Silver age comics that are heating up 26 26

[MattTheDuck]

If it warn't for beaters, I'd have no books at all.  Gloom, despair and agony on me. (with apologies to Hee Haw).

 

[badback83]

Yeah.  I’m an insufficiently_thoughtful_person because most of my “big” keys are beaters.  Looks like I should just throw my AF 15, Hulk 1, Showcase 4 and FF 1 in the trash because they only fall into the 1.0 - 3.0 beater range.  Who would ever want this trash?!

[jimjum12]

On 8/11/2021 at 10:41 PM, DocHoppus182 said:

Yeah.  I’m an insufficiently_thoughtful_person because most of my “big” keys are beaters.  Looks like I should just throw my AF 15, Hulk 1, Showcase 4 and FF 1 in the trash because they only fall into the 1.0 - 3.0 beater range.  Who would ever want this trash?!

What day is *ahem* trash day at your house ? GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[MR SigS]

On 8/11/2021 at 4:19 AM, Pantodude said:

... low grade copies may also serve as placeholders. This has been the primary reason behind my beaters when they are my sole copy. 

This is how I started my collection when higher grades were difficult for me to manage. If an upgrade never happens, at least I still have a copy, and if I do upgrade, I have one I can read without worry (although I've given several to my younger brother who lost his collection to Hurricane Katrina).

Sure, a beater mixed in with a consecutive run of mid grades and better can stick out like a sore thumb, but for me having nothing their is worse because you can't have a run with a gap. My AF15-ASM375 run still has a few Silver & Bronze beaters, including the AF15. I'd have to sell #1-400 in order to upgrade that one and then start over, but that's not gonna happen.

 

[WolverineX]

Looking to upgrade my showcase 6 and surprised to see a 5.5 sold for $1750 recently.   Seems pretty strong... Should have just bought a midgrade earlier instead of starting with a low grade

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Showcase-6-CGC-5-5-OW-W-DC-Silver-Age-Key-Comic-1st-Challengers-RARE-L-K-/293288428961?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

[LordRahl]

On 8/11/2021 at 4:19 AM, Pantodude said:

Beaters are useful as readers if you own a higher grade, as folks noted.  But borrowing  from other hobbies where it’s done ALL the time, low grade copies may also serve as placeholders. This has been the primary reason behind my beaters when they are my sole copy.  Why deprive yourself of owning a cool issue because it’s expensive to upgrade and/or not on your short want list and/or just rare in higher grades?    No reason to, unless an all-or-nothing approach is your thing, but good luck growing your collection before the next rising tide with that approach.  Disparaging beaters seems like just a collector vs investor thing, too, to the extent the owner doesn't really appreciate the book for what it is except insofar as it has status as an investment.  A collector would never suggest junking a beater of any important vintage comic book, let alone an established key like TOS50, whether or not he required a higher grade or sought only slab-worthy books.  Hold or sell  the book, yes, but junk?  Nope.  Anyway, this could by symptomatic of the hobby growing by appealing to non-collectors, and you need to take the good with the bad.  I like my beaters enough that I don’t plan to upgrade, especially if they were already expensive!   The TOS50 wasn’t one of those.  It just wasn’t on my want list but still cool to own.   Enjoy the hobby in your own way, of course, but it's sad any one (a long-time boardie no less, LordRahl!) would say it's okay to destroy vintage comic books.  

I would not advocate that anyone actually destroy comics regardless of condition. I know I said "junk it" but I honestly didn't mean I'd destroy it. I have had many low grade books picked up in collections that were not worth selling and all of them have been donated to kids charities. I simply have no desire to own low grade books, they don't do anything for me and if they aren't valuable enough to sell, I get rid of them (but I get rid of them by donating them). 

[PeterPark]

On 8/13/2021 at 8:18 PM, LordRahl said:

I would not advocate that anyone actually destroy comics regardless of condition. I know I said "junk it" but I honestly didn't mean I'd destroy it. I have had many low grade books picked up in collections that were not worth selling and all of them have been donated to kids charities. I simply have no desire to own low grade books, they don't do anything for me and if they aren't valuable enough to sell, I get rid of them (but I get rid of them by donating them). 

$100 is not valuable enough? I guess a certain number do need to be destroyed so supply cannot meet demand....

[skypinkblu]

I started as a low grade collector. I was taught all about GA comics by two "bottom feeder" friends.  I used to buy boxes with pieces and try to figure out what books they belong to. 

It also allowed me to collect without ever owing money on comics.

A friend of mine laughed because a few times I accidentally got books that were too high grade and I sold them to downgrade.

I have upgraded a lot of books over the years, but I've always enjoyed coverless, books with no centerfolds, just about anything that's not brittle (or rat chewed). 

Everyone has their own collecting parameters I guess, but being able to read books that I don't have to worry about accidentally damaging, is a great pleasure.

@LordRahl

Good for you for donating the ones you don't love. I'm sure the kids will enjoy them.

 I've only donated high grade modern books, because I'd rather read the older "junky" ones;)

[ninanina]

So many different ways to enjoy this hobby. 

[LordRahl]

On 8/13/2021 at 9:59 PM, PeterPark said:

$100 is not valuable enough? I guess a certain number do need to be destroyed so supply cannot meet demand....

Can you point me to where I said that? And valuable enough for what? To keep? I don't care about the value when deciding whether to keep or sell a book. If I want the book, I'll keep it whether it's $1 or $10,000. If I don't want the book, I won't keep it... again irrespective of its value. People seem to keep acting as if I said they shouldn't collect beaters. Someone please point to where I said that and I'll shut up. What I said is, I don't collect them and have no love for them. I don't care if it's a Hulk 1 or AF 15... give me one in Fair or G/VG and I don't want it for my collection. I'd of course sell it, I'm not stupid but just like it's cool if some people want to collect beaters there is nothing wrong with not liking them. I won't own a book in a condition that I don't like looking at it in just to have a copy. For reading purposes there are so many avenues to read a book without having a beater that I don't really get that thought process either. Not to mention that you can read a VF book without bringing the grade down.

[LordRahl]

On 8/14/2021 at 8:28 AM, skypinkblu said:

I started as a low grade collector. I was taught all about GA comics by two "bottom feeder" friends.  I used to buy boxes with pieces and try to figure out what books they belong to. 

It also allowed me to collect without ever owing money on comics.

A friend of mine laughed because a few times I accidentally got books that were too high grade and I sold them to downgrade.

I have upgraded a lot of books over the years, but I've always enjoyed coverless, books with no centerfolds, just about anything that's not brittle (or rat chewed). 

Everyone has their own collecting parameters I guess, but being able to read books that I don't have to worry about accidentally damaging, is a great pleasure.

@LordRahl

Good for you for donating the ones you don't love. I'm sure the kids will enjoy them.

 I've only donated high grade modern books, because I'd rather read the older "junky" ones;)

I have as well but I struggle with this sometimes. Stuff from the 90's and later can be a little too sexualized and/or violent for anyone younger than a teen. Some of it at least, not all but I have had books where I thought long and hard about where I was going to donate them because I didn't want 6 year olds reading them.

[skypinkblu]

On 8/14/2021 at 7:08 PM, LordRahl said:

I have as well but I struggle with this sometimes. Stuff from the 90's and later can be a little too sexualized and/or violent for anyone younger than a teen. Some of it at least, not all but I have had books where I thought long and hard about where I was going to donate them because I didn't want 6 year olds reading them.

That stuff goes to the Salvation Army. I figure adults go there not y year olds.

[Silver Age_collector]

Hey guys, I recently bought a TOS 50 4.5 CGC from Heritage. Do you think TOS 50 is a good investment or will the Mandarin only appear briefly in Shang-Chi and sink back into oblivion after the movie?

[Dick Pontoon]

There's nothing wrong for having an affinity for beaters just as there's nothing wrong with finding zero appeal in beaters, and I think LordRahl said that clearly with respect and positivity when he responded to the question that BrooksR posed. If someone said "I dislike a pronounced callipygian form with ample bosom," I wouldn't agree but I wouldn't draw my sword over it either because but everybody has different tastes and interests.

[bluechip]

On 8/15/2021 at 5:31 AM, Pontoon said:

There's nothing wrong for having an affinity for beaters just as there's nothing wrong with finding zero appeal in beaters, and I think LordRahl said that clearly with respect and positivity when he responded to the question that BrooksR posed. If someone said "I dislike a pronounced callipygian form with ample bosom," I wouldn't agree but I wouldn't draw my sword over it either because but everybody has different tastes and interests.

MMC (made me chuckle), though I ruined it for myself moments afterward by analyzing it and realizing that if a guy disliked ample bosoms he would not use the word "ample".  But then to sub a word like "excessive" would probably kill the joke. 

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by bluechip

[LowGradeBronze]

It's great that CGC and others are there to preserve archive grade examples of comics (of all kinds) for the future. But I'm glad I started collecting in the playground where we swapped and loaned our comics with each other. The real pleasure of Strange Tales 180 is in Jim Starlin's amazing artwork. It's not in seeing the covers behind glass. It's in handling an original newsprint copy not some slick papered, recoloured reprint in a Milestone Edition. I feel a little sorry for collectors coming into the hobby now if their primary experience of comics is in a slab. Slabs have their place, but I want newsprint pushed up under my nose. I want to smell 1972 as well as touch and see it up close. (I will buy a second copy if I can so my best copy can stay in shape.) 

Edited August 17, 2021 by LowGradeBronze

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 8/15/2021 at 7:06 AM, Silver Age_collector said:

Hey guys, I recently bought a TOS 50 4.5 CGC from Heritage. Do you think TOS 50 is a good investment or will the Mandarin only appear briefly in Shang-Chi and sink back into oblivion after the movie?

I think it's a great buy.  TOS #50 is definitely an Iron Man key, and while I can't say whether the Mandarin will have a life in the MCU beyond this movie, just the fact that they are finally doing the character justice has restored this book to its proper glory.

[The lips]

I’m in the camp of low grade is better than no grade. 
There’s books out there I’ve had to buy in say a 3 but of course id prefer a 6. 
To me, the golden rule is and has always been collect the books you really want but only at a price you’re comfortable with. 

[Callaway29]

I've had a 9.6 eternals 7 sitting dormant for months, not particularly motivated to sell. No offers.

This morning, 5 offers (second eternals trailer is catalyst). Best being within $15 of my ask... Should probably pull it and sell it in a month when it's double my current ask...

Edited August 19, 2021 by Callaway29

[Callaway29]

On 8/19/2021 at 11:42 AM, Callaway29 said:

I've had a 9.6 eternals 7 sitting dormant for months, not particularly motivated to sell. No offers.

This morning, 5 offers (second eternals trailer is catalyst). Best being within $15 of my ask... Should probably pull it and sell it in a month when it's double my current ask...

Aaaannnddddd sold full price...