They're Still Out There! 22 22

[innocuous]

6 minutes ago, ttecwaf said:

For example, look at the Mile High Flash Comics #3.  Sold in 2008 for $41,825 and in 2010 for $22,705.  In 2 years it decreased by 45%!  The Flash Comics #12 Mile High sold in 2008 for $33,400, 2010 for $23,900 and in 2011 for $25,095. 

Ok! Lesson learned. No one bid on any of the Flash Comics. Especially the 104, avoid it. Bad investment.

[sfcityduck]

3 minutes ago, ttecwaf said:

Statistically there will probably be another “original” collection that is brought to market.  

The Chinatown is sitting in slabs and could be sold at any time.

The 2,500 early GA WTG (probably W.T. Gilchrist) collection that BangZoom has amazed everyone on these boards is still out there.  Since you don't have many posts and may not have seen it, here's some pics:

 

 

 

 

 

[MasterChief]

2 hours ago, Robot Man said:

I remember an esteemed boardie who no longer posts here had a Gaines File copy of MAD #1. It was the highest graded copy at the time. Then low and behold, two more copies in similar grade appeared on the census. He ended up selling it. I guess bragging rights wasn’t enough. I would kill to own any one of those...

Sounds like Mark Zaid. He was quite upset to learn his copy was joined by an apparent CPRed 9.6.

[innocuous]

44 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

Scary thing is for that buyer is that Hariri could dump two better copies on the market if he loses interest in comics

Well, he seems to be in for the long-term. Start at 18:00

 

[sfcityduck]

9 minutes ago, innocuous said:

Well, he seems to be in for the long-term. Start at 18:00

 

I've heard he's stopped buying.  I've wondered if that may be due to his family's position in the Arab world.  His father was assassinated, and here's an interesting article about one of his brother's experiences:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-politics/lebanon-accuses-saudi-arabia-of-holding-its-pm-hostage-idUSKBN1DF18A

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by sfcityduck

[lou_fine]

1 hour ago, Aman619 said:

On the other hand, such a list would put a damper on crazy bidding wars for best copy and hurt the market.  And specifically the sellers. 

Well, not only the sellers, but also the owners of those raw HG books who are still holding them in their personal private collections, and in particular, the owners of these obvious candidates:  

1 hour ago, Aman619 said:

Any known but unslabbed MH or Allentown or SF copy are obvious candidates. 

 

[lou_fine]

5 hours ago, szav said:

Dunno, my guess is a stock market crash would be more impactful.  I'm not sure your typical high grade GA buyer is heavy into crypto, as they were probably doing well before the crypto boom.  

Although I fully agree with you that the longer time GA collector is most likely not heavily into the crypto market, if at all, I somehow got the feeleing that Heritage was hoping to attract some new found deep pocketed buyers that might be entering into the GA comic book market for the first time, with the bags of money that they had made with the big run up in crypto and stock market prices.  

[N e r V]

3 hours ago, adamstrange said:

It's been more than 20 years since CGC opened their doors, so I think a significant portion of collectors assume more completeness/stability in the census than there is.  Frequent lurkers and commenters of the GA Forum are much more aware of the uncertainties than the average big-spender.  This is easily confirmable by viewing posts on social media platforms.

I guess I’m out of the loop in this area of the market. Even my modest collection has a few that would hit top of the census if I decided to slab. I know more than a few collectors that could rock Baker and LB Cole if they decided to slab. There’s still a fair amount of GA with little at the top in slabs but is still lurking in the raw. Not everyone is laying all their cards on the table nor will they be anytime soon in some cases…

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

27 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

I've heard he's stopped buying.  I've wondered if that may be due to his family's position in the Arab world.  His father was assassinated, and here's an interesting article about one of his brother's experiences:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-politics/lebanon-accuses-saudi-arabia-of-holding-its-pm-hostage-idUSKBN1DF18A

 

Wow. What a world. It’s amazing to think with all the danger in this guy’s life, he still had enthusiasm for comics. 

[Robot Man]

1 hour ago, szav said:

HA has 96k for a Mad #1 cgc 9.8 in 2019.  

MAD #1 might be my favorite comic of all time. But 96K? I could travel everywhere in the world I would want to go and probably have enough money left over for a nice hot rod or another vintage motorcycle. Both of which would give me WAY much more pleasure. The older I get, the more my priorities change. 

[Bronty]

38 minutes ago, szav said:

Possibly, but the rollover from SA/BA/CA/modern collector to big spending GA enthusiast may take a few years for most.  I’m guessing your nouveau riche crypto barons interested in comics may be eyeballs deep in ultimate fallout 4 cgc 9.8s etc. and unaware of or unable to see The Promise collection.  Let’s hope so anyway.

Yeah.  Generalizing but from what I've seen they just want to know what's going to double the fastest and don't really give a flying fork about anything that can't do that for them.

Edited May 19, 2021 by Bronty

[path4play]

3 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

The Chinatown is sitting in slabs and could be sold at any time.

The 2,500 early GA WTG (probably W.T. Gilchrist) collection that BangZoom has amazed everyone on these boards is still out there.  Since you don't have many posts and may not have seen it, here's some pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh man, what a tease. 

[jimbo_7071]

12 hours ago, Timely said:

I’m not sure I’m getting my point across. It’s not about having another high grade copy out there, it’s about a new copy being crowned as the highest graded copy and what impact it has on the former highest graded copy. 
 

There is fierce competition at that very top level with top collectors jockeying for position to claim that top honor, to get those registry points... to be #1! 
 

I know a lot of these collectors, they press their books, not for financial gain, as they’ll never sell (unless a better copy becomes available), but because they want to remain at the top of the census!

These guys will pay an extra 20-50% to get that highest graded copy. If that copy is now the 2nd best, that money goes right out the window.

Guys like that are very narcissistic, but there's no doubt that they're out there. It's kind of pathetic that their lives are so empty that their self worth hinges on owning the highest-graded copy of a mass-produced comic book.

Edited May 19, 2021 by jimbo_7071

[BarristerBaker]

5 hours ago, innocuous said:

Ok! Lesson learned. No one bid on any of the Flash Comics. Especially the 104, avoid it. Bad investment.

Agreed. Just silly to bid on any Flash Comics. I’m surprised HA will even sell them. Move along, move along...

[cheetah]

9 hours ago, PopKulture said:

I'm surprised to read this. I'd be more inclined to believe that sort of motivation exists for Bronze or Silver Age enthusiasts, so too chasers of Moderns and variants. Are you saying it's fairly prevalent with Golden Age collectors as well?

I've never even looked at top registry sets for GA...  

Truth is that it is not common with GA.  I used to put all my books in the registry and typically I was the only person with more than one or two books in a title.  While I never collected the ‘big’ titles like Action or Timelys, I never saw a push by anyone to maximize GA points.  It might be common with Amazing Spider-man but not anything I ever collected.

And, FWIW, there are registry sets that include scans of all the books.  It’s not a waste of time to scroll through some of the sets and see the cool books that are out there.  I’ve seen the counterphobic attitude that registry is for narcissists and point chasers for years.  I’d counter there is plenty of pettiness in this just like there is in the ‘true collector’ tripe that comes out on the boards with regularity.  

[adamstrange]

25 minutes ago, cheetah said:

Truth is that it is not common with GA.  I used to put all my books in the registry and typically I was the only person with more than one or two books in a title.  

 

We were intimidated.  

[cheetah]

7 minutes ago, adamstrange said:

We were intimidated.  

Yeah, no.  I’ve seen your books.

[tth2]

10 hours ago, Robot Man said:

I remember an esteemed boardie who no longer posts here had a Gaines File copy of MAD #1. It was the highest graded copy at the time. Then low and behold, two more copies in similar grade appeared on the census. He ended up selling it. I guess bragging rights wasn’t enough. I would kill to own any one of those...

That was just surprising naivete on Mark's part.  It's one thing to believe that your Church, Allentown or Vancouver copy of a book might be the best copy in existence.  It's entirely another to believe that your particular Gaines copy is going to be the best copy.  At best it will be indistinguishable from other similarly beautiful copies, at worst it will be clearly inferior to another copy. 

[tth2]

10 hours ago, adamstrange said:

My hazy understanding is that, after 20 years, grading was more extensively utilized in the coin and card hobby than in comics.  

Which makes sense.  You can enjoy a coin or card equally inside a slab or outside a slab, because there's no interior.   

[tth2]

10 hours ago, jimjum12 said:

-Melvin(a friend of jesus)