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Are prices still climbing or have they eased up a bit???
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Started by InfantTerrible,

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blazingbob

blazingbob

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Sometimes most of the time to buy books is when everybody else hates them.  If it is a quality character with good villains,  good stories, art and the general public knows who you are talking about there usually is some point where prices go soft a bit.  The other thing I tell collectors is if you are "settling" for a lower grade buy the best looking copy of that grade.  Buy a book as if you are going to have to sell it.  Whatever your eye goes to first is generally what somebody else will focus on.  Eye appeal makes the book easier to sell then just any copy.  If it is a key there are plenty of people/dealers willing to cash/trade deals for the book.  Also look for dealers that might offer time payments,  trade ups (www.highgradecomics.com does).  Also don't rely on "regional" input or just the internet for their interpretation of the market.  Think outside the box and always remember there is somebody out there with more money then you that just might like comics.  You budget might be 4 digits,  his/her might be 5 or more.  And just because you won't pay a bit over market doesn't mean somebody else won't.  I have a lot of "should of" emails over the years.  

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DC#

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Not doing the full recap of CL session 4 - but some observations from that session and the Pedigree auction that ended last night.    

Those final CL sessions still seem to be much weaker than the earlier sessions but still a lot of oddness to be found throughout.   An ASM 300 - a 9.8 closed at $4,201 vs $6,100 in prior session;  a 9.4 at $1027 vs $1200/$1400; and a 9.0 at $775 vs $908.   And yet a 9.6 closed higher at $1821 vs $1700/$1750 in prior sessions.     A GSX #1 9.2 closed at $8855 vs $9355 in prior but a 9.0 closed at $8865 vs $7311 in prior (both books were very old slabs - I suspect the 9.0 buyer might be thinking it is an upgrade candidate).   A 9.8 GSX sold at $57k which is right in line with last GPA.   A Hulk #181 at 8.0 closed at $7300 vs $6800 in prior but a 5.5 closed at $4581 vs $4900 in prior.   

I also noticed some nice deals on FF #49.   A 6.5 went for $1701 vs GPA of $2040 (last) / $2221 (90);  a 5.5 went for $1201 vs GPA $2000/$1772.

Pedigree was all over the map too.   Some things where right in the zone while others were just way, way off.  JIM #83 6.5 went for $38k which was a big jump over GPA $25.2/$32.2.    X-Men #1 6.0 went for $28k which seems cheap compared to the $38.5k 6.5 sale on CL this auction and the last GPA 6.5 of $50k in Oct.    It was a C/OW copy but looked pretty nice.   GSX #1 9.6 went for $20k which is inline with GPA.  Hulk #181 9.4 went for $18.8 which is pretty close to GPA while a 8.5 went below GPA at $8300 vs $9500/$8882.   Same on a 7.0 which went for $5100 vs $6229/$6484

But perhaps one of the best deals of all was a Star Wars #42 9.8 that went for $3000 vs this CL auction that sold for $4411.   That $3000 is about half of GPA.    And this was a WP copy too.   I have a suspicion that there may have been a lot of late bronze/copper/moderns in the Pedigree auction that were bargains 

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dikran

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On 10/15/2021 at 1:10 PM, DC# said:

Not doing the full recap of CL session 4 - but some observations from that session and the Pedigree auction that ended last night.    

Those final CL sessions still seem to be much weaker than the earlier sessions but still a lot of oddness to be found throughout.   An ASM 300 - a 9.8 closed at $4,201 vs $6,100 in prior session;  a 9.4 at $1027 vs $1200/$1400; and a 9.0 at $775 vs $908.   And yet a 9.6 closed higher at $1821 vs $1700/$1750 in prior sessions.     A GSX #1 9.2 closed at $8855 vs $9355 in prior but a 9.0 closed at $8865 vs $7311 in prior (both books were very old slabs - I suspect the 9.0 buyer might be thinking it is an upgrade candidate).   A 9.8 GSX sold at $57k which is right in line with last GPA.   A Hulk #181 at 8.0 closed at $7300 vs $6800 in prior but a 5.5 closed at $4581 vs $4900 in prior.   

I also noticed some nice deals on FF #49.   A 6.5 went for $1701 vs GPA of $2040 (last) / $2221 (90);  a 5.5 went for $1201 vs GPA $2000/$1772.

Pedigree was all over the map too.   Some things where right in the zone while others were just way, way off.  JIM #83 6.5 went for $38k which was a big jump over GPA $25.2/$32.2.    X-Men #1 6.0 went for $28k which seems cheap compared to the $38.5k 6.5 sale on CL this auction and the last GPA 6.5 of $50k in Oct.    It was a C/OW copy but looked pretty nice.   GSX #1 9.6 went for $20k which is inline with GPA.  Hulk #181 9.4 went for $18.8 which is pretty close to GPA while a 8.5 went below GPA at $8300 vs $9500/$8882.   Same on a 7.0 which went for $5100 vs $6229/$6484

But perhaps one of the best deals of all was a Star Wars #42 9.8 that went for $3000 vs this CL auction that sold for $4411.   That $3000 is about half of GPA.    And this was a WP copy too.   I have a suspicion that there may have been a lot of late bronze/copper/moderns in the Pedigree auction that were bargains 

This ComicLink auction was littered with so much junk that I just gave up looking through each page and couldn't care less any more... They should start being a little more selective with what they accept in their auctions... I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Maybe I missed out on some deals but the sheer volume of trash books really discouraged me from exploring/browsing.

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WolverineX

WolverineX

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On 10/15/2021 at 1:10 PM, DC# said:

Not doing the full recap of CL session 4 - but some observations from that session and the Pedigree auction that ended last night.    

Those final CL sessions still seem to be much weaker than the earlier sessions but still a lot of oddness to be found throughout.   An ASM 300 - a 9.8 closed at $4,201 vs $6,100 in prior session;  a 9.4 at $1027 vs $1200/$1400; and a 9.0 at $775 vs $908.   And yet a 9.6 closed higher at $1821 vs $1700/$1750 in prior sessions.     A GSX #1 9.2 closed at $8855 vs $9355 in prior but a 9.0 closed at $8865 vs $7311 in prior (both books were very old slabs - I suspect the 9.0 buyer might be thinking it is an upgrade candidate).   A 9.8 GSX sold at $57k which is right in line with last GPA.   A Hulk #181 at 8.0 closed at $7300 vs $6800 in prior but a 5.5 closed at $4581 vs $4900 in prior.   

I also noticed some nice deals on FF #49.   A 6.5 went for $1701 vs GPA of $2040 (last) / $2221 (90);  a 5.5 went for $1201 vs GPA $2000/$1772.

Pedigree was all over the map too.   Some things where right in the zone while others were just way, way off.  JIM #83 6.5 went for $38k which was a big jump over GPA $25.2/$32.2.    X-Men #1 6.0 went for $28k which seems cheap compared to the $38.5k 6.5 sale on CL this auction and the last GPA 6.5 of $50k in Oct.    It was a C/OW copy but looked pretty nice.   GSX #1 9.6 went for $20k which is inline with GPA.  Hulk #181 9.4 went for $18.8 which is pretty close to GPA while a 8.5 went below GPA at $8300 vs $9500/$8882.   Same on a 7.0 which went for $5100 vs $6229/$6484

But perhaps one of the best deals of all was a Star Wars #42 9.8 that went for $3000 vs this CL auction that sold for $4411.   That $3000 is about half of GPA.    And this was a WP copy too.   I have a suspicion that there may have been a lot of late bronze/copper/moderns in the Pedigree auction that were bargains 

Where was the pedegree X-men 1?  

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musicmeta

musicmeta

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On 10/15/2021 at 1:02 PM, dikran1 said:

This ComicLink auction was littered with so much junk that I just gave up looking through each page and couldn't care less any more... They should start being a little more selective with what they accept in their auctions... I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Maybe I missed out on some deals but the sheer volume of trash books really discouraged me from exploring/browsing.

No, not yet.  I need to get rid of some of the "deadwood" in my collection first..lol   Folks are buying these so called "junk" books.  If they are happy buying let me oblige them. LOL!

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Vixom

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On 10/15/2021 at 3:01 PM, musicmeta said:

No, not yet.  I need to get rid of some of the "deadwood" in my collection first..lol   Folks are buying these so called "junk" books.  If they are happy buying let me oblige them. LOL!

Send them in. I love buying them and CL gets their 10% on everything so they don't care. I try to look at every single book. If anything I will skip over the first 100 issues of spiderman or X-Men. Prices will be too high for me to collect and even though they are dropping it isn't low enough to view as an investment. With the exception of a few investment books I am still in on it's all junk for me. I will buy a book just because I like the cover. I don't need 9.8s. Storage is starting to become a problem though. 

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DC#

DC#

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On 10/15/2021 at 12:15 PM, Wolverinex said:

Interesting.. Never heard of this website.. do they charge state tax for all the books?

They are based in FL - as an out of state buyer I did not pay sales tax.   Just completed a sale from this auction and still no tax.   

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Vixom

Vixom

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On 10/14/2021 at 9:13 PM, Happy_Thorsday said:

This "when will they ease up" mentality has been the most boring and frustrating time for me as a collector. I always took the advice from various collecting hobbies to heart. "buy the rookies first" "buy what you love" etc.. I am glad I did but now I can't really justify the entry point of starting another run of books. The prices "easing up" are mainly books that had a high velocity of sales, so the books easing up had huge volumes IE moderns, Bronze keys, warehouse books (FF48) and post 70's Spidey books. I never really chased the high volume keys because they were never much of a chase, you could hit a couple shops and find them. ( I am sure some GA collectors find it amusing I am talking about SA books like they are hard to find)

I even got bored  and bought out a chunk of low grade early FF books while telling myself FF 1 and 5 will come down a bit and I can put it together but then BOOM FF4 to the moon. It's things like seeing FF4 jump up that have kept me from buying, if the rapid increase of value is from investing it seems irrational and almost every thread where I have seen someone posts a copy of FF4 starts some type of speculative discussion. I bought books because I believe I wanted them and will always want them, so if someone is buying them because they believe they will go up I feel like I am lumping myself into a demand group that cannot sustain. The more everyone talks about price, speculation and volatility the more it seems to  becomes that, irrational, and now I'm talking about it!

I did love picking up that chunk of early FF books and flipping through them though so maybe I need to disregard some previously adhered to advice :takeit:

 

All depends on how and what you collect. I definitely enjoyed the first dozen years of the century. The next 7 still had some bargains. The past 2 years have been tuff. I am still buying but not many keys. I wouldn't want to be a new collector. Most new people I feel are investors. Yet it could still be done. You can buy new releases for $2 or $3 and sell them for $15 or $20 as soon as they arrive. Get lucky and even more and then there is the variants. Not my game but many do it. 

Things are still good for a veteran collector. A 9.6 is like half the price of a 9.8 Putting together a spiderman X-Men fantastic four run wouldn't be cheap. But hulk thor not bad. Don't want to buy the keys, well they got a reprint for most of them. The newer ones look about the same other than the barcode or price. Some villain shows up you sell your books at peak value and after the movie buy them back for a huge discount. And if you don't care about moderns or certain characters even better. I sold enough uf4 I could buy almost any af15 I want. So many cheap spec books blew up that funded many blue chips for many people. Even if you weren't in to spec. So many issues went up that were in pretty much any collection you ever bought. I only buy non keys and find them cheap enough. Sure keys cost more but it's because people make more. Crypto, stocks, whatever your game is you are making huge profits. People will treat themselves. Many thought comics were a good investment. Prices have fallen big time, maybe probably even more. If you are waiting for 2017 prices or something I dunno about that. But if you buy now or near future as a collector you could be fine. I expect prices to rise as mcu moves forward. Especially mutants. I don't like any hot key enough to pay the price. But if someone did I don't think they are going to lose money in the long run unless it's some flash in a pan thing. 

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alexgross.com

alexgross.com

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On 10/15/2021 at 12:23 PM, MatterEaterLad said:

Maybe the light green scared away some buyers? Here's the normal, darker green. (Not my book).

Then again the X-Men 1 9.8 Pacific Coast copy is light green, so maybe it doesn't matter so much.

s-l500.jpg

there is no 'normal' in terms of green on xmen 1. there are two versions, equally common in the wild. i consider it doubtful that the green had anything to do with this result. i would bet that pedigree comics auctions get way less participants than the three major auction houses, if for no other reason than the dicey legal history of the proprietor. i don't ever bid there personally, and i spend a great deal on HA and CL. 

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toro

toro

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On 10/15/2021 at 2:02 PM, dikran1 said:

This ComicLink auction was littered with so much junk that I just gave up looking through each page and couldn't care less any more... They should start being a little more selective with what they accept in their auctions... I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Maybe I missed out on some deals but the sheer volume of trash books really discouraged me from exploring/browsing.

I had some junk in there.  Some went for less then I hoped, some went for more.  Overall I was happy, but it seems the best time to have your auctions end is Friday night when collectors have just been payed and have had a few.  Worst time is probably when Monday night football is on.  Or any night in the week after 11:00pm Eastern Time.

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