Whole book valuations

[drdroom]

If you were going bid on a complete book/ story, you'd try to estimate the value of each page and then add it up, right? And then, would you add value for intactness of the work or would you subtract value for the bulk purchase?

[suspense39]

That's a good question, I've seen it work both ways....sometimes more for it being in tact sometimes less.

[Brian Peck]

Most times selling individual pages will get more money than selling a complete book.

When there are certain popular pages, splash, intro of a character or a great action sequence those are the pages more people go after. When its a complete book some of those same people may not want the whole book and you get fewer interested parties. If the book has alot of action or a great story more people will want the complete book but if only parts of the book are really weak a complete book wont sell as well.

[mister_not_so_nice]

Is the story being sold complete because the seller could only sell one page and would be stuck sitting on the remainder? Bulk purchase discount.

 

Is the story being sold complete because it's a great story and only a ruthless seller would dissect it? Complete story premium

 

 

 

 

[heartened]

Is the story being sold complete because the seller could only sell one page and would be stuck sitting on the remainder? Bulk purchase discount.

 

Is the story being sold complete because it's a great story and only a ruthless seller would dissect it? Complete story premium

 

 

 

 

This is the main point. If the book is well known for its story, then keeping it complete will add a premium. This because you need all the pages, weak ones and strong ones, equally in order to keep the story together (and the story makes the value more than the sum of the parts). If the book is well know for an important thing happening at one moment in the book, or for some really cool images/art, then only those pages within will be most valuable, and the rest will be less valuable. In this latter case, breaking it up makes sense and is easier to do. I have a complete Alan Moore book and would never break it up because of this storyline angle that makes the book all the more important when it remains complete.

 

[stinkininkin]

Is the story being sold complete because the seller could only sell one page and would be stuck sitting on the remainder? Bulk purchase discount.

 

Is the story being sold complete because it's a great story and only a ruthless seller would dissect it? Complete story premium

 

 

 

 

This is the main point. If the book is well known for its story, then keeping it complete will add a premium. This because you need all the pages, weak ones and strong ones, equally in order to keep the story together (and the story makes the value more than the sum of the parts). If the book is well know for an important thing happening at one moment in the book, or for some really cool images/art, then only those pages within will be most valuable, and the rest will be less valuable. In this latter case, breaking it up makes sense and is easier to do. I have a complete Alan Moore book and would never break it up because of this storyline angle that makes the book all the more important when it remains complete.

 

It's a tough call. I own the complete 7 page Muck Monster story by Wrightson, and while I have no intention of selling it, I'm not sure what would bring me the highest return if I did. Break it up, or sell complete? While not an "important" story, it is a very memorable Frankenstein type story with brilliant art done in the style of Wrightson's later Frankenstein magnum opus. If I HAD to guess, I think I'd do better breaking it up, as I would find more potential buyers because of the lower price point that individual pages would command. And in fact, it seems that most dealers tend to break up whatever complete stories they acquire to maximize their returns whether it's a key issue or not, so that's pretty telling.

 

And again, my story is NOT for sale, but here it is on my CAF...

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=2354

 

Scott

[thethedew]

I have (probably) both in my collection.

 

Michael Golden's MICRONAUTS 11 would probably be kept together, should it be exposed to a dealer, but who knows. Culmination of a year-long storyline, fantastic cosmic battle, key artist.

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=58556

 

But the three unpublished issues of the 1998 attempt at MICRONAUTS by Marvel would have to be broken up - I'm probably the only person on the planet who cares the books are complete (and was willing to spend the money to keep them so)

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=83995

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=87687

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=87688

 

If I really wanted to go to my grave knowing a book would be kept together, I'd suppose I'd have to consider picking a museum to donate to - perhaps the future Lucas museum in Chicago might be a candidate.

 

Andrew

[AKA Rick]

I think when buying a complete book, there's no rules nor guidelines, a lot is contingent upon the demand of the peers in the marketplace, usually tied to the popularity of the artist first, then the title of the publication.

 

If it's a do-nothing type book, with mediocre characters, average artist, and an uninspired story, then a lot of time you can negotiate really well. We've seen "complete story" 7 page lots of various Archie comics go for as low as $100-300 complete.

 

If it's a notch or two better than that, but still nothing epic, what I'd do is add up all of the key pages you want, place a value on that and then look at the balance of the pages and assign the "what you'd be willing to pay for those pages" lowered price, then make an offer based on that.

 

If you're looking for the seller to make the first move and offer a book at a price and they have all of the pages priced out, I'd say as an eyeball number, a 20% discount off of the sum of all pages is around what i'd expect as the discount.

 

If you're acquiring a complete book of a hot title by a popular artist, then be thankful you have access to it and it's less about negotiation.

 

When selling a complete book, in my opinion it's best to sell it page by page. Even if you find that one collector who's willing to buy the complete book, theoretically if you put the pages out in an auction environment there should be others who want certain pages and inherently the prices should be driven up and that one buyer who may be looking to put the book together will always be a player in the game of all auctions and possibly create a bidding war, so the sum of the parts equals a larger economic whole.

[wktam]

While I can understand a dealer breaking up a book to maximize profit I can say that I acquired the Interior Art to Captain Marvel Volume 3 #11 from Mitch who was offering the complete book back in 2000. It was the first Starlin/Milgrom book featuring an appearance by Mar Vel since the The Death of Captain Marvel Graphic Novel.

 

As a huge Starlin fan I am grateful to Mitch for allowing me the opportunity to acquire the complete book.

 

I'm not sure if he took less than the could have got for splitting up the pages but if I had to guess I would say it was close.

[drdroom]

Is the story being sold complete because the seller could only sell one page and would be stuck sitting on the remainder? Bulk purchase discount.

 

Is the story being sold complete because it's a great story and only a ruthless seller would dissect it? Complete story premium

 

 

 

 

This is the main point. If the book is well known for its story, then keeping it complete will add a premium. This because you need all the pages, weak ones and strong ones, equally in order to keep the story together (and the story makes the value more than the sum of the parts). If the book is well know for an important thing happening at one moment in the book, or for some really cool images/art, then only those pages within will be most valuable, and the rest will be less valuable. In this latter case, breaking it up makes sense and is easier to do. I have a complete Alan Moore book and would never break it up because of this storyline angle that makes the book all the more important when it remains complete.

 

It's a tough call. I own the complete 7 page Muck Monster story by Wrightson, and while I have no intention of selling it, I'm not sure what would bring me the highest return if I did. Break it up, or sell complete? While not an "important" story, it is a very memorable Frankenstein type story with brilliant art done in the style of Wrightson's later Frankenstein magnum opus. If I HAD to guess, I think I'd do better breaking it up, as I would find more potential buyers because of the lower price point that individual pages would command. And in fact, it seems that most dealers tend to break up whatever complete stories they acquire to maximize their returns whether it's a key issue or not, so that's pretty telling.

 

And again, my story is NOT for sale, but here it is on my CAF...

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=2354

 

Scott

 

That story is a gem of gems, even in your extraordinary collection. I do think it would sell for more broken up, because guys (like me) who could never buy the whole story would go for broke to afford one page.

 

[lb jefferies]

.

[mister_not_so_nice]

After getting a new scanner, I'm uploading new scans of my complete stories IN MY CAF

[jjonahjameson1]

Speaking from personal experience, I owned two complete Romita Jr ASM stories. I sold the first as a complete issue and wasn't happy with the result.

 

I decided to break up the second story and sell the pages individually. I did 125% better by selling the pages individually.

 

The two issues were from the same time period, by the same creative team, and had approximately the same content with regard to splash pages, hero in costume pages, and fight pages.

 

 

[mister_not_so_nice]

$262.50/page seems like a premium was paid to keep HELLBLAZER 62 complete.

 

Now the question: Will it show up on CAF collection or a dealers website?

[sierackij]

$262.50/page seems like a premium was paid to keep HELLBLAZER 62 complete.

 

Now the question: Will it show up on CAF collection or a dealers website?

 

Agreed, especially when you consider the content of some of those pages. All in all great issue, but there's definitely some duds. For example, Kit/family pages without JC don't exactly command premium prices. Still, I wanted it! Selfishly I hope whoever did win it, (dealer or collector), breaks it up because I'd love to pick myself up a Dillon Hellblazer page! My money is on collector though, and I think they'll keep it together.

[Overthetopinc]

Very interesting thread. I am actually Curious as to what you guys think concerning a book in my collection. Do you think I would do better breaking up this Spawn book or keeping it whole? There are only one or two character pages in the book. Here is a link..

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=86761

 

 

thanks,

Matthew

[Eric Seffinga]

I would think that one might benefit from being split up.

 

Plenty of individual pages for people to grab at a premium, and feel like they got something splashy. Unless the content on these are middle of the road as far as Spawn pages go, or there's a high roller contingent in the Spawn art market, I would think more chances for 12 or 20 people to go deep a page at a time would trump 1 or 2 wealthy folks getting into a bidding war over it.

 

But then don't listen to me, Spawn isn't really my wheelhouse, so I don't follow those or Capullo's prices at all.

 

[rsonenthal]

Speaking from personal experience, I owned two complete Romita Jr ASM stories. I sold the first as a complete issue and wasn't happy with the result.

 

I decided to break up the second story and sell the pages individually. I did 125% better by selling the pages individually.

 

The two issues were from the same time period, by the same creative team, and had approximately the same content with regard to splash pages, hero in costume pages, and fight pages.

 

 

I agree with Yoram and sadly did the same experiment. I would love books to stay together, but I had the same result.

 

Ron

[malvin]

Speaking from personal experience, I owned two complete Romita Jr ASM stories. I sold the first as a complete issue and wasn't happy with the result.

 

I decided to break up the second story and sell the pages individually. I did 125% better by selling the pages individually.

 

The two issues were from the same time period, by the same creative team, and had approximately the same content with regard to splash pages, hero in costume pages, and fight pages.

 

 

I agree with Yoram and sadly did the same experiment. I would love books to stay together, but I had the same result.

 

Ron

 

Hey Yoram, Ron

 

When you were doing the experiment, were the individual pages sold at once or spread out?

 

Getting less for a complete book vs individual pages actually make sense. When selling a bulk, a wholesale discount implicitly applies, and the market of of people willing to spend that much is also smaller.

 

I do wonder if you would get the same result (125% more) if all the pages were sold at once in individual auctions, that might flood the market.

 

Malvin

[jjeanius]

On the flip side as a buyer, if I were approaching an artist about the possible purchase of a complete issue, I would be looking for at least a 20% discount on the book. I'm not just cherry-picking the best pages - I'm buying the best pages, the pages that wouldn't normally sell by themselves, and everything in between. And...only one quick transaction for the artist.