Drastic changes in collecting 2 2

[Namtak]

Since 2010 i find that collecting has become more of a business than real love for our old collection.thing have change people litterally invest in comics card and other .they even take shares in comics today,i dont know for you but i think it makes collecting a perillous thing for at least few years,i really think thing are getting out of control.what is your take on the subject,should collecting stay the way it was or is that evolution a good thing after all.let me know

[FoggyNelson]

10 minutes ago, Namtak said:

Since 2010 i find that collecting has become more of a business than real love for our old collection.thing have change people litterally invest in comics card and other .they even take shares in comics today,i dont know for you but i think it makes collecting a perillous thing for at least few years,i really think thing are getting out of control.what is your take on the subject,should collecting stay the way it was or is that evolution a good thing after all.let me know

It’s easy to find another collectible , coins are looking pretty cheap these days , I thinking about putting a NGC graded Lincoln cent set , even a 1909 SVDB seems cheap compared to comics an Cards these days

[Namtak]

7 minutes ago, FoggyNelson said:

It’s easy to find another collectible , coins are looking pretty cheap these days , I thinking about putting a NGC graded Lincoln cent set , even a 1909 SVDB seems cheap compared to comics an Cards these days

So your answer is :quit the boat before it sink??

[BigLeagueCHEW]

5 minutes ago, Namtak said:

So your answer is :quit the boat before it sink??

Sell and buy a retirement property in Tahiti 

[Namtak]

Dont have nearly enough to buy a car

[WolverineX]

Sell sell sell

[theCapraAegagrus]

47 minutes ago, Namtak said:

Since 2010 i find that collecting has become more of a business than real love for our old collection.thing have change people litterally invest in comics card and other .they even take shares in comics today,i dont know for you but i think it makes collecting a perillous thing for at least few years,i really think thing are getting out of control.what is your take on the subject,should collecting stay the way it was or is that evolution a good thing after all.let me know

Comic books have always been a business. The switch from "this is expensive because of demand for the material" turned into "this looks like a new form of paper money" is not good for the medium.

[HotKey]

I don't think it is a bad thing, it is just that what used to be a very small niche category, the non comic fan investor, has grown into an exponentially larger mainstay category and is much more front and center with their business, with a much larger share of the market than ever before.

Some of those treat the industry very callously and indifferent because they are only here on business.

I don't think it is a sign that the very much larger main category of comic collectors who ARE fans is threatened though, although a few may see it as a sign to get out and will.

The industry will learn to adapt and grow with this new group having a much larger seat at the table, but the industry itself will be just fine imo.

[Mmehdy]

21 minutes ago, HotKey said:

I don't think it is a bad thing, it is just that what used to be a very small niche category, the non comic fan investor, has grown into an exponentially larger mainstay category and is much more front and center with their business, with a much larger share of the market than ever before.

Some of those treat the industry very callously and indifferent because they are only here on business.

I don't think it is a sign that the very much larger main category of comic collectors who ARE fans is threatened though, although a few may see it as a sign to get out and will.

The industry will learn to adapt and grow with this new group having a much larger seat at the table, but the industry itself will be just fine imo.

As a collector, dealer for over 50 years, I have seen amazing changes. Don't let the inflated size of the number of collectors, or investors scare you, the real and true comic book collectors have always been a sold base of around 50K, they will never go away, what is better today is that we have access to all of these great reprints especially GA and SA age material, in the old days buying the book was the only way to get the material. Change occurs but  we now have a lot protections that Coins obtained earlier. By far GA/SA comic books have a much better long term value, once you get a 1909 penny, what are you going to do with it, certainly not ever look at it again, but the GA/SA comic book you have a piece art and history which conveys a superior message or image and is something you can look, even read if not CGC graded. I have heard this doomsday message for over 50 years, we are gonna be ok, in fact even better in the future with the success of Marvel TV now as well as the highly successful movies, etc. Don't let change fool you....the real collector base has never changed.

Edited February 15, 2021 by Mmehdy

[cd4ever]

I find the current collecting market endlessly fascinating and very fun to be a part of. I would much rather have it be what it is today than a stagnant market where hardly anything ever changes.  I am enjoying the heck out of it. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

8 minutes ago, cd4ever said:

I find the current collecting market endlessly fascinating and very fun to be a part of. I would much rather have it be what it is today than a stagnant market where hardly anything ever changes.  I am enjoying the heck out of it. 

What’s not to like?  Nothing more exciting than dollar books one owns turning into $25-$100 books overnight.  Seems like everyday there’s another book worth plucking from the kindling pile. 
 

Might  as well keep dancing til the music stops. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by THE_BEYONDER

[HotKey]

1 hour ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

What’s not to like?  Nothing more exciting than dollar books one owns turning into $25-$100 books overnight.  Seems like everyday there’s another book worth plucking from the kindling pile. 
 

Might  as well keep dancing til the music stops. 

The best part of that is having a lcs that doesn't keep up much on the day to day changes and keeps prices marked for the most part. Pulling multiple easy $20+ copies out of the dollar boxes every month or so is a blast!

[B2D327]

3 hours ago, Namtak said:

Since 2010 i find that collecting has become more of a business than real love for our old collection.thing have change people litterally invest in comics card and other .they even take shares in comics today,i dont know for you but i think it makes collecting a perillous thing for at least few years,i really think thing are getting out of control.what is your take on the subject,should collecting stay the way it was or is that evolution a good thing after all.let me know

You must have missed out on the 90s boom where everyone was buying into holo-foil covers, ridiculously exaggerated anatomy and 100 Wolverine knock-offs. 
  You’re always gonna have collectors like myself that just love collecting from the heart and then there’s the “I see dollar signs” in everything collector that really doesn’t get the hobby in general but they bring attention to it somewhat where others come in for the two reasons I mentioned and the ones who actually like comics not only stick around, but bring others into it too. It keeps the hobby going.

[bc]

I was an innocent collector from the early 70's to 1983 - I just bought the current and back issues needed for the titles I liked. Really no focus on making money or value other than knowing some back issues cost a small fortune ($300 for a FF1 - that's enough for a beater car!).

Why did I specifically say that stopped in 1983? Early that summer Alpha Flight #1 was released. At the time it was a very hyped book by the hot artist John Byrne, it was related to the popular X-Men franchise and was the first appearance for a slew of characters. I decided to buy as many copies as I could as soon as it hit the newstands in hopes of making some money one day. I wound with a little over 50 copies at a cost of $1 each.

Along came our big local convention (Mid-Ohio Con) later that summer. I brought my box of 50 AF1's with me but left them in the car. I scoped out the convention and realized some dealers were selling them for $10 a pop! I went back out to my car and started announcing that I was selling copies of AF1 for $5 each. Soon enough, people stopped by and I started selling them from the trunk of the car! It took a few hours, but I wound up selling all 50 copies. I was feeling really good about turning $50 into $250 in just a few weeks. 

That's when the innocence ended. I realized that there was real money to be made from these funny books that even a non-dealer like me could make.

Not sure if others had moments like that, but it seems like a natural evolution. Now that we have updated sources of current values at our finger tips and many more ways to buy/sell & trade that offer instant gratification, I would guess that the cycle from innocent collector to speculator/amateur dealer/flipper is highly accelerated.

-bc

[Northwest]

2 hours ago, B2D327 said:

You must have missed out on the 90s boom where everyone was buying into holo-foil covers, ridiculously exaggerated anatomy and 100 Wolverine knock-offs. 
  

Sounds exactly like modern sports cards today. 

[B2D327]

3 hours ago, bc said:

I was an innocent collector from the early 70's to 1983 - I just bought the current and back issues needed for the titles I liked. Really no focus on making money or value other than knowing some back issues cost a small fortune ($300 for a FF1 - that's enough for a beater car!).

Why did I specifically say that stopped in 1983? Early that summer Alpha Flight #1 was released. At the time it was a very hyped book by the hot artist John Byrne, it was related to the popular X-Men franchise and was the first appearance for a slew of characters. I decided to buy as many copies as I could as soon as it hit the newstands in hopes of making some money one day. I wound with a little over 50 copies at a cost of $1 each.

Along came our big local convention (Mid-Ohio Con) later that summer. I brought my box of 50 AF1's with me but left them in the car. I scoped out the convention and realized some dealers were selling them for $10 a pop! I went back out to my car and started announcing that I was selling copies of AF1 for $5 each. Soon enough, people stopped by and I started selling them from the trunk of the car! It took a few hours, but I wound up selling all 50 copies. I was feeling really good about turning $50 into $250 in just a few weeks. 

That's when the innocence ended. I realized that there was real money to be made from these funny books that even a non-dealer like me could make.

Not sure if others had moments like that, but it seems like a natural evolution. Now that we have updated sources of current values at our finger tips and many more ways to buy/sell & trade that offer instant gratification, I would guess that the cycle from innocent collector to speculator/amateur dealer/flipper is highly accelerated.

-bc

I agree with you to an extent. I’ve also sold books, mostly out of necessity and having a taste/eye for certain books would turn a nice profit. The difference was that I knew I would want to replace those books eventually because of what they meant to me. If you’re still buying books, I imagine it’s because part of you is that collector that just loves comic books. There’s nothing wrong with selling them later for whatever reason, even if it is to flip a book(s) for profit. Hell, even I pick up multiples of certain books (ie: GK Star Trek #1, Conan #1) that are still affordable because “you never know” and in the event I might need the money one day but it’s still a form of speculation. Not to mention a fun reason for hunting specific books.

PS: Thanks for giving me a flashback to 83. I remember picking up a copy of AF #1 with a friend of mine at the lcs and it was the first time I actually fingered through the rack to find the best copy I could.

[bc]

3 minutes ago, B2D327 said:

I agree with you to an extent. I’ve also sold books, mostly out of necessity and having a taste/eye for certain books would turn a nice profit. The difference was that I knew I would want to replace those books eventually because of what they meant to me. If you’re still buying books, I imagine it’s because part of you is that collector that just loves comic books. There’s nothing wrong with selling them later for whatever reason, even if it is to flip a book(s) for profit. Hell, even I pick up multiples of certain books (ie: GK Star Trek #1, Conan #1) that are still affordable because “you never know” and in the event I might need the money one day but it’s still a form of speculation. Not to mention a fun reason for hunting specific books.

PS: Thanks for giving me a flashback to 83. I remember picking up a copy of AF #1 with a friend of mine at the lcs and it was the first time I actually fingered through the rack to find the best copy I could.

Once I hit certain level of disposable income, i got lazy about "buying to sell" or speculating. Still an avid collector, but only collect a specific genre and have limited my collection to 5 shortboxes - once they fill, something goes before anything new goes in.

-bc

[BrooksR]

I love hearing these stories from older collectors, I started in the late 80’s. When did speculating become a thing? Was Alpha Flight the first modern “spec” book?

[B2D327]

59 minutes ago, BrooksR said:

I love hearing these stories from older collectors, I started in the late 80’s. When did speculating become a thing? Was Alpha Flight the first modern “spec” book?

Not really. By this time, Byrne’s run on X-Men and Miller’s Daredevil were what you’d call “hot” books so collector’s had been snatching those up along with the guest appearances of a hot character in a different title. I remember the most expensive book I’d bought was a copy of What If...? #1 for a whopping $7.50 but the lcs had a copy of X-Men 94 for $50 in a display case that I could only dream of owning at the time. I think this was just before the Punisher became a hot commodity and Spidey 129 was a $1 book

[Namtak]

2 minutes ago, B2D327 said:

Not really. By this time, Byrne’s run on X-Men and Miller’s Daredevil were what you’d call “hot” books so collector’s had been snatching those up along with the guest appearances of a hot character in a different title. I remember the most expensive book I’d bought was a copy of What If...? #1 for a whopping $7.50 but the lcs had a copy of X-Men 94 for $50 in a display case that I could only dream of owning at the time. I think this was just before the Punisher became a hot commodity and Spidey 129 was a $1 book

What if 1 was more valuable than asm 129?wow never would have tought .