal collection yearly than you can and still be considered a hobbyist. Having said that, I also bet that if he does report those sales, he does it under his business.

2) No, you're not exempt from taxes as a hobbyist. Nothing exempts you from taxes on income that I'm aware of. You're right that hobbyists can't claim losses, although you can deduct them from gains for that year, just can't get credits if you net a loss on the year.

3) The income from comics as a hobbyist or a business isn't considered a capital gain and taxed at the lower rate of 15%, it's taxed at the full rate for your tax bracket, i.e. 25% to 30% or more. The lower capital gain tax only applies to certain types of investments, mostly stocks.

 

That doesn't make sense. If you can't take the loss because of the hobby rule, then in fairness you shouldn't have to pay taxes if you make money. What is this heads the government wins, tails the government wins? Thats not tax fairness

[namisgr]

Isn't Doug's collecting a hobby not a for profit business (his auction site by contrast is a business for profit).

 

I know the IRS doesn't let you take losses for hobbies (like part time horse breeding etc), so under IRS rules the opposite would be true: you wouldnt have to pay taxes on gains from hobbies? So there are no capital gains taxes for Doug?

 

1) I'd be surprised if Doug doesn't sell more comics from his personal collection yearly than you can and still be considered a hobbyist. Having said that, I also bet that if he does report those sales, he does it under his business.

2) No, you're not exempt from taxes as a hobbyist. Nothing exempts you from taxes on income that I'm aware of. You're right that hobbyists can't claim losses, although you can deduct them from gains for that year, just can't get credits if you net a loss on the year.

3) The income from comics as a hobbyist or a business isn't considered a capital gain and taxed at the lower rate of 15%, it's taxed at the full rate for your tax bracket, i.e. 25% to 30% or more. The lower capital gain tax only applies to certain types of investments, mostly stocks.

 

That doesn't make sense. If you can't take the loss because of the hobby rule, then in fairness you shouldn't have to pay taxes if you make money. What is this heads the government wins, tails the government wins? Thats not tax fairness

 

What 'hobby rule'? If you own collectibles and sell them for more than it cost you to buy and maintain them, you owe tax on your profit, plain and simple. Anything less is cheating on your taxes, and depriving the Federal government of revenue that it's entitled to by law.

[revat]

There's no

Isn't Doug's collecting a hobby not a for profit business (his auction site by contrast is a business for profit).

 

I know the IRS doesn't let you take losses for hobbies (like part time horse breeding etc), so under IRS rules the opposite would be true: you wouldnt have to pay taxes on gains from hobbies? So there are no capital gains taxes for Doug?

 

1) I'd be surprised if Doug doesn't sell more comics from his personal collection yearly than you can and still be considered a hobbyist. Having said that, I also bet that if he does report those sales, he does it under his business.

2) No, you're not exempt from taxes as a hobbyist. Nothing exempts you from taxes on income that I'm aware of. You're right that hobbyists can't claim losses, although you can deduct them from gains for that year, just can't get credits if you net a loss on the year.

3) The income from comics as a hobbyist or a business isn't considered a capital gain and taxed at the lower rate of 15%, it's taxed at the full rate for your tax bracket, i.e. 25% to 30% or more. The lower capital gain tax only applies to certain types of investments, mostly stocks.

 

That doesn't make sense. If you can't take the loss because of the hobby rule, then in fairness you shouldn't have to pay taxes if you make money. What is this heads the government wins, tails the government wins? Thats not tax fairness

 

can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. but there's no implied or expressed 'fairness' in taxes. The same works with gambling. Gambing winnings are income, but losses can only be deducted to the extent of offsetting your winnings.

[the blob]

I hear what your saying but............

 

 

Pedigree Comics, Inc.

12541 Equine Lane

Wellington, FL. 33414

 

You win. He was a lawyer in NY and a comic dealer then. When he got disbarred I guess there was no point in staying in NY. I assumed.

 

Maybe he made some terrible investments in Florida real estate and needs to sell comics to deal with those....? He paid $816K for his home and it's worth around $500-550K now (zilla is usually a little high), so he actually paid a NY style price for his house.

[the blob]

Here's the thing, he lives around NYC, right? You do realize that it takes a minimum of $100,000 a year to live like a human being anywhere around here unless you're 22 and cool with sharing a place with 4 other guys/gals, right? (And then you don't notice it because you're wasted 5 nights a week.) We barely scrape by on twice that. Seriously, Archie Bunker's house would cost $750K-$1 million now. The "King of Queens" house would be $600-$800K. Monica's apartment on "Friends" would run about $5500 a month. The "Everybody Loves Raymond" house might be pushing seven figures. Aunt May's house would be about $700-$900K (and if she's in Forest Hills Gardens, over a million.) How anyone in the middle class can afford to live here unless they have already made a killing in the real estate market (like I did) is beyond me.

 

So, honestly, a 50something disbarred attorney who sells comics on the internet for a living being forced to sell off his better stuff in order to maintain his lifestyle shouldn't be all that shocking. You need to sell/consign a heck of a lot of good comics to be pulling in over $100K steadily.

 

I think Doug has lived in Florida for quite a few years now.

 

Doug lives in a beautiful home in Wellington Florida. I would estimate his home at about $650-700k current market value.

 

 

zilla says $576K, which always needs to be taken with a grain of salt.