2015: A Year In Review posted by jump_ace

[CSJournals-migration]

Some of you may say I made some poor decisions. Some of you may say, I'm crazy. But I sold my holy grail, Amazing Fantasy 15 CGC 4.0 No MC for a bunch of Modern Age Grals and never looked back.

 

::Prologue::

 

I have the unfortunate circumstance where I wasn't a baby boomer or part of the generation prior. I was born into the Modern Age (1979) and didn't get into reading comics until I was nearly 10. Pass some time, get a degree, my first job, now a career with some disposable income and now I can finally start collecting comic books. Yay, right? Well, yes and no.

 

I would have loved to be able to at least collect Bronze Age books when they were new and cheap and to get a Hulk 181 for like $20 or whatever. That wasn't a possibility for me, instead I am at the very tail end of Gen-X. The problem is, what I want to collect is what everyone else wants to collect; Silver Age, Bronze Age books (Gold Age books aren't really my thing..I know, I know) so I'm forced to pay a lot for the comic books I want. Is it unfair? No, the market dictates the price, even if it was 40 years ago. Comics tend to go up in value, especially the sought after ones. So, after I sold off my old comic collection in 2012 to pay off my student loans, I figured I was out of the game for good.

 

::Life Happens::

Because of the sacrifice I made selling my books to free up some money to start saving. We decided to save up for a kid once my loans were paid off and we did, we saved so much that she then wanted to work part time for a year. I figured why not, since our son suffered a stroke when he was born (affects the right arm and leg, they are slower to develop and needs physical therpy) that would be best. And while I had thought of floating the idea of rebuilding my comics in 2013/2014 I held off until we knew what we were dealing with, regarding our son Lucas. Turns out, he's made great progress, we racked up well over $130,000 in medial bills with his NICU stay for a few weeks and all that, thankfully our health insurance covered well over 99% of it.

 

Anyway, back on topic. Fast forward to 2015, things settled down a bit with our son, we learned that he won't have any cognitive issues with speech, doesn't have any seizures and based on our (my wifes) mega ton of searching online with similar kids, we're hoping he'll make a great recovery, might not be full, but well enough and I'll work with him on typing that will probably be the toughest thing for him.

 

So, enter 2015 and I float the idea of rebuilding my comic collection to my wife and she says okay sure, but just don't go nuts. Of course, thats exactly where my mind went because, well, I never do things half-, I said I want my Amazing Fantasy 15 back, only one without Marvel Chipping. I said it'd probably be over 10K and she didn't turn red, didn't get mad, roll her eyes....she said that we don't have all of that amount saved and asked why I want it. I was honest and said I want Lucas to have it as an heirloom, it will increase in value steadily over the years and that we could get a small loan from the bank to fill in the rest of the loan.

 

I found the right book from a fellow boardie, got the loan and sent payment. The Amazing Fantasy 15 CGC 4.0 was perfect, my dream book. (Re)check that off the bucket list, I was so happy.

 

::Enter Amazing Spider-Man 678 MJ Venom Variant::

I was all set to start hammering out a list of books I used to own that I want to own again, which I did in part. I grabbed a few 9.8 books; Venom: Lethal Protectors, I subbed a few of the new Star Wars books to sell and keep, I started a new subscription with BeachBum to get all the Star Wars Action Figure Variants (which I have everyone so far). Then one day, I saw a listing on Ebay for an Amazing Spider-Man 678 MJ Venom comic. It was NM at best, but it was the first one I'd seen in a loooong time. I thought it was pretty cool. Around the same time, I finally got my hands on a Wolverine #1 Deadpool Variant CGC 9.8, which was one of the few books I had years prior that I marked as 'must have again'.

 

Then, another listing came up for the MJ Venom variant, a very sharp copy one I thought I could get pressed and if it were to come back a dreadful 9.6 I'd sell it. So I told my wife, days after buying the Wolvie book that there's this other super rare book that I want to make an offer on before others do. She got a little irritated I could tell, until I told her that I'd sell it if it doesn't come back a 9.8 and that we could make up to $1,500 like that *finger snap*. She agreed. I made an offer and the seller closed the auction early.

 

I went to my trusty presser joeypost and asked him to press this baby. He was super swamped at the time, so I had to wait a few months. During that time, I went back to rebuilding my list of wanted books and I made a new page for 'Rare' books and got to put both the Wolvie #1 and the 678 MJ in there.

 

::The Backwards Collection And The Collecting Trifecta::

That's when I had an idea. I call it the 'Backwards Collection' idea. Since I couldn't get in on the 'ground floor' and had to pay so much for my AF15, what if I make a list of some Rare Modern Age books to get in on the ground floor with. Not just any books, but GRAILS. Once that stand the best shot of increasing in value because they hit what I call the 'Collecting Trifecta'.

 

The Collecting Trifecta is when an item, a car, an antique, a coin, a comic, whatever hits all three categories:

 

Category 1) Recognition

Category 2) Rarity

Category 3) Condition

 

As much as Modern Age Books amass haters and think Modern Age collecting is not a wise investment, we'll have to agree to disagree. Yes, Modern Age books run a risk, but there can also a more timely (sooner) financial reward. But, again, with focusing on only the rarest books in the highest grade I hope to hedge against some of that risk and get in on the ground floor with these books in hopes that 20 years from now, I'll have made a killing. Or hopefully at least covered inflation

 

Back at my desk with my wanted books list....I initially was going to wait and see if my 678 MJ book came back a 9.8 before deciding to sell my AF15 to free up funds to collect more Modern Age books. I found a buyer for the AF15 faster than I expected and decided to sell my AF15 and look toward the Modern Age.

 

So, my plan in 2015 was to start my Backwards Collection where I will start collecting only Modern Age Grails and 1st Appearances that have current value. Then, once I got all of my 'core-must-have modern-age grails' then I could work on getting other modern age key books. From there, I'd look at the Copper Age books like ASM 300, NM 98, TMNT #1. Although, I have to admit, I may make a single exception rule if I do decide to chase a TMNT #1. All of my Copper and Modern Age books much be 9.8+ with WHITE pages, 'no exception, except TMNT #1' That one I may shoot for a 9.0+ to match the minimum for the next age I would collect after getting those books; Bronze Age. Then finally when I myself am old and silver, I can look into getting some Silver Age books. The only must have for me in this age is the AF15. And yes, I am well aware that that 4.0 I sold for around $13,000 this year could be up to $20,000 by the time I'm ready to buy it. If I play my cards right, that is what will happen. To me, that purchase is no different than buying a new car. But who knows what the future will hold

 

""Books, Books, Books!!!::

So now that I have my plan in place, the wheels are in motion, I'm buying books here and there as my budget allows. I'm PM'ing boardies about different books, I have my list of Modern Age Grails in place, all must be CGC 9.8. They are a mix of rare, high value and favorite issues:

 

*Amazing Spider-Man 667 Dell'Otto Variant

*Vader Down #1 1:5000 Retailer Incentive Variant

*Wolverine #1 Deadpool Variant

*Amazing Spider-Man #678 Mary Jane Venom Variant

Batman 608 Retailer Incentive Variant

Uncanny X-Men 510 Campbell Sketch Variant

*Venom: Lethal Protector #1 Black Error Variant

*Saga #1 Retailer Incentive Variant

*Wolverine #145 Nabisco Variant

*Batman #1 Sketch Variant

Danger Girl #2 Ruby Red Smoking Gun Variant

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 Pichelli Sketch Variant

Uncanny X-Men #297 Gold Pressman Variant

Spawn #185 Sketch Variant

Superman/Batman #1 Retailer Incentive Variant

Amazing Spider-Man #700 Ditko Variant

Spawn #1 B&W Variant

*East Of West #1 Retailer Incentive Variant

Ultimate Spider-Man #1 White Retailer Incentive Variant

The Walking Dead #1

Solar #0

Amazing Spider-Man #688 Campbell Variant

Ultimate Spider-Man #160 Sketch Variant

 

*Own

 

If you or someone you know has one of the unmarked books above, please shoot me a PM and see if we can work something out. I'm hoping to buy a Bats 608 RRP next Reason being, it's the one book I regret selling from my old collection. At the time of selling it, there were plenty of Batman 608 RRPs to be found on ebay. Coincidently, my sale was one of the last ones to be sold on ebay, all the copies have seemingly dried up.

 

::Wrapping Up 2015::

Upon completing my list of books, I of course did some door-to-door PM'ing asking fellow boardies if they had some of these books for sale. One of which was Kuddy, he initially said he wanted to keep his Amazing Spider-Man 667 Dell'Otto CGC 9.8. I tried like hell to snag Jaydogrules' copy but he wisely wouldn't budge either.

 

Then one day out of the blue a few months later, Kuddy decides to sell his ASM 667 for a cool $5K. I HAD to jump on this, imo, it was a once in a lifetime thing. So I had to sell off a bunch of my 'middling modern age' books and a couple books that were actually in my list listed above. But for this book it was worth it. I feel like it's this generations Amazing Fantasy 15 and in 20-30 years it may actually be worth well into the 5 figure range.

 

Shortly after getting that ASM 667 book, Jaydogrules tells me about the Vader Down #1 1:5000 book, I hadn't heard of it before, but it's right up my alley and the seller offered a return window and claimed the book to be NM+. What I really had going for me was the book ended on Thanksgiving. The books for sale prior never mentioned being in such good condition. So I snagged that book too, it's with joeypost to get pressed along with a copy of the DKIII 1:500 variant. I'm hoping for 9.8 across the board

 

Just recently, I did overtake EvilJin's #1 spot for the Venom: Lethal Protector series too, we are tied but the system put me at number 1, I'm guessing because I have full front and back cover scans and descriptions?

 

I have decided to primarily wait for a Batman 608 book to come up for sale and that would be the last 'hold out' Grail book to get before I can start collecting other modern age keys and copper age, then if one of my Grails is up for sale, jump on it then. Is it bad that I still have seller's remorse for that Bats 608? I've had a few nibbles in my WTB thread for the Bats 608 but nothing has come through yet.

 

 

Jerome

 

See more journals by jump_ace

[1950's war comics]

Have at it but wow that is the complete reversal of what most people would do

 

[mattn792]

Best of luck in achieving your goals Jerome. I probably would've held onto the AF 15 and gone after the moderns at a slower pace simply based on probability of future availability, but you certainly seem to have thought this through.

 

If I could offer my $0.02 - keep your goals consistent. Don't keep selling one collection for the sole purpose of pursuing another, or you could find yourself chasing your tail. In 15 years of serious collecting I've definitely found that patience is a virtue (a lesson learned the hard way more than once).

[surfer99]

"But, again, with focusing on only the rarest books in the highest grade I hope to hedge against some of that risk and get in on the ground floor with these books in hopes that 20 years from now, I'll have made a killing." You are taking a huge risk with this thinking. Modern variants have a tendency to hit a ceiling and then fall. If you buy/sell at the right time you could do well, but if you hold onto them forever thinking they will always keep going up you may not be so fortunate. Conversely, the Bronze/Silver books have much better staying power while also providing the opportunity to invest "on the ground floor" so to speak with character first appearances that have previously gone unnoticed (all it takes is a movie or TV show).

 

"Then finally when I myself am old and silver, I can look into getting some Silver Age books. The only must have for me in this age is the AF15." So your endgame is to collect what you already had but sold? Makes no sense to me, but if you enjoy what you collect then that's what's important. Good luck.

 

 

[mattn792]

Since the Wolverine 145 Nabisco is on your list, I can speak firsthand to surfer's observation that modern variants can plateau and plummet. Back in 2006, when I bought my first 9.8 copy, it cost me (cringe) $2700. I sold that book about a year ago for $1050, and frankly felt lucky to get that much. Luckily for me I only had to put about $400 into my SS 9.8 copy, so the math on the two books should at least even out in the end. Supply and demand.

[Lethal_Collector]

I'm hoping to just work my way backward from modern to silver age and keep all the books as I go.

 

In choosing the rarest books the hope is that I can weather the storm of the values going up and down.

 

It is risky, but hopefully the reward will be there in 30 years

 

 

Jerome

[Plantman]

Jerome,

 

I think you are placing too much weight on rarity and not enough weight on recognition when it comes to books you target. I've only heard people at my local comic shops talk about five books on your list.

 

Also, try not to bid against yourself. Read/review the story of the Revival CGC 10.0 SS sale.

 

Good Luck,

Plantman

[Lonzilla]

That's an impressive collection that you built but personally I would've kept the AF 15.

The thing with moderns, no matter how rare they are, is that there's always a shot of finding them in the wild in back issue bins. Slim chance, because you won't strike gold every week, but it does happen.

The bigger the store is, the more chance of their mistakes can benefit your wallet

Happy hunting!

[oakman29]

More power to ya. Looks like you have it all figured out.

[miraclemet]

If you'd consider a suggestion:

 

Mouse Guard #1. 1st print (ComicXpress) only 200-250 copies printed

 

Because of your equal weighting including rarity, your grail list is very variant heavy. Which made me think about the non-variant rare books, and this one came to mind first.

 

Its cooled a bit (in heat not value) in the last couple years mostly because its so hard to find, or if the collector wanted one they already made the effort to get it.