Are prices still climbing or have they eased up a bit??? 43 43

[ThothAmon]

On 9/22/2022 at 4:11 PM, Bird said:

I went on mcs and noticed a "your offers" button, so I clicked it. There I saw the following, take it for what you will.

Last week of May 2022, on mcs there was an IMSM 1 cgc 9.0 listed at $1147 and I offered $950, which he declined. That book is now priced $850. Were we both fools?

Definitely. 

[mjoeyoung]

On 9/22/2022 at 1:55 PM, Gregd said:

And if I read this thread as a new collector - I would run from the hobby. Hope we don’t scare the very people that are the future of collecting.

As far as new collectors I think it would be helpful to hear an opposing view to the idea that KOMIKS GO UP!!!  There are going to be a lot of people burned if the bottom falls out of the market.  If that happens to too many people it would be a big blow to the hobby.  The market in many places is not healthy.  On ebay the cover to an X-Men #1 sold for as much as I purchased my 2.0 copy for 3 years ago. An individual in the current Comic Connect auction won a JIM #83 in .5 for $4k when a 2.5 sold for less than $8K.  People were bidding the GRRs up to outrageous prices. There is no "anchor" to the market.

I think we may be seeing a "wave" of buying.  People are buying the books until they get too pricey, and then they are moving on to the next seemingly "underpriced" book and pushing the prices up there until they get too pricey, and so on.  Eventually the cheap books will run out.

And I would just like to say that I dislike when auctions are hyping up the sale by refering to the census as if it is an accurate reflection of how many copies of an issue exist.  The reason there are only 3 on the census is because the people who own them don't care about getting things graded, or that until just recently it wasn't worth the money to send them in to be graded.

[WolverineX]

On 9/22/2022 at 9:07 PM, mjoeyoung said:

As far as new collectors I think it would be helpful to hear an opposing view to the idea that KOMIKS GO UP!!!  There are going to be a lot of people burned if the bottom falls out of the market.  If that happens to too many people it would be a big blow to the hobby.  The market in many places is not healthy.  On ebay the cover to an X-Men #1 sold for as much as I purchased my 2.0 copy for 3 years ago. An individual in the current Comic Connect auction won a JIM #83 in .5 for $4k when a 2.5 sold for less than $8K.  People were bidding the GRRs up to outrageous prices. There is no "anchor" to the market.

I think we may be seeing a "wave" of buying.  People are buying the books until they get too pricey, and then they are moving on to the next seemingly "underpriced" book and pushing the prices up there until they get too pricey, and so on.  Eventually the cheap books will run out.

And I would just like to say that I dislike when auctions are hyping up the sale by refering to the census as if it is an accurate reflection of how many copies of an issue exist.  The reason there are only 3 on the census is because the people who own them don't care about getting things graded, or that until just recently it wasn't worth the money to send them in to be graded.

Don't forget nfts

 

https://nft.comicconnect.com

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 9/22/2022 at 11:25 PM, WolverineX said:

Don't forget nfts

 

https://nft.comicconnect.com

Yeah, that thing might deserve its own thread.  Mark me down as a huge skeptic on the value of the physical card ... and forget about the NFT.

[Bookery]

On 9/22/2022 at 9:07 PM, mjoeyoung said:

As far as new collectors I think it would be helpful to hear an opposing view to the idea that KOMIKS GO UP!!! 

I'm not sure much of anything is going up right now, other than very specific scarce items with 2 or 3 aggressive bidders.  Now, I am selling comics in the $5 - $50 range about as fast as I can put them out.  But there is definitely a slowdown in big-ticket items since early summer.  Still -- there are no safe havens anywhere at the moment.  The DOW is down 18% in the past year, and still falling.  Real estate is down due to rising interest rates.  Cash is depreciating in value by the month.  And even silver and gold, traditionally go-to places in times of turmoil, have fallen... I'm down 13% in silver in just the past 6 months.  Comics and other collectibles are just following a broader pattern, and probably doing no better or worse comparatively.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

an entire run of golden age Marvel Mystery Comics went for big money last night in a CC auction.  Most are Schomburg WWII covers, except - notably - Marvel Comics 1.  I think Marvel Comics 1 is the only non-WWII cover in the lot.  It's the flagship book for Timely, but then Timely very quickly pivoted from a Frank Paul sci-fi cover to Schomburg WWII covers.

Anyway, given today's financial conditions, I didn't know how this run would fare.  I figured the Marvel 1 book, in 6.0, would go for $300-$400k, but it blew right past that and hammered at $729k.  After that, the remaining MMC books I followed (the ones depicting WWII covers) all went higher than I expected.  

At least for now, the collectors of superhero Golden Age Timelys seem oblivious to any problems in the financial market

 

[ChasingKingKirby]

I keep track of my own collection of blue chips and the bleeding is real.  Books I got for under GPA just a few months ago are now 20% cheaper than what I paid.  No one knows where the bottom is, but books appear to be coming down across the board.  (SA, BA and Modern.)  GA seems to be holding up better for now, but for how long?

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Sellers in the recent ComicLink auction took a bloodbath. 

[buttock]

On 9/23/2022 at 8:05 AM, Hottohman said:

Shill bidding is legal in Texas 

It's not exactly legal, there are some stipulations.  But the situation here is 1) not in Texas, and 2) not as clear cut because you have a separate business entity bidding.  The question of legality is more likely, is it legal for metropolis to get the other bidders' max bids from comicconnect and use that information.

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 9/23/2022 at 11:58 AM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

Sellers in the recent ComicLink auction took a bloodbath. 

Can you cite a few examples?  Genuinely curious.

[ChasingKingKirby]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:01 PM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Can you cite a few examples?  Genuinely curious.

I can.   

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dwerewolf%2Bby%2Bnight%2B32%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1611757&id=1611757&itemType=0

$3000 UNDER GPA?  

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DStrange%2BTales%2B110%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1612424&id=1612424&itemType=0

$700+ under GPA

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DAmazing%2BSpiderman%2B300%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_16spam&id=16spam&itemType=0

About $500 under 12-month

 

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:14 PM, ChasingKingKirby said:

I can.   

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dwerewolf%2Bby%2Bnight%2B32%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1611757&id=1611757&itemType=0

$3000 UNDER GPA?  

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DStrange%2BTales%2B110%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1612424&id=1612424&itemType=0

$700+ under GPA

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DAmazing%2BSpiderman%2B300%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_16spam&id=16spam&itemType=0

About $500 under 12-month

 

Thanks, this helps.

WWBN #32 seems like a book that was waaaay overhyped and massively due for a correction.  (Full disclosure, I would eventually like to upgrade my 9.4 to 9.6 so I'm certainly hoping that's the case.)

ASM #300 is in such ridiculously high supply, it's not the kind of book I would ever put up for auction because you're taking a big risk there.  Regardless of its status as the "grail" of the Copper Age, it's exactly the kind of book that you'd expect to be hurt by any sort of broad market correction.

Not sure about the Strange Tales #110.  Normally I'd say that low/mid grade books are highly susceptible to price variations based on eye appeal, but that looks like a nice 4.5 to me.

[ThothAmon]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:14 PM, ChasingKingKirby said:

I can.   

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dwerewolf%2Bby%2Bnight%2B32%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1611757&id=1611757&itemType=0

$3000 UNDER GPA?  

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DStrange%2BTales%2B110%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1612424&id=1612424&itemType=0

$700+ under GPA

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DAmazing%2BSpiderman%2B300%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_16spam&id=16spam&itemType=0

About $500 under 12-month

 

Maybe down but still crazy high, especially for the WWBN 32. Warehouses of those raw exist. 

[ChasingKingKirby]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:48 PM, ThothAmon said:

Maybe down but still crazy high, especially for the WWBN 32.

Quote

Warehouses of those raw exist

. 

Do you have anything to support that?  Still seems like a relatively difficult book in 9.8 for a 70s book with only 19 on census.  I realize it's not as hard as Spotlight 5 or Hero for Hire 1.  But it's much, much less than ASM129 or Marvel Premiere 15.  The last couple years was a perfect time to cash these in, why weren't they subbed if there are so many around?

[mjoeyoung]

On 9/23/2022 at 8:06 AM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

an entire run of golden age Marvel Mystery Comics went for big money last night in a CC auction.  Most are Schomburg WWII covers, except - notably - Marvel Comics 1.  I think Marvel Comics 1 is the only non-WWII cover in the lot.  It's the flagship book for Timely, but then Timely very quickly pivoted from a Frank Paul sci-fi cover to Schomburg WWII covers.

Anyway, given today's financial conditions, I didn't know how this run would fare.  I figured the Marvel 1 book, in 6.0, would go for $300-$400k, but it blew right past that and hammered at $729k.  After that, the remaining MMC books I followed (the ones depicting WWII covers) all went higher than I expected.  

At least for now, the collectors of superhero Golden Age Timelys seem oblivious to any problems in the financial market

I was looking there too (my wife keeps asking me why I'm watching auctions if I'm not going to buy anything). I have been dipping my toes into more GA over the last 4 years.  Most of the stuff I've been buying is PCH, but I've kept my eye on other "cool" issues.  There seems to be a perception from speculators that anything over a certain age is valuable just because it is old.  Everything is not a "classic" cover, and NO, not every L.B. Cole cover is worth thousands of dollars in a 2.0.

I expect there to be price drops on GA books eventually.  There are probably a lot of people who bought them with intentions to sell within a short time frame.  We will see in the next couple of years.

 

[ThothAmon]

On 9/23/2022 at 2:15 PM, ChasingKingKirby said:

o you have anything to support that?

Complete hyperbole on my part. 

[mjoeyoung]

On 9/23/2022 at 12:15 PM, ChasingKingKirby said:

Do you have anything to support that?  Still seems like a relatively difficult book in 9.8 for a 70s book with only 19 on census.  I realize it's not as hard as Spotlight 5 or Hero for Hire 1.  But it's much, much less than ASM129 or Marvel Premiere 15.  The last couple years was a perfect time to cash these in, why weren't they subbed if there are so many around?

I cannot speak for WWBN32, but I have a dozen copies of Spotlight 5 that I bought in the mid-eighties, with a few in the 9.0+ range.  There are still sitting in their boxes along with all the other books that I bought decades ago that have exploded in price.  At this point, I don't need the money and I'm still collecting.  I don't really want to go through the hassle of getting them graded at this time.   My intention is to keep by books until for some reason I cannot. I guess this is the difference between collecting and investing / speculating.

[ChasingKingKirby]

On 9/23/2022 at 2:44 PM, mjoeyoung said:

I cannot speak for WWBN32, but I have a dozen copies of Spotlight 5 that I bought in the mid-eighties, with a few in the 9.0+ range.  There are still sitting in their boxes along with all the other books that I bought decades ago that have exploded in price.  At this point, I don't need the money and I'm still collecting.  I don't really want to go through the hassle of getting them graded at this time.   My intention is to keep by books until for some reason I cannot. I guess this is the difference between collecting and investing / speculating.

Bronze is definitely more available than silver, and I agree there's plenty of copies out there, though anyone with 9.8 Spotlight 5s would be a fool not to sub em.  Since apparently they're worth a quarter of a million dollars.  (!!!!)

[ChasingKingKirby]

Here's some other examples:

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DGreen%2BLantern%2B76%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1617065&id=1617065&itemType=0

$500 under GPA

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DGreen%2BLantern%2B76%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1617943&id=1617943&itemType=0

$600 under GPA

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3FPreviewCode%3D2022sept%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3DAvengers%2B1%26GO%3DGO%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_1608077&id=1608077&itemType=0

$500 under GPA

[mjoeyoung]

On 9/23/2022 at 12:42 PM, ThothAmon said:

On 9/23/2022 at 12:15 PM, ChasingKingKirby said:

o you have anything to support that?

Complete hyperbole on my part. 

But I think there is truth to it.  There probably are not warehouse full of 9.8s waiting to be found, but what percentage does the 5K in the census represent?  The Comicchron guy has said that no Marvel title had monthly sales above 300k (except Star Wars) and WWBN had to have low circulation since it was on the verge of being canceled.  I have seen some guesses as to sales.  If it had sales of 50K, and half were lost over time, that would still leave another 20K out there.  Since Moon Knight seems to have been pretty popular at time, there may be more.  It would be interesting to find out what number of sales got a Marvel book canceled in the 70s.