Father's Full Mad Collection

[salaw-salaw-migration]

I have a full collection of my father's Mad Magazines. It starts with issue 1 and goes all the way to issue 300. It was a passion of his but not of mine. I am looking to start selling these off. I was wondering about how far into the collection should I grade?

 

Thanks for any input,

 

salaw-salaw

[Robot Man]

If you are talking CGC, I would at least consider 1-30 depending on condition. If these are low grade, don't spend the money and sell them raw.

[Doohickamabob]

I have a full collection of my father's Mad Magazines. It starts with issue 1 and goes all the way to issue 300. It was a passion of his but not of mine. I am looking to start selling these off. I was wondering about how far into the collection should I grade? Thanks for any input, salaw-salaw

Did you sell them yet? If not, sell them all to me! (Kidding -- I already have them, but I love getting collections and upgrading.)

 

Depending on whether you want to eke out top dollar or just want a quick sale, there are a variety of ways to approach liquidating a Mad collection. As said above, the condition level can make a difference.

 

I've seen several sellers post big runs of Mad issues, from #1 to #250 or #300 or whatever, and usually they list them by grading the individual comics, several of the early key magazines (especially #24 and #30), and then giving a general grade for all of the rest.

 

Unless it's in higher grade (above 5.0), issue #1 is probably worth in the $300 to $600 range if it's part of a lot. The other high-value issue is #5, which in low-to-mid grade should be worth $200-$300. Issue #2 is comparable to that, and issues #3 and #4 are worth maybe 75% of the values for #2 and #5.

 

Issues #6 through #10 are also Kurtzman covers and worth a decent amount depending on grade. #11 is a Wolverton cover and demands a solid price. The rest, #12 through #23, are all worth individual grading and selling. Issue #18 is worth more if the cover hasn't been marked (due to the connect-the-dots concept). I am a sucker for issue #15.

 

If you have #1 in a grade above 4.0, consider getting it CGC graded because you can ask more for it. This is especially true if you think it's above 6.0, which would mean it's probably worth at least $1,000. If any of the other issues look like they're above FN/VF, consider grading them.

 

If you sell as a lot, keep in mind that there are very few buyers out there who can afford to drop $2,000 or more on a collection of Mads. Selling individually or in smaller lots works better because there are plenty of collectors who can afford $50 to $300.

 

If I had time and were selling a Mad collection, I would sell all the issue #1 through #30 individually as auctions. I might bump that up to the first 36 issues, because #31 through #36 have some classic covers. There are some individual classics after that, but they don't demand a premium very often unless they're in very high grade. I wouldn't CGC grade any magazines other than #24 unless I considered them highly likely to be above 8.5.

 

For the rest of the issues, I would auction them by year, in groups of 8 (though some earlier years I think they published 10 a year).

[bounty_coder]

I have a full collection of my father's Mad Magazines. It starts with issue 1 and goes all the way to issue 300. It was a passion of his but not of mine. I am looking to start selling these off. I was wondering about how far into the collection should I grade?

 

Thanks for any input,

 

salaw-salaw

 

I'm looking for a very nice copy of issue #59 if your willing to part with it. Just let me know (thumbs u

[oakman29]

I have a full collection of my father's Mad Magazines. It starts with issue 1 and goes all the way to issue 300. It was a passion of his but not of mine. I am looking to start selling these off. I was wondering about how far into the collection should I grade?

 

Thanks for any input,

 

salaw-salaw

 

I'm looking for a very nice copy of issue #59 if your willing to part with it. Just let me know (thumbs u

 

On my God! Where have you been? I hope you're doing okay.

[bounty_coder]

Hey man doing decent. Work has been causing some hair loss. Just popped on this last week and saw I had IMS waiting for me. Getting away has been tough. I hope that all is well.

[bounty_coder]

For gods sake I still have my Halloween sale linked in my sig.

[oakman29]

For gods sake I still have my Halloween sale linked in my sig.

 

There's a few of us,okay me! That needs a horror fix.Sadly I haven't ever found anyone else who has sweet spooky books,like yours.