Get ready for the 90s all over again - comic book speculators are on their way

[Mishmashman]

Seems that in the last year, an article like this comes out monthly. WSJ just had an article of a similar vein a couple of months ago. I love the user comments--a bunch of embittered collectors from the 90s who got burned.

 

I agree you likely can't get rich buying and selling comics, but you can make money if you buy the right ones and can spot trends. And if you buy the right ones, your books can help you outperform the stock market, or at the very worst, a CD, which is next to worthless these days.

[Dr. Balls]

I agree you likely can't get rich buying and selling comics, but you can make money if you buy the right ones and can spot trends. And if you buy the right ones, your books can help you outperform the stock market, or at the very worst, a CD, which is next to worthless these days.

 

Or for those of us with far less lofty goals: speculate on books you don't collect and use the profits to buy books for your personal collection. Personally, I love buying a $300 book I only have $50 into because I bingoed on a stack of books that got hot.

[COI]

A board of value-obsessed flippers casting aspersions on speculators. Butterscotch pecan-topped irony.

 

I'm not even sure if aspersions were cast in this thread; I just wanted to use the word pecan.

[RockMyAmadeus]

A board of value-obsessed flippers casting aspersions on speculators. Butterscotch pecan-topped irony.

 

I'm not even sure if aspersions were cast in this thread; I just wanted to use the word pecan.

 

[rjpb]

I can't say for what is raw, but for what is CGC graded, the average grades for the:

70s is 8.89,

for the 60s is 7.59 and

for the 50s is 7.11.

(Thanks Greg Holland).

 

 

CGC graded books will naturally skew higher than the population as a whole as low-mid grade copies of most comics have little or no value added from grading, and are often sold at a net loss when the expense of grading is calculated in. This is even true for most Golden Age worth less than a couple hundred dollars or so.

 

The only books where the CGC census is even likely to reflect the population as a whole are going to be the bigger SA keys where both value in any grade and number of graded copies are high enough to even the grade distribution. The median ( more relevant than the average) grade for the 1223 Universal graded AF#15s is 3.5. For the 35 Universal graded Action #1s it is also 3.5, but the total number is low enough, that it may not accurately account for the chance that there

are far more raw low grade copies than high grade copies unslabbed. The high number of restored copies may also skew the numbers, as lower grade copies are more likely to have been restored than higher grade.

 

For Hulk 181 the median grade is 8.0, and while there are 4836 Universal copies, I have little doubt that the majority of lower grade and even mid grade copies are still raw, as there is little value to slabbing them, and that the median of all extant copies would probably be lower.

[Mishmashman]

I agree you likely can't get rich buying and selling comics, but you can make money if you buy the right ones and can spot trends. And if you buy the right ones, your books can help you outperform the stock market, or at the very worst, a CD, which is next to worthless these days.

 

Or for those of us with far less lofty goals: speculate on books you don't collect and use the profits to buy Golden and Silver books for your personal collection in order to diversify your financial portfolio. Personally, I love buying a $300 book I only have $50 into because I bingoed on a stack of books that got hot.

 

Fixed that for you. (thumbs u

[thirdgreenham]

A board of value-obsessed flippers casting aspersions on speculators. Butterscotch pecan-topped irony.

 

I'm not even sure if aspersions were cast in this thread; I just wanted to use the word pecan.

 

[whetteon]

Seems that in the last year, an article like this comes out monthly. WSJ just had an article of a similar vein a couple of months ago. I love the user comments--a bunch of embittered collectors from the 90s who got burned.

 

I agree you likely can't get rich buying and selling comics, but you can make money if you buy the right ones and can spot trends. And if you buy the right ones, your books can help you outperform the stock market, or at the very worst, a CD, which is next to worthless these days.

 

 

 

[Passport Comics]

I can't say for what is raw, but for what is CGC graded, the average grades for the:

70s is 8.89,

for the 60s is 7.59 and

for the 50s is 7.11.

(Thanks Greg Holland).

 

 

CGC graded books will naturally skew higher than the population as a whole as low-mid grade copies of most comics have little or no value added from grading, and are often sold at a net loss when the expense of grading is calculated in.

 

You stole my thoughts, darn you!

 

Yep, using the census for grade population purposes doesn't work, because no one is going to slab a Captain America #345 unless its flawless, so of course the average will be 9.8 or whatever.

 

Take the Thor #316 I found just now for example. It's flawless, 9.8 at least. Perfect gloss, bright white back cover and pages, flawless spine, sharp corners. It's from 1981 or so.

 

How many of these exist "in the wild" in flawless eye-bleeding grade? 100, maybe? 150? Probably not a lot, in reality. Probably 9.0 would be the average outside of the CGC world, give or take. This will be even more true and the average grades will lower even more in 5 years, or 10, or 20.

[Junkdrawer]

A board of value-obsessed flippers casting aspersions on speculators. Butterscotch pecan-topped irony.

 

I'm not even sure if aspersions were cast in this thread; I just wanted to use the word pecan.

 

When and if I ever drive to Cape Cod in the summer, I always take along a pecan

[aggr1103]

A board of value-obsessed flippers casting aspersions on speculators. Butterscotch pecan-topped irony.

 

I'm not even sure if aspersions were cast in this thread; I just wanted to use the word pecan.

 

Exactly what I was thinking - minus all the ice cream toppings. (thumbs u

[lizards2]

Speculators have been here a while.

 

Damn them

jerks

[mintcollector]

I just read an article and it looks like with the hype in superhero movies and their success there may be a glut of speculators coming in to get a piece of the action. They quote Heritage/Comic Connect and specifically talk about professional grading and encapsulation. One statement bothered, though - "By far, the overwhelming majority of comics from the mid-70s and earlier are between 3.0 and 5.0 in grade," Stephen said. "This is why we see so many record prices for books grading in 9.2 and above because they are so rare."

 

That is a bit misleading, in my opinion and can artificially inflate the prices for bronze age 5.0 and above.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rich-comic-books-fantasy-investing-090000717.html

 

This is really news worthy?

 

Wow...just wow.

[goldust40]

I just read an article and it looks like with the hype in superhero movies and their success there may be a glut of speculators coming in to get a piece of the action. They quote Heritage/Comic Connect and specifically talk about professional grading and encapsulation. One statement bothered, though - "By far, the overwhelming majority of comics from the mid-70s and earlier are between 3.0 and 5.0 in grade," Stephen said. "This is why we see so many record prices for books grading in 9.2 and above because they are so rare."

 

That is a bit misleading, in my opinion and can artificially inflate the prices for bronze age 5.0 and above.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rich-comic-books-fantasy-investing-090000717.html

 

This is really news worthy?

 

Wow...just wow.

 

An article that doesn't even attempt to get to grips with the subject in question.

[Logan510]

A board of value-obsessed flippers casting aspersions on speculators. Butterscotch pecan-topped irony.

 

I'm not even sure if aspersions were cast in this thread; I just wanted to use the word pecan.

 

Some of my best buds are flippers

[DamageInc-migration]

I just read an article and it looks like with the hype in superhero movies and their success there may be a glut of speculators coming in to get a piece of the action. They quote Heritage/Comic Connect and specifically talk about professional grading and encapsulation. One statement bothered, though - "By far, the overwhelming majority of comics from the mid-70s and earlier are between 3.0 and 5.0 in grade," Stephen said. "This is why we see so many record prices for books grading in 9.2 and above because they are so rare."

 

That is a bit misleading, in my opinion and can artificially inflate the prices for bronze age 5.0 and above.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rich-comic-books-fantasy-investing-090000717.html

 

This is really news worthy?

 

Wow...just wow.

 

An article that doesn't even attempt to get to grips with the subject in question.

 

I bet mintcollector could write a better article than that!

[rjpb]

A board of value-obsessed flippers casting aspersions on speculators. Butterscotch pecan-topped irony.

 

I'm not even sure if aspersions were cast in this thread; I just wanted to use the word pecan.

 

Some of my best buds are flippers

 

But are they faster than lightning?

[followtheleader]

I looked at a huge collection this weekend with tons of passerbys. These were people clearly not knowledgable of comics.

 

I talked to a few and they were clearly looking to buy based on the low cover price of the issues. I could hear people stating they wanted anything below 25 cents. It's a pretty simple search, but potentially effective.

 

That told me things are getting weird again. In my opinion, it's as much a cause of shows like Pawn Stars, Toy Hunter, and American Pickers as it is the superhero movies.

 

Pat

[Logan510]

A board of value-obsessed flippers casting aspersions on speculators. Butterscotch pecan-topped irony.

 

I'm not even sure if aspersions were cast in this thread; I just wanted to use the word pecan.

 

Some of my best buds are flippers

 

But are they faster than lightning?

 

One of them is

[mintcollector]

I just read an article and it looks like with the hype in superhero movies and their success there may be a glut of speculators coming in to get a piece of the action. They quote Heritage/Comic Connect and specifically talk about professional grading and encapsulation. One statement bothered, though - "By far, the overwhelming majority of comics from the mid-70s and earlier are between 3.0 and 5.0 in grade," Stephen said. "This is why we see so many record prices for books grading in 9.2 and above because they are so rare."

 

That is a bit misleading, in my opinion and can artificially inflate the prices for bronze age 5.0 and above.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rich-comic-books-fantasy-investing-090000717.html

 

This is really news worthy?

 

Wow...just wow.

 

An article that doesn't even attempt to get to grips with the subject in question.

 

I bet mintcollector could write a better article than that!

 

I am saving my 'writings' for the upcoming book...hehe