Jon Berk collection to be auctioned. 18 18

[Johnny545]

25 minutes ago, Zolnerowich said:

Rick, let's do a time share on Fantastic 3! Rotating the book between us at 6-month intervals!

I've said it before, but I don't see any reason the fantastic 3 won't go for as much or close to as much as the suspense 3 ($173k).  (I'm assuming when it is graded it is VF/NM or better).

[Gotham Kid]

1 hour ago, batman_fan said:

Anyone know if Jon had a lot of GA Batman's?

I think not. I remember having asked him about early Detectives.

[Gotham Kid]

29 minutes ago, Johnny545 said:

I've said it before, but I don't see any reason the fantastic 3 won't go for as much or close to as much as the suspense 3 ($173k).  (I'm assuming when it is graded it is VF/NM or better).

Try likely 9.6

Edited February 26, 2017 by Gotham Kid

[ThothAmon]

2 hours ago, jimjum12 said:

I'm happy if they are simply assets that retain value...... I know I've never managed to wake up after a night of drinking and billiards with anything to show for it..... unless we're counting the ex-wife. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Funny!  Downturns in the market are what collectors pray for..

[Sqeggs]

2 minutes ago, ThothAmon said:

Funny!  Downturns in the market are what collectors pray for..

As the sainted Warren puts it, if you're a buyer you want prices to fall, not rise. 

[Mmehdy]

3 hours ago, G.A.tor said:

I consider new comics to be "entertainment " and look at the expenditure purely as part of my disposable ent budget. 

Any vintage comic I purchase comes so at a real world opportunity expense, and that purchase must be treated as such 

The cost of "entertainment" has switched to investment amounts of capital.. that is my point here.in this rising comic book market,especially with the dramatic rise of comic book art prices, as well as Ga,Sa comic books legitimate investment funds are coming into the market. Now you have to ask yourself  is it from collectors like me, you and other board members or is the "GREED" factor in pay.  When you buy batman #1 at 3.5 for $140,000.00 plus, that is the cost of a home, when you buy terrific in 5.0 with a piece of the back cover out for almost 6K.....you need to ask yourself..hobby or investment..to some people 6K is six months rent or $140K is six years work......

 I am not afraid of board members like gator,david, jumbo they are here for the long run.....but we, us board members are not the main culprits in dramatic unsustainable price rises year after year. The CGC stated it all really when it advertised that the Hulk 181 was worth like 10 times more in a plastic holder, those adds appeared in a important comic book publication called the "comic book buyers guide" as well as the price guide...that is what started the " comic book gold rush"  of finding books buying them for guide and slabbing them and making $$$$$$ and it has gone on for some time now, 3x or 5x guide prices and then the guide adjusts and then its 3x and 5x that price, folks this is madness. This insanity is gonna stop and if you are the one that paid 3x or 5x some type of market price of the difference of 9.6 vs 9.4 which I cannot tell the difference you are gonna be left holding the bad.

 Let me put it this way, 3 million widgets are out there, you cannot read the book, feel the book all you can do is "caretake" and what are you waiting for....I would venture 90% of the big buyers out there today buy and hold for one thing...it gonna be worth more......

[Mmehdy]

Just now, Mmehdy said:

The cost of "entertainment" has switched to investment amounts of capital.. that is my point here.in this rising comic book market,especially with the dramatic rise of comic book art prices, as well as Ga,Sa comic books legitimate investment funds are coming into the market. Now you have to ask yourself  is it from collectors like me, you and other board members or is the "GREED" factor in pay.  When you buy batman #1 at 3.5 for $140,000.00 plus, that is the cost of a home, when you buy terrific in 5.0 with a piece of the back cover out for almost 6K at Ha.com on friday.....you need to ask yourself..hobby or investment..to some people 6K is six months rent or $140K is six years work......or a house in the midwest.

 I am not afraid of board members like gator,david, jumbo they are here for the long run.....but we, us board members are not the main culprits in dramatic unsustainable price rises year after year. The CGC stated it all really when it advertised that the Hulk 181 was worth like 10 times more in a plastic holder, those adds appeared in a important comic book publication called the "comic book buyers guide" as well as the price guide...that is what started the " comic book gold rush"  of finding books buying them for guide and slabbing them and making $$$$$$ and it has gone on for some time now, 3x or 5x guide prices and then the guide adjusts and then its 3x and 5x that price, folks this is madness. This insanity is gonna stop and if you are the one that paid 3x or 5x some type of market price of the difference of 9.6 vs 9.4 which I cannot tell the difference you are gonna be left holding the bad.

 Let me put it this way, 3 million widgets are out there, you cannot read the book, feel the book all you can do is "caretake" and what are you waiting for....I would venture 90% of the big buyers out there today buy and hold for one thing...it gonna be worth more......

 

[Ricksneatstuff]

3 hours ago, Zolnerowich said:

Rick, let's do a time share on Fantastic 3! Rotating the book between us at 6-month intervals!

Perfect. I will take the winter months. 

You can have weekends and holidays.  

[Robot Man]

Most of the talk here is about the big money this collection is going to bring. Obviously a big deal and very important. Money is great to have but at the end of the day unless you are Uncle Scrooge, it is simply a vehicle to obtain something else. 

Jon has spent a great deal of his life putting this magnificent collection together. Seems kinda shallow of us to lose sight of this terrific achievement. When the dust settles and he get that big check he has to down to that empty basement...

 

[adamstrange]

4 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

The mystery to me is that he didn't go with Heritage. 

Jon and Fishler go back a long time and he has been very helpful in supplying books for the collection.  I was not surprised.

[Bronty]

16 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

Most of the talk here is about the big money this collection is going to bring. Obviously a big deal and very important. Money is great to have but at the end of the day unless you are Uncle Scrooge, it is simply a vehicle to obtain something else. 

Jon has spent a great deal of his life putting this magnificent collection together. Seems kinda shallow of us to lose sight of this terrific achievement. When the dust settles and he get that big check he has to down to that empty basement...

 

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at.  Of course its a terrific achievement that's why its going to be a big check  and if he wasn't okay with the empty basement, he wouldn't be selling.   Everyone's time to sell comes sooner or later.   Sometimes its sooner sometimes its later, we never really know til we get there or pass away.

[Robot Man]

5 minutes ago, Bronty said:

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at.  Of course its a terrific achievement that's why its going to be a big check  and if he wasn't okay with the empty basement, he wouldn't be selling.   Everyone's time to sell comes sooner or later.   Sometimes its sooner sometimes its later, we never really know til we get there or pass away.

Is life only about the "Benjamins"???

[Bronty]

9 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

Is life only about the "Benjamins"???

 

10 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

Is life only about the "Benjamins"???

Certainly not, but selling a collection is largely is.   Again, not sure what you are getting at.   Its a wonderful collection, stupendous.   That goes without saying no?

[Zolnerowich]

6 hours ago, Zolnerowich said:

Rick, let's do a time share on Fantastic 3! Rotating the book between us at 6-month intervals!

 

6 hours ago, Johnny545 said:

I've said it before, but I don't see any reason the fantastic 3 won't go for as much or close to as much as the suspense 3 ($173k).  (I'm assuming when it is graded it is VF/NM or better).

 

3 hours ago, Ricksneatstuff said:

Perfect. I will take the winter months. 

You can have weekends and holidays.  

Hey Rick, if Johnny545 has it right, we're gonna need to think this through a bit more...

[tth2]

1 hour ago, adamstrange said:

Jon and Fishler go back a long time and he has been very helpful in supplying books for the collection.  I was not surprised.

Might deter bidding by the Anti-Metropolis crowd.  I say "might" because we know what often happens to long-held moral principles when the right book comes along.

[batman_fan]

2 minutes ago, tth2 said:

Might deter bidding by the Anti-Metropolis crowd.  I say "might" because we know what often happens to long-held moral principles when the right book comes along.

I derived this equation to explain that phenomena

Devil + Book I Want = I'm Bidding

[lou_fine]

7 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

8 hours ago, batman_fan said:

I like that they are being auctioned on CC versus CLINK since the CC bidding allows more time to consider just how high you are willing to go.  Time to start cutting back on my spending to try and build up some funds.

The mystery to me is that he didn't go with Heritage. 

Not sure why this would be such a mystery. 

As per one of my earlier posts back on Page 1 of this thread, it probably has a lot to do with past relationships.  After all, Jon has probably been collecting for 40+ years while Steve has been in this for 30+ years.  Fishler and Metro has been a clear market maker in terms of the comic book market right from the get go, while Heritage has only been around for the past 10+ years.

I am sure that Steve was directly responsible for building a significant portion of Jon's personal collection.  Definitely not so much in terms of Heritage because Jon was probably already done with the books by the time Heritage even opened its doors.  As a long-time collector looking to sell, would you rather deal with somebody who you really know and who helped you to build your collection in the first place, or would you rather deal with a much more faceless corporate entity.

Personal relationships aside, HA appears to be drifting away from the comic book market and really shifting their focus more towards comic related OA.  In addition, you should never underestimate the connections that Fisher has as he seems to know where all the buyers with money are and what they are looking for.  Connections which he has built up in over 30+ years and his mind is like a steel trap in knowing where all of the books are.  Take a look at who's really setting the records for all of the Action 1 sales. pre-Robin Tec sales, etc. 

Another reason even though I am sure that Jon would have receive discounted fees from both auction houses, I believe that HA would still be substantially higher than CC in terms of the final auction fees.

Edited February 27, 2017 by lou_fine
Spelling

[Sqeggs]

4 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

 

Another reason even though I am sure that Jon would have receive discounted fees from both auction houses, I believe that HA would still be substantially higher than CC in terms of the final auction fees.

There's not a chance on earth that this is true. 

 

[lou_fine]

8 hours ago, adamstrange said:

8 hours ago, batman_fan said:

All I know is I hope I am able to pick up something from Jon's collection.  I like that they are being auctioned on CC versus CLINK since the CC bidding allows more time to consider just how high you are willing to go.  Time to start cutting back on my spending to try and build up some funds.

Anyone know if Jon had a lot of GA Batman's?

He did not unless you are looking for a Tec 27.

+1

Yes, I believe he was much more into the really early pre-hero GA books from the 30's. 

Even with the superheroes, he was much more into the 2nd and 3rd tier publishers such as the Centaurs and early Fox books.  The type of books that you don't really see in the marketplace for decades on end. 

And probably a good time to be selling as the market heat has clearly cycled over to these books in a big way.  The last time these books from the 2nd and 3rd tier publishers were so hot was back in the mid 90's just as the GA market was approaching a market top. 

[adamstrange]

2 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

+1

Yes, I believe he was much more into the really early pre-hero GA books from the 30's. 

Even with the superheroes, he was much more into the 2nd and 3rd tier publishers such as the Centaurs and early Fox books.  The type of books that you don't really see in the marketplace for decades on end. 

And probably a good time to be selling as the market heat has clearly cycled over to these books in a big way.  The last time these books from the 2nd and 3rd tier publishers were so hot was back in the mid 90's just as the GA market was approaching a market top. 

He had a lot more comics 20 years ago than he has today.  He really likes talking about the early comics and how they developed and about the oddball characters.  It's not too surprising that he held onto to more of them.