Pulp sales discussion thread 6 6

[Darwination]

I'm seeing this fairly regularly with late era/high grade books at HA.

On the one hand, it's a reprint pulp from 1950. 

On the other hand, it's in very nice shape with a Saunders cover.

A quick survey - 8 copies at MCS between (their grades, strict) 2.0 and 4.0 priced between 7 and 19 dollars.

at eBay - 16 other copies between 1.5 and 6.5 (my appx grades) priced between 10 and 90.

The high end there being DTAColl/Top Notch (overgraded/overpriced but any regular eBay shopper is pretty familiar with that particular seller) fwiw

 

Edited April 1 by Darwination

[PopKulture]

On 4/1/2024 at 1:44 PM, Robot Man said:

That seem like a pretty crazy result for a somewhat common low demand pulp. Is this the now considered “FMV” for this one if I should consider my similar copy?

I’d be very surprised if that’s a legitimate result. There are a lot of shenanigans going on right now in pulps. Jordan Belfort would be proud of some of the “pump and dump” strategies being employed in this newly-hyped field. Unfortunately when some new money comes rushing into a collecting field, there are always going to be big bad actors creating the same sort of FOMO that we just saw unfold in comics over the past four years. Rinse and repeat… 

At least with NFT’s, the treachery was right up front. 

[Bookery]

On 4/1/2024 at 6:27 PM, PopKulture said:

I’d be very surprised if that’s a legitimate result. There are a lot of shenanigans going on right now in pulps. Jordan Belfort would be proud of some of the “pump and dump” strategies being employed in this newly-hyped field. Unfortunately when some new money comes rushing into a collecting field, there are always going to be big bad actors creating the same sort of FOMO that we just saw unfold in comics over the past four years. Rinse and repeat… 

At least with NFT’s, the treachery was right up front. 

Hard to say if it's that, or it's just comic collectors thinking that it should be priced like a comic with a similar cover?  Either way, uninformed buyers leaping into the pulp market are going to likely get burned in a big way down the road, and that's not good for the hobby.

Though as a rule, pulps are harder to obtain than vintage comics, it's not always the case.  A science-fiction pulp from, say, 1942, is probably much easier to come by than comic books from that year.  As for the science-fiction reprint pulps of the '40s and '50s... Famous Fantastic Mysteries, A. Merritt's Fantasy, Fantastic Novels, Fantastic Story... these are among the most common pulps there are.  I'm in a small Ohio suburb, and I've had hundreds of them over the years.  Even in high grade, they aren't all that scarce.  

[AnkurJ]

On a live show yesterday. Not sure if it sold but hope buyers are doing their research.

 

[Robot Man]

On 4/2/2024 at 5:38 AM, Bookery said:

Hard to say if it's that, or it's just comic collectors thinking that it should be priced like a comic with a similar cover?  Either way, uninformed buyers leaping into the pulp market are going to likely get burned in a big way down the road, and that's not good for the hobby.

Though as a rule, pulps are harder to obtain than vintage comics, it's not always the case.  A science-fiction pulp from, say, 1942, is probably much easier to come by than comic books from that year.  As for the science-fiction reprint pulps of the '40s and '50s... Famous Fantastic Mysteries, A. Merritt's Fantasy, Fantastic Novels, Fantastic Story... these are among the most common pulps there are.  I'm in a small Ohio suburb, and I've had hundreds of them over the years.  Even in high grade, they aren't all that scarce.  

Very true. Same in LA. These have always been $10. Flea market buys even the great Finlay covers in high grade. They are drying up fast though. A year ago I would get a lot of push back if I put out high grade ones at $50. Folks just didn’t get the reasoning that “what would they go for if they were comic books?”

These prices are crazy. Driven up by newbies and uneducated flippers who know nothing about pulps and smell “blood in the water”. I had a number of these folks clear out my boxes at CalCon a couple months ago. And I had upped my prices in anticipation of it. I have pulled back on selling them a bit until the dust settles a bit. They are just impossible to price right now. 

[lpsunburst]

While we are certainly in the pulp fever rush with so many newbies coming into the genre, the demand is VERY quickly outpacing supply. I will also add that it is almost totally driven by cover art with only minor exceptions for content. The All Story above being the best example, but no one is collecting any of the Spicy/Saucy titles for their literary value. Weird Tales with Conan enjoy al least a 2-4x bump over their non REH Brundage counterparts. The Shadow and The Spider values are 100% driven by the cover art except for their 1st issues. No one should be surprised at any of this as it has been true in the comic community for decades now, just look at Tec or Action covers with or without Batman or Superman, that list is nearly endless.

For comic collectors looking for cool covers to collect, the pulps offer significantly better art for pennies on the dollar of their comic counterparts. Considering what I paid for my Fox collection, the pulps I buy are still a bargain but going up fast, 10/33 is a classic example, and I still need a copy I just submitted my first batch of pulps for grading while they are still under the $400 standard value threshold, that is not going to last very long and yes, I know I am probably only making the costs go up but as I see it right now, you can either get on board or be left behind. Time will tell.

[jimjum12]

On 4/2/2024 at 8:38 AM, Bookery said:

Even in high grade, they aren't all that scarce.

According to David Q. Bowers, this is actually a good thing for a collectible market. Seemed to hold true for him ... but either way, there must be passion,... existence, on it's own, can't sustain interest. GOD BLESS ...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Darwination]

So, the April Prime Auction at MCS had about 150 pulps up.  Not too many super prestige items but all sort of scarcer titles you don't see every day (some neat romance books for sure - why everyone ignores all the books but the ones I'm after, I do not know ).  Surprisingly subdued action, but maybe that's the nature of the MCS Auctions, I admit I don't watch them often.  I was busy so only kept an eye on some tracked items.  Looking at the sales afterwards, I thought a lot of books went for very fair prices (likely far less than they'd fetch in a larger HA auction from what I've been seeing) and there's plenty of books I'd be more than happy to pay the hammer price for if I were after these titles.  Lessee if I can pick out some

A 6.0 Amazing from 1932 with great color $72

A weird but sharp Argosy with a dagger through a little dude o.O  $31

This 1940 has a sealed tear but is pretty, err striking, $50

Exploding box to the face Dime Mystery 5.0 from 1948 $56

Staple rust to this one and dingy but solid, but not quite what the Saunders FFM have been fetching elsewhere lately $66

The Marvel name didn't bump this 4.0 up too much, does have a tear toward the spine tho $115

This 6.0 Planet looks pretty good, $81

A 1940 VG Shadow with hooded dudes on the cover, $54

A $26 Thrilling Adventures, I know there's a lowly cowboy on the cover but still

A 1931 VG Weird Tales for $69

Not the greatest Brundage, I know, but a solid copy and a nice issue, $53

Hell, I even managed to win a book or two

Edited April 16 by Darwination

[waaaghboss]

I would have taken a shot at that 31 weird tales, I need to remember to check auctions on these other sites 😅