2015 Overstreet's top 20 Golden Age books.

[kinzebac]

 

 

 

[RCheli]

to me, the top 5 spots should be:

Action 1

Tec 27

Supes 1

Bats 1

Cap 1

 

(thumbs u

 

I don't think it should be higher than Flash #1, either. You have a first appearance of both Flash and Hawkman -- two long-time characters. (And Johnny Thunder, too.)

 

It also predates All American #16 by 6 months.

 

I know the AA is a little more rare...

[RCheli]

Also, Captain America is the least rare of nearly every Golden Age first app/keys. I'm not saying it's common by any means, but they're much easier to find than nearly any other book on that top 20 list.

[Chicago Boy]

AA 16 > Flash 1 secondary to census numbers and market availability.

[Chicago Boy]

ZAPPED! was such a good movie...

[sfcityduck]

Looking at the actual top sales prices for a copy would get you this:

 

1. Action 1

2. D 27

3. Flash 1

4. MC 1

5. CA 1

6. Whiz 2

7. Batman 1

8. Action 10

9. Superman 1

10. MF 52

 

Deceptive, I know, because it depends on the quality of the copy being sold.

As much as I like the Spectre More Fun run, I'm surprised that MF52 made the top ten sales list. That book's popularity has been on the wane for a long time now.

 

If a high-grade Tec 31, Tec 29, or Action 7 had changed hands, I think any one of those would have bumped MF52 off the list.

 

That MF 52 record was set by a 9.2 back in 2001 for $207,000.

 

Has any D31 or D29 topped over $100K? I can only find reported sales of D33 and D38 above that mark.

[RCheli]

I honestly think that the MF 52 love was driven by an Overstreet advisor (or two) who loved the character (or loved the book). It was overpriced for decades. The Spectre is very cool, but there are many other books that are more desirable.

[sfcityduck]

Below are the Top-10 Golden Age books ranked by GD value.

 

 

1. Action Comics #1

-$155,000

 

2. Detective Comics #27

-$110,000

 

3. Superman #1

-$50,000

 

4. Batman #1

-$25,000

 

5. Marvel Comics #1

-$24,000

 

T-6. All-American Comics #16

-$20,000

 

T-6. Pep Comics #22

-$20,000

 

8. Action Comics #7

-$18,000

 

9. Captain America Comics #1

-$15,000

 

10. Detective Comics #31

-$13,000

 

Interesting list. I think transactions at this grade show which books are the "people's choice."

 

But, the record sales depend upon the taste of elite collectors who have different priorities. For example, I think the appeal of Action 7 is, in part, it's a poor man's Action 1. But, if you're an elite collector what what are you going to value more?: The poor man's Action 1 or, for example, a rich man's CA 1? I would think that some books will have much stronger sales in lower grades compared to their peers, precisely because they are the "poor man's" option, than those books would do in higher grades when compared to their peers. Just because Action 7 tops out CA 1 in gd does not mean it will do so in top grade, I think.

[Jaydogrules]

Also, Captain America is the least rare of nearly every Golden Age first app/keys. I'm not saying it's common by any means, but they're much easier to find than nearly any other book on that top 20 list.

 

There are quite a number more Batman 1's on the census than Cap 1's, and that certainly does not seem to have hurt Bats 1's tremendous gains.

 

Also, Bats 1's and even Tec 31's come up for sale far more often than Cap 1's (at least for the last few years).

 

"Rarity" and "availability" are two different things, and neither (and/or the perceived lack thereof) does not seem to affect the prices of most GA mega grails.

 

-J.

[sfcityduck]

I honestly think that the MF 52 love was driven by an Overstreet advisor (or two) who loved the character (or loved the book). It was overpriced for decades. The Spectre is very cool, but there are many other books that are more desirable.

 

Desirability is all subjective. I personally think New Fun/More Fun might be the coolest DC GA title to own, certainly the most historic, and 52 is the key that to owning that title. Demand, however, is objective. Most recent MF 52 on Heritage was a 4.0 that hit $18.5K. So maybe there is demand. Only seven books have sold for a stronger price in that grade on Heritage -- and four of those were D27 and MC 1. But, I'm just offering a perspective, not saying MF 52 is over or under rated. I really don't have an opinion, but its interesting to read people's thoughts.

[Bat-Man]

I know they list the top 100, but I'm only going to list the top 20 here.

 

1. Action Comics #1

2. Detective Comics #27

3. Superman #1

4. All American Comics #16

5. Marvel Comics #1

6. Batman #1

7. Captain America Comics #1

8. Action Comics #7

9. Pep Comics #22

10. Detective Comics #31

11. Action Comics #10

11. Flash Comics #1

13. Whiz Comics #2

14. Detective Comics #29

15. Action Comics #2

15. Archie Comics #1

15. More Fun Comics #52

18. Detective Comics #33

19. Adventure Comics #40

20. All Star Comics #8

 

agree? disagree?

 

I know this is a list based on percentage increase for the year and not overall actual demand, but I thought that Batman #1 would have moved up to either the 5 or 4 position, but there was no change in the first 8 spots.

I feel All Star Comics #8 should be alot higher than #20.

Action Comics #10 blows past Action Comics #2 to take the #11 spot.

Action Comics #13 must have been omitted in error, cuz it's not listed and it was listed at the number 30 spot last year, but base on it's 9.2 listed value of $100k, it would be tied with Detective Comics 38 for the #24 spot.

Pep Comics #22 cracked the top ten and took the #9 spot.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are my thoughts on the new TOP list:

 

1. Cap #1 has reached its, much deserved, peak in the hobby. What a great book. (though it may move up a spot - check my #2 point)

 

2. All-American Comics #16. I love GL, he is one of the best characters in the hobby. But, as much as I hate to say it (and as much as I would love to own a copy of this legendary book), I think it is crazy that this book is #4. Not only that, it beat the 1st Marvel. I feel a downward movement here.

 

3. Archie, as much as I respect his all time comic status, in my opinion considering current trends - he should not be a top 10 book. (While I realize current sales make me eat my words)

 

4. Where is Action #13 OSPG?

[Wayne-Tec]

Here are my thoughts on the new TOP list:

 

1. Cap #1 has reached its, much deserved, peak in the hobby. What a great book. (though it may move up a spot - check my #2 point)

 

2. All-American Comics #16. I love GL, he is one of the best characters in the hobby. But, as much as I hate to say it (and as much as I would love to own a copy of this legendary book), I think it is crazy that this book is #4. Not only that, it beat the 1st Marvel. I feel a downward movement here.

 

3. Archie, as much as I respect his all time comic status, in my opinion considering current trends - he should not be a top 10 book. (While I realize current sales make me eat my words)

 

4. Where is Action #13 OSPG?

 

I've said this before, but with as much steam as Cap #1 has picked up, I think it's going to continue to trend upward. While many collectors, yourself and I included Alex, love both Marvel and DC, there are collectors out there who simply do not care for DC. "Marvel Zombies', or whatever you'd like to call them. To that group, Cap #1 may be their Action #1. Marvel #1 is still an incredible piece of history and I think a strong argument could be made for either of the two -- but to me, Cap #1 is the most desirable "Marvel" comic ever published.

[lou_fine]

Well, Dupcak is one of the most infamous individuals in the hobby so no surprise there (I had a similar experience with him).

 

the list of people with a similar experience with Danny is long, but distinguished

 

Yes indeed, it looks like a lot of us have crossed paths with Danny Boy in our early days of collecting.

 

What was it now.....his infamous Eastern Color File Copies and his macro-trimming of books that looked like they were done by a blind person using an industrial power saw for the first time. Either that or he was trying to get 2 books out of every 1 book he started out with.

 

Boy, what a scumbag of a dealer, although I must admit it was an absolute riot to listen to some of his outrageous stories while he was in the process of giving you the shaft. But a real when the shoe's on the other foot and you are squeezing his balls when he's down on the mat, even though I am sure it was just more BS on his part.

 

Poor Danny had to end up listening to my ridiculous stories for months as to why I could not send his book back to him after I had maneuvered him into a situation whereby he was forced to send me back my money first. The thought crossed my mind many times that I should macro-trim (i.e. shred) his book and send it back to him in pieces, but figured this would have gotten me into potential legal hot water. Which reminds me that I still have to send in my letter to CBG so that he can get back his advertising privileges with them and also add another CBG Customer Service Award to his collection.

 

Oh, didn't poor Danny also get into some congressional snafu for awhile there, but that's a story for another day. Ok, you twisted my arm. Long story short, congressional aide or somebody in the office also happened to be a comic collector and must have ended up with the short stick on one of Danny's infamous deals. Ended up looking for supporting evidence against poor Danny. Heh, heh.....

 

Hate to say it and you guys might think I am mean, but it still gives me a chuckle and brings a smile to my face every time I think of poor little Danny Boy.

[Johnny545]

2. All-American Comics #16. I love GL, he is one of the best characters in the hobby. But, as much as I hate to say it (and as much as I would love to own a copy of this legendary book), I think it is crazy that this book is #4. Not only that, it beat the 1st Marvel. I feel a downward movement here.

 

3. Archie, as much as I respect his all time comic status, in my opinion considering current trends - he should not be a top 10 book. (While I realize current sales make me eat my words)

 

Agreed, AA16 is way too high.

 

Archie's popularity can only go one direction in the coming years...

[lou_fine]

Here are my thoughts on the new TOP list:

 

1. Cap #1 has reached its, much deserved, peak in the hobby. What a great book. (though it may move up a spot - check my #2 point)

 

2. All-American Comics #16. I love GL, he is one of the best characters in the hobby. But, as much as I hate to say it (and as much as I would love to own a copy of this legendary book), I think it is crazy that this book is #4. Not only that, it beat the 1st Marvel. I feel a downward movement here.

 

3. Archie, as much as I respect his all time comic status, in my opinion considering current trends - he should not be a top 10 book. (While I realize current sales make me eat my words)

 

4. Where is Action #13 OSPG?

 

1) You are going to upset Mitch and some of the others by saying that Cap #1 has peaked out in the #7 spot. Although it appears destined to eventually overtake AA 16 and Marvel 1 someday far in the future based upon the ground that has to be made up, it looks like there are a few scorching hot books just behind nipping at its heels and could overtake it before then.

 

2) No idea why it's still up there so high as a check of the OS guides from the late 70's indicates that it was sitting way back at the bottom of the teens.

 

3) From my opinion, it's rather refreshing and a good change of pace to get a non-superhero book into the Top 10. Still looks like it's got a lot of upside price movement left in its fuel tank as evident with the recent auction of a restored 3.0 copy at multiples to the 2014 guide. Even with the huge valuation increase for this year's guide, the auction result still represents a very hefty premium to the 2015 condition guide price. I am not sure if restored copies of some of the other books in the Top 10 would be able to fetch multiples or even a premium to guide.

 

I assume you think it's going to end up like the strip reprints and the Ducks where they had a short-term stay in the Top 10, but eventually fall to the wayside in the wake of the advancing superheroes. I think Archie has a bit more going for it, especially considering that it has gone non-stop since debuting in the 40's, with only Supes, Batman, aand possibly Wonder Woman being able to achieve this longevity.

 

4) Overstreet is probably too used to Action 13 being the top percentage gainer in the Top 100 like it has been for the past few years, and as a result, missed it completely when it fell out of top mover spot.

 

 

[Jaydogrules]

Here are my thoughts on the new TOP list:

 

1. Cap #1 has reached its, much deserved, peak in the hobby. What a great book. (though it may move up a spot - check my #2 point)

 

2. All-American Comics #16. I love GL, he is one of the best characters in the hobby. But, as much as I hate to say it (and as much as I would love to own a copy of this legendary book), I think it is crazy that this book is #4. Not only that, it beat the 1st Marvel. I feel a downward movement here.

 

3. Archie, as much as I respect his all time comic status, in my opinion considering current trends - he should not be a top 10 book. (While I realize current sales make me eat my words)

 

4. Where is Action #13 OSPG?

 

I've said this before, but with as much steam as Cap #1 has picked up, I think it's going to continue to trend upward. While many collectors, yourself and I included Alex, love both Marvel and DC, there are collectors out there who simply do not care for DC. "Marvel Zombies', or whatever you'd like to call them. To that group, Cap #1 may be their Action #1. Marvel #1 is still an incredible piece of history and I think a strong argument could be made for either of the two -- but to me, Cap #1 is the most desirable "Marvel" comic ever published.

 

I have to agree with this. Its current price per point averages, relative to the books ahead of it and even some behind it, show that there is A LOT of room for growth in cap 1. And just like Action 1 is more important to DC than detective comics 1, I believe the importance and longevity of Cap in the Marvel universe makes it the "must have" and most significant book for the well-heeled Marvel collector to obtain.

 

-J.

[Vision75]

Also, Captain America is the least rare of nearly every Golden Age first app/keys. I'm not saying it's common by any means, but they're much easier to find than nearly any other book on that top 20 list.

 

There are quite a number more Batman 1's on the census than Cap 1's, and that certainly does not seem to have hurt Bats 1's tremendous gains.

 

Also, Bats 1's and even Tec 31's come up for sale far more often than Cap 1's (at least for the last few years).

 

 

 

-J.

 

I was interested in that statement. Tec 31s have certainly been popping up recently - especially on ComicConnect - but I was thinking it was a more recent phenomenon in the last year prompted by a few breakout sales. So, I checked GPA for sales of Tec 31, Cap1, and Bat1 looking at each for the past three years (July 2012 through today) and the past year (July 2014 through today). Note that I did NOT count individual page sales. Here are the results:

 

	                                Tec 31	      Cap 1	      Bat 1
Sales Past Year	                          7	         8	        12
Sales Past Three Years	                 12	        27	        42

 

While Tec 31 and Cap 1 have sold at a similar rate in the last year, Cap 1 sales are more than double Tec 31 for the past three. Substantially more Bat1 copies have sold in both time periods.

 

[VintageComics]

Well, Dupcak is one of the most infamous individuals in the hobby so no surprise there (I had a similar experience with him).

 

the list of people with a similar experience with Danny is long, but distinguished

 

Yes indeed, it looks like a lot of us have crossed paths with Danny Boy in our early days of collecting.

 

What was it now.....his infamous Eastern Color File Copies and his macro-trimming of books that looked like they were done by a blind person using an industrial power saw for the first time. Either that or he was trying to get 2 books out of every 1 book he started out with.

 

Boy, what a scumbag of a dealer, although I must admit it was an absolute riot to listen to some of his outrageous stories while he was in the process of giving you the shaft. But a real when the shoe's on the other foot and you are squeezing his balls when he's down on the mat, even though I am sure it was just more BS on his part.

 

Poor Danny had to end up listening to my ridiculous stories for months as to why I could not send his book back to him after I had maneuvered him into a situation whereby he was forced to send me back my money first. The thought crossed my mind many times that I should macro-trim (i.e. shred) his book and send it back to him in pieces, but figured this would have gotten me into potential legal hot water. Which reminds me that I still have to send in my letter to CBG so that he can get back his advertising privileges with them and also add another CBG Customer Service Award to his collection.

 

Oh, didn't poor Danny also get into some congressional snafu for awhile there, but that's a story for another day. Ok, you twisted my arm. Long story short, congressional aide or somebody in the office also happened to be a comic collector and must have ended up with the short stick on one of Danny's infamous deals. Ended up looking for supporting evidence against poor Danny. Heh, heh.....

 

Hate to say it and you guys might think I am mean, but it still gives me a chuckle and brings a smile to my face every time I think of poor little Danny Boy.

 

Danny is / was being taken to court by our own Mark Zaid for not paying child support for many years. I saw Mark in SD but in all the hoopla I forgot to ask how this was coming along.

 

BTW, and this is just me throwing it out there, Mark is / was doing it all pro bono so if anyone wants to make a donation I'm sure Mark would appreciate it.

 

 

[Jaydogrules]

Also, Captain America is the least rare of nearly every Golden Age first app/keys. I'm not saying it's common by any means, but they're much easier to find than nearly any other book on that top 20 list.

 

There are quite a number more Batman 1's on the census than Cap 1's, and that certainly does not seem to have hurt Bats 1's tremendous gains.

 

Also, Bats 1's and even Tec 31's come up for sale far more often than Cap 1's (at least for the last few years).

 

 

 

-J.

 

I was interested in that statement. Tec 31s have certainly been popping up recently - especially on ComicConnect - but I was thinking it was a more recent phenomenon in the last year prompted by a few breakout sales. So, I checked GPA for sales of Tec 31, Cap1, and Bat1 looking at each for the past three years (July 2012 through today) and the past year (July 2014 through today). Note that I did NOT count individual page sales. Here are the results:

 

	                                Tec 31	      Cap 1	      Bat 1
Sales Past Year	                          7	         8	        12
Sales Past Three Years	                 12	        27	        42

 

While Tec 31 and Cap 1 have sold at a similar rate in the last year, Cap 1 sales are more than double Tec 31 for the past three.

 

Substantially more Bat1 copies have sold in both time periods.

 

My perusal of the data on GPA and knowledge of sales does not bear that out.

 

By my count, in the last three years, there have been about 24 sales of Tec 31. I am including sales that occurred on comic link as well as the private sales that I am familiar with (that have been reported on these boards) in addition to a raw copy that sold on heritage and copies in CBCS slabs.

 

Using the same criteria, there have been 22 cap 1 sales. And if we looked at a three year period six weeks from now, multiple cap 1 sales become stale, and the difference in copies between the two books would grow even more.

 

In the last year there have been 10 Tec 31's offered/sold, including two that are coming up for auction soon on comic connect (one of which has been "sold" once already, but I am not counting that one twice).

 

For cap 1 there have been 7 offered/ sold, including that one crappy CBCS copy that's on ebay right now (unsold).

 

So as I said before, Tec 31 has been a more sold/available comic over the last few years than cap 1, and that certainly has not stopped its value growth, and certainly suggests cap 1 is a still very "under-valued" GA key. (thumbs u

 

-J.

[jimbo_707]

I honestly think that the MF 52 love was driven by an Overstreet advisor (or two) who loved the character (or loved the book). It was overpriced for decades. The Spectre is very cool, but there are many other books that are more desirable.

 

I've seen that trend with a few books or titles in Overstreet. I like Barks books, but I think their value was inflated due to the partiality of some advisor (Bruce Hamilton?).

 

World's Finest seems to be another one. I can't remember a time when that title actually got guide prices.