Can anybody explain this to me? GIANT-SIZE SUPER-STARS #1 9.8 for $3400? 1 1

[mjoeyoung]

LINK

Is this book hot for some unknown reason?  Are bots bidding on this thinking it is a Giant Size X-Men #1?  Some consignor just scored big on this book.

[Pantodude]

[batmiesta]

Loads of books going for silly prices, either people have sat at home and spent nothing and are now making up for it or speculators have totally lost the  plot.

Giant size Conan #1

[batmiesta]

Another consignor doing handstands .

Daredevil annual

[mjoeyoung]

25 minutes ago, batmiesta said:

Loads of books going for silly prices, either people have sat at home and spent nothing and are now making up for it or speculators have totally lost the  plot.

Giant size Conan #1

I was wondering if something was going on with Conan and Belit that I had not heard about when THIS (Conan /#58) happened.

[Lurker89]

Money laundering 

[WernerVonDoom]

Wow!

[jjonahjameson11]

Given the numerous price spikes across all eras of collecting during the past year, I thought everyone would be desensitized towards any 'surprises' now.  After all, its been happening for some time now, on hundreds of books.

[canickus]

I would add that there are several collectors actively collecting the Giant-Size run.  It is a really cool Bronze Age run headlined by a really important book.  9.8s don’t come along that often, the last sale of that book was in 2019, which was a different market. 

[comic_memories]

Prices for Silver Age when it was 40 years old were insane.  Bronze and Copper are going up.as they reach vintage age. I don't like this if its an issue i still need but its an overdue reality. 

[batmiesta]

8 hours ago, jjonahjameson11 said:

Given the numerous price spikes across all eras of collecting during the past year, I thought everyone would be desensitized towards any 'surprises' now.  After all, its been happening for some time now, on hundreds of books.

 

7 hours ago, canickus said:

I would add that there are several collectors actively collecting the Giant-Size run.  It is a really cool Bronze Age run headlined by a really important book.  9.8s don’t come along that often, the last sale of that book was in 2019, which was a different market. 

OK! So why did the bloke who paid $700 for the G/S Power man not buy the one that was on ebay for $499.95 a month ago? Or the buyer that paid $1150 for the G/S FF # 5 when he could have bought the one on ebay for $475 that finished March 1st ? Or the buyer who paid $40,500 for G/S X-men 1 when he could have bought one on ebay at the end of December for $23,000 ? G/S chillers #1 9.6 $870, ebay 28th Feb $725 ? I could go on, surprised ? I'm  astounded .

[batmiesta]

Surprise! Surprise ! Someone is snapping up all the G/S 9.8's off ebay in the hope the same two clowns continue a bidding war for them. 

[canickus]

This is part of my point and what you are seeing across many asset classes including collectibles.  High(er) Inflation is coming, in fact, it is already here.  As a country, we have been printing money like crazy - this will show up in higher prices.  Bank on it.

We can gape in awe at the new price points - I remember thinking back in the day that a nice Star Wars 1 for $100 bucks was ridiculous.  I mean, it has a cover price of 30 cents, or 35 cents if you were unlucky (or lucky, as it turns out).  Today, I wish I had a long box of them in the closet.

Prices of collectibles always fluctuate, but my experience as a collector is "to buy the best that you understand."  You wouldn't have gone wrong buying a lot of nice books at GPA highs over the last 10 years.  Let me illustrate with Giant-Size X-Men 1 CGC 9.8.  Here are the high GPA prices for each of the last 10 years.  Each year the low GPA was significantly less but someone set the GPA high.  I would feel just fine if I was the purchaser of the high priced book each year and had them sitting in a box in the closet.  I would feel even better if I was the buyer at the GPA low of these books each year, but still... IMHO, it will be a lucky buyer who gets a GS X-Men 1 9.8 for less than $25,000 this year.  The buyer in 2019 who paid $13,800? The buyer paid $3700 more than the buyer who got the low GPA book, but I would give the buyer $15,000 on the spot.  And so would most people.  If you were a really good flipper and could buy at the GPA low each year and sell at the GPA high, you could do well, but I think it is easier to just be a long-term collector.  Buy it if you enjoy it and understand it.  

2011 $7500

2012 $5900

2013 $7500

2014 $7000

2015 $6718

2016 $8000

2017 $10,000

2018 $11,142

2019 $13,800

2020 $20,100

The other good thing about a free market is that high prices will chase out more books, IF they are available.  Just today, I see two Giant-Size Avengers 1 CGC 9.8s have been listed for $4400 and $4900 on Ebay.  Will they sell at this price?  I am certain that you won't see one listed for $1500 anywhere.  If it was, it has already been purchased.

 

I recommend reading "Inflation comes for the Profligate" by Alex J Pollack.  Here is one notable excerpt - 

"As has frequently been discussed, a notable inflation has already been running for some time—the inflation in asset prices. Monetary expansion, needing to go somewhere, has gone into the prices of equities, bonds, houses, gold, and Bitcoin. The “Everything Bubble” stoked by the Federal Reserve and the other principal central banks has taken asset prices to historically extreme, and in the case of Bitcoin, amazing, valuations. Financial history presents an essential recurring question: How much can the price of an asset change? It also provides the answer: More than you think."

 

[canickus]

One additional point to consider since you specifically asked about Giant-Size Super-Stars 1.  You see any CGC 9.6 or 9.8 copies available for sale?  I see two 9.0, one 8.5 and one 8.0.

 

The higher prices will chase some more out of collections, but they will be listed at a new higher price point.

- my two cents  

[Randall Ries]

Most of you don't like comic books. You like money.

[canickus]

I don’t think I am unique but I like comic books AND money. 

[FlyingDonut]

I am trying to put together a 9.8/white set of Fantastic Four 117-300, along with annuals and Giant Sizes, and one of the books I do not have is Giant-Size Super-Stars 1.

GSSS 1 is not particularly tough as giant size Marvels go BUT finding one with white pages is very difficult. Of the 16 on the census in 9.8 there are only three or four with white pages. The 9.9 has white pages. Someone bought a 9.6 ow/w for $250 on Monday night that had an old label - one million percent chance that book is getting cracked and pressed as we speak.

So yes, I dropped out at $3200, which was roughly 12x top GPA after what I thought was a true hammer bid was topped, but had I won the book at $3200 I wouldn't have been too upset.

Please note that GSSS was released in February 1974, 47 years ago. 47 years before GSSS 1 was released was during the Calvin Coolidge Administration and was before anyone had flown a plane across the Atlantic Ocean, just to put things in perspective.

Edited March 3, 2021 by FlyingDonut

[divad]

Man . . . you ARE old. 

 

 

 

[divad]

3 hours ago, Randall Ries said:

Most of you don't like comic books. You like money.

How much for zee women? JB

[divad]

On 3/1/2021 at 8:04 AM, mjoeyoung said:

LINK

Is this book hot for some unknown reason?  Are bots bidding on this thinking it is a Giant Size X-Men #1?  Some consignor just scored big on this book.

See The Donut's Post above. Hell, that might even be my Tomato Box Copy  That's a great book!