Church collection value today?

[FFB]

A fair point, Gold, but I'd respond by saying that in 30 years, I'll have earned a similar amount, and I'll still have my comic book collection too

 

Further, we're talking about ~100,000 hours of your life spent getting a business off the ground and running smoothly... if he'd kept the collection, he'd have saved some of that sweat time as well.

 

OK, but what was he going to use to eat and feed/clothe/support his family in the intervening 28 years since he found the collection? If he had been forced to sell the collection piecemeal since 1977 instead of selling chunks and using the money to build his business early on, he would not have made nearly as much money as he has made by running Mile High Comics. It isn't like he could have just sold them all along the way at 2004 prices.

 

Sorry, but I think this one's a no-brainer and that Chuck did the right thing.

[tth2]

A fair point, Gold, but I'd respond by saying that in 30 years, I'll have earned a similar amount, and I'll still have my comic book collection too

 

Further, we're talking about ~100,000 hours of your life spent getting a business off the ground and running smoothly... if he'd kept the collection, he'd have saved some of that sweat time as well.

 

OK, but what was he going to use to eat and feed/clothe/support his family in the intervening 28 years since he found the collection? If he had been forced to sell the collection piecemeal since 1977 instead of selling chunks and using the money to build his business early on, he would not have made nearly as much money as he has made by running Mile High Comics. It isn't like he could have just sold them all along the way at 2004 prices.

 

Sorry, but I think this one's a no-brainer and that Chuck did the right thing.

 

FFB, good to hear another voice of sanity here.

 

To everyone who's second-guessing Chuck, 20/20 hindsight is wonderful, isn't it? Why don't you go and ridicule everyone who ever sold Cisco or Microsoft stock in the early 90s, even though they might have already tripled or quadrupled their investment? Or sold any property in NYC or the Bay Area, ever? After all, if they'd just held on, they'd have made a lot more!

 

How in the world could Chuck have possibly known the kinds of prices that comics would reach? When he first sold the books, there was already resistance to the multiples he was asking. From where he was looking, there was a 50% chance that in 1 year the books would be more valuable, and a 50% chance that in 1 year the books would be less valuable. He monetized this opportunity quickly and used the proceeds to build an operating business. Small-time dealer gets the find of a lifetime, and leverages it to build one of the biggest retail comic businesses in the world...what exactly did he do wrong again, given the facts and circumstances that were known to him at the time.

[Aman619]

...what exactly did he do wrong again, given the facts and circumstances that were known to him at the time.

 

easy. he should have kept the 5 or 10 best comics and only sold the other 2000. Just put them away and take his chances on them appreciating year after year. Then he should have gotten a crew cut and never grown his hairs so ridiculously long. And never started lecyuring everyone on how smart he is.

 

 

well, you asked...

[lou_fine]

Tim;

 

You have brought up some good points here.

 

People should remember that back in the early 70's, a lot of collectors viewed the OS guide as the Overprice guide since they thought nobody in their right mind would pay those kind of prices for comic books. Imagine somebody coming into this environment and daring to ask multiples of guide for their comic books. This concept was totally foreign to the marketplace at the time. As a result, the Church books were a tough sell for Chuck and took him years to accomplish it.

 

Another point to remember is that the Church books paved the way for all of the other pedigree collections to come. Without the Church books being marketed and eventually sold in the manner they were, the pedigree comic book market may not have developed and grown to the current strength and prestige that it carries in today's market.

[Timely]

Tim;

 

You have brought up some good points here.

 

People should remember that back in the early 70's, a lot of collectors viewed the OS guide as the Overprice guide since they thought nobody in their right mind would pay those kind of prices for comic books. Imagine somebody coming into this environment and daring to ask multiples of guide for their comic books. This concept was totally foreign to the marketplace at the time. As a result, the Church books were a tough sell for Chuck and took him years to accomplish it.

 

Another point to remember is that the Church books paved the way for all of the other pedigree collections to come. Without the Church books being marketed and eventually sold in the manner they were, the pedigree comic book market may not have developed and grown to the current strength and prestige that it carries in today's market.

 

Correct, it was this collection that established multples of guide could be asked and received for comic books. Without this accomplishment things may be much different for most of us.

 

West