Hero for Hire #1 CGC 9.4

[comicworm]

I have been looking to buy this issue in 9.4 for some time. I have noticed that the price keeps going up and is now about $500 for this issue! Does anyone really think this is a good comic to buy in 9.4 at $475-$500. Any thoughts before I buy it? Is this the average price? Frankly I think it is a little high, but I was told it seems to be very hard to obtain in true CGC 9.4! Any insight is once agian greatly appreciated!

[BronzeBruce13]

That's FMV and the book has been on the rise.

Some of the nicer 9.4 copies (decent centering and/or White pagers) have sold for $600-$760 in the past. IF this is a nice copy and you've been looking for a long time... just buy it. I seriously doubt you'll lose anything if you have to resell.

 

Part of the reason 9.4's have not moved even higher IMHO is the fact there is little documented sales history on coveted 9.6 copies. They are worth minimum double the last (only) recorded ebay sale of $800 a long while ago (March 2003). This book in 9.6 will fetch (and has privately) $1600+. I believe its entirely possible for a sweet 9.6 to go $2K if posted for public sale. If this happened, i could see the better 9.4 prices averaging another $100 or so more than they are currently.

[r100comics]

Hi Bruce

 

How much do you think the 9.8 would go for if it hit public sale today ? It was a stunning copy, but I was pretty happy with the price ($3,200) I got due to the white spine and date stamp b.c.

[goldust40]

Hi Bruce

 

How much do you think the 9.8 would go for if it hit public sale today ? It was a stunning copy, but I was pretty happy with the price ($3,200) I got due to the white spine and date stamp b.c.

 

Yes, I was wondering when you were going to pipe in with that book.

[r100comics]

Hi Bruce

 

How much do you think the 9.8 would go for if it hit public sale today ? It was a stunning copy, but I was pretty happy with the price ($3,200) I got due to the white spine and date stamp b.c.

 

Yes, I was wondering when you were going to pipe in with that book.

 

[goldust40]

Hi Bruce

 

How much do you think the 9.8 would go for if it hit public sale today ? It was a stunning copy, but I was pretty happy with the price ($3,200) I got due to the white spine and date stamp b.c.

 

Yes, I was wondering when you were going to pipe in with that book.

 

 

Ah, I'm just envious.

[r100comics]

Hi Goldy

 

I would have given you first shot if I thought you were in the market for top census material......

 

Seriously, as long as this is still the only 9.8 on the census you always have that niggling doubt as to whether the book could have fetched more had it gone public. The flip-side of course, is that if the book stalls at $2k on ebay, your sale at $3.2k is in jeopardy.

[Dr_Neff]

Don't buy it already graded - buy a few and get them graded - I vote for going to a show and sniffing them out, then get them graded and see what shakes out. You may not get a 9.8 but at least a few 9.4 watch out for the color touch!

[sterlingcomics]

Why is this book going up so much? I'd also like to throw in WBN #32 in the mix as far as semi-keys that are going nuts in HG.

[goldust40]

I consider WBN 32 to be overrated in terms of significance and fairly common in HG, whilst Hero For Hire 1 is pretty scarce above VF+. Although more copies are beginning to show up.....

[BronzeBruce13]

Hey Beltan,

 

$3500 is my best guess, probably a bit more if there was no date stamp. Even though its on the back (and it didn't bother me even)... just the fact that its there would give pause to some 9.8 buyers shelling out cash at that level (and did when I shopped it for you the first time). Now, you may have to wait it out at that sales price... waiting for the right buyer to see it, mind you.

 

I made a good sale for you IMHO, particularly at the time. If memory serves, the book had not quite started making the push upwards. So don't feel any remorse. Save that for the Bats 232 9.6 that we both let by us. I don't think I even made $50 on that flip (if that) and now the book is worth hundreds more.

 

Part of the reason I think the next 9.6 offered publicly could go balistic is simply the fact that there has been none for a long while and more than a few interested in obtaining one. i don't think it would sustain the $2K mark if several surfaced in a relatively short span. I figure it would round out around $1500-$1700 if that happened... give or take.

 

 

Hi Bruce

 

How much do you think the 9.8 would go for if it hit public sale today ? It was a stunning copy, but I was pretty happy with the price ($3,200) I got due to the white spine and date stamp b.c.

[BronzeBruce13]

If you can do that... more power to you, but i would think that may be a bit easier said than done. Have you ever found a raw copy that even graded 9.2?

 

 

Don't buy it already graded - buy a few and get them graded - I vote for going to a show and sniffing them out, then get them graded and see what shakes out. You may not get a 9.8 but at least a few 9.4 watch out for the color touch!

[BronzeBruce13]

As to WW 32… Until last year, I had not been able to get my hands on a 9.6 in 5 years of looking intently. I lost 2 on Ebay auctions 3-4 years ago and a Heritage auction about 2 years ago. It had been the most elusive bronze key for me personally (and others too). Finally, I bought my first for $1500 (9.6 White Mass Pedigree) privately about a year ago.

 

After that another 9.6 came to market and I was MORE than willing to buy several more copies around the $1200 mark if I could because I knew how many were looking for them too. So I won that one and then months ago, I won one at Heritage as well.. same deal.

 

Since there has been little public action, bidders/collectors don't know how to value the book... but many will buy when presented with the book privately with an ask of $1500. The 1st copy I paid what seemed to be Top Market in most eyes since (as mentioned) the book had not traded enough in recent years to establish a firm value. 9.4's sell for $500-$600. I use a formula that I find very consistent to help determine a "thinly traded" book's real market worth.

 

IMHO when a book is 1 grade above demand. I find (2.5 -3.25X) the below grade is a very accurate benchmark. WW 32 in 9.4 is the available grade ($500+ avg)... 9.6 is the "demand grade"... 2.5X = $1250 to 3.25X = $1625. This applies to HFH 1 you'll notice too.

 

Bidders are simply not sure what to do on the first few copies offered until a trend develops, but I think they are starting to get the idea that this book is stronger than many think. The fact that it has a great cover and appeals to (2) genres helps as well. Kinda like Drac 10

 

 

Why is this book going up so much? I'd also like to throw in WBN #32 in the mix as far as semi-keys that are going nuts in HG.

[BronzeBruce13]

I love 'em both, but agree HFH is the harder of the 2 to find.

 

 

I consider WBN 32 to be overrated in terms of significance and fairly common in HG, whilst Hero For Hire 1 is pretty scarce above VF+. Although more copies are beginning to show up.....

[comicworm]

Thanks everyone for your input! I wasn't aware how hard it was to find a 9.4, let alone a 9.6 or a 9.8! Thanks agin for all those who replied!

[the blob]

i take it the black cover makes this a hard find in HG? i have a few copies, but doubt any are above a F/VF.

[Tango 'n Cash]

i take it the black cover makes this a hard find in HG? i have a few copies, but doubt any are above a F/VF.

 

Age, black cover, value-less for decades. Kind of like Beast in Amazing Adventures 11.

[awe4one]

Age, black cover, value-less for decades. Kind of like Beast in Amazing Adventures 11.

 

There's also the fact it wasn't a very good series thus working against the 1st issue ever reaching true key status. Cage is a second string character in the Marvel Universe and nothing makes me think this will ever change. In fact, the opposite is proabably more true and the character will disappear from comics for years at a time yet again.

 

For everyone who remembers "what a cool cover" #1 was, there are many more who remember the weaknesses and downright condescending racial attitudes of the stories until #20 or so when the stereotyping was toned down a tad. That's why you can still get HG copies of this for less than $15 raw...

 

 

Jim

[the blob]

i would not say the book was value-less for decades. the powerman/iron fist series went i125 issues nto the mid-80s and by the early 90s cage had another series. it was a $5 book (which meant something 20 years ago when the average age of a collector was a lot younger) for a long time, so not quarter bin fodder in high grade, and then, in the early 90s, was suddenly worth a few bucks, it guided out at what, $25 in the early 90s?

 

most likely the black cover, like warlord 1 being a tough one in HG.

 

of course, nova 1 had a dark cover (as did john carter #1) and neither of those are hard to find in HG, are they? granted, a few years later at the start of direct distribution to comic shops and likely vastly larger print runs

[Tango 'n Cash]

most likely the black cover, like warlord 1 being a tough one in HG.

 

Warlord 1 is hardly tough in high-grade, it is just more difficult to make money selling the inevitable 9.2-9.4 copies than with Hero for Hire so submissions are lower. This 9.8 or Bust philosophy can lose you a lot of money.