THE AMAZING FANTASY #15 CLUB 39 39

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 7/5/2023 at 7:41 AM, DT0428 said:

Very nice presenting 7.5 on Hakes auction now https://www.hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/275111/AMAZING-FANTASY-15-AUGUST-1962-CGC-75-VF-FIRST-SPIDER-MAN

Hake's has to be the worst web site in the world.  Every time I go on there to see if they have anything I might be interested in, I have to sift through a pile of absolute garbage and never find anything of interest.

That said, I do agree that this is a nice 7.5.  

Edited July 5, 2023 by Sweet Lou 14

[HakesAuctions]

On 7/5/2023 at 6:52 PM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Hake's has to be the worst web site in the world.  Every time I go on there to see if they have anything I might be interested in, I have to sift through a pile of absolute garbage and never find anything of interest.

That said, I do agree that this is a nice 7.5.  

We are sorry to hear that you are having difficulty with our website. Hake’s offers a wide variety of items, for collectors of all levels, and has since our inception in 1967. Every auction you have the capability to search by category and fine tune that by ranking items by value and estimate. For example here is the link showing all of the graded comics in our current auction:

https://www.hakes.com/Auction/CategoryItemList/22/CGC-CBCS-Certified-Comic-Books-Mags?dgv-rowsPerPage=200&dgv-page=1&dgv-sortCol=ItemcodeFull&dgv-sortDir=asc

In no way would we call anything we offer “absolute garbage”, nor would any of our valued consignors. As nice as the AF #15 7.5 is in this auction, we would say the ASM #1 9.6 is even nicer. Our offering of 300+ CGC books in the current auction is sure to please most. We are always available to answer any questions or concerns that you have and you can reach out to us directly at hakes@hakes.com

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 7/6/2023 at 4:46 PM, HakesAuctions said:

We are sorry to hear that you are having difficulty with our website. Hake’s offers a wide variety of items, for collectors of all levels, and has since our inception in 1967. Every auction you have the capability to search by category and fine tune that by ranking items by value and estimate. For example here is the link showing all of the graded comics in our current auction:

https://www.hakes.com/Auction/CategoryItemList/22/CGC-CBCS-Certified-Comic-Books-Mags?dgv-rowsPerPage=200&dgv-page=1&dgv-sortCol=ItemcodeFull&dgv-sortDir=asc

In no way would we call anything we offer “absolute garbage”, nor would any of our valued consignors. As nice as the AF #15 7.5 is in this auction, we would say the ASM #1 9.6 is even nicer. Our offering of 300+ CGC books in the current auction is sure to please most. We are always available to answer any questions or concerns that you have and you can reach out to us directly at hakes@hakes.com

I truly appreciate that you took the time to respond to my post.  I realize I could have said what I said a lot more gently.  Let me try to provide some honest feedback in a more constructive and respectful manner.

I understand that Hake's has an extremely long and storied history dealing in a stunningly wide range of collectibles.  The breadth is staggering.  However, the site is hopelessly cluttered and difficult to navigate, so for any collector with a particular interest (mine being comic books) it's not easy to find items of interest.  I imagine you'll point to the fact that there are categories on the site, but there are *eight* different categories for comics.  I don't really have much interest in selecting each of those eight and scrolling through the available items in each category to find what I'm looking for -- at least, not more than once in a blue moon.

But let's say I choose to zero in on one of those categories (Comic Books - 1956-1970 Silver Age).  This is one of the hottest, if not the hottest, categories of comics among serious collectors.  But at the moment there are a grand total of 17 books listed in this category.  So right there I'm concluding that there simply isn't enough inventory to make me check back very often.  There are plenty of sites I used to visit frequently because they always had new books coming in, but no longer visit more than once or twice a year because their inventory is stale.  It is what it is.

Regarding my unfortunate choice of words ("absolute garbage"), let me apologize and ask that that be stricken from the record.  Instead let me say that I'm looking for high-grade material, and generally on Hake's I don't see that.  I see lots of raw books and lots of mid-grade slabs.  (Those 17 Silver Age books on the site right now include one 8.0 and the rest range from 1.0 - 6.5.)  Of course there are exceptions -- the AF 15 and ASM 1 you're putting up are incredible books, and I hope you get great hammer prices on both.  But generally speaking I've come to the conclusion that I'm not going to find (for example) the Silver / Bronze Age Marvels I'm looking for in 9.6 WP on your site.  At least, I never have despite trying a dozen or so times over the years.

In short, for the last 6+ years I've been one of the most aggressive and determined buyers out there (at least among individual collectors).  In that time, I've bought thousands of books (no exaggeration).  I have turned over every single rock that I know of, and I have to laugh at the number of times I have visited sites (won't name them here) that I know have nothing I want, on the off chance I might get lucky.  Heck, I even got onto Instagram a couple of years ago because I heard there were books that I could only find there, and wasted a fair amount of time on that -- but at least I could say I was able to find about a half-dozen books I needed amidst all the random posts and dad-bod T-shirt ads.

Unfortunately, I have never once found a book from my (extensive!) want list on Hake's, and it wasn't for lack of trying.  If the site supported a want-list service (I looked and didn't see one), I would probably put the time in to set that up and keep an eye out for email alerts.  But lacking that feature, I'm left to decide how often it's worth visiting the site to manually pick through what's available.  I'm sure I will continue to do that every so often, maybe 3-4 times a year, because again I'm hoping to get lucky.  But to this point, I simply haven't found Hake's to be much help in reaching my collecting goals.

I sincerely hope you find this useful.  Thank you again for giving me a chance to do a better job of communicating.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Sweet Lou 14

[Beardown]

We will need to remove ourselves from a few other "clubs" as we had to trade most off to join this club.  No regrets and we couldn't be happier to finally be a part of it.

[HakesAuctions]

On 7/6/2023 at 6:18 PM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

I truly appreciate that you took the time to respond to my post.  I realize I could have said what I said a lot more gently.  Let me try to provide some honest feedback in a more constructive and respectful manner.

I understand that Hake's has an extremely long and storied history dealing in a stunningly wide range of collectibles.  The breadth is staggering.  However, the site is hopelessly cluttered and difficult to navigate, so for any collector with a particular interest (mine being comic books) it's not easy to find items of interest.  I imagine you'll point to the fact that there are categories on the site, but there are *eight* different categories for comics.  I don't really have much interest in selecting each of those eight and scrolling through the available items in each category to find what I'm looking for -- at least, not more than once in a blue moon.

But let's say I choose to zero in on one of those categories (Comic Books - 1956-1970 Silver Age).  This is one of the hottest, if not the hottest, categories of comics among serious collectors.  But at the moment there are a grand total of 17 books listed in this category.  So right there I'm concluding that there simply isn't enough inventory to make me check back very often.  There are plenty of sites I used to visit frequently because they always had new books coming in, but no longer visit more than once or twice a year because their inventory is stale.  It is what it is.

Regarding my unfortunate choice of words ("absolute garbage"), let me apologize and ask that that be stricken from the record.  Instead let me say that I'm looking for high-grade material, and generally on Hake's I don't see that.  I see lots of raw books and lots of mid-grade slabs.  (Those 17 Silver Age books on the site right now include one 8.0 and the rest range from 1.0 - 6.5.)  Of course there are exceptions -- the AF 15 and ASM 1 you're putting up are incredible books, and I hope you get great hammer prices on both.  But generally speaking I've come to the conclusion that I'm not going to find (for example) the Silver / Bronze Age Marvels I'm looking for in 9.6 WP on your site.  At least, I never have despite trying a dozen or so times over the years.

In short, for the last 6+ years I've been one of the most aggressive and determined buyers out there (at least among individual collectors).  In that time, I've bought thousands of books (no exaggeration).  I have turned over every single rock that I know of, and I have to laugh at the number of times I have visited sites (won't name them here) that I know have nothing I want, on the off chance I might get lucky.  Heck, I even got onto Instagram a couple of years ago because I heard there were books that I could only find there, and wasted a fair amount of time on that -- but at least I could say I was able to find about a half-dozen books I needed amidst all the random posts and dad-bod T-shirt ads.

Unfortunately, I have never once found a book from my (extensive!) want list on Hake's, and it wasn't for lack of trying.  If the site supported a want-list service (I looked and didn't see one), I would probably put the time in to set that up and keep an eye out for email alerts.  But lacking that feature, I'm left to decide how often it's worth visiting the site to manually pick through what's available.  I'm sure I will continue to do that every so often, maybe 3-4 times a year, because again I'm hoping to get lucky.  But to this point, I simply haven't found Hake's to be much help in reaching my collecting goals.

I sincerely hope you find this useful.  Thank you again for giving me a chance to do a better job of communicating.

And we appreciate your latest response. Suffice it to say things are in the works and we hope to have a new website rolled out shortly.

But for now, as far as the comic categories, yes we do have multiple eras and theme breakdowns as individual categories. However, we also have catch-all categories. One is Comic Books of All Eras and Related- that has everything including related material such as comic club items, art and more. Or if you want just the Third Party Certified comics, there is a link for that under CGC & CBCS Certified Comic Books. Hopefully either or both of those would work for you.

As for our auctions in general, we do premier cataloged auction three times a year. Those have the higher dollar items we offer, in all categories. We also do online-exclusive auctions, those tend to have more lower value and collector friendly items like the raw lots you mention. Signing up for our emails or following us on social media will keep you updated on all of our auction events and those that you may prefer to view.

As for the Silver Age books in this auction, we do not have 17 lots but rather around 170. The number you are looking at on our site is total pages, not lots. There is a drop down box that you can change from 10 lots per page to all. This will give you what you are looking for, and that includes many high grade Silver Age books. You still may not find something to your liking, but this will at least give you more possible choices.

We hope you continue to look over our auctions, use the tips we gave you here, and at some point find something for you collection, which sounds substantial.

[DC#]

Did someone put out a notice that is was time to sell AF15s?    I hadn't looked in a while so did a quick scan on eBay and found around 25 CGC Universal labels between 1.0 and 5.0 for sale and another half dozen or so in higher grades.    There is always a few for sale....just can't remember this many at one time.   Noting that none are auctions and a lot seem to have "optimistic" BIN prices.   

[bc]

On 7/14/2023 at 5:51 PM, DC# said:

Did someone put out a notice that is was time to sell AF15s?    I hadn't looked in a while so did a quick scan on eBay and found around 25 CGC Universal labels between 1.0 and 5.0 for sale and another half dozen or so in higher grades.    There is always a few for sale....just can't remember this many at one time.   Noting that none are auctions and a lot seem to have "optimistic" BIN prices.   

I think your last graph may have something to do with it. Hope you don't mind if I post it below for reference.

The following opinion is not about buy-and-hold collectors, it pertains more to the flipper/speculators and dealers who rely on moving product to maintain cash flow.

 

 As prices tighten, someone who is a little underwater, or even can make a small profit, may see this as the time to get out. Hence the "optimistic" BIN prices (but that can be said for almost any feeBay listing).

Or others may see the tightening as the time to get out due to the lack of quick growth potential that we witnessed the last few years.

Both of these would cause an increase in the number of copies we see in the marketplace compared to historic norms.

-bc

[Dark Knight]

Strong price for the CGC 7.5 copy that ended at Hakes tonight.  Hammer price was a shade under $171k.  Where's Batmanis#1 to comment on this!?

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 7/26/2023 at 11:51 PM, Dark Knight said:

Strong price for the CGC 7.5 copy that ended at Hakes tonight.  Hammer price was a shade under $171k.  Where's Batmanis#1 to comment on this!?

No way he's showing up here again ... that is, unless you turn out all the lights and say that three times in front of a mirror.

[fishbone]

On 7/26/2023 at 11:51 PM, Dark Knight said:

Strong price for the CGC 7.5 copy that ended at Hakes tonight.  Hammer price was a shade under $171k.  Where's Batmanis#1 to comment on this!?

Batmanis#1    

[NoMan]

On 7/26/2023 at 8:51 PM, Dark Knight said:

Strong price for the CGC 7.5 copy that ended at Hakes tonight.  Hammer price was a shade under $171k.  Where's Batmanis#1 to comment on this!?

Is that a strong price? I don't even know anymore. Batman#1 is an imbecile.

Edited July 27, 2023 by NoMan

[Dark Knight]

On 7/27/2023 at 11:19 AM, NoMan said:

Is that a strong price? I don't even know anymore. Batman#1 is an imbecile.

The last couple of sales with this grade this year were $122k and $117k.  Last year in 2022, the last sale before it went spiraling down was around $200k. Looks like the trend so far is rising from the lows. We'll see if this keeps up.  This is only one sale, need a few more.

[fishbone]

On 7/27/2023 at 4:15 PM, Dark Knight said:

The last couple of sales with this grade this year were $122k and $117k.  Last year in 2022, the last sale before it went spiraling down was around $200k. Looks like the trend so far is rising from the lows. We'll see if this keeps up.  This is only one sale, need a few more.

I see a brutal $43K for a recent 5.0 sale, but then looked at grader's notes and it has heavy MC ...... but really need to see these mid-grades get back up there to believe we've turned the corner back up the hill

[DC#]

On 7/27/2023 at 2:35 PM, fishbone said:

I see a brutal $43K for a recent 5.0 sale, but then looked at grader's notes and it has heavy MC ...... but really need to see these mid-grades get back up there to believe we've turned the corner back up the hill

Here is the $43k book from Heritage this week.   Definitely weaker than recent sales though some of those had MC too as I recall.  

[alexgross.com]

On 7/27/2023 at 10:24 PM, DC# said:

Here is the $43k book from Heritage this week.   Definitely weaker than recent sales though some of those had MC too as I recall.  

yes lots of chipping and the cream pages also dont help. imo a well presenting 5.0 with owwp or wp would likely do much better than this right now, despite the economy being in a sort of netherworld. 

[KCOComics]

On 7/28/2023 at 1:24 AM, DC# said:

Here is the $43k book from Heritage this week.   Definitely weaker than recent sales though some of those had MC too as I recall.  

My own personal belief is, if I'm going to buy a big key, the details matter. For that kind of $$, unless it's an opportunistic situation, I would wait for one without chipping or CT removal and with at least OW pages. 

I hate buying a big key, and being disappointed about some defect before it even makes it home. 

[DT0428]

On 7/26/2023 at 11:51 PM, Dark Knight said:

Strong price for the CGC 7.5 copy that ended at Hakes tonight.  Hammer price was a shade under $171k.  Where's Batmanis#1 to comment on this!?

Ha ha did present very well though

[DC#]

On 7/30/2023 at 9:18 AM, KCOComics said:

My own personal belief is, if I'm going to buy a big key, the details matter. For that kind of $$, unless it's an opportunistic situation, I would wait for one without chipping or CT removal and with at least OW pages. 

I hate buying a big key, and being disappointed about some defect before it even makes it home. 

 

On 7/29/2023 at 10:52 AM, alexgross.com said:

yes lots of chipping and the cream pages also dont help. imo a well presenting 5.0 with owwp or wp would likely do much better than this right now, despite the economy being in a sort of netherworld. 

so a no MC CR/OW 3.5 went for $38.4k on Heritage tonight.  
 

[DT0428]

Surprised as I thought the cream to off white pages and glue wouldn’t lead to a strong price. I guess cover presentation is a priority 

[Krismusic]

On 8/1/2023 at 6:37 AM, DT0428 said:

Surprised as I thought the cream to off white pages and glue wouldn’t lead to a strong price. I guess cover presentation is a priority 

cover presentation I think has a factor in the appeal and price of books besides the numerical grade given, I know personally as a collector that if there is a book that has a better cover appeal but lower numerical grade i would pick the one with a better cover presentation. Example i generally don't like the sun faded books even if it has a higher numerical grade i would pick the book that doesn't have the sun fade etc.. 

This is just me personally, but I am pretty sure many collectors fall under the same kind of thought and buying preference.