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Are Golden/Silver age books really safe investments??

Started by ComicCollectorx19,

240 posts in this topic

COI

COI

Posted
Posted
yes, if you bought them 20 7 years ago along with a press.

 

 

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oakman29

oakman29

Posted
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yes, if you bought them 20 years ago.

 

how so?

I bought an AF 15 in 5.0 raw for 500.00 in 1983.I would say that was a pretty good investment. :cool:

 

I'll give you $600 for it :baiting:

:eyeroll:
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bb8

bb8

Posted
Posted
yes, if you bought them 20 years ago.

 

how so?

I bought an AF 15 in 5.0 raw for 500.00 in 1983.I would say that was a pretty good investment. :cool:

 

Makes me kinda wish I were old, too....then I come to my senses.

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oakman29

oakman29

Posted
Posted
yes, if you bought them 20 years ago.

 

how so?

I bought an AF 15 in 5.0 raw for 500.00 in 1983.I would say that was a pretty good investment. :cool:

 

Makes me kinda wish I were old, too....then I come to my senses.

Get off my lawn,punk kid! :preach:

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kimik

kimik

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Posted

Looking at the trends I see at shows where you notice how many teenage and early 20s boys/men and girls/women are buying back issues I would say that focusing on SA and BA keys is a decent investment now, just like it has been for the past 30 years. I can't comment on the GA market as I do not carry them for shows.

 

The difference now is the condition of books that collectors are chasing. It is easier to move a lower grade copy of a key for a decent premium to guide as collectors seem to be willing to pay an "entry fee" just to have a copy of a given key. Mid to high grade books tend to hit a price resistance point.

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slym2none

slym2none

Posted
Posted
yes, if you bought them 20 years ago.

 

how so?

I bought an AF 15 in 5.0 raw for 500.00 in 1983.I would say that was a pretty good investment. :cool:

 

Makes me kinda wish I were old, too....then I come to my senses.

 

Ouch man... :(

 

40 is not old!!!

 

*limps off to take a few Anacin*

 

 

 

-slym

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AGGIEZ

AGGIEZ

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Hello All,

 

I was wondering what your thoughts were on the true investing potential of golden and silver age books?

 

Obviously I feel that some books will continue to grow in value but im having some second thoughts on the smaller golden/silver age keys or minor keys. Will people who are being born in the 1990s and 2000s really care about these books when they get much older. I know many books for many collectors hold collectors value as well as sentimental value because they grew up with these books since they were kids, or they used to idolize superhero "XXXXX" etc.

 

Will the kids of today really care about the first appearances of figures like Ant man, plastic man , kingpin, atom man etc?

 

Hope to hear your input!

I think there will always be an audience, but I definitely think a shift to original art will happen. Especially as more and more artists shift to digital, I have a feeling OA will be the more desired collectible.

 

 

Completely disagree here. Most of the desirable OA is already well out of most people's disposable income, or even investment budget, range. Unless you're talking about the OA for some of the modern drek that is out now then that ship has sailed. I agree with an earlier poster...low grade Silver age first appearance books is where it's at...

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Mmanick

Mmanick

Posted
Posted
Hello All,

 

I was wondering what your thoughts were on the true investing potential of golden and silver age books?

 

Obviously I feel that some books will continue to grow in value but im having some second thoughts on the smaller golden/silver age keys or minor keys. Will people who are being born in the 1990s and 2000s really care about these books when they get much older. I know many books for many collectors hold collectors value as well as sentimental value because they grew up with these books since they were kids, or they used to idolize superhero "XXXXX" etc.

 

Will the kids of today really care about the first appearances of figures like Ant man, plastic man , kingpin, atom man etc?

 

Hope to hear your input!

 

I was born in 88 my brothers in 82, 92 and we all care about c books. I'm a newer collector as well. I've seen plenty of other younger fans.

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comicsnyc22

comicsnyc22

Posted
Posted
Hello All,

 

I was wondering what your thoughts were on the true investing potential of golden and silver age books?

 

Obviously I feel that some books will continue to grow in value but im having some second thoughts on the smaller golden/silver age keys or minor keys. Will people who are being born in the 1990s and 2000s really care about these books when they get much older. I know many books for many collectors hold collectors value as well as sentimental value because they grew up with these books since they were kids, or they used to idolize superhero "XXXXX" etc.

 

Will the kids of today really care about the first appearances of figures like Ant man, plastic man , kingpin, atom man etc?

 

Hope to hear your input!

I think there will always be an audience, but I definitely think a shift to original art will happen. Especially as more and more artists shift to digital, I have a feeling OA will be the more desired collectible.

 

 

Completely disagree here. Most of the desirable OA is already well out of most people's disposable income, or even investment budget, range. Unless you're talking about the OA for some of the modern drek that is out now then that ship has sailed. I agree with an earlier poster...low grade Silver age first appearance books is where it's at...

 

Yes, I'm talking about modern OA drek, which a lot of people desire. A nice Jim Lee or Frank Miller page can command just as much as a page from one of the SA greats.

 

And to your point, is "desirable OA" just going to be so pricey that no one buys it? No. It will sell. Two final points:

 

A: There will always be dispensable incomes. If something goes to auction, it'll sell. OA is a different ballgame than comics.

 

B: Are all you old farts just going to be buried with your Kirby and Ditko pages, or are you going to let us whippersnappers buy them off you?

 

EDIT: GO STILLERS. Knew you had to be a stubborn yinzer to be making points like that :headbang:

 

 

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delekkerste

delekkerste

Posted
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I know 173 is out of the question, as a boardie is a nut about like I am.

 

:hi:

 

B: Are all you old farts just going to be buried with your Kirby and Ditko pages, or are you going to let us whippersnappers buy them off you?

 

The fact of the matter is, with most of the top OA collectors in their 40s and 50s (with some in their 30s and 60s), over the next few decades, virtually 100% of the OA out there will turn over at least once, including all the A+++ material in the "black hole" collections. Can't fight the cycle of aging. The question is, will there be enough cash to absorb this turnover at current market levels (or even higher), even spread out over the course of those decades? Personally, I think it's very unlikely that future generations will have both the nostalgia and spending power in sufficient numbers to make this happen (the same applies to high-end comics). But, that kind of long-term timeframe isn't really on anybody's mind at the moment, and isn't really relevant for people with much shorter time horizons.

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delekkerste

delekkerste

Posted
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The short answer is no, no comics are "safe" investments.

 

Yeah, just ask the guy who paid $91,500 for the Avengers #4 9.6 Ohio pedigree in 2011 and resold it for $29,805 this year. A 71% loss after commissions in 2 years. Blue chip, investment grade key issue. Yep, sounds like a safe investment to me! I know some people doubt the veracity of that initial sale, but there have been other sales in the $50Ks and $60Ks in any case, so we're talking at least a 40+% loss for that book in grade. And this is not an isolated example. Is AF #15 9.6 still a $1.1 million book now that the census has tripled from 1 to 3? hm

 

People can make all the excuses they like, but I think most SA comics are off their peak levels of 2-3 years ago (of course, BA, Copper and Modern peaked long before that). And, no, just because there are exceptions to this statement does not alter its basic veracity. It really couldn't be more obvious, actually - why do you think all the auction houses are targeting OA these days? They know that 2010-2011 was as good as it's ever going to get for comics. Now the market is largely saturated while lax grading standards and CPR and other manipulation continues to inflate the census, so they've moved on to the next hot thing. (shrug)

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