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

[Trev]

As I have predicted from DAY One 2012 will be a record year........... HERE IS MY TAKE ON THE SALE:

 

Doug Schmell worked hard to get, in my opinion, one of the 3 best marvel collections quality wise in the world.If you read his web site he sold the collection thru HA.COM to not create a conflict of interest with his web site. I find that statement hard to believe when you to the vault section and see the number of books that he has sold in the past. He does give ha.com's market ability also as a reason, and I tend to believe that is real reason behind his choice not to sell them himself.

 

Doug Schmell knows the market, knows about quality books and was the "man" when he spent the bucks to get the best possible material. I have been saying this on the boards for a long long time. Buy CGC, Buy top grade. He had the right plan and now he wants that plan to pay off and it will.

 

But there is a LOT of upside to go on the mega-keys and when this is gonna shake out the TOP 20 most expensive books in the hobby...probably 8 or more will be marvel. Expect world record prices in this auction with a lot of action from FOREIGN buyers as well as new investment groups and wealthy individuals. This sale is GREAT for comic book fandom, Great for collectors, and great for Ha and Doug. It's a Win Win for everybody.

 

It is a good time to buy and a good time to sell. I would upgrade like he did if you are a marvel collector and sell you lessor condition copies probably on Ha.com.

 

Doug knows that 2012 is a unique year in comic book history.....his sale shows that he agrees with my opinion.

 

Think about this -- he would have to believe HA could do 30% or better than his own site for this to make sense. Does pedigree play in a different market than HA? It seems like a condemnation of his own site.

[Rip]

Don't worry folks.

 

 

I represent Valentine and Winthorpe associates where I am paying 40 cents to the dollar on all frozen concentrated Orange Juice futures High Grade Silver Age Marvel.

 

I'll bet you a dollar you'll come out on top.

Much better than what Duke & Duke's out of Philly are doing.

 

 

[the blob]

Wouldn't high grade Marvels be fish in a barrel if you had Cameron or DiCaprio's resources?

 

 

 

DiCaprio is definitely a collector. There is rumour that he likes Marvels and Timelys. I believe he purchased a highest graded Marvel Comics #1 years ago from Comiclink (filter81's old copy) but I don't know how accurate that is. I think a boardie also recounted how he bought a Cap #1 from a comic store.

 

More well known is that he frequents Comic Con, specifically the Silver and Gold comics pavilion.

 

you know, dropping $300-$500K is still real money to those guys. they have to work a week or something for that.

[gyro-1]

SNIPED

 

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.

 

Very well said

[Trev]

After reading this thread, I am wondering how many folks would be willing to commit to NOT bidding on these books -- regardless of the deal.

 

I don't swim in this end of the pool, so it is a bit of hollow commitment from me.

[the blob]

All these "nest egg" calculators and financial planners tell you nowadays you need to bank like $3 million to retire comfortably (I am a few dollars short of this goal unfortunately), so perhaps this is his way of putting together that nest egg all at once if he has done little otherwise to save over the years. clearly he has been plowing money into the comics, maybe the 401K was ignored?

[namisgr]

Well the books are listed and a bunch of the scans are up, and I've gotta wipe the drool off of my keyboard.

 

For instance:

 

 

 

[paperheart]

As I have predicted from DAY One 2012 will be a record year........... HERE IS MY TAKE ON THE SALE:

 

Doug Schmell worked hard to get, in my opinion, one of the 3 best marvel collections quality wise in the world.If you read his web site he sold the collection thru HA.COM to not create a conflict of interest with his web site. I find that statement hard to believe when you to the vault section and see the number of books that he has sold in the past. He does give ha.com's market ability also as a reason, and I tend to believe that is real reason behind his choice not to sell them himself.

 

Doug Schmell knows the market, knows about quality books and was the "man" when he spent the bucks to get the best possible material. I have been saying this on the boards for a long long time. Buy CGC, Buy top grade. He had the right plan and now he wants that plan to pay off and it will.

 

But there is a LOT of upside to go on the mega-keys and when this is gonna shake out the TOP 20 most expensive books in the hobby...probably 8 or more will be marvel. Expect world record prices in this auction with a lot of action from FOREIGN buyers as well as new investment groups and wealthy individuals. This sale is GREAT for comic book fandom, Great for collectors, and great for Ha and Doug. It's a Win Win for everybody.

 

It is a good time to buy and a good time to sell. I would upgrade like he did if you are a marvel collector and sell you lessor condition copies probably on Ha.com.

 

Doug knows that 2012 is a unique year in comic book history.....his sale shows that he agrees with my opinion.

 

Think about this -- he would have to believe HA could do 30% or better than his own site for this to make sense. Does pedigree play in a different market than HA? It seems like a condemnation of his own site.

 

there is little to no chance Doug is giving up whatever % of the final sale you think he's giving up.

[VintageComics]

Well the books are listed and the scans are up, and I've gotta wipe the drool off of my keyboard.

 

For instance:

 

 

 

wow.

 

I've never seen a copy nicer than 9.0 in person.

 

 

[Mark 1]

Well the books are listed and the scans are up, and I've gotta wipe the drool off of my keyboard.

 

For instance:

 

 

 

Truly amazing. I would love to own just a few of them. I can't begin to imagine owning all of them like Doug has for years. I'd never leave the house.

 

 

[revat]

As I have predicted from DAY One 2012 will be a record year........... HERE IS MY TAKE ON THE SALE:

 

Doug Schmell worked hard to get, in my opinion, one of the 3 best marvel collections quality wise in the world.If you read his web site he sold the collection thru HA.COM to not create a conflict of interest with his web site. I find that statement hard to believe when you to the vault section and see the number of books that he has sold in the past. He does give ha.com's market ability also as a reason, and I tend to believe that is real reason behind his choice not to sell them himself.

 

Doug Schmell knows the market, knows about quality books and was the "man" when he spent the bucks to get the best possible material. I have been saying this on the boards for a long long time. Buy CGC, Buy top grade. He had the right plan and now he wants that plan to pay off and it will.

 

But there is a LOT of upside to go on the mega-keys and when this is gonna shake out the TOP 20 most expensive books in the hobby...probably 8 or more will be marvel. Expect world record prices in this auction with a lot of action from FOREIGN buyers as well as new investment groups and wealthy individuals. This sale is GREAT for comic book fandom, Great for collectors, and great for Ha and Doug. It's a Win Win for everybody.

 

It is a good time to buy and a good time to sell. I would upgrade like he did if you are a marvel collector and sell you lessor condition copies probably on Ha.com.

 

Doug knows that 2012 is a unique year in comic book history.....his sale shows that he agrees with my opinion.

 

Think about this -- he would have to believe HA could do 30% or better than his own site for this to make sense. Does pedigree play in a different market than HA? It seems like a condemnation of his own site.

 

there is little to no chance Doug is giving up whatever % of the final sale you think he's giving up.

 

There's also a chance that since he is selling his comics, he may be getting out of the comic business entirely, and may be selling his consignments business to Heritage. I have no knowledge of this, but it doesn't seem that far-fetched, and that could have been a point in negotiating commission percentages.

[aggr1103]

This thread has been so good.

[red rocks-migration]

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.

 

believe it or not but I was number 1 in my corporate tax class in law school Good point about the gambling winnings being income. There is definitely a bias here that goes against a fundamental principal of the rule of law: similar cases should be treated the same. This is just a policy judgment in the law to discourage investing in zero sum games (or greater fool investments) such as gambling or collectibles investing. Of course, day trading is not considered a zero sum game because Wall Street had better lobbyists to write the laws than the comic book lobbyists.

[Mephisto]

If he's smart, he's gonna parlay his windfall into Walking Dead books

 

Jim

 

I hear he will attempt to buy EVERY copy of Iron Man 55.

[Rip]

Wow I'm more of a DC and Golden Age guy, but that book is simply unreal!

[Flaming_Telepath]

As I have predicted from DAY One 2012 will be a record year........... HERE IS MY TAKE ON THE SALE:

 

Doug Schmell worked hard to get, in my opinion, one of the 3 best marvel collections quality wise in the world.If you read his web site he sold the collection thru HA.COM to not create a conflict of interest with his web site. I find that statement hard to believe when you to the vault section and see the number of books that he has sold in the past. He does give ha.com's market ability also as a reason, and I tend to believe that is real reason behind his choice not to sell them himself.

 

Doug Schmell knows the market, knows about quality books and was the "man" when he spent the bucks to get the best possible material. I have been saying this on the boards for a long long time. Buy CGC, Buy top grade. He had the right plan and now he wants that plan to pay off and it will.

 

But there is a LOT of upside to go on the mega-keys and when this is gonna shake out the TOP 20 most expensive books in the hobby...probably 8 or more will be marvel. Expect world record prices in this auction with a lot of action from FOREIGN buyers as well as new investment groups and wealthy individuals. This sale is GREAT for comic book fandom, Great for collectors, and great for Ha and Doug. It's a Win Win for everybody.

 

It is a good time to buy and a good time to sell. I would upgrade like he did if you are a marvel collector and sell you lessor condition copies probably on Ha.com.

 

Doug knows that 2012 is a unique year in comic book history.....his sale shows that he agrees with my opinion.

 

Think about this -- he would have to believe HA could do 30% or better than his own site for this to make sense. Does pedigree play in a different market than HA? It seems like a condemnation of his own site.

 

Doug's reputation has taken some deserved heavy hits over the years. It wouldn't surprise me if business is deservedly bad.

 

However, with the goods he's holding, he won't be paying 30%.

[red rocks-migration]

Well the books are listed and the scans are up, and I've gotta wipe the drool off of my keyboard.

 

For instance:

 

 

 

Truly amazing. I would love to own just a few of them. I can't begin to imagine owning all of them like Doug has for years. I'd never leave the house.

 

 

Yes I've been drooling at them for the past 3 years. I honestly cant believe he would sell them all. Half I can understand, but all? That's crazy. At least keep a few keys. I'd keep the JIM run.

 

Especially if he just left them to his kids, there would be no tax consequences.

[red rocks-migration]

Well with the money and attention this auction will bring, I think I want to list some of my bigger GA books in that auction. With no 30% fee if possible

[cheetah]

 

They have all be well received and absorbed into the market.

 

Our own Cheetah sold multiple runs (X-men, Avengers, Spider-man? and a few others) and they were no slouches.

 

Yes, but didn't Jeff also say that many of the Spideys he consigned with CC ended up selling for new GPA lows? Getting absorbed into the market isn't a problem....its getting absorbed without the seller losing his shirt that may be the real issue.

 

Not every book is a winner at auction. You'd know that best.

 

 

 

The truth is, I made a profit off the Avengers 1 and 4 that was large enough to cover every other loss I've ever had on comics. That's why I think Schmell will make a total killing.

[cheetah]

As I have predicted from DAY One 2012 will be a record year........... HERE IS MY TAKE ON THE SALE:

 

Doug Schmell worked hard to get, in my opinion, one of the 3 best marvel collections quality wise in the world.If you read his web site he sold the collection thru HA.COM to not create a conflict of interest with his web site. I find that statement hard to believe when you to the vault section and see the number of books that he has sold in the past. He does give ha.com's market ability also as a reason, and I tend to believe that is real reason behind his choice not to sell them himself.

 

Doug Schmell knows the market, knows about quality books and was the "man" when he spent the bucks to get the best possible material. I have been saying this on the boards for a long long time. Buy CGC, Buy top grade. He had the right plan and now he wants that plan to pay off and it will.

 

But there is a LOT of upside to go on the mega-keys and when this is gonna shake out the TOP 20 most expensive books in the hobby...probably 8 or more will be marvel. Expect world record prices in this auction with a lot of action from FOREIGN buyers as well as new investment groups and wealthy individuals. This sale is GREAT for comic book fandom, Great for collectors, and great for Ha and Doug. It's a Win Win for everybody.

 

It is a good time to buy and a good time to sell. I would upgrade like he did if you are a marvel collector and sell you lessor condition copies probably on Ha.com.

 

Doug knows that 2012 is a unique year in comic book history.....his sale shows that he agrees with my opinion.

 

Think about this -- he would have to believe HA could do 30% or better than his own site for this to make sense. Does pedigree play in a different market than HA? It seems like a condemnation of his own site.

 

Doug's reputation has taken some deserved heavy hits over the years. It wouldn't surprise me if business is deservedly bad.

 

However, with the goods he's holding, he won't be paying 30%.

 

I imagine the value of Heritage's marketing will offset the 10-15% he'll end of paying in commission fees.