A question for those who buy collections.

[shadroch]

You stumble across a collection of very low grade 10 and 12 cent books. Two hundred books , give or take a couple, well loved and read by two or three generations of kids. A quick look thru shows most books would grade out in the Fair to Good ballpark, with a few keys- AF 15, Spidey 1, FF 1, ect.

Do you take the time to inspect every book or just make a general offer? By inspect , I mean count every page in every book, check it for missing coupons, scribbling inside, ect, ect., especially since most defects like that will not effect the value all that much.

Would you inspect and value the keys, and then just assign a general value to the others or value each both individually? would you pass on the majority and try to cherry pick the keys?

[mysterio]

If it were me, I would prioritize looking through all the keys page by page, as that is where the money is. Depending on time I would ideally flip through most if not all of them. Of course if the lower end stuff was all FR/G common books that weren't worth anything I could leave those alone, as generally a reasonable sample will give you a pretty good idea of the rest (i.e. if you don't see many missing coupons or pages in the first 50 or so best books chances are less that the others will have the same defects).

 

I'd throw out a price for everything, as generally folks want to be cleaned out rather than cherry picked. If they balk at that price then it is time to try cherry picking. That value is pretty much going to be made off the keys, where all the value lies, and the other stuff will be negligible (the money returned from low grade commons will pretty much take care of their carrying costs generally).

[catrick339]

Page all big keys, discount the others by an extra 20 percent, figuring that at LEAST one in 10 is missing a pinup or coupon or has a big ol' tear or a large crayon scribble or a filled in crossword, etc etc. Discount even more if it's primarily Archie and Dell, they tended to have more puzzle pages and paper dolls.

 

Barring that, page the keys and offer a buck apiece for the rest. You can inspect them individually at your convenience as you read them or grade and price them. You can buy lots and lots of vintage comics for a dollar apiece if you shop the old school stores and big shows.

[Xela]

if you buy it..... post pics

[shadroch]

Its a hypothetical question.

[Rip]

You stumble across a collection of very low grade 10 and 12 cent books. Two hundred books , give or take a couple, well loved and read by two or three generations of kids. A quick look thru shows most books would grade out in the Fair to Good ballpark, with a few keys- AF 15, Spidey 1, FF 1, ect.

Do you take the time to inspect every book or just make a general offer? By inspect , I mean count every page in every book, check it for missing coupons, scribbling inside, ect, ect., especially since most defects like that will not effect the value all that much.

Would you inspect and value the keys, and then just assign a general value to the others or value each both individually? would you pass on the majority and try to cherry pick the keys?

 

Look over the keys carefully then make an offer for those, usually the owner will make the offer to toss in the rest. Storage space can be a big issue, so I cherry pick as much as possible.

[KPR Comics]

Agree w/all posts so far. Inspect closely and pay fair for the keys and just blend the price over the entire collection.

[gaz973]

Pretty much what the other say.

 

I'd look carefully at the keys and then take a general sample of the rest to closely inspect while just briefly looking through the everything else. Examining all the books carefully is great if you've got the time to spend on it.

[Moondog]

You must inspect/count the keys. An FF 1 in 1.8 is only a 1.0 with no centerfold.

 

I try to buy books like this for 1/6-1/4 of Overstreet good since it will be difficult to get good prices for the non-keys.

 

Good luck, Bill.

 

 

[Quicksilver Signs]

You must inspect/count the keys. An FF 1 in 1.8 is only a 1.0 with no centerfold.

 

I try to buy books like this for 1/6-1/4 of Overstreet good since it will be difficult to get good prices for the non-keys.

 

Good luck, Bill.

 

 

If you're only offering 1/6 to 1/4 for an AF 15 or FF 1 you risk the chance of not getting them. AF 15 has been selling over guide and rising

 

You could offer 3k for a AF 15 in 2.0 and still make a decent turn

 

If there are 3 or 4 keys in this imaginary collection, offering a price on the keys alone will get the fodder thrown in for nothing

[Moondog]

You must inspect/count the keys. An FF 1 in 1.8 is only a 1.0 with no centerfold.

 

I try to buy books like this for 1/6-1/4 of Overstreet good since it will be difficult to get good prices for the non-keys.

 

Good luck, Bill.

 

 

If you're only offering 1/6 to 1/4 for an AF 15 or FF 1 you risk the chance of not getting them. AF 15 has been selling over guide and rising

 

You could offer 3k for a AF 15 in 2.0 and still make a decent turn

 

If there are 3 or 4 keys in this imaginary collection, offering a price on the keys alone will get the fodder thrown in for nothing

 

Please notice I said "non-keys".

[Quicksilver Signs]

You must inspect/count the keys. An FF 1 in 1.8 is only a 1.0 with no centerfold.

 

I try to buy books like this for 1/6-1/4 of Overstreet good since it will be difficult to get good prices for the non-keys.

 

Good luck, Bill.

 

 

If you're only offering 1/6 to 1/4 for an AF 15 or FF 1 you risk the chance of not getting them. AF 15 has been selling over guide and rising

 

You could offer 3k for a AF 15 in 2.0 and still make a decent turn

 

If there are 3 or 4 keys in this imaginary collection, offering a price on the keys alone will get the fodder thrown in for nothing

 

Please notice I said "non-keys".

 

To me it looked like you were talking about FF 1

[Godfather's Comic]

I would tend to look at the "bigger" books a little more thoroughly. Bought a collection a couple of weeks back, included in that was the first Poison Ivy. Book was Very Good-, but upon closer inspection it was missing the poster. Of course the grade and value dropped because of that.

 

I would inspect the more valuable books a littlie closer and make an offer on everything upon what that inspection tells me.