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

[SeniorSurfer]

On 7/3/2022 at 3:36 AM, lou_fine said:

I could tell from your Batman 27 avatar that you was clearly also into collecting vintage comic books and really meant more as a general comment on the hobby more than anything else.  

Heck, at least you was smart enough to have made only one speculative buy and that was for your son, whereas I have made hundreds of speculative buys back in the day and I don't think any of them has really worked out that well at all.  

Your $300 figure reminds me of a funny story that I have told on the MA boards here before.  Went into one of the suburban LCS's in my area in the latter part of the 80's and the owner hands me a book which he had special ordered for one of his customers.  Told me that he could also special order a copy for me direct from the publisher and it would only cost me $300.  Being a mainstream type of comic book collector, I opened up the book and thought right away who in their right mind would shell out $3 for this fugly putrid piece of toxic looking doggie poo poo, let alone 300 big ones.  Boy, what kind of a no-brain idiott or sucker did he think I was.  Handed the book back to the LCS owner as fast as I could and if this had been 2021 or 2022, would have gone for the bottle of hand sanitizer as fast as I could.  

To make matters even worse, being a Miller fan at the time, I ended up instead ordering a signed and numbered limited eidtion of the Dark Knight for $40 which is probably worth less than that nowadays, which is certainly not the case for the TMNT 1 which I had just passed up on.    

I never even got the chance to sniff the first print of TMNT 1 back then but was curious and ordered the second issue.  I thought it was an interesting idea, given how they incorporated all the latest "hot" book series into the title, and I wasn't averse to going off the mainstream every now and then (more Underground books than new publishers though).  When I got #2 and read through it, I also thought it was really a "#2" alright and didn't pick up another issue, following the tried-and-true "buy what you like" mantra.  I don't regret it, since for every TMNT there were copycats (like "Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters") so who was going to guess right and shell out dough for all the different titles that were hoping to hit it big?  (As an aside, they parlayed their idea into a big money-making franchise and hey... more power to them, but I still wouldn't read or buy one of those stool samples for love nor money.  Like they need me anyway.). 

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

I purchased about a 100 copies of Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, among other "astute" purchases, and am waiting for the next shortage of toilet paper for . 

[DC#]

On 7/3/2022 at 6:46 AM, Tec-Tac-Toe said:

I purchased about a 100 copies of Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, among other "astute" purchases, and am waiting for the next shortage of toilet paper for . 

Not a lot of copies sold - but 9.8s of #1 having been pulling in a couple of hundred for the past few years.    I recall the mania of independent books coming off TMNT - I have several long-boxes filled with first issues of absolute drek from that era.    

 

 

[KirbyTown]

On 6/27/2022 at 3:34 PM, faster friends said:

So this set of books took a huge drop in 2 weeks time. And I was gonna list my set.

 

 

Wow, you relist for whatever reason and see it drop $1,500 three weeks later. 😬

[nDemik]

So should I wait to get the AF15 or add it now? 🤷‍♂️😁

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

On 7/3/2022 at 11:00 AM, DC# said:

Not a lot of copies sold - but 9.8s of #1 having been pulling in a couple of hundred for the past few years.    I recall the mania of independent books coming off TMNT - I have several long-boxes filled with first issues of absolute drek from that era.    

certa

 

 

Yes. I have, if I recall correctly, which I doubt, approximately 5 (certainly no more than 7, I'm almost certain) copies of issue number 1 because I (and I was very far from alone) would purchase all such titles hoping to "strike it rich." Of course, as I always joke, by the time I find my copies and see which if any are worth grading they likely will be more valuable as toilet paper.

[alexgross.com]

maybe its just me, but all the books i have an eye on are still selling for gpa. this ended yesterday for $1,230, over the 12 month average and the second highest of six  sales this year in this grade. i was hoping it might be a good deal, but nope.

 

[lou_fine]

On 7/3/2022 at 9:15 AM, KirbyTown said:

 

Wow, you relist for whatever reason and see it drop $1,500 three weeks later. 😬

I believe you missed the next 2 posts right afterwards with respect to this listing for the Rampaging Hulk #1-#27 run:  

On 6/27/2022 at 8:27 PM, Troy Division said:

I wouldn't count the $2247 sale as a valid data point.
It was not 'sold' and eventually relisted.
(the 'winner' of the original auction had ZERO feedback and the seller's listing / photos are exactly the same)

 

On 6/28/2022 at 4:38 AM, Stefan_W said:

Nice catch, seems like pretty clear market manipulation at work here. 

 

[DC#]

On 7/4/2022 at 1:17 PM, alexgross.com said:

maybe its just me, but all the books i have an eye on are still selling for gpa. this ended yesterday for $1,230, over the 12 month average and the second highest of six  sales this year in this grade. i was hoping it might be a good deal, but nope.

 

Feeling the same about the books I have been bidding on - though I actually just went to Ebay and plucked a book on offer for about 20% less than I got beaten at on a Heritage auction.   Actually seeing more rational pricing on some Ebay listings these days .    The last few days of the Clink auction Session 3 have been very unkind on some Copper books I am selling.   Where I was feeling like I was pretty close to GPA in aggregate on the first dozen or so books - these last dozen have been very bad.    In aggregate they closed around 40% below GPA.

 

[AGGIEZ]

Prices seems to be tanking….

[Microchip]

On 7/7/2022 at 7:12 AM, AGGIEZ said:

Prices seems to be tanking….

The field is stretching it seems.   This is really interesting to see.   Some grades are in free-fall, while the top grade is excelling.  We won't see this in effect on newer, smaller key's, but it's kind of astonishing in a way.

 

 

 

[Sweet Lou 14]

Something that has caught my interest during the feeding frenzy of the past couple of years has been the rise of social media as a selling platform and the emergence of mobile-friendly marketplaces like Shortboxed.  There's been a huge influx of energy from younger collectors, and I think generally that's a very good thing for the market.  I can't say for sure -- my observations are just impressions gleaned from a small portion of the overall picture, and I bring my own biases as a collector to it -- but it seems that this influx has led to a markedly increased trading volume in ultra-recent books, lesser/dubious "keys," and low-grade books (particularly keys of course).

It's really hard to tease apart the endless hyping on these platforms from actual collector/investor interest, but as prices have skyrocketed I've always been concerned about some of these books.  I've always been focused on high-grade SA / BA, and by sticking to that strategy I've been making an implicit bet that those books are going to do a better job of holding their value in the event of an (inevitable) correction or downturn.  (I certainly hope that's the case.)

And trust me, I'm not trying to criticize anyone else's choices.  Because I'm a run collector, I've frequently felt the pain of feeling "forced" to overpay in this market on a book that I know isn't special or that's being overhyped.  I just think supply and demand need to be carefully considered when buying in an overheated market.  All of the super modern books, even the keys, are vulnerable to oversupply, especially as CGC finally catches up on its enormous backlog and the census numbers shift beneath our feet.  With low- to mid-grade keys of significant value, I think we'll see a notable premium on books that are "good for the grade" -- so those who chose carefully will presumably fare a bit better in adverse market conditions.

It will be interesting to see how things play out for sure.

[Humpty-Dumpty]

Are these current prices based in sanity? I am not talking about supply and demand, because that does not always equate to a healthy market. I am saying this current market is based a lot on too much QE money in the system, emotionalism and lemmings. It is a house of cards, almost a ponzi like scheme. 

[jaxcomics]

On 7/6/2022 at 10:40 PM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Something that has caught my interest during the feeding frenzy of the past couple of years has been the rise of social media as a selling platform and the emergence of mobile-friendly marketplaces like Shortboxed.  There's been a huge influx of energy from younger collectors, and I think generally that's a very good thing for the market.  I can't say for sure -- my observations are just impressions gleaned from a small portion of the overall picture, and I bring my own biases as a collector to it -- but it seems that this influx has led to a markedly increased trading volume in ultra-recent books, lesser/dubious "keys," and low-grade books (particularly keys of course).

It's really hard to tease apart the endless hyping on these platforms from actual collector/investor interest, but as prices have skyrocketed I've always been concerned about some of these books.  I've always been focused on high-grade SA / BA, and by sticking to that strategy I've been making an implicit bet that those books are going to do a better job of holding their value in the event of an (inevitable) correction or downturn.  (I certainly hope that's the case.)

And trust me, I'm not trying to criticize anyone else's choices.  Because I'm a run collector, I've frequently felt the pain of feeling "forced" to overpay in this market on a book that I know isn't special or that's being overhyped.  I just think supply and demand need to be carefully considered when buying in an overheated market.  All of the super modern books, even the keys, are vulnerable to oversupply, especially as CGC finally catches up on its enormous backlog and the census numbers shift beneath our feet.  With low- to mid-grade keys of significant value, I think we'll see a notable premium on books that are "good for the grade" -- so those who chose carefully will presumably fare a bit better in adverse market conditions.

It will be interesting to see how things play out for sure.

Yep, as the glut of hundreds of thousands of modern books/variants being graded continue to hit the market - along with all of those already out there - combined with a softer market overall due to the economy, speculators of those books are going to get slaughtered. It is what it is at this point, I can't possibly imagine demand even coming close to supply with all of the variant covers and infinite printings out there. 

[DC#]

Here are the Session 3 Comiclink results - though a bit less exhaustive than I have done in the past.     

 

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

On 7/6/2022 at 10:54 PM, DC# said:

Here are the Session 3 Comiclink results - though a bit less exhaustive than I have done in the past.     

 

Lotso red

[Motor City Rob]

On 7/6/2022 at 11:54 PM, DC# said:

Here are the Session 3 Comiclink results - though a bit less exhaustive than I have done in the past.     

 

Thank you for doing this. The Red Wave continues!

[october]

On 7/6/2022 at 10:19 PM, jaxcomics said:

Yep, as the glut of hundreds of thousands of modern books/variants being graded continue to hit the market - along with all of those already out there - combined with a softer market overall due to the economy, speculators of those books are going to get slaughtered. It is what it is at this point, I can't possibly imagine demand even coming close to supply with all of the variant covers and infinite printings out there. 

This dynamic has already played out in sports cards, to disastrous effect on prices. PSA is grading a million slabs a month, most of them ultramodern, and prices have declined 70-90% on a lot of key cards due to general economic headwinds and the increasing supply glut. Real bloodbaths on some stuff.

[Motor City Rob]

On 7/7/2022 at 7:31 AM, october said:

This dynamic has already played out in sports cards, to disastrous effect on prices. PSA is grading a million slabs a month, most of them ultramodern, and prices have declined 70-90% on a lot of key cards due to general economic headwinds and the increasing supply glut. Real bloodbaths on some stuff.

Is it also the same situation where even after the steep declines you referenced, the values are still significantly higher than pre-covid prices? 

[october]

On 7/7/2022 at 6:36 AM, Motor City Rob said:

Is it also the same situation where even after the steep declines you referenced, the values are still significantly higher than pre-covid prices? 

I think so. The gains on card prices in 2020/2021 were completely insane. 100x wasn't uncommon. That leaves a LOT of cushion for people who bought pre-runup.