Forbes Article: What The Hell Is Going On In The Collectible Comics Market? 8 8

[SuperBird]

So this comic is worth $8k? 

[FineCollector]

"Collectible comics are a store of value, and one that can be easily stored and transported, making the format attractive to individuals who prefer to maintain part of their wealth discretely."

Money laundering?

[BabyAteMyDingo]

What I have noticed is that it's Marvel comic books that seem to be the most visible and with values rising. Even here, most featured books either for sale or want to buy are Marvel. The list given above is 99% Marvel. I wonder if DC has seen these record sales and jumps in value to the same degree as Marvel has? There was an example of Batman No. 227 in 9.8 being sold for $30,000 but that seemed to get corralled into the 9.8 craze. I wonder if it is because of the successful movies Marvel has had compared to the relative duds DC has had? DC cannot seemingly compete with Marvel in that area. Thus making Marvel more visible to the novice or even the investor with the big bucks who knows nothing about comic books but has a savvy advisor?

[WolverineX]

59 minutes ago, FineCollector said:

"Collectible comics are a store of value, and one that can be easily stored and transported, making the format attractive to individuals who prefer to maintain part of their wealth discretely."

Money laundering?

Already happening...

[Comics4All]

10 hours ago, kav said:

you got me that time.

That’s what she said!

[thunsicker]

3 minutes ago, Wolverinex said:

1 hour ago, FineCollector said:

"Collectible comics are a store of value, and one that can be easily stored and transported, making the format attractive to individuals who prefer to maintain part of their wealth discretely."

Money laundering?

Expand  

Already happening..

True:

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/batman-1-embezzler-sentenced-to-forty-years/

[BlowUpTheMoon]

https://www.riskscreen.com/kyc360/news/as-money-launderers-buy-dalis-u-s-looks-at-lifting-the-veil-on-art-sales/

Or, the longer article behind a paywall.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/19/arts/design/money-laundering-art-market.html

 

[Bronty]

5 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

Well written, but like other markets, there will be a downturn soon. I don't think that an outright 'crash' will occur until the boomers are gone. Once the nostalgic collectors are done, those dusty old books will lose much of their luster.

dusty things don't shine 

[theCapraAegagrus]

1 minute ago, Bronty said:

dusty things don't shine 

Dusty gold:

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

1 hour ago, K.P.D. said:

Can't trust those lawyers who like comics:

 

[lou_fine]

14 hours ago, october said:

14 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

That is a shockingly well written article.

It is.

Then again, not that surprising since the article was written by somebody who has a personal passion for comic books, and the last half of the article was really a Q&A with Lon Allen from Heritage who's been dealing with comics for decades now.  

I guess it also doesn't hurt when one of the Forbes family members is apparently an avid Flash collector in addition to his Russian Faberge egg collection, as per an article he wrote himself in an early issue of CBM back in the 90's.  

[jcjames]

"We always say collect what you love. That’s always panned out well. Find the genres you like, the artists you like, buy the best thing you can. Instead of buying 10 cheap things, buy one good thing. One thing you want on your wall. Buy one great thing."

 

 

[thehumantorch]

16 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

That is a shockingly well written article.

I was gonna say the same thing.  The writer understands what's going on and states it clearly.

[Terry JSA]

17 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

That is a shockingly well written article.

It is for sue, you can tell it's written by someone who actually cares about the hobby.

[Ed Hanes]

I sent this article to all my friends that laugh at me when I talk about investing in comics (well, they dont laugh , they just think that I was exaggerating)...but I do I wish I could go back to everyone when I was a kid in the 80's , those who mocked me for thinking that my Spiderman collection would be worth a lot of money one day. Although, I have to admit, I did not see this huge interest coming as it has...but whatever ...I am sitting pretty now. 

Edited June 24, 2021 by Ed Hanes

[NewWorldOrder]

17 hours ago, aardvark88 said:

Lon Allen will not say anything negative about the vintage comic book and original art market. Are we already at the top of the market?

 

42k is still amazing btw.  

Only when you can get keys below Pre-covid prices should anyone worry.

(or be happy you can buy them if you do not yet own the key you want)

X-men #1 for example aint going down anytime soon, probably has another 20-40% more to grow.  The next 2-3 years is going to be filler Marvel movies till Disney gets to really dive into X-men.  You buy X-men #1's and Hulk #181's now till 2024-ish you do better holding that than Apple stock. 

Wait till you see what happens to all X-men books when they announce the new cast!

Edited June 24, 2021 by NewWorldOrder

[Ed Hanes]

23 minutes ago, NewWorldOrder said:

42k is still amazing btw.  

Only when you can get keys below Pre-covid prices should anyone worry.

(or be happy you can buy them if you do not yet own the key you want)

X-men #1 for example aint going down anytime soon, probably has another 20-40% more to grow.  The next 2-3 is going to be filler Marvel movies till Disney gets to really dive into X-men.  You buy X-men #1's and Hulk #181's now till 2022 you do better holding that Apple stock. 

True. Also, the fact that the 42 K was graded a while ago might inhibit some buyers who have deep pockets. When you are dealing with 9.8's ...every little discrepency becomes a factor...it's an old slab...my guess is that the seller weighed the option of reslabbing and it possibly being downgraded to a 9.6..so that probably also goes into the thinking of the potential buyers...it's just very difficult to know anything from a couple sales. In this case, it's 99% speculation. Personally, I wouldn't consider 42k as being underpaid based on two other sales..as someone who uses statistical analysis in their job,...I find these videos and similar analysis extremely flawed (yet entertaining), especially the conclusions that are drawn

Edited June 24, 2021 by Ed Hanes

[lou_fine]

39 minutes ago, Ed Hanes said:

55 minutes ago, NewWorldOrder said:

42k is still amazing btw.  

 

True. Also, the fact that the 42 K was graded a while ago might inhibit some buyers who have deep pockets. When you are dealing with 9.8's ...every little discrepency becomes a factor

And when it comes to CGC 9.8 graded copies of GSXM 1, I guess it really depends on the eyeballs that happens to be looking at it at the time because they are so common as to show up in almost every single auction nowadays. 

Perfect case in point, being this CGC 9.8 graded copy ending in a few hours from now in their CC Event Auction and already at $54K (or already $12K above the CL copy), and my guess is that it should get a few more hits once the 3-minute buzzer rings on this lot here:   

https://www.comicconnect.com/item/911142

Edited June 24, 2021 by lou_fine

[alexgross.com]

thanks for sharing this. i agree that it was a well written article, and lon allen, the heritage VP interviewed for it, seemed pretty straightforward. not sure i'd expect him to answer totally honestly given the potential conflict of interest. but i liked what he said, especially "i dont know how much higher it can go." but i do not believe he can answer this last question honestly. it only takes a small number of really rich guys to game the market. i don't have any idea if that's happening, but if it were, no one from heritage would acknowledge it. 

 

RS: Are there any signs of froth or trouble ahead that you can see?

LA: I haven’t seen any clues to that yet. I wonder how much higher it can possibly go. Stuff keeps going through the roof.

RS: Finally, people have long complained that these public auctions can be subject to manipulation, with people buying and selling the same stuff among themselves to pump the prices up. How much of what we’ve seen is churn or artificial commerce?

LA: That might have been true in the 80s, or something, but now the market has just gotten so huge. You can go to any of these big shows, and just see there's 100,000 people there that are clamoring for this stuff,  so I think there's just no end in sight to the number of people that are interested in it.

[Aman619]

Lon did a good job.  He wasn’t some salesman, and was somewhat shocked by the recent run up as we are. Imagine if they interviewed Mehdy! Seriously though, I think we are all finally coalescing around what’s led to this windfall, and probably all expect it to taper off at some point. The recent prices though will still etched as targets for the next ramp up..  assuming of course the new guys don’t lose their shirts on comics and take it all down with them.

also as with all media outlets, the existence of an article like this is not the result of a deep dive research project at the publication for topics to write about. Usually comes from someone in the hobby, or a friend who suggests it, or it’s from a press release that catches their attention.  But it’s good promotion for comics.  I forwarded it to my financial guys who mocked my comics collection!