GA COMIC BOOK Collecting in the Financial crisis of 2020 3 3

[KCOComics]

5 hours ago, Cat-Man_America said:

 

Fast forward a few years and Mitch would become a milestone figure in the hobby by purchasing a copy of Action #1 for the then unheard of price of $1801.26 from his long time friend dealer Theo Holstein.  

Wait, wait wait,   Mmhedy is that Mitch? 

I actually read your story about AC1 on these forums somewhere years ago. And I remember thinking how incredible it was that an $1800 comic book purchase was newsworthy.  What's funny is,  I'm sure 99% of the people watching thought "what kind of fool spends that kind of $$ on children's comic books". 

Fast forward to today, and we regularly see people spend 5 figures on these forums. 

 

To tell a quick story, years ago a local comic shop bought a collection filled with silver age keys in Massachusetts. I got to the parking lot at 6am and waited outside on a cold winter's day for the shop to open at 10 so I could have first pick of the collection. As it turned out, that was totally unnecessary,  as only 1 other person showed up early. 

As me and that collector shivered in the cold together,  he told me about when he bought Action Comics 1. He had an opportunity to buy one for $50k.  He took out a line of credit against his house,  cleared out his life savings and got it.  

In retrospect, I guess you could call it a good bet.  That comic is worth 20xs what he paid for it today.  I'm too risk adverse.  The story made me queasy just listening to it, but I'm glad it worked out for him.  And he obviously recovered because he still had it. 

As an aside,  I walked out the door with an Xmen 1 that day! 

 

[bluechip]

The focus on keeping brand new books in mint condition boosted the sales of new books, which made subscriptions less palatable.   But if comics publishers had made a better effort to maintain subscription deliveries as a thing, there would be much less discussion now about whether the comics business can survive.

As for the collecting of actually rare and vintage cultural items, there will always be a desire for such things, unless and until society collapses to such a point that the value of your collectibles, or for that matter the value of virtually anything else in your portfolio (outside of shotguns, greenhouses and machines that pull water from the air) will be the least of your concerns. 

[fifties]

10 hours ago, Mmehdy said:

To sell and buy back cheaper

Selling short is a common strategy in the stock market.  I don't see it working, however, with rare collectibles.

 

[Axmen]

3 hours ago, KCOComics said:

Wait, wait wait,   Mmhedy is that Mitch? 

I actually read your story about AC1 on these forums somewhere years ago. And I remember thinking how incredible it was that an $1800 comic book purchase was newsworthy.  What's funny is,  I'm sure 99% of the people watching thought "what kind of fool spends that kind of $$ on children's comic books". 

Fast forward to today, and we regularly see people spend 5 figures on these forums.

 

That is the best comic story ever. 

[Tri-Color Brian]

OK, so for any others here that don't know who Mitch (Mmehdy) is...here's the story from a clipping I saved from my local paper.  I don't remember the year though, but I think it was somewhere between 1973 and 1975.  Maybe Mitch can clarify this for me.  Oh, and nice long hair Mitch...  also, it's nice to see you changed your name from Michael to Mitch.  There are far too many Michael's in the world, and not enough Mitch's...You gotta love reporters that get your name wrong and right in the same story.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Tri-ColorBrian

[Tri-Color Brian]

10 hours ago, Cat-Man_America said:

 

In my case, it’s quality over quantity.  Richard Evans (Mr Bedrock) rightfully described my collecting as oddball. Most collectors focus on a single character, artist or publisher, and try to finish runs.  Some work very hard achieving their aspired goals for many years, ...and I admire their “moxie” staying the course. But this type of collecting has never worked for me.  I’m a high grade collector with a passion for art and specific styles.  That’s how I collected as a kid and is still where my head's at today.

 

You're not unique as an oddball Cat, many of us follow that same collecting style...  However, I think most (like me) will settle for lower than "high" grade due to our economic situations.  For me, it's more important to get a nice presenting copy at an affordable price than to play the CGC Registry game...

[Cat-Man_America]

1 minute ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

You're not unique as an oddball Cat, many of us follow that same collecting style...  However, I think most (like me) will settle for lower than "high" grade due to our economic situations.  For me, it's more important to get a nice presenting copy at an affordable price than to play the CGC Registry game...

Thanks, Brian! For the record (pun intended), I've never participated in the CGC Registry.  For me it's all about the books, not points.  

[Tri-Color Brian]

1 minute ago, Cat-Man_America said:

Thanks, Brian! For the record (pun intended), I've never participated in the CGC Registry.  For me it's all about the books, not points.  

I agree, but for those who do...well, whatever floats their boat...

[Cat-Man_America]

3 hours ago, fifties said:

Selling short is a common strategy in the stock market.  I don't see it working, however, with rare collectibles.

 

Brokers shouldn't sell comic collectors short, ...we buy short too!   

Edited April 15, 2020 by Cat-Man_America

[fifties]

59 minutes ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

I think most (like me) will settle for lower than "high" grade due to our economic situations.  For me, it's more important to get a nice presenting copy at an affordable price than to play the CGC Registry game...

I would buy books that were complete, not brittle, and not too badly beaten up.  On average, Fair + to VG.  In this manner I was able to obtain most of what I wanted W/O breaking the bank.  I bought them to read, and admire the cover art.  I never would have dreamed, as little as 15 years ago, that they would eventually command such astronomical values.

Edited April 15, 2020 by fifties

[Tri-Color Brian]

7 minutes ago, fifties said:

I would buy books that were complete, not brittle, and not too badly beaten up.  On average, Fair + to VG.  In this manner I was able to obtain most of what I wanted W/O breaking the bank.  I bought them to read, and admire the cover art.  I never would have dreamed, as little as 15 years ago, that they would eventually command such astronomical values.

I don't think many of us saw the recent escalation in values coming 15 years ago.  Heck, I didn't even see it 7 years ago... 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Tri-ColorBrian

[comicdonna]

1 hour ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

OK, so for any others here that don't know who Mitch (Mmehdy) is...here's the story from a clipping I saved from my local paper.  I don't remember the year though, but I think it was somewhere between 1973 and 1975.  Maybe Mitch can clarify this for me.  Oh, and nice long hair Mitch...  also, it's nice to see you changed your name from Michael to Mitch.  There are far too many Michael's in the world, and not enough Mitch's...You gotta love reporters that get your name wrong and right in the same story.

I don't think he changed his name.  It says Mitchell.  Very nice clipping, though.  

[Tri-Color Brian]

4 minutes ago, comicdonna said:

I don't think he changed his name.  It says Mitchell.  Very nice clipping, though.  

Look under the photo at the name in the caption.  The news reporter got it wrong, then it was printed correctly in the article.  I was just kiddin' with Mitch about him changing his name...

[comicdonna]

2 hours ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Look under the photo at the name in the caption.  The news reporter got it wrong, then it was printed correctly in the article.  I was just kiddin' with Mitch about him changing his name...

  Fake news?

[KCOComics]

9 hours ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

OK, so for any others here that don't know who Mitch (Mmehdy) is...here's the story from a clipping I saved from my local paper.  I don't remember the year though, but I think it was somewhere between 1973 and 1975.  Maybe Mitch can clarify this for me.  Oh, and nice long hair Mitch...  also, it's nice to see you changed your name from Michael to Mitch.  There are far too many Michael's in the world, and not enough Mitch's...You gotta love reporters that get your name wrong and right in the same story.

Thank you for sharing this! 

Very cool part our hobbies history!  Mitch - do you still have that AC1?  

How many people in your life gave you a hard time about wasting your $$? 

 

[Gotham Kid]

1 hour ago, KCOComics said:

Mitch - do you still have that AC1?

[Mmehdy]

2 hours ago, KCOComics said:

Thank you for sharing this! 

Very cool part our hobbies history!  Mitch - do you still have that AC1?  

How many people in your life gave you a hard time about wasting your $$? 

 

When I first came on the boards, I gave a historical background of my early comic collecting days. It was entitled "journey of a comic book collector" it has buried on this site for some time, feel free to check it out, its a great read, I think it was done in 4 parts or more. On that thread I documented  the purchase of additional copies of A1 that were cheaper-yes cheaper because I said I owned it already and would take it as a Duplicate at of course a lower price. In that thread I explained in a Lion King fashion that the A1 went to Theo for 1500 and he sold me to at 1801.26 and THEN I sold that copy back to bruce for $2500 sometime later, possibly one year later. I do not own that copy as Bruce sold that copy to somebody else for even a greater price. Such is the circle of life.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Mmehdy

[Mmehdy]

10 hours ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

I don't think many of us saw the recent escalation in values coming 15 years ago.  Heck, I didn't even see it 7 years ago... 

I don't think that statement is limited just to the last 15 years. The same could be said of prices 50 years ago..1970. We have been on a step-ladder of price increase ever since the Overstreet Guide was first  published, and even before if you had access to GA at a local bookstore it still cost you some money. Where we go from here is that we will be slightly depressed, then flat and then slow gradual  upward growth. The bottom line here is that we are gonna survive, come out ok, and be a stronger collecting community as a result of it. The key here is gonna be supply. If it dries up for top GA/SA, then look for a faster recovery. Another key is the "shake" out of pure flippers and investors. Sure they can hold out for a few months, lets see if that holds true after one year or two. We don't know what they have and how quickly this will come into our GA/SA market and in what manner auction, E-bay?..who knows, Tomorrow I am gonna finish my remaining two parts from a 2 hour plus conversation with an 50 year plus whale collector, and share his thought on #3 Selling and #4 Trading during this financial crisis. It is gonna stir up some controversy for sure and again some I agree with strongly  or others opinions I disagree...such is life

Edited April 15, 2020 by Mmehdy

[KCOComics]

30 minutes ago, Mmehdy said:

When I first came on the boards, I gave a historical background of my early comic collecting days. It was entitled "journey of a comic book collector" it has buried on this site for some time, feel free to check it out, its a great read, I think it was done in 4 parts or more. On that thread I documented  the purchase of additional copies of A1 that were cheaper-yes cheaper because I said I owned it already and would take it as a Duplicate at of course a lower price. In that thread I explained in a Lion King fashion that the A1 went to Theo for 1500 and he sold me to at 1801.26 and THEN I sold that copy back to bruce for $2500 sometime later, possibly one year later. I do not own that copy as Bruce sold that copy to somebody else for even a greater price. Such is the circle of life.

Thank you for sharing. I think I stumbled onto your thread years ago but will revisit when I have time.  I love reading other collectors journeys and stories! 

 

[KCOComics]

29 minutes ago, Mmehdy said:

I don't think that statement is limited just to the last 15 years. The same could be said of prices 50 years ago..1970.  

I think it was easier to get amazing deals before Ebay really came into its own. When I was in high school in the late 90s me and my buddies would go to Cons in NYC and I had amazing buying opportunities... the problem was,  I was in high school and was lucky to afford the train ticket into the city. 

The one I still think about the most was a mid grade journey into mystery 83 for $450. That would easily be a 5 figure book today. 

I also remember tables of early ASM for less than $100.  I would say a crystal ball would have helped,  but $450 mine as well have been $100k to me at that time.