Reasons when a book suddenly skyrockets in price ...

[sagii]

Personal I think we are seeing the continual shift from "run" collectors to cover collectors. It seems there are less and less people looking to collect runs and more and more chasing classic covers. It makes sense, why buy 10 so-so mid run Detectives rather than snagging a single cooler cover book.

great point. I have resigned my 'complete run' chasing to titles that ran up to around 15 issues or so. I've been cherry picking covers from longer running titles I like for sure recently.

[Tri-Color Brian]

I think the cover seeking started right after the Gerber photo journals appeared. At least, it did for me...I guess some of you are just getting on that bandwagon... It's hard to believe, but there are still some serious GA collectors that don't own a set of the photo journals. Sad...

 

Unless you're just an investor, I think this hobby is about getting a lot of what you like. And the more that try to do that, the higher the prices will go for the most sought after books...or ,is that what everyone is calling supply and demand...?

[MusterMark]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping for some discussion on why a book may suddenly and almost overnight skyrocket in value?

 

I'll start with an example:

Several years ago I owned a TEC #69 in a CGC 5.0. It was worth about $700 or so with maybe some modest price movement over time. Then of course many of you know the huge price jump it had recently and it could be worth probably over $10,000 now. I know it's a great cover, Joker cover, etc, but it's ALWAYS been that. What changed? This is a 70 year old book, so why now? Why not 5 years ago, or some other time period?

 

Just wondering on board member thoughts on this book plus any examples of other books you can provide.

 

Thanks.

 

My opinion (on this book only) is there may be two reasons;

1. Although not officially classed as a classic cover, this is a classic Joker cover IMO. A huge Joker image, beautifully drawn & colored.

2. Heath Ledger's portrayal & reboot of the Joker persona has an awful lot to do with it I think.

 

methinks it is only because of the number "69" on it ...

 

 

 

[MusterMark]

Trends/genres previously ignored now 'discovered/appreciated' can be a factor too at times.

 

Some examples:

 

A) Cindy 35 (grey tone GGA )

 

B) Spitfire Comics 133 ( the recent CC sale maybe an outlier, -a recent low grade copy did modestly on eBay). A Cindy 35 in the same grade would've fetched maybe 3x more. Jury still out on this one, but deliberations won't be long.

 

Teen / humor is the new 'romance'. The more certain superhero/ horror books get out of reach another sub genre rises as everyone wants in on the ground floor. I Never thought ( outside a small handful of issues )romance would be the force it is now. Next, I 'predict' in this order:

 

1)Crime (heating up as we speak)

 

2)Funny Animals ( other than Disney and Looney Toons) great underappreciated stuff out there.

 

3)War ( the genre has some diehards already but still not a lot of 'marquee books' that even a non war collector can 'identify' IMHO

 

4)Westerns ( my parents LOVE westerns). They grew up on them and I grew up watching them as a result. Never became a diehard though. Not a lot are made anymore in Hollywood so it's a challenge to develope new fans. The upside is there are a lot of networks devoted solely to airing the genre. And some killer covers out there too.

 

I think it's Cindy 37

 

 

 

[markseifert]

Trends/genres previously ignored now 'discovered/appreciated' can be a factor too at times.

 

Between 2010 and 2014, the top sale in the hobby jumped by an order of magnitude.

 

Since then, the market has been a series of "oh wait, doesn't that mean that book A should be worth $X" tests.

[sagii]

Trends/genres previously ignored now 'discovered/appreciated' can be a factor too at times.

 

Some examples:

 

A) Cindy 35 (grey tone GGA )

 

B) Spitfire Comics 133 ( the recent CC sale maybe an outlier, -a recent low grade copy did modestly on eBay). A Cindy 35 in the same grade would've fetched maybe 3x more. Jury still out on this one, but deliberations won't be long.

 

Teen / humor is the new 'romance'. The more certain superhero/ horror books get out of reach another sub genre rises as everyone wants in on the ground floor. I Never thought ( outside a small handful of issues )romance would be the force it is now. Next, I 'predict' in this order:

 

1)Crime (heating up as we speak)

 

2)Funny Animals ( other than Disney and Looney Toons) great underappreciated stuff out there.

 

3)War ( the genre has some diehards already but still not a lot of 'marquee books' that even a non war collector can 'identify' IMHO

 

4)Westerns ( my parents LOVE westerns). They grew up on them and I grew up watching them as a result. Never became a diehard though. Not a lot are made anymore in Hollywood so it's a challenge to develope new fans. The upside is there are a lot of networks devoted solely to airing the genre. And some killer covers out there too.

 

I think it's Cindy 37

 

 

thanks!

[sagii]

Trends/genres previously ignored now 'discovered/appreciated' can be a factor too at times.

 

Between 2010 and 2014, the top sale in the hobby jumped by an order of magnitude.

 

Since then, the market has been a series of "oh wait, doesn't that mean that book A should be worth $X" tests.

Always good to read your insights Mark

[lou_fine]

It appears that classic covers are moving up at a much higher rate than the rest of the GA books.

 

Personal I think we are seeing the continual shift from "run" collectors to cover collectors. It seems there are less and less people looking to collect runs and more and more chasing classic covers. It makes sense, why buy 10 so-so mid run Detectives rather than snagging a single cooler cover book.

 

+1

 

With prices they way they are, the overwhelming majority of collectors can no longer hope to complete a run of issues. Their answer to their shrinking wallet is to allocate their funds to the classic covers and key issues, with the non-classic and non-key mid run issues now being left behind in the dust.

[FineCollector]

It makes sense, why buy 10 so-so mid run Detectives rather than snagging a single cooler cover book.

 

10 is better than 1, that's why.

 

What if I don't give a fig about Joker, and like the cover to the 70 better? Do I buy what I like, or do I spend more money chasing everyone's tail?

[Cosmic Boy]

A lot of good points in this thread.

 

Also (but to a lesser extent than Silver Age), I think that awareness in the mass media age has a lot to do with it. Younger collectors are starting to become more aware of Golden Age characters thanks to reprints, the internet and TV/Movies. In the CW Arrowverse alone, we have Hourman, Dr. Midnite, Jay Garrick and more and more obscure characters spread across four shows every week. That's inundation at its finest.

 

In 2009, I bought a complete coverless More Fun #73 for $350. Stupidly, I sold it chasing some other books. Thanks to Arrow and the DCU movies, I'll never have a shot at a copy anywhere near that price again. So its a double edged sword for the hobby.