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Why is it

Started by Bullet123,

12 posts in this topic

Bullet123

Bullet123

Posted
Posted

That in most collectibles such as comics, the sum of the parts ( the "collection" ) is worth less than the individual pieces? There is no premium attached to the blood and sweat that goes into putting together some great runs of books. Is it because;

 

1. The absolute dollar amount makes it prohibitive for one person to own.

2. Collectors prefer the challenge involved in collecting the run in the first place

3. The hobby has not evolved to where people associate a premium in being able to put together a somewhat impossible run to duplicate.

 

I spent 10+ years in my last hobby putting together arguably the greatest collection of its genre, but because of its size and scope, it was worth more if I were to break it up and sell it piece meal. Thankfully, I was able to find an institution that valued my collection for what it had become. An impossible to duplicate comprehensive representation of its genre and they were happy to take it off my hands and keep it together forever.

 

Will this hobby ever value the "collection" over the books?

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MarvelComicBuyer-migration

MarvelComicBuyer-migration

Posted
Posted

I suppose it depends on why someone collects. I started collecting as a buy-product (!) of enjoying the stories, and now I try and fill the gaps. The thrill for me is finding a back issue at a car boot sale (garage sale) or second-hand bookshop when the seller doesn't know what they have. If someone offered to fill all the holes in my collection for free, would I say yes? Probably, for the monetary value, but it wouldn't feel like my collection any more. Having said that, if someone was selling a run that I need to fill a hole, I'd go for that. But for me there's a critical mass at which it becomes someone else's collection that I'm buying, rather than contributing to my own.

 

That's not to say I'm not impressed when I see the 'impossible' run or collection though!

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trevorlsmith

trevorlsmith

Posted
Posted

there are obviously tons of reasons that this is the case. you have hit on a few. in addition, one simple response is that when you purchase someone's collection you are doing so b/c many of the books are of interest to you. however, many are not and you don't want to pay as much for them.

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burntboy

burntboy

Posted
Posted
That in most collectibles such as comics, the sum of the parts ( the "collection" ) is worth less than the individual pieces? There is no premium attached to the blood and sweat that goes into putting together some great runs of books. Is it because;

 

1. The absolute dollar amount makes it prohibitive for one person to own.

2. Collectors prefer the challenge involved in collecting the run in the first place

3. The hobby has not evolved to where people associate a premium in being able to put together a somewhat impossible run to duplicate.

 

I spent 10+ years in my last hobby putting together arguably the greatest collection of its genre, but because of its size and scope, it was worth more if I were to break it up and sell it piece meal. Thankfully, I was able to find an institution that valued my collection for what it had become. An impossible to duplicate comprehensive representation of its genre and they were happy to take it off my hands and keep it together forever.

 

Will this hobby ever value the "collection" over the books?

 

OK - i'll bite - what was this "impossible to duplicate comprehensive representation of it's genre"????? grin.gif

 

i'm impressed and i have no idea what it is 893whatthe.gif

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DiceX

DiceX

Posted
Posted
That in most collectibles such as comics, the sum of the parts ( the "collection" ) is worth less than the individual pieces? There is no premium attached to the blood and sweat that goes into putting together some great runs of books. Is it because;

 

1. The absolute dollar amount makes it prohibitive for one person to own.

2. Collectors prefer the challenge involved in collecting the run in the first place

3. The hobby has not evolved to where people associate a premium in being able to put together a somewhat impossible run to duplicate.

 

I spent 10+ years in my last hobby putting together arguably the greatest collection of its genre, but because of its size and scope, it was worth more if I were to break it up and sell it piece meal. Thankfully, I was able to find an institution that valued my collection for what it had become. An impossible to duplicate comprehensive representation of its genre and they were happy to take it off my hands and keep it together forever.

 

Will this hobby ever value the "collection" over the books?

 

OK - i'll bite - what was this "impossible to duplicate comprehensive representation of it's genre"????? grin.gif

 

i'm impressed and i have no idea what it is 893whatthe.gif

 

Midieval sex toys. gossip.gif

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burntboy

burntboy

Posted
Posted
That in most collectibles such as comics, the sum of the parts ( the "collection" ) is worth less than the individual pieces? There is no premium attached to the blood and sweat that goes into putting together some great runs of books. Is it because;

 

1. The absolute dollar amount makes it prohibitive for one person to own.

2. Collectors prefer the challenge involved in collecting the run in the first place

3. The hobby has not evolved to where people associate a premium in being able to put together a somewhat impossible run to duplicate.

 

I spent 10+ years in my last hobby putting together arguably the greatest collection of its genre, but because of its size and scope, it was worth more if I were to break it up and sell it piece meal. Thankfully, I was able to find an institution that valued my collection for what it had become. An impossible to duplicate comprehensive representation of its genre and they were happy to take it off my hands and keep it together forever.

 

Will this hobby ever value the "collection" over the books?

 

OK - i'll bite - what was this "impossible to duplicate comprehensive representation of it's genre"????? grin.gif

 

i'm impressed and i have no idea what it is 893whatthe.gif

 

Midieval sex toys. gossip.gif

 

sign-funnypost.gif

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Bullet123

Bullet123

Posted
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Posted
OK - i'll bite - what was this "impossible to duplicate comprehensive representation of it's genre"?????

 

I was thinking the same thing, he probably wants us to ask him what it is...

 

No I was merely saying that collections as a whole when sold realize more dollars by being broken up than left together. I always found that odd.

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arexcrooke

arexcrooke

Posted
Posted

No I was merely saying that collections as a whole when sold realize more dollars by being broken up than left together. I always found that odd

 

As have I. I would imagine that unless you found someone who wants every single thing in your collection, that people pay just for what they want or what they can resell if they are a dealer. Therefore people will pay less overall for whatever the collection is because there are things that they might not be able to make their money back on and have to sit on it for a while.

Does this sound reasonable?

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FFB

FFB

Posted
Posted
No I was merely saying that collections as a whole when sold realize more dollars by being broken up than left together. I always found that odd

 

As have I. I would imagine that unless you found someone who wants every single thing in your collection, that people pay just for what they want or what they can resell if they are a dealer. Therefore people will pay less overall for whatever the collection is because there are things that they might not be able to make their money back on and have to sit on it for a while.

Does this sound reasonable?

 

That is exactly it. You almost never find someone who needs every book in a run. If I need six issues out of a run of 100 books, I do not want to pay for the entire run and thus probably wouldn't bit on the lot. The vast majority of collector-buyers are like that. Only dealers would want to take the entire run, and dealers don't pay as much as the end users/collectors do for each issue (if they did, they'd go out of business). If the books are sold in an auction format, having a large lot will keep most collectors who would pay top dollar for the few books they need from bidding on the whole shebang.

 

It's not even really a difficult question when you think about it. confused-smiley-013.gif

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Aces

Aces

Posted
Posted
That is exactly it. You almost never find someone who needs every book in a run. If I need six issues out of a run of 100 books, I do not want to pay for the entire run and thus probably wouldn't bit on the lot. The vast majority of collector-buyers are like that. Only dealers would want to take the entire run, and dealers don't pay as much as the end users/collectors do for each issue (if they did, they'd go out of business). If the books are sold in an auction format, having a large lot will keep most collectors who would pay top dollar for the few books they need from bidding on the whole shebang.

 

It's not even really a difficult question when you think about it. confused-smiley-013.gif

 

What he said. poke2.gif

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