So how do you press a book?

[Davenport]

A long time ago Metropolis sent a catalog with a cool back-cover 1897 to 1975 timeline of historically significant books.

Fun to look at, and a disciplined collector restricting buys to those shown would've done well for themselves. If such collectors actually existed.

 

[mintcollector]

A long time ago Metropolis sent a catalog with a cool back-cover 1897 to 1975 "timeline" of historically significant books.

Fun to look at, and a disciplined collector restricting buys to those shown would've done well for themselves. If such collectors actually existed.

 

 

This is AWESOME! Thank you for posting this! It is cool to look at. (thumbs u

 

Kind Regards,

 

'mint'

[Davenport]

This is AWESOME! Thank you for posting this! It is cool to look at. (thumbs u

 

Kind Regards,

 

'mint'

(thumbs u

 

[Bookery]

I'm not saying I collect only for investment,but it would be nice to sustain value if not gain.I love the medium,but collectors collect because there is value to their collections.

Tell me how you feel when you put up 5-10 thousand dollars for a book my friend.

Oak who is feeling like Cal today

 

I don't think anything specific to comics (pressing, CGC changes, eBay crooks, investor jitters, etc.) has anything to do with those comics that are trending downward (which anymore is probably most non-"keys"). It's happening to all paper collectibles.

 

I just picked up a massive collection of books including many limited and signed editions. But I've no illusion that their value is much more than half of what it was a few years ago. Some of these books were limited to only 50 copies! (that's far fewer than the number of extant copies of Action #1), yet many of these are still going for original issue price (or less). Yet there are no similar controversies in books right now such as pressing or grade-inflation.

 

Electronic readers will continue to savage collectibles prices, as well as competition from big-budget movies, games and TV that can now visualize the fantastic worlds that once could only be visited in the pages of comics or literature. Add to this upcoming generations that prefer visuals and text-shorthand to true reading, and comics are hardly alone in their marketplace woes. And as it comes to golden-age and even early silver-age, many lesser characters are simply forgotten or completely unknown to new collectors, which is itself a natural order of things collected.

 

In the 19th century there were probably 1,000 authors that were popular in their day. Today, maybe two-dozen are still actively collected (if that).

 

The pressing controversy doesn't even amount to a microbe on the back of a flea on the back of a mouse in terms of effect on future valuations compared to other forces at work.

 

 

 

[Tony S]

I fear that one day we are going to look back on these days,and remember how pressing has ruined the comic book hobby.Devaluing of books,census overloaded with high grade examples,leaving people uninterested in a value less hobby.

 

If you love your books and don't look at them as an investment you never have to worry about such things.

 

This.

 

Let's be honest here, you don't pay thousands of dollars on one book just for the love of the medium.You hope that your investment will sustain if not gain value when it comes time to sell.

I think if that's the only reason collectors paid money, then the market would go one of two ways: 1. all comics would be worth cover price, regardless of age. (If you care nothing about comics or their contents, then why care about Action 1 at all?) or 2. the back issue market would be a lot more like the stock market, waxing and waning more on the perception of everyone else's interest more than on the actual interest.

 

That's from someone who has yet to pay thousands of dollars for one book.

It's not like I pay thousands of dollars for one book because I want to

 

That's the price of admission for the good stuff I want. Now when I pay thousand's dollars for a book - and since there are lots of books I'd like - I might as well pick one that has a good chance of appreciating in value. It's not like I'm Bill Gates and can afford to burn money.

[Ze-man]

This is AWESOME! Thank you for posting this! It is cool to look at. (thumbs u

 

Kind Regards,

 

'mint'

(thumbs u

 

 

But there is no place to put a little check mark as you buy each comic.

 

How is the average collector supposed to keep track?

 

 

 

[Logan510]

I fear that one day we are going to look back on these days,and remember how pressing has ruined the comic book hobby.Devaluing of books,census overloaded with high grade examples,leaving people uninterested in a value less hobby.

 

If you love your books and don't look at them as an investment you never have to worry about such things.

 

This.

 

Let's be honest here, you don't pay thousands of dollars on one book just for the love of the medium.You hope that your investment will sustain if not gain value when it comes time to sell.

I think if that's the only reason collectors paid money, then the market would go one of two ways: 1. all comics would be worth cover price, regardless of age. (If you care nothing about comics or their contents, then why care about Action 1 at all?) or 2. the back issue market would be a lot more like the stock market, waxing and waning more on the perception of everyone else's interest more than on the actual interest.

 

That's from someone who has yet to pay thousands of dollars for one book.

I'm not saying I collect only for investment,but it would be nice to sustain value if not gain.I love the medium,but collectors collect because there is value to their collections.

Tell me how you feel when you put up 5-10 thousand dollars for a book my friend.

Oak who is feeling like Cal today

 

I think my starement still stands. I never plan on selling my books, so I don't care if they go up or down in value. There are books I buy specifically for resale so I can subsidize my collecting and those books I frankly don't care about because I don't consider them mine.

[Davenport]

But there is no place to put a little check mark as you buy each comic.

 

How is the average collector supposed to keep track?

 

Simple math.

The average collector has two arms and two legs, and each book costs an arm and a leg. Collect till your limbless?

[Chespirito]

But there is no place to put a little check mark as you buy each comic.

 

How is the average collector supposed to keep track?

 

Simple math.

The average collector has two arms and two legs, and each book costs an arm and a leg. Collect till your limbless?

 

Nice..

[Comicopolis]

But there is no place to put a little check mark as you buy each comic.

 

How is the average collector supposed to keep track?

 

Simple math.

The average collector has two arms and two legs, and each book costs an arm and a leg. Collect till your limbless?

 

[Hado]

I've never spent the big big money some people on the boards have on a single book so bear with me.

The one book I did spend on was an ASM #1 3.0. I don't view it as an investment, it was a book that I thought would forever be out of my means, growing up without a lot of money everything seems expensive. Sure I don't want the value to drop, but if it did that would be the time to upgrade. I collect books that, as a kid, I'd only seen pictures of, reselling never enters the equation.

 

[Racer-X]

I've never spent the big big money some people on the boards have on a single book so bear with me.

The one book I did spend on was an ASM #1 3.0. I don't view it as an investment, it was a book that I thought would forever be out of my means, growing up without a lot of money everything seems expensive. Sure I don't want the value to drop, but if it did that would be the time to upgrade. I collect books that, as a kid, I'd only seen pictures of, reselling never enters the equation.

 

Just curious - if you don't care about value, why upgrade at all? Why get a 5.0 and not stick with the 3.0, given the 3.0 is complete. I mean, you only want to read it right?

[Hado]

If the value came down, who wouldn't want to upgrade to a pretty, higher grade book? My enjoyment comes from looking at the covers, iconic images that I've wanted to own. For reading, there's trades or digital copy's.

[Hado]

I guess people collect for different reasons, and as a community we need to realize that's ok.

[Logan510]

I've never spent the big big money some people on the boards have on a single book so bear with me.

The one book I did spend on was an ASM #1 3.0. I don't view it as an investment, it was a book that I thought would forever be out of my means, growing up without a lot of money everything seems expensive. Sure I don't want the value to drop, but if it did that would be the time to upgrade. I collect books that, as a kid, I'd only seen pictures of, reselling never enters the equation.

 

Just curious - if you don't care about value, why upgrade at all? Why get a 5.0 and not stick with the 3.0, given the 3.0 is complete. I mean, you only want to read it right?

 

Silly question. I don't plan on selling comics in my collection but that doesn't preclude me from buying high grade copies.

[ChrisInBaltimore]

I've never spent the big big money some people on the boards have on a single book so bear with me.

The one book I did spend on was an ASM #1 3.0. I don't view it as an investment, it was a book that I thought would forever be out of my means, growing up without a lot of money everything seems expensive. Sure I don't want the value to drop, but if it did that would be the time to upgrade. I collect books that, as a kid, I'd only seen pictures of, reselling never enters the equation.

 

Just curious - if you don't care about value, why upgrade at all? Why get a 5.0 and not stick with the 3.0, given the 3.0 is complete. I mean, you only want to read it right?

 

Why not upgrade? If you've filled in your collection why not try and upgrade things a bit? It is also part of the fun as a collector. If you have everything what do you do? You go for nicer copies of things. Or you get them signed!

[foul_play-migration]

This is AWESOME! Thank you for posting this! It is cool to look at. (thumbs u

 

Kind Regards,

 

'mint'

(thumbs u

 

Notice that they messed up and put the wrong Weird Science # 12 in there

 

[VintageComics]

If the value came down, who wouldn't want to upgrade to a pretty, higher grade book? My enjoyment comes from looking at the covers, iconic images that I've wanted to own. For reading, there's trades or digital copy's.

 

Some of us collectors really get a kick out of holding and reading a high grade copy of a vintage book. Digital or reprint just doesn't cut it.

 

[ChrisInBaltimore]

If the value came down, who wouldn't want to upgrade to a pretty, higher grade book? My enjoyment comes from looking at the covers, iconic images that I've wanted to own. For reading, there's trades or digital copy's.

 

Some of us collectors really get a kick out of holding and reading a high grade copy of a vintage book. Digital or reprint just doesn't cut it.

 

 

Yea I love reading old comics. The feel and smell of them is something special. All these new glossy books just don't have that same appeal.

[Hado]

If the value came down, who wouldn't want to upgrade to a pretty, higher grade book? My enjoyment comes from looking at the covers, iconic images that I've wanted to own. For reading, there's trades or digital copy's.

 

Some of us collectors really get a kick out of holding and reading a high grade copy of a vintage book. Digital or reprint just doesn't cut it.

 

I can understand that, I just don't have the stones to do it