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Multiple Copies of a Book
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304 posts in this topic

We all understand that we all collect in our own ways. The way I collect is what is best for me, but not for someone else.

That being said, can someone explain to me the reasoning regarding owning multiple copies of the same book? If the book you have multiples of is your all-time favorite book, I can get that. However, if I was to have five copies of X-Men #1 (and it wasn't my favorite book), I would keep the best-looking copy and sell the rest. I would take that money and diversify my collection. For example, I could buy the best copy of AF #15 that I could afford (or FF #1 or IH #1, you get the picture). Or I could buy a nice grade GA book (I would think that four XM #1s could buy a lower mid-grade copy of More Fun Comics #55 - the first Dr. Fate).

If you have multiple copies of the same book, could you please explain your reasoning about that? I would like to be enlightened.

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Hopefully without having my "Comic Collectors Decoder Ring" taken away, I can say that I went through a couple of periods decades ago when I "speculated" in some comics (please note: I never did this enough to qualify for a "Comic Speculators Decoder Ring" so I have that in my defense).  In the 1970s, I bought many copies of the first 16 issues (except, for some reason, #2) of "Howard the Duck."  I also bought multiples of the first 5 issues of "Eternals" and the first issue of "Nova."  More innocently, I also ended up with 2 issues of quite a number of "Fantastic Four" in the #70s and #80s.  I'm not positive, but I think I have these because a friend quit collecting and gave them to me.  In 1992, I briefly returned to collecting (or speculating if you prefer) and ended up with 6 issues of ASM #361 and 12 of ASM #362 because someone at an LCS (I think) said it would be valuable.  All-in-all, I speculated on mostly the wrong books.  Why didn't I buy 100 IH #181 or ASM 129?  Because I wasn't really a speculator.

More recently, I've ended up with duplicates due to buying entire collections.  There's probably not a Silver Age Marvel I would turn down if the price was right and if it fit my other collecting criteria, no matter how many copies I already have.  But I see those now as vehicles to get other books I don't have any copies of - I intend to sell some of my "undercopies" beginning this year in pursuit of other Silver Age Marvel books I need to "complete" my collection.

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On 1/15/2022 at 7:58 AM, ThothAmon said:

I like to show the good ones but what to do with 20 copies of Star Brand?  As far as reasoning goes 45 years of “good deals” 

I would be curious to learn how successful people are with their "speculating." As @ThothAmonsaid, it's great to show multiple copies of ASM #300, but not multiple copies of Star Brand.

I tried my hand at speculating last year. I bought multiple copies of Wolverine #6 (first appearance of Solem, whoever that is) and multiple copies of Legion of Super-Heroes #6 (first appearance of Gold Lantern, whoever that is). I sent them all to CGC and the majority came back as 9.8s. As soon as they returned, I put them up on Ebay, and, in their defense, they sold pretty quickly. As I looked back on the experience, I did make a little profit, but I had to buy copies from a variety of sources, such as Midtown Comics. I tried first at my LCSs, but all these issues had sold out when I went to look for them on a Thursday. I had read information about these books being hot on Monday, most likely from a post from GoCollect. At that point in time, I decided that the little profit I earned was not worth the time and effort that I put forth. When I looked at Ebay just now, both of these books are selling for less than I sold them for back in 2021 (most, but not all). From what I saw just now, it seems that the place to speculate is with variant covers. My main problem with speculating is that I haven't bought a current comic book for seven years. I don't know what is going on currently, and, if I find out about a potential hot book, I end up being a day late and a dollar short.

Unless you find it too embarrassing, would you please list your most profitable foray into speculating, along with an example of speculating where you made little profit or actually lost money?

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On 1/15/2022 at 7:58 AM, ThothAmon said:

I like to show the good ones but what to do with 20 copies of Star Brand?  As far as reasoning goes 45 years of “good deals”  

 

 Star Brand got me twice, first with issue #1, and just about when it had died they gave the book to Byrne and I loaded up again...

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On 1/15/2022 at 10:39 AM, valiantman said:

It's funny to me to consider limiting myself to one copy of anything I like owning.  Sure, it's a little weird to buy 10 copies of a $1 book, but what's the risk?  I've only spent $10.

But when something has value, and it's a book that you like, it's a win-win.  Why stop there?  Buying multiples makes it a win-win-win.

Let's say you need money sometime for an unexpected expense... sell your only copy of a book and you no longer have it. 

If you had bought two of them, you'd still have one.

Generally speaking, three copies makes the most sense, if you really do like the book.

One copy for your "permanent collection", one copy that you can sell if you get in a financial difficulty, and one copy that's always available for trade or sale if something else you want comes along.

:golfclap:

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On 1/14/2022 at 10:46 PM, Randall Dowling said:

Your post is completely logical and it makes good sense.  But when I comes to multiples of certain books, I can't explain it.  It's not a speculation thing.  I just feel better having multiple copies.  Reminds me of the classic TV ad from my childhood- "Can't get enough of Super Golden Crisp"

It's completely irrational.  Books like this fall into that category for me (this copy is thanks to an awesome board member):

Vampi7_Front_namisgr.thumb.jpg.448c49cac9dc5234abe5f403718dbf3c.jpg

It is just a lovely book. This one strikes more emotion for me than the others.

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