COPPER AGE BOOKS FUTURE VALUES

[Norrin_Radd]

I bought mine in 2002. I seem to remember that alot of the comics had ink stains on them, though.

 

The later ones did, as he went from best to worst when he sold. The stuff from early on is just exquisite, and there are many CGC gems that came from his books.

 

 

Shame I didn't come across them sooner. Actually, now that I think about it... it was 2001. I sold them in 2002.

[EastEnd]

I just caught up to this thread. Having collected through the bronze and copper ages, I think we can safely say that on the whole, copper will never be worth as much as bronze (much like silver will never be worth as much as gold). However, I do believe that copper from about 1980 through 1987 in very high grade (9.6 or better) will eventually appreciate. First off, the print runs in this period were not high compared to what preceded it and what followed. And while it's true that people took better care of their comics in the 1980s, CGC has completely changed the grading scale. A NM book in the early 1980s would probably get a 7.0-8.0 from CGC today. People didn't go through the stack of new books to pick out the most perfect copy. And they generally read the books they bought; not immediately store them away. Also, while comic bags were prevalent; backing boards were not (using backing boards became more popular later on). So while there may be a lot of copies of particular issues floating around, I'm not sure that there are as many true CGC 9.6-10.0s of this period as people think. The problem is that there are far fewer collectors today than there were in the 1980s. If there were as many collectors today as then, those "plentiful" ultra-high grade would be appreciating as we speak. If the number of collectors were to grow to 1980 levels over the next 10-15 years, guaranteed ultra-high grade copper is going up.

 

One other thing -- there were some darn good books in this period. There will come a day when Frank Miller Daredevils, Alan Moore Swamp Things, and Claremont/Byrne X-Men will be regarded as classic as Adams Batmans, Smith Conan's and Steranko Nick Fury's (all of which, by the way, you could get comparatively cheap in the early 1980s).

[B-Smooth]

The single biggest factor in years to come will be grade. Since CGC began people have begun to TRULY understand true high grade and true perfection in a comic. In the 80s "near mint" meant read once and stored in a poly bag - "near mint" today means effectively untouched and flawless. That's why there are so many VFs grades on copper books now. A 9.8 or above is a prize for a 20 year old book I think!

 

That is exactly what I am thinking. Only the 9.6+ grades of the Marvels and DCs will hold and gain any value.

[jduran1]

Of course Copper books will go in value

Spider-man 298=299-300

Spider-man Platinum

Spider-man Gold UpC

Saga of Swamp Thing 37

New Mutants 87

Batman the Dark Night Returns

Teen Titans 2

Transformers 1

 

Buy this in high grade now and you will triple your money.

 

The list goes on and on.

 

Any many more but only in 9.8 grade.

[B-Smooth]

Of course Copper books will go in value

Spider-man 298=299-300

Spider-man Platinum

Spider-man Gold UpC

Saga of Swamp Thing 37

New Mutants 87

Batman the Dark Night Returns

Teen Titans 2

Transformers 1

 

Buy this in high grade now and you will triple your money.

 

The list goes on and on.

 

Any many more but only in 9.8 grade.

 

dont forget the Star books and all of the series ending books as well as GI JOE 21...

[pkveronese]

Of course Copper books will go in value

Spider-man 298=299-300

Spider-man Platinum

Spider-man Gold UpC

Saga of Swamp Thing 37

New Mutants 87

Batman the Dark Night Returns

Teen Titans 2

Transformers 1

 

Buy this in high grade now and you will triple your money.

 

The list goes on and on.

 

Any many more but only in 9.8 grade.

 

I've been picking those books on the cheap for quite a while - especially NM #87. Would Uncanny #266 qualify as Copper age?

[That Ron Dude]

Good points about the X-Men and Daredevil in high grade.

 

It's hard to predict the future but we all try. Here is my try:

 

All the values we put on these items vary with the number of people collecting them and with the discretionary income of these people.

 

I see the number of comic collectors diminishing in the future based on my experience as a high school teacher in a city of about 150,000 people where there are only two comic stores, one recently opened and the other in the part of town that nobody wants their kid to visit. Most of my students (based on one class that I canvased) have never held a comic book in their hands. I know of one kid in a school of 1200 who collects. His father was a collector. He spends a lot of money on CGC'd copper age.

 

I think the comics are worth a lot today because of CGC, ebay, the movies and the aging comic collectors having more money. Some comics will always have a value but for most, there will just be more copies available then there are collectors. I suspect that the X-Men by Byrne, Miller Daredevil, very early Cerebus and a few others will rise in value but not much.

 

I would love to see Eclipse become the new EC and have their books rise in value. That's going out on a limb. I would love to see some of the B&W boom books go way up in value and then way down in value again for a second time. Could these things happen?

[Pirate]

I hear New Teen Titans #2 is a $100 book now. Go figure. Nothing like a massive shift in awareness and heat will do to a "common" book's sell price. There will be others from the 80s too in time.

 

NTT#2 used to be a 20-30 book back in the 90's, then it started a downward spiral to dollar bins. It's nice to see that book getting some attention again as i think Perez's titans rivals byrne's xmen and might even have been (gasp) better. just my 2 cents

[UnrulyAppendage]

I hear New Teen Titans #2 is a $100 book now. Go figure. Nothing like a massive shift in awareness and heat will do to a "common" book's sell price. There will be others from the 80s too in time.

 

NTT#2 used to be a 20-30 book back in the 90's, then it started a downward spiral to dollar bins. It's nice to see that book getting some attention again as i think Perez's titans rivals byrne's xmen and might even have been (gasp) better. just my 2 cents

 

From my perspective, I Iiked NTT better. X-Men may be regarded as better by the community at large, but it never kept my attention.

[lou_fine]

I hear New Teen Titans #2 is a $100 book now. Go figure. Nothing like a massive shift in awareness and heat will do to a "common" book's sell price. There will be others from the 80s too in time.

 

NTT#2 used to be a 20-30 book back in the 90's, then it started a downward spiral to dollar bins. It's nice to see that book getting some attention again as i think Perez's titans rivals byrne's xmen and might even have been (gasp) better. just my 2 cents

 

Totally amazing that this book would be going for over $100.00. Must be one of the most common books from the 80's time period as everybody that was into comics picked up multiple copies of the Titans, especially on the first few issues.

 

I should probably look for my Titans run since I am sure that I have more than one copy of this book in my collection. Especially since this is bound to be one of those books that will drop right back down in price when the fad is over, as there are just way way too many copies of this book around.

[awe4one]

I should probably look for my Titans run since I am sure that I have more than one copy of this book in my collection. Especially since this is bound to be one of those books that will drop right back down in price when the fad is over, as there are just way way too many copies of this book around.

 

I'm surprised as well. I thought the days of a character getting "hot", and driving up prices for their 1st appearance, because of events in current comics was over. Spider-Woman and Power Girl are another characters whose issues have gone from the quarter box to the back wall.

 

I'm curious to see if momentum can be maintained to solidify these increases.

 

Jim

[Silver Surfer]

I'm hoping these books continue to increase in value over time but even if they don't these books will still remain as some of the most satisfying purchases I have ever made. Considering I bought most of them for an average of $30 I will probably never even consider selling them. Something about still owning your original off the rack reader copies of your favorite books plus having the highest graded copies in my collection for dirt cheap that feels better than any SA purchase I have ever made.

[fastballspecial]

I dont seem to understand X-men 266 anyhow. It still sells well on Ebay $20+ in NM, but really Gambits popularity has really fallen. Overall Cable is still a better investment I think between the two just because its much cheaper currently.

 

I try not invest in an indy unless I think its going somewhere like Hellboy did. Currently I wish I had more copies of JLA 166-68,DC Presents 87-selling VGs at $20a pop, Crisis 1-12.

 

I like Joe 21 and ASM 298 for both collectibility and they are hard to find in high grade.

[Old_Pages_Breath-migration]

I think collectors are best off just to buy those copper age books that they personally like for reading purposes. As an investment for price appreciation you would be much better off buying one book from the 40s-60s than 50 from the late 80s-90s.

Very few exceptions aside they willonly keep pace with inflation.

[camera73]

FYI: This eBay seller has a bunch of 80s and later books for sale. Its interesting to see which titles get the most interest and how high some of them are going.

Hint: Check their Completed Auctions for more insight into even more in-demand books.

 

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZzillaf4

[NewWorldOrder]

I will chime in the for 90's, I believe that 20 years from now the pre-unity valiant will have a good spike and my other thinking would be some of the marvel issus from the late 90's due to their very limited print run (1997-2000).

 

 

[the blob]

I think there's hope for 60 cent/65 cent (and maybe even 75 cent) cover price books and stuff from that era. They few keys from that period do well (E.g., ASM 238), which gives hope to non-key issues from good titles and such, though there are a lot of them out there. By "hope" I mean them actually selling at today's OPG prices, even if that might not be until 5+ years from now when OPG will have doubled them.