JOURNEY OF A KEY posted by bagofleas

[CSJournals-migration]

A 27 YEAR TRIP

 

When my father and I had just gotten into comic collecting back in 1986 we quickly started putting together sets of series that interested us.

 

The first long running series that we focused on was Daredevil. So in the fall of 86 we went to the home of a coworker of my father who had decided to sell some of his comic collection.

 

When we started digging through his boxes we found a boatload of Daredevils. They were in pristine condition since he had selected the best he could find and bagged them up and had not touched them since. My only regret now is that we did not pick up more issues at the time.

 

The pick of the litter that day was his copy of Daredevil 168. We paid the whopping grand total of five dollars for it..... FIVE DOLLARS!!!

 

My father sadly passed away in the Spring of 2000 and I subsequently sold off almost all of the collection since I did not have a home yet and my mom needed the room. It was over ten thousand issues! This was when CGC was just trying to get off the ground and was years away from being the established and respected organization that it is today.

 

If I had known then what I do now about the future of CGC I would never have sold them. I DID manage to keep my whole Daredevil set and a select few doubles from the collection. And now after 27 years I am about to finally have some of these graded.

 

I am attending the Orlando Megacon next month and I have seven raw issues that I plan on getting pressed and graded on site. Five are from my original collection.

 

Daredevil 168 (see pic below) - paid $5

Amazing Spider-Man 300 - paid $1.50

Transformers 80 - paid 25 cents

Wolverine 1 - paid $1

Wolverine 2 - paid $1

 

I will be so happy to finally see these graded after all these years but the DD 168 will be the most nostalgic for me. I will never part with it regardless of its grade.

 

So from $5 acquisition in 1986 to CGC grading in 2013. What a journey. What a hobby. What a load of fun!

 

Funny how 27 years can still seem like just a week ago. I love you Dad!

 

See more journals by bagofleas

[biggblaster]

Great book, I have done the same thing. But in my mind I never look back. I could take up 10 pages of journals of key books that I sold that are worth big money now, but I also have sold many books that were valuable then and are not so valuable now, even graded. Another aspect is that I always made money and it always has provided the cash to go bigger and better. Here are a couple examples from the late 80's and early 90's that I bought and sold.

Hulk 181. I bought it for 30 and it sold for 350.

4 issues Amazing spiderman 129 bought for 45 each and sold each one for over 300.

Iron Man 1 for 2. And sold for 400.

In the early 2000's I bought a collection of 5 boxes of golden and silver age books about mid range grade and was able to put a good down payment on my house with it. If I had the same stuff now I probably could have paid for half my house. But it’s like a catch 22. If I had not sold then I wouldn’t have had the opportunities I had after that.

One more quick example. I used to go to a book store on Long Island called U Trade Em and I would buy recent issues at the time for .25. I must have bought over 50 copies of each of amazing 300, 298, and all the rest of McFarlane’s. New mutants 87, 86 and the rest of the liefelds.

 

[Shivabali]

Terrific story. Thanks for sharing. That 168 looks very nice! Let us know what it comes back as...as well as the others!

[RULKFAN1000]

Thats a great story. Sorry to hear your father passed. I hope your DD 168 gets a really good grade, as the saying goes "Time flys when your having fun"

 

Please post the grade of that issue when it comes to you

 

Happy collecting

[bagofleas]

I will definitely post all my grades once I'm back from Orlando on March 18th.

 

I will be taking advantage of the On-Site grading CGC is offering at the convention so I will have those grades fast!

 

The DD 168 should get a 9.4 or 9.6 by my estimation.

[Tnerb]

A Great book. This book two was one of my introduction to comics...books. I don't have the same collecting attributes my father has, He likes trash and he likes throwing it away. You have some great stories and some great memories.

 

Now as far as the on-site grading, set everything up as quickly as possible. When they first had it done in Philadelphia, I got my books back the same day, this past year I was nervous I would have to wait for my Daredevil #3. And of course, you know the book I am rooting for. Good luck.

 

Tnerb