Cage Collection Article in Forbes

[MonumentalCo]

Just saw the January 20th issue of Forbes Magazine and it has an article on the Nicolas Cage collection. A nice full page article discussing comic collecting and their values.

[bronzejunkie]

Oh great(sarcasm)... Now all the wall street money grubbers and wall street wannabe's are going to read this and latch on to another money making scheme if they haven't already and send every price through the roof and I ain't never going to get me that 9.4 AF#15 I've been wanting since i was a wee lad... Dang.

 

'best

 

bronzejunkie

[dam60]

It was a good article - talked about how the proceeds went to his legal bills. I thought that he wanted to "simplify" his life, but I should have known it was BS.

 

IT was a good article and more importantly, there was a blurb on it on the cover.

 

The important thing to realize here (IMO) is that this gave a great free plug to comic books!!

[fantastic_four]

Huh?

 

He put the collection up for sale before he was even married. Did the article suggest that he sold the comics to pay for his divorce, or did he have other legal bills prior to his marriage?

[dam60]

I don't know off hand - something about how the proceeds were used to pay legal fees, I just naturally assumed concerning the divorce . . . I'll try and get back to you, I have the issue at home.

 

DAM

[Crowzilla]

Here's a link to the article:

Forbes Article

 

I think that it's a really poor article and gives a false

impression of the market to people who wouldn't know

any better - implies a restored Cap #1 bought in '94 for

6k (moderate price for a restored copy then) could now

be worth 10s of thousands.

 

[FlyingDonut]

Here's the article - no need to sign up:

 

Comics Relief

Stephane Fitch, 01.20.03

 

Nicolas Cage may be disengaged. But, boy, what he's done for Spider-Man and the Hulk.

 

Nicolas Cage's spectacularly brief marriage to Lisa Marie Presley last year didn't produce any children. But it wasn't a total bust. The breakup, in fact, helped spark a boom in comic books.

 

The 39-year-old Cage is not only an Oscar-winner and occasional film stud. He's also a fan of Superman, Spider-Man and the Green Lantern. Or was. In October he decided to dump his collection--claiming that "I didn't really want to worship false icons"--and to raise cash that, as it turns out, will help him pay his divorce lawyers.

 

In what must have been the biggest payday for American nerdhood since Bill Gates went public, the Cage auction raised $1.7 million, including a 15% commission, from 420 comic books and repriced the whole top end of the market. Among the gems: Amazing Spider-Man #1 (sold for $12,650 despite its imperfect condition); DC Comics' All Star Comics #3, in which the Justice Society of America burst upon the scene ($126,500); and a slightly battered copy of Action Comics #1, which introduced the world to the Man of Steel ($86,250, maybe a third of what a mint copy would have commanded). Since the Cage auction, collectors, under a cloud since 1994, when a bubble in "brand-new collectible" comics collapsed, have been rushing home to scour attics for treasures.

 

"It was a pretty big deal--Nick had an eye toward exceptional quality," says John Petty, who directed the auction for Dallas-based Heritage Comics, a new offshoot of the venerable Heritage Coin.

 

Since the best books rarely trade, the industry depends heavily on data from price guides like the highly informative Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. Several of Cage's items sold for 40% to 100% over the Overstreet valuations.

 

That delighted guys like Gary Hanauer, a publicist for a Kansas City, Mo.-based p.r. agency, who owns 23,000 comics. "They keep me young," he shrugs. His prize possession: a book identical to one sold by Cage--Captain America Comics #1, from 1941. "I paid $6,000 for it in 1994, and everybody said I was crazy," says Hanauer, 54. Though restored by Susan Cicconi, who is revered among the comicscenti, the book, Hanauer says, would win a condition-rating higher than 9.0 (indicating a few bent corners, some color loss and such), perhaps as high as 9.4 (to the untrained eye, no blemishes). Cage's 9.0 copy sold for $80,500.

 

No sense buying a recent comic book and preserving it in a vault for 50 years. Today's editions, thanks to more durable materials, are likely to survive in large quantities. Which is more than you can say about modern marriages.

 

[aardvark88]

Now I need to change my business cards just to use the word "comicscenti." Implies I am in the know & like to sniff my hi-grade.

[FlComicFan]

"I didn't really want to worship false icons" Cage sold his goods because of Scientology?

[delekkerste]

No sense buying a recent comic book and preserving it in a vault for 50 years. Today's editions, thanks to more durable materials, are likely to survive in large quantities.

 

Shhhh, don't tell Darth...!

 

Gene

[Darthdiesel]

I wouldn't pay any mind to what this obviously biased and uniformed writer has to say about the future of comics.

 

"In what must have been the biggest payday for American nerdhood since Bill Gates went public,... "

 

Come on now, that's us he's talking about...what's geekier, collecting comics or converting to Scientology or believing that it is a real religion/philosophy...sorry, scientologists on here, as if you were allowed to worship false gods

 

Actually, the only comics Scientologist can read are ....pornographic ones!!!

[Bronty]

Explains your fascination with Cherry 1!