Thinking of getting rid of my comics

[gojira]

I'm toying with the idea of selling my comics, and getting deeper into the OA scene. It's been a couple years since I was a heavy comic buyer ... lately I've been buying some Marvel SA keys here and there. But they're really easy to get, and I don't get a lot of satisfaction out of them. I could probably raise like $10K pretty quickly with a couple few sales, and turn some comics I don't really care about into one or two pages or a cover I'd love to have on my wall. I wish I could raise enough from comics sales to be able to afford an Infantino/Anderson Flash or Adam Strange Mystery In Space cover, but there's little chance of that.

 

Sounds reasonable, no?

 

Hmm, I don't really know... It is always tempting to sell a few books to buy more OA. I collect a little myself and completely understand that your thinking about some selling some books. Especially to buy SA Infantino (I need a nice page myself)!

The thing is that every time I sold some books I have come to regret that decision, it took years in some cases, but still....

I have not sold my books for years now for the exception of some lower grade issues. I would most definitely not sell any keys though. I have sold a lot of those in the past and have not been able to replace them in some cases.

But I can understand that it is tempting to let go of some books, especially if there's a nice page that surfaces in the OA market.

My 2 cents...

 

[Dano]

I sold off the majority of my comic collection about five years ago and got into OA and fine art. Haven't looked back. Honestly, it's about seeing my collection on the walls that makes the difference. I enjoy walking through the door and viewing the hobby I chose!

 

Dan

[Terry Doyle]

With me, I still enjoy the comic-book stories of my youth. Format is totally unimportant to me.

 

As such, high-grade slabs are totally useless to me, as I want something I can hold, thumb through and read.

 

All the key comics are long gone. I have perfectly adequate (reprinted) reading copies of those books that mean a damn to me.

 

My enjoyment of comic-books remains totally unaffected by this change in reading format.

 

Even if I wasn't collecting OA, chances are I would have replaced all my old comic-book collection with serviceable reprints and ploughed the proceeds from any sales into something else worthwhile.

[suspense39]

With me, I still enjoy the comic-book stories of my youth. Format is totally unimportant to me.

 

As such, high-grade slabs are totally useless to me, as I want something I can hold, thumb through and read.

 

All the key comics are long gone. I have perfectly adequate (reprinted) reading copies of those books that mean a damn to me.

 

My enjoyment of comic-books is unaffected by this change in reading format.

 

Even if I wasn't collecting OA, chances are I would have replaced all my old comic-book collection with serviceable reprints and ploughed the proceeds of any sales into something else worthwhile.

 

same here

[Pete Marino]

With me, I still enjoy the comic-book stories of my youth. Format is totally unimportant to me.

 

As such, high-grade slabs are totally useless to me, as I want something I can hold, thumb through and read.

 

All the key comics are long gone. I have perfectly adequate (reprinted) reading copies of those books that mean a damn to me.

 

My enjoyment of comic-books is unaffected by this change in reading format.

 

Even if I wasn't collecting OA, chances are I would have replaced all my old comic-book collection with serviceable reprints and ploughed the proceeds of any sales into something else worthwhile.

 

same here

 

I have most of my old comics on the iPad. Even easier than reader copies. But I do still have tons of TPB, I just find myself pulling them out less and less often.

[Doc McCoy]

This is something that I've considered as well. I have twenty or so long boxes stored away, that haven't been touched in years. Of course, the initial thought was to save them for my sons to enjoy when they got older, but pulling out the iPad or other digital device has gotten easier than sifting through box after box. For those who have sold their collections, how did you do it? Did you have graded issues, or was everything just bagged and boarded? And who did you end up selling them to? Book by book or your entire collection?

[Garf]

I have perfectly adequate (reprinted) reading copies of those books that mean a damn to me.

 

My enjoyment of comic-books remains totally unaffected by this change in reading format.

 

Even if I wasn't collecting OA, chances are I would have replaced all my old comic-book collection with serviceable reprints and ploughed the proceeds from any sales into something else worthwhile.

 

(thumbs u

[batman_fan]

This is something that I've considered as well. I have twenty or so long boxes stored away, that haven't been touched in years. Of course, the initial thought was to save them for my sons to enjoy when they got older, but pulling out the iPad or other digital device has gotten easier than sifting through box after box. For those who have sold their collections, how did you do it? Did you have graded issues, or was everything just bagged and boarded? And who did you end up selling them to? Book by book or your entire collection?

 

The path I have been going down is to get the more expensive stuff graded. It makes selling much easier. I have sold most of my stuff through 3rd party sites. I had planned to get a table at the Denver Con this year but had a business trip out of the country over that weekend but maybe next year. The plan would be to do a bunch of nice wall books and some artwork and then have boxes full of books from $1 to $50.

[Kevin.J]

I actually did the opposite Dan, I stopped buying OA about 5 years ago to concentrate my cash on completing my comic collection.

I regret selling every book I have ever sold, there may be a time when I feel like getting rid of everything, but for me its not here yet.

I do think that I will calm down my buying soon, as I am struggling to keep a lid on my collection as it is.

I hope if you do sell up, you keep the Flash and Adam Strange stuff until last, as through your posts these last few years I can see how passionate you are about these characters. I know as I feel the same.

Good luck with whatever you decide man, and when you come to sell your Crime Suspenstories # 22 you send me a link to the thread

[miraclemet]

Here's a different side of the discussion...

 

I started out buying OA, and then got into highger grade/CGC books.

 

I havent bought much (if any) OA in the last 3 years since money got tighter (family medical expenses) mostly because I see OA as being far less liquid than comics.

 

CGC slabs are easy to buy and sell and thus I can do some self-funding of the hobby, and when a month gets lean I can move some slabs and have some cash.

 

OA is far more difficult to move. The ones with the most appeal have the biggest price tags, and the ones with smaller price tags have smaller markets, thus they are tougher to sell (w/o taking a loss).

 

So while funding your OA interest via selling your books makes sense, you are moving your "money" from a far more liquid currency to one that is less easy to liquidate.

 

That's not necessarily a deterrent depending on your situation, but it is a consideration.

[Hekla]

For those who have sold their collections, how did you do it? Did you have graded issues, or was everything just bagged and boarded? And who did you end up selling them to? Book by book or your entire collection?

 

Depends - I've sold a full 100 straight issue run of a couple of copper age titles I could live without; it seems to help having complete runs when selling drek. Conversely, some books that are hot & I had in high grade, I'd throw up as a single (for example, any early Thanos issues are hot now).

 

I too have plans to pass along my comics to my kids, but I can't predict what they'll like in the future (currently Adventure Time & Zombies )

[Bronty]

Here's a different side of the discussion...

 

I started out buying OA, and then got into highger grade/CGC books.

 

I havent bought much (if any) OA in the last 3 years since money got tighter (family medical expenses) mostly because I see OA as being far less liquid than comics.

 

CGC slabs are easy to buy and sell and thus I can do some self-funding of the hobby, and when a month gets lean I can move some slabs and have some cash.

 

OA is far more difficult to move. The ones with the most appeal have the biggest price tags, and the ones with smaller price tags have smaller markets, thus they are tougher to sell (w/o taking a loss).

 

So while funding your OA interest via selling your books makes sense, you are moving your "money" from a far more liquid currency to one that is less easy to liquidate.

 

That's not necessarily a deterrent depending on your situation, but it is a consideration.

 

fair point!

[Kevin76]

I have a great experience and thought this way back in 2006.

 

I had about 25K in cgc comics and was thinking about more and more getting into OA.

 

So I finally took the plunge and sold all my comics because I said to my self.."I can always get these again later" So after selling them all, and finding quality art I wanted to buy and even a few months of time payments on top of it, I scored myself a Mcfarlane Spidey splash, a Jack Kirby Thor splash and a Bolland Wonder Woman cover.

 

After getting the last one back from the framing shop, my apartment was burglarized and the small box of comics i had in the closet was stolen along with my home theater system, good thing I sold all those CGC books since there wasn't much value in that small box of comics. The artwork was still hung on the wall though!

 

Anyway, After seeing more and more art I wanted, the prices kept getting more and more out of my reach. I didn't want to give up what I had bought for other stuff.

 

I ended going back to comics, now those are getting out of my reach!

 

Lesson learned...Don't collect art unless you've got big money to put into it and 10K doesn't buy much. You'll need at least 15-20K to get something really nice you can move when you need too down the line.

[mister_not_so_nice]

I got my first OA page for $130. At the time the comic it was printed is was a $40 comic. For me the choice was simple. This was 15 years ago. It makes me scratch my head when I see collectors spending $100+ for a CGC book a few months old when they can find the pages from that same book for just about the same price.

 

I really have to disagree with the statement that "10K doesn't buy you much." It may not buy you much if you want a portfolio (or even one) McFarlane, Kirby, Adams or whatever other artist people are clamoring for. But it can't get you plenty if you know where to look and appreciate the 99.9% of the page that isn't the artists signature.

 

I also disagree that you need to spend 15-20k to get something nice you can sell down the road if you need to. Anything can be dumped later on if need be. Spending 15K on a single piece doesn't mean you'll get 15K when you try to sell it any more than spending $500 on something means you'll get $500 when you try to sell.

 

I'd say, on average, I'm probably on the lower end of the money earners on these boards(having no job since January almost guarantees that ) , so I have a problem when others state that someone needs a large sum to buy into this little hobby. I've never come anywhere near $5000 on a single piece and I quite like my collection (although my good friend says it's all )

[Terry Doyle]

I got my first OA page for $130. At the time the comic it was printed is was a $40 comic. For me the choice was simple. This was 15 years ago. It makes me scratch my head when I see collectors spending $100+ for a CGC book a few months old when they can find the pages from that same book for just about the same price.

 

I really have to disagree with the statement that "10K doesn't buy you much." It may not buy you much if you want a portfolio (or even one) McFarlane, Kirby, Adams or whatever other artist people are clamoring for. But it can't get you plenty if you know where to look and appreciate the 99.9% of the page that isn't the artists signature.

 

I also disagree that you need to spend 15-20k to get something nice you can sell down the road if you need to. Anything can be dumped later on if need be. Spending 15K on a single piece doesn't mean you'll get 15K when you try to sell it any more than spending $500 on something means you'll get $500 when you try to sell.

 

I'd say, on average, I'm probably on the lower end of the money earners on these boards(having no job since January almost guarantees that ) , so I have a problem when others state that someone needs a large sum to buy into this little hobby. I've never come anywhere near $5000 on a single piece and I quite like my collection (although my good friend says it's all )

 

Lots of great art out there at affordable prices. (thumbs u

[adamstrange]

shiny new OA penny syndrome

I believe that SNOAPS is part of DSM 5

[adamstrange]

Ok,

 

I will play advocate here for a bit. On one hand I have sold comics and some of that money has made its way into OA, but then again I've sold comics to buy more and still put new money into comics as well. Another thing to consider is timing. I was talking to another Hybrid (my term for a collector who buys both OA and Comics on a regular basis) the other day about the comics verses OA phenomenon. The main caveat is that really cool comics and really cool OA both cost money. The other issue is that comics have been coming back down to earth, especially graded comics (actually I think the drop has plateaued) while OA has continued to rise.

 

So for a Hybrid there is a bit of a dilemma, do you sell your comics at potentially less than you paid for them to buy OA at the highest prices in recent memory? Of course some people will say that OA will continue to rise indefinitely (the sky is the limit) - others will say that OA at these prices is crazy (the sky is falling); the truth is probably somewhere in between in that OA will continue to have strong and weaker prices.

 

I would also and always caution against the, "there can be only one" notion that is over used in OA. True every piece is unique, but auction after auction we see Ditko Spidey's and Kirby FF, Thors, you name it. The truth is that there are far fewer A type examples and ONCE IN A WHILE you will have to pay up for a "there can be only one" piece, but not every piece falls into that category.

 

My advice as always, perhaps never more true than now, is buy what you like, but if you have Marvel keys you may want to consider what you are selling and what you intend to buy with it. While is is also true that almost every auction has multiple AF 15s and other Marvel keys, it may also be that those books continue to rise so the utility of replacing them is a factor in the statement, "they can always be re bought."

 

One of the best pieces of advice that I ever got from an OA collector who also had some comics was, to paraphrase, "buy what you like and sell what you don't, however put as much thought into the latter as you do in the former. OA like any collectible has a shiny new penny period to it. I know I have fallen into this mind set on occasion and most people will tell you they were far more astute than they actually were when entering into a new hobby or collecting focus.

 

My specific thoughts are that selling comics to fund OA is a good thing to do to avoid dumping new money into a purchase. However there are pieces of OA that I would sell before letting go of some of my ECs or Early Marvels go (try replacing Pedigree JIMs). The compulsion will be to sell your big books first, they will move faster and bring you more money. Unless there is a "TRULY ONE OF a KIND" Grail piece for you on the market, I'd avoid that temptation. I know a few comic collectors who sold their books and went looking for OA to buy because they had a wad of cash in their accounts. Though not totally a disaster, they ended up with some pieces that probably meant less to them than the comics they sold to buy them. To a lesser or greater degree should you sell of your comic collection you will have the "money burning a whole in your pocket coupled with shiny new OA penny syndrome."

 

Maybe you have had a epiphany style change in your collecting and will sell all you books and buy OA with the funds. Just remember the advice I got and now pass along, "put the same scrutiny into your selling decisions as you did into acquiring that which you now sell." That advice has served me well....

 

 

Excellent post. I think there are far more folks who are 100% art or 100% comics than there are hybrids (or should it be "mutts?" ). I enjoy both and can't imagine giving up either.

 

I love having art on the wall and in the portfolio but I also love comics, especially when they have the gloss/colors/appeal of when they were originally printed. I think it's a good idea to occasionally evaluate your collection to determine what aspects you most enjoy and to concentrate on that. If you do switch to an area that is unfamiliar to you, then it's a good idea to plan on a slow transition to allow time to learn about it and to spend your money in a way that brings the most satisfaction.

[BrianR]

As one that has sold comics for art and in fact continuing to do so. I am extremely happy with the switch. I love my comics but at the end of the day they sit in boxes out of sight only to be pulled out occasionally and enjoyed. The pieces of art I am getting are those I can framed place on the wall and enjoyed every day. Comics for the most part can be replaced in one form or another, while with art you may only have a once in a life time opportunity to own that one piece. I just gave up my prize FF 1 for a piece of art I have been wanting for a while now. Good news I got it. Now I can relax and save up to re-buy an FF 1 at my leisure as any given day I have a choice of a dozen or so to buy online.

[Kevin76]

I got my first OA page for $130. At the time the comic it was printed is was a $40 comic. For me the choice was simple. This was 15 years ago. It makes me scratch my head when I see collectors spending $100+ for a CGC book a few months old when they can find the pages from that same book for just about the same price.

 

I really have to disagree with the statement that "10K doesn't buy you much." It may not buy you much if you want a portfolio (or even one) McFarlane, Kirby, Adams or whatever other artist people are clamoring for. But it can't get you plenty if you know where to look and appreciate the 99.9% of the page that isn't the artists signature.

 

I also disagree that you need to spend 15-20k to get something nice you can sell down the road if you need to. Anything can be dumped later on if need be. Spending 15K on a single piece doesn't mean you'll get 15K when you try to sell it any more than spending $500 on something means you'll get $500 when you try to sell.

 

I'd say, on average, I'm probably on the lower end of the money earners on these boards(having no job since January almost guarantees that ) , so I have a problem when others state that someone needs a large sum to buy into this little hobby. I've never come anywhere near $5000 on a single piece and I quite like my collection (although my good friend says it's all )

 

If you disagree, that's fine, I was talking about my personal POV. I personally don't like 99.9 % of the artwork out there. I personally swing for the fences rather than hitting a base hit with a scribble at a convention. If i'm going to collect art, I want the Adams, Millers, Wrightson, ect.. of the art world. I look at art a bit differently since I can draw myself.

 

I don't like Adam Hughes or any the cheesecake art out there. These half naked pen and ink drawings of half naked women that these guys go crazy for just look really stupid IMO.

 

I've heard people having a much harder time trying to sell something down the line that they paid 2K for and come to find out, they were the only ones who wanted it.

 

I go to a conventions and flip through portfolios and just yawn at the pieces I'm seeing, so another man's trash is another man's treasure.Again, this is my personal POV on collecting art, I'm sure collectors on here are yelling at their computers at me for thinking this way but I only go for the best. I'd rather have nothing than to not have exactly what I want. Forget art though, focus on getting a job first and foremost.

 

 

[mister_not_so_nice]

I got my first OA page for $130. At the time the comic it was printed is was a $40 comic. For me the choice was simple. This was 15 years ago. It makes me scratch my head when I see collectors spending $100+ for a CGC book a few months old when they can find the pages from that same book for just about the same price.

 

I really have to disagree with the statement that "10K doesn't buy you much." It may not buy you much if you want a portfolio (or even one) McFarlane, Kirby, Adams or whatever other artist people are clamoring for. But it can't get you plenty if you know where to look and appreciate the 99.9% of the page that isn't the artists signature.

 

I also disagree that you need to spend 15-20k to get something nice you can sell down the road if you need to. Anything can be dumped later on if need be. Spending 15K on a single piece doesn't mean you'll get 15K when you try to sell it any more than spending $500 on something means you'll get $500 when you try to sell.

 

I'd say, on average, I'm probably on the lower end of the money earners on these boards(having no job since January almost guarantees that ) , so I have a problem when others state that someone needs a large sum to buy into this little hobby. I've never come anywhere near $5000 on a single piece and I quite like my collection (although my good friend says it's all )

 

If you disagree, that's fine, I was talking about my personal POV. I personally don't like 99.9 % of the artwork out there. I personally swing for the fences rather than hitting a base hit with a scribble at a convention. If i'm going to collect art, I want the Adams, Millers, Wrightson, ect.. of the art world. I look at art a bit differently since I can draw myself.

 

I don't like Adam Hughes or any the cheesecake art out there. These half naked pen and ink drawings of half naked women that these guys go crazy for just look really stupid IMO.

 

I've heard people having a much harder time trying to sell something down the line that they paid 2K for and come to find out, they were the only ones who wanted it.

 

I go to a conventions and flip through portfolios and just yawn at the pieces I'm seeing, so another man's trash is another man's treasure.Again, this is my personal POV on collecting art, I'm sure collectors on here are yelling at their computers at me for thinking this way but I only go for the best. I'd rather have nothing than to not have exactly what I want. Forget art though, focus on getting a job first and foremost.

 

 

Even though I quoted your post my comments weren't really direct towards you. I just wanted to point out to the collectors that are lurking on this thread that needing a large nest egg to start collector is not always necessary. It depends on your goals/focus. When I read your post it wasn't clear to me that you were speaking about how you collect. It read more like "this is what you need to get started."

As for liquidity, I think the percentage of FMV you're willing to accept plays more of a factor than actual value of the piece.

I do plan on starting to look for a job soon. Not today, but soon