Meeklo Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 This is not meant to be a political conversation...we all know the recession happened...don't care who started it or why... What I'm wondering was how comic collecting was affected. Any board members here at the time? How were sales? How did it affect you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine48 Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I bought a lot of books at great prices.And I don't have much money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) It was still doable for me in 2008. Now I'm not willing to pay the prices being asked, simply put. Same as Jimmers, really. Edited March 7, 2017 by Ken Aldred porcupine48 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComicConnoisseur Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) For modern comics it was really dead during the recession until The Walking Dead, Chew and Locke and Key changed the perception that you could make money speculating in moderns. Now every new modern with a variant or without a variant gets gobbled up as the next big thing. Edited March 7, 2017 by ComicConnoisseur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizards2 Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 There was a recession? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComicConnoisseur Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) 24 minutes ago, lizards2 said: There was a recession? I think he is talking about in 2008 when the housing mortgage bubble popped. Edited March 7, 2017 by ComicConnoisseur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageComics Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 10 hours ago, meeklo said: This is not meant to be a political conversation...we all know the recession happened...don't care who started it or why... What I'm wondering was how comic collecting was affected. Any board members here at the time? How were sales? How did it affect you? The recession was a 'perfect storm' for buyers in many ways. People will affected income sold their books. New Pedigrees and collections came to market as people cashed out. Prices dropped for many common books as demand shrank and supply increased. Over all they did reasonably OK but for a while there, there was a bit of a glut. Keys continued to rise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Cool Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Here is Ohio we never really experienced the bubble so the drop was not as dramatic. People seemed to be working about the same in 2008 compared to now with what seemed like a quick panic phase where I heard of LCSs offering bulk discounts. But it seemed like the panic went away very quickly and people went back to the status quo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber-Bob Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I think the whole environment for graded comics back in 2008 was different. The quantity of slabbed books was no where near today. Moderns rarely got slabbed. I'm not sure when SS started but the number of signed books were insignificant. The census for high grade books was tight. A Silver Age 9.4 was a big deal. CGC was generally tight and pressing was not as pervasive. So, if you bought keys back in 2008, you did well. If you bought the highest graded Bronze, maybe not so well. Prices on books, especially in auction, definitely eased up in 2008 but never got 'cheap'. As Roy mentioned, there were more collections coming out of the closets. Books were very available but, again, never got 'cheap' . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazyboy Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 1 hour ago, Bomber-Bob said: The quantity of slabbed books was no where near today. True. 1 hour ago, Bomber-Bob said: Moderns rarely got slabbed. Not true. At all. It has certainly increased more recently, but there was nothing rare about moderns going on a quick Florida vacation. Read this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the blob Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) I don't remember the recession really impacting comics for reasons that I don't fully understand. I didn't find it any harder to sell stuff in 2009 vs. 2007... it had already become harder to sell stuff on ebay because there was so much more product. Prices went down on some top graded stuff but that seemed to be more increase in supply than the economy. Edited March 7, 2017 by the blob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber-Bob Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 1 hour ago, Lazyboy said: True. Not true. At all. It has certainly increased more recently, but there was nothing rare about moderns going on a quick Florida vacation. Read this. Okay, I should not have used the word 'rarely' but certainly much less than today. In 2008 it looks like about 180,000 books were slabbed with maybe 1/4 from the current decade. In 2016, 400,000 books were slabbed with about 150,000 from the current decade. In 2008 ,Moderns were not nearly as speculative as today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) A lot of 90s Valiant slabs on eBay in the mid-2000s. Edited March 7, 2017 by Ken Aldred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the blob Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 52 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said: A lot of 90s Valiant slabs on eBay in the mid-2000s. Those weren't doing much of anything before the recession either. Interest picked up a little on Harbinger 1, that's all I can remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) Harbinger 0, Magnus 0 and 12, Solar 10, Rai 3. Edited March 8, 2017 by Ken Aldred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageComics Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 On 2017-03-07 at 4:50 PM, Bomber-Bob said: On 2017-03-07 at 2:54 PM, Lazyboy said: True. Not true. At all. It has certainly increased more recently, but there was nothing rare about moderns going on a quick Florida vacation. Read this. Okay, I should not have used the word 'rarely' but certainly much less than today. In 2008 it looks like about 180,000 books were slabbed with maybe 1/4 from the current decade. In 2016, 400,000 books were slabbed with about 150,000 from the current decade. In 2008 ,Moderns were not nearly as speculative as today. Bob, there is an ever increasing number of all slabbed books. I think it took 8 or so years for CGC to reach their 1st million books and about half that time for them to reach their 2nd million books. I think we're easily at 3MIL now if I"m not mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber-Bob Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 2 hours ago, VintageComics said: Bob, there is an ever increasing number of all slabbed books. I think it took 8 or so years for CGC to reach their 1st million books and about half that time for them to reach their 2nd million books. I think we're easily at 3MIL now if I"m not mistaken. Agreed, but if you compare the graph of 2008 vs 2016, you can clearly see the percentage of current decade moderns tripled proportionately, while the other decades remained flat, proportionately. I'm talking percentages here. In 2008 it looks like an equal number of books from each of the 60's,70's,80's, and 2000's. In 2016, it again looks like an equal number of books from each of the 60's,70's, and 80's but the number from 2010's is triple the other categories. i.e. 150,000 from 2010's vs 50,000 from each of the 60's,70's, and 80's. My point here is that current Moderns were not being slabbed in 2008 like they are today. Today, current Moderns are a much bigger market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...