WOW!! www.pedigreecomics.com.....THE VAULT

[mrwoogieman]

They are far, far beyond my means, but I don't think they are priced out of reach for a truly deep pocketed, dedicated collector. You'd have to really love these books to pay these prices, though. I don't think it's very likely that a pure speculator would snatch any of these as an investment, but I could be wrong.

 

Doug indicated in the Silver Age forum that he doesn't really want to sell them, but if I were him I'd be afraid someone will ante up. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go buy some lottery tickets...

 

Rock stars, athletes and other assorted celebrities are into buying this stuff as 'an investment'. Plus they also buy stuff like antique guns, swords, suits of armor, vintage cars, and other assorted [!@#%^&^] like that. Then when the gravy train stops, and their coke/cristal/party habits don't, they are forced to sell all this stuff off to satisfy their creditors, and the next generation of new money comes in and does the same thing. Keeps the economy churning and it's good for everyone. A broke Mike Tyson is a much better contributor to society than a Mike Tyson sitting on a couple hundred million in the bank.

[Mr. Zipper]

They are far, far beyond my means...

 

As they are for 99% of the collecting community. Sure, most of us with decent -- even fairly high paying jobs -- **could** afford a book or two, but hardly build a "collection." Besides, how many of us are willing to pay mortgage money for non-key slabbed books? Hmmmmm... do I pay the mortgage and utility bills or get that ASM 51 in 9.4?

 

I don't think they are priced out of reach for a truly deep pocketed, dedicated collector. You'd have to really love these books to pay these prices, though. I don't think it's very likely that a pure speculator would snatch any of these as an investment, but I could be wrong.

 

Sure, but how many "dedicated collectors" are truly "deep-pocketed"? Is the collector population rife with trust fund babies? I'm having a hard time believing that there are enough wealthy comic book collectors to continue to drive the high-end slab market - Pedigree.com, Comiclink, Heritage, etc, etc. Our community has turned into a town with 10 Rolls Royce dealers and 3 Ford dealers. Whose door will close first?

 

[DKB]

I gotta say, the recent giagantic spike in high grade books has been awe inspiring and at the same time a bit of a buzz kill. I have to think I'm 10 years behind the curve. Had I been where I am in life 10 years ago, I'd have been able to purchase (and most certainly would have been purchasing) some (likely ALL) of these high grade big time books.

 

Now I have to face the fact that 90% of the stuff I've dreamed of owning is just plain out of reach. Not a huge deal. I just have to whittle down my goals from every silver and bronze age Marvel, (lofty, but not so lofty if I had my current amount of disposable income 10-15 years ago) to possibly just all the silver Daredevils and Spidey's. For instance. Then possibly focus on getting my hands on a real decent complete Bronze Marvel collection. JIM 83 8.0, pfft, not likely =).

[r100comics]

I was extremely impressed by Doug's Market Reports which show the exact amounts he has paid for recent purchases. (I know these prices are real, because some of the sales he has featured are books that I sold him).

 

This has to be the first time we have ever seen this level of transparency on a dealer site. Hopefully it will be the start of things to come.

[Red Hook]

I think the transparency factor is revolutionary within the parameters of the comic buying and selling field. Doug is anticipating and recognizing that buyers are becoming savvier and taking advantage of the technology and databases available to them.

 

The prices on the books he's offering at the moment may be high, but I suspect that over time, there will be a flattening due to the inclusion of outside consignments ( I mean, his books are just too high grade!).

 

It's a different, aggressive, professional, open and more personable approach, and I like it. Welcome to the machine, Doug.

[jimm94]

They are far, far beyond my means...

 

As they are for 99% of the collecting community. Sure, most of us with decent -- even fairly high paying jobs -- **could** afford a book or two, but hardly build a "collection." Besides, how many of us are willing to pay mortgage money for non-key slabbed books? Hmmmmm... do I pay the mortgage and utility bills or get that ASM 51 in 9.4?

 

I don't think they are priced out of reach for a truly deep pocketed, dedicated collector. You'd have to really love these books to pay these prices, though. I don't think it's very likely that a pure speculator would snatch any of these as an investment, but I could be wrong.

 

Sure, but how many "dedicated collectors" are truly "deep-pocketed"? Is the collector population rife with trust fund babies? I'm having a hard time believing that there are enough wealthy comic book collectors to continue to drive the high-end slab market - Pedigree.com, Comiclink, Heritage, etc, etc. Our community has turned into a town with 10 Rolls Royce dealers and 3 Ford dealers. Whose door will close first?

 

 

Zipper,

 

Good points. I especially agree with what you said about building a COLLECTION .

 

IMO, unless new high grade collections begin to surface (which I believe is certainly possible), the chances of someone building complete uber runs as Captain Tripps, Tom B. and a select few others have done are greatly diminished.

 

The truly primo silver age collections that I can think of are comprised of runs that were purchased in large chunks from OO collections, not just one or a few books at a time (unless in trades, upgrades or just starting out). Hence, it would certainly take A LOT more money than ever before to build a collection that equals or surpasses the quality of what others have already achieved.

 

However, the 1% of the market that can afford to buy the Roll Royce books will still be there, as will the dealers who can afford to stock them - even if the collector can only buy a handful of books. You're definitely right about Comiclink and Heritage being known for the ultra high-grade books, but there's plenty up there on both of those sites for "the rest of us".

 

Doug's site is brand spankin' new, and I'll bet we'll see even more affordable high grade comics on there as time goes by. There are already a number of nice books for $150-200 or less. It just depends on if Doug wants to slum it with the sub-9.4 CGC crowd. In fact, I think he should have registered the domain name www.ispiton92s.com and had a redirect to the real site.

 

Having said all that, I don't begrudge those that can afford The Vault or other ultra-high grade books. Good for them, and good for Doug!

 

Regards,

 

-Jim

[drbanner]

I think the transparency factor is revolutionary within the parameters of the comic buying and selling field. Doug is anticipating and recognizing that buyers are becoming savvier and taking advantage of the technology and databases available to them.

 

The prices on the books he's offering at the moment may be high, but I suspect that over time, there will be a flattening due to the inclusion of outside consignments ( I mean, his books are just too high grade!).

 

It's a different, aggressive, professional, open and more personable approach, and I like it. Welcome to the machine, Doug.

 

Actually, his "buying" data is not much different than what we've been able to get the last few years from the Manning Auctions (I believe they published the sales data after the auction), Heritage on-line data, and of course GPA and comicsheet's data. The New World Order provides all this data upfront so buyers, and sellers, are much more informed these days!

[Red Hook]

Exactly my point. The info is available to the informed buyer already, so why not talk about the prices he's paid recently? It's just that he's putting it right on the sale site, in one place, much easier to access. And available to those who may not be aware that the info is available elsewhere.

 

Plus, he's not a faceless corporate entity like Heritage. He's still a fanboy selling comics, albeit, very expensive ones. It will be interesting to see how it plays.

[sfilosa]

The flaw with thinking that 10-15 years ago you would have bought these books is;

 

1) Most of these books weren't even available (i.e. pedigree collections found in the past 5-10 years).

 

2) The true high-grade (NM or better books) that were available were always prices at multiples of guide.

 

3) And most of the ones advertised at NM are today's VF+ and VF/NM (I know, I own some).

[Mr. Zipper]

3) And most of the ones advertised at NM are today's VF+ and VF/NM (I know, I own some).

 

Don't we all... don't we all....

 

I recently finished entering my collection into ComicBase and regraded as I went along. Not a happy experience. Very few hidden gems and most books went down at least a half grade from what I purchased them at 10 - 20 years ago. (I used to write the condition and purchase price on the back of the backing board.)

 

[aardvark88]

Where on Doug's site does it state his 8% consignment commission rate? I can't find it.

[DCman]

"I recently finished entering my collection into ComicBase ">>>>>>>>>

 

How do you like ComicBase? Just curious, I was thinking about purchasing it.

[Mr. Zipper]

"I recently finished entering my collection into ComicBase ">>>>>>>>>

 

How do you like ComicBase? Just curious, I was thinking about purchasing it.

 

I've been using version 7.0 for a couple of years (yup, I JUST finished entering all my comics )

 

I like it... a few minor glitches, but light years ahead of excel spreadsheets and/or Comic Collector both which I used to have.

 

I like how I can generate my want list and inventory into csv files and store the data on my Palm. I recommend it without reservation. Get the basic version from Bill Cole for $99

[fantastic_four]

Actually, his "buying" data is not much different than what we've been able to get the last few years from the Manning Auctions (I believe they published the sales data after the auction), Heritage on-line data, and of course GPA and comicsheet's data.

 

It is different. The best three copies of any given Silver Marvel issue usually are sold to Doug, Tom, or Barton outside of the channels GPA and ComicSheet watch, and until now, most of us had no idea how much they were paying. Now, we've got an idea. I asked Hoodeedoo (Mark) how much he sold his FF 16 CGC 9.6 to Doug for, but he wouldn't tell me because he wasn't sure Doug wanted it known...now, I know because Doug posted it himself! I find that to be useful info I didn't have before.

[drbanner]

Actually, his "buying" data is not much different than what we've been able to get the last few years from the Manning Auctions (I believe they published the sales data after the auction), Heritage on-line data, and of course GPA and comicsheet's data.

 

It is different. The best three copies of any given Silver Marvel issue usually are sold to Doug, Tom, or Barton outside of the channels GPA and ComicSheet watch, and until now, most of us had no idea how much they were paying. Now, we've got an idea. I asked Hoodeedoo (Mark) how much he sold his FF 16 CGC 9.6 to Doug for, but he wouldn't tell me because he wasn't sure Doug wanted it known...now, I know because Doug posted it himself! I find that to be useful info I didn't have before.

 

Ok, let me re-phrase:

 

Actually, his "buying" data that matters to mere mortals is not much different than what we've been able to get the last few years...

[DCman]

thanks Zipper...

[Aman619]

yeah, its a sobering experience, and quite sad. Sometimes after a half hour of regrading my books, I just lose heart and stop. Sure, there were a bunch of sweet sweet copies, but they were ALL that way when I bought them, werent they? yahh, right.

[sterlingcomics]

"I recently finished entering my collection into ComicBase ">>>>>>>>>

 

How do you like ComicBase? Just curious, I was thinking about purchasing it.

 

I personally found it fristrating to use (its obvious to me that data entry ease wasn't a design goal--I hear its easier in the new version but I'm not going to shell out the bucks to find out). Not to mention, there was little flexibility in generating reports.