Southeast High Grade Comic Collectors, Gordon Biersch Atlanta, Oct. 6, 2013

[Keysnruns]

Warning...wall of text...

 

MEETING START

 

SEHGCC members gathered on 10/6/13 at Gordon Biersch in a private, well-lit dining area. The room had a large flat panel display and integrated A/V, with large sliding doors, nearly unseen from the rest of the facility.

 

Keys N Runs sponsored the meeting and provided 2 comic display walls filled with high grade gold, silver, bronze and modern wall books for Show and Tell.

 

 

We had 6 attendees for our first meeting (and 2 absent). There were 2 full-time dealers, 1 collector/dealer, and 3 hobbyist collectors. We began with craft beers, pizza and burgers (on the house) while checking out the comic wall.

 

 

We also set goals for the group, which include:

 

- Become the “Go To” group for high grade collectors and estate owners in the Southeast

 

- Be the premiere place for dialogue/show and tell on building, maintaining and selling high grade collections

 

- Identify & support exiting & entering high grade collectors (“first to know” &

“here to help”)

 

CHAT WITH DOUG SCHMELL OF PEDIGREE COMICS

 

Then we gathered around a conference table and had a Skype call with Doug Schmell of Pedigree Comics. Doug began by sharing his earliest collecting memories, including his first comic (ASM 139, first Grizzly.) He discussed going to shows, buying off stands and eventually getting into higher grade books.

 

 

Doug emphasized his discovery of the high quality innate in pedigrees, such as Northland, White Mountain, Mass, and especially Pacific Coast. Doug believes the Pacific Coast to be the best silver age pedigree in the world.

 

Then Doug recounted some of the ways he began to earn what he termed the “first call” – which was that the best dealers would call him first to sell their best books. Doug had several methods of building relationships with dealers. First, he would meet them wherever they needed (dealers rarely came to him). This often included meeting them at diners, hotels and in lobbies before conventions even started. He got the best books before they ever made it into the cons! He made himself easy to deal with – he certainly negotiated based on grade, page quality and bulk – but he was a reliable buyer, didn’t “bust stones” and paid top dollar to people he would call his friends. In fact, Doug saw everything he was doing as dealing with friends, a healthy attitude that made more “first calls” happen for him while enjoying common interests with dealers in sports, dining, etc. as well as comics.

 

As Doug bought and upgraded more, he started to use CGC more as well as doing cracking, resubmitting and (sometimes) pressing of slabbed books. Also, he ended up with more doubles and triples. This lead to many sales back his dealer network, as well as the leap into dealing through his company, Pedigree Comics. He then discussed his tough decision to sell his collection, which reached a “pinnacle” – it was hard to upgrade it any further. He chose Heritage to get great marketing and not distract from his customers’ sales on his own site. He had a multi-million dollar exit and made many new connections and friends by aligning with Heritage.

 

These days, Doug is more of a dealer than collector – but remains excited and passionate about collectors and collecting. He also helps serious collectors build the best collections possible. He never had a Golden Age collection, so there is still room to grow for him. Also, times have changed, he says. Not so many new collections are coming to market. Also, there appear to be too many “recycled” books available, being resold over and over. Lastly, with auctions every month from multiple companies, the perception of oversupply exists.

 

Doug finished off with wishing our group well and offering to travel to the next meeting, while making himself available to any who had questions down the road. Thanks Doug!

 

DISCUSSION OF AN INVESTMENT CLUB

 

After the call with Doug the group discussed a new idea – forming an investment club. The plan introduced several points for discussion:

 

- Create an organization (structure TBD) to pool funds/sell shares in the pool

- Design a method to get the “first call” on collections

- As a group, evaluate collections in a fast, friendly, thorough way

- Devise a method for members to voluntarily participate in acquisitions

- Incentivize members and their resources to process collections

- Leverage a range of member-to-member, convention, auction and web services to transfer collections

- Create a periodic asset distribution method commensurate with participation in acquisitions

 

 

Needless to say, there was a healthy debate on structure, returns and payouts. No real answers were reached, but we identified some smart questions. The dealers were concerned with competitive interests, the collectors had questions on how to access the best books, and everyone wanted to understand how an investing club would reliably increase profits while reducing transaction costs on a sustainable basis. The group agreed to continue the discussion on our Meetup page and during the next meeting.

 

SHORTBOX SUNDAY TRADES AND SALES

 

Then, “Shortbox Sunday” took over, and member-to-member purchases and trades began. Won’t reveal anyone else’s deals, but I traded an 8-ish TTA 41 and 7-ish JIM 103 for a CGC 7.0 PLOD Tec 81 and a CGC 7.5 Exciting Comics 56 (my first Schomburg GGA!)

 

 

The group proposed quarterly meetings, perhaps the next one will be in late January/early February, TBD. The next meeting will feature demonstrations on pressing and cleaning, a sponsored comics wall (wall hardware setup provided by the group), another Shortbox Sunday and likely a guest speaker attorney to discuss preferred investment club models and tax implications for a focus on collectibles.

 

MEETING CONCLUSION

 

Everyone volunteered to help set up/break down in some way, and some pitched in to cover costs voluntarily.

 

 

The Pioneering Group Members seemed pleased and enthusiastic to meet others that shared their interests and to engage in an investment focused conversation linked to their passions for collecting.

 

PM if interested in joining and you are based in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina or North Carolina!

 

[G.A.tor]

I might consider a drive up from Florida

[Keysnruns]

We would be honored and delighted to host you, Gator. You would have a lot to offer the group in terms of experience, and a wall of your books (or even a shortbox) would be a draw for others, should you care to share.

[jessebrook1]

I was getting ready to leave the house and my babysitter cancelled. Really wanted to make it to the meetup. I will come to the next meetup for sure.

[Keysnruns]

Jesse, we missed you but understand. Will look forward to seeing you again soon.

[THB]

Wish I still lived in the ATL. Looks like a very informative meeting.