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You have $1,000 to put into a CGC graded bronze...You're a new collector. Where are you putting it knowing what you know now?
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Started by KCode98,

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SuperBird

SuperBird

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On 1/20/2022 at 9:20 AM, namisgr said:

Call me crazy, but I'd spend $1000 on some of my favorite Bronze Age comics, unslabbed and for reading and collecting both.  For me, that would mean seeking out copies of Avengers #93, Marvel Premiere #3, Conan #16, Hero For Hire #1, Green Lantern #85 and 86, Swamp Thing #1 and 7, Jimmy Olsen #134, Thor #193 and 200, Fantastic Four #123, Amazing Spiderman #102 and 121, Captain Marvel #31, and a handful of other cool books.  I'd buy as many as I could afford with nice eye appeal and near but short of high grade.

For investments, I prefer having more than $1K to devote and would try to set aside more money than that for traditional vehicles like stocks and maybe a little for commodities, real estate, and sources of income.  Maybe one or a couple of affordable key comics, too.  But making a few hundred to a thousand dollars on a relatively small comic book investment isn't going to change your life as much as collecting and reading comics for fun.

I think this is where I'd come out as well. 

It's a very strange time, to me, to start investing in comics today. Everything of "value" has run up so far so quickly, and nobody really knows how it will shake out. Plus bear in mind that comics have a lot of deficiencies compared to investing in other vehicles. They have high transaction costs, are potentially lost, damaged or stolen, not normally insured, and are heavily tax disadvantged when selling. It's easy to play Monday morning quarterback and pick out singular winners over the last 10/20/40 years, but overall unless you were extremely astute the stock market would have been a better investment. 

So basically, I think just buy what you love and think in those terms, and if they make money, then great! 

:manhero:

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Jesse-Lee

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On 1/19/2022 at 11:15 PM, Lazyboy said:

Yes, you're definitely wrong. It was a top seller that month.

You're right, I'm way off - I found this breakdown from Comichron: https://www.comichron.com/faq/ultimatefallout4sales.html

To save some reading, here's the gist from the end of the article:

Quote

Given contemporaneous UK sales levels from 2011, it's likely the first printing would have seen something like 5,000 additional copies going to that market on initial order, about a hundred of which would have been the Djurdjevic variants. That'd take it to around 96,600 Bagley first prints, and 1,500 Djurdjevic copies overall. The number probably wouldn't have been boosted much by reorders or the second printings; all too often, items saw only token reorder and later printing copies in that era.

Still, under 100,000 on the first print is relatively low overall.

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sfcityduck

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On 1/20/2022 at 6:20 AM, namisgr said:

Call me crazy, but I'd spend $1000 on some of my favorite Bronze Age comics, unslabbed and for reading and collecting both.  For me, that would mean seeking out copies of Avengers #93, Marvel Premiere #3, Conan #16, Hero For Hire #1, Green Lantern #85 and 86, Swamp Thing #1 and 7, Jimmy Olsen #134, Thor #193 and 200, Fantastic Four #123, Amazing Spiderman #102 and 121, Captain Marvel #31, and a handful of other cool books.  I'd buy as many as I could afford with nice eye appeal and near but short of high grade.

For investments, I prefer having more than $1K to devote and would try to set aside more money than that for traditional vehicles like stocks and maybe a little for commodities, real estate, and sources of income.  Maybe one or a couple of affordable key comics, too.  But making a few hundred to a thousand dollars on a relatively small comic book investment isn't going to change your life as much as collecting and reading comics for fun.

My nominee for post of 2022.

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1Cool

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If I had to pick I'd go with one slab it would be a X-Men 129 in CGC 9.6 (may need to make a cash offer to get one for a grand at this point).  It's gone up a bunch over the last couple years but I still see it having room to grow over the next decade or so.  Killer cover and 1st appearances of two big characters in one book is a winner for me.

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sfcityduck

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On 1/20/2022 at 6:20 AM, namisgr said:

Call me crazy, but I'd spend $1000 on some of my favorite Bronze Age comics, unslabbed and for reading and collecting both.  For me, that would mean seeking out copies of Avengers #93, Marvel Premiere #3, Conan #16, Hero For Hire #1, Green Lantern #85 and 86, Swamp Thing #1 and 7, Jimmy Olsen #134, Thor #193 and 200, Fantastic Four #123, Amazing Spiderman #102 and 121, Captain Marvel #31, and a handful of other cool books.  I'd buy as many as I could afford with nice eye appeal and near but short of high grade.

For investments, I prefer having more than $1K to devote and would try to set aside more money than that for traditional vehicles like stocks and maybe a little for commodities, real estate, and sources of income.  Maybe one or a couple of affordable key comics, too.  But making a few hundred to a thousand dollars on a relatively small comic book investment isn't going to change your life as much as collecting and reading comics for fun.

Another way to have that same kind of fun, but also make a quick return, is to go out and find copies of something seldom seen and relatively unknown and then make it pop.  You get the fun of the hunt, the fun of helping others appreciate an overlooked book, and the fun of creating a market.  Is it hard?  It just takes some research into comic collecting to identify targets - and that too is very fun - as well as the willingness and creativity to hunt up a copy (might be outside of traditional comic venues).  And, as an added bonus, you can also find yourself helping others meet their collecting goals by helping them get something they never knew they needed or could get. I've found some very cool stuff for two figures and then sold for four with a great deal of enjoyment during my period of ownership.  And there are many opportunities still out there. If all you do is chase the hot books hoping they'll get hotter you are nothing but a trend follower.  Far more fun to attempt to create the trend.

My latest such adventure to return from CGC is the only census copy of the first comic book with a Neal Adams cover.  Hard to believe with all the Neal Adams cover collectors that this book wasn't really on folks' radar.  Also very underrepresented on the census is the first penciled cover that the great Dave Stevens ever did - which is also hard to believe with all of the Dave Stevens collectors  (and not on the census at all is Dave Stevens first interior comic story, I have not submitted mine yet) - which you can find for two figures. 

Worth remembering that all of those comics which are "hot books" because of their covers became hot because dealers like Redbeard and Robotman etc. were hyping covers as the reason to buy those books starting back in the 70s.  They'd discover something, hype it, and next thing you know its a classic cover.  You can do it too.  There are still opportunities for the emergence of classic covers from the GA and SA which are overwhelmingly overlooked. That's a very fun form of collecting which educates while maximizing a return. 

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KCode98

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On 1/20/2022 at 12:30 PM, William-James88 said:

Like a Daredevil 254?

What was the draw to that book? That is a cover that I remember so vividly when I was young as a popular book that I thought had a flat out ugly cover

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William-James88

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On 1/20/2022 at 12:53 PM, KCode98 said:

What was the draw to that book? That is a cover that I remember so vividly when I was young as a popular book that I thought had a flat out ugly cover

It is an ugly cover, it's JRJR.

But the draw to that book is that it's the first appearance of Typhoid Mary, a Daredevil villain mainstay. I already have 2 just in case it blows up.

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jjonahjameson11

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On 1/20/2022 at 10:54 AM, shadroch said:

I'd wrangle with a dealer and walk away with two long boxes of common HGish  .20-.25 cent Marvels, put them in my closet and wait for a few to pop.

So you have $1K to spend on common HG 20-25 cent cover price Marvels and you think you’re gonna walk away with two long boxes of comics?

good luck with that! :tonofbricks:

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Hamlet

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On 1/19/2022 at 4:47 PM, KCode98 said:

I don't want to flip. I'm wanting a solid book (the best option) to hold onto for decades 

If you are interested in holding for decades, I wouldn’t buy certified books, especially right now.  CGC is not able to keep up with the demand right now, so the spread between slabbed books and raw is higher than normal.  Plus, if you are investing over decades, it is better to buy more of the thing you are expecting to appreciate ( the comic itself ) rather than the slabbing fees for the plastic case.

Buy nice books raw that interest you and that you will enjoy owning.  If you are uncomfortable with grading, try to buy from dealers that have  good reputations.  You can slab the books when it is time to sell.  

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shadroch

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On 1/20/2022 at 11:05 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

So you have $1K to spend on common HG 20-25 cent cover price Marvels and you think you’re gonna walk away with two long boxes of comics?

good luck with that! :tonofbricks:

It's all in the art of the deal.  Buy sheep, sell deer.

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WolverineX

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On 1/20/2022 at 11:21 AM, 1Cool said:

If I had to pick I'd go with one slab it would be a X-Men 129 in CGC 9.6 (may need to make a cash offer to get one for a grand at this point).  It's gone up a bunch over the last couple years but I still see it having room to grow over the next decade or so.  Killer cover and 1st appearances of two big characters in one book is a winner for me.

3 including Sebastian Shaw

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KCode98

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On 1/20/2022 at 11:21 AM, 1Cool said:

If I had to pick I'd go with one slab it would be a X-Men 129 in CGC 9.6 (may need to make a cash offer to get one for a grand at this point).  It's gone up a bunch over the last couple years but I still see it having room to grow over the next decade or so.  Killer cover and 1st appearances of two big characters in one book is a winner for me.

Interesting...That is one that has NEVER been on my radar and until I just looked it up I don't know if I've ever seen the cover. Was it cold until recent years?

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jcjames

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On 1/19/2022 at 8:35 PM, SuperBird said:

buy the highest grades you can afford, IMO. Better than quantity. 

True, up to a point.

But nosebleed books (especially keys) are really a waste of money - 9.8s do not appreciate in value to the same degree that 8.x-9.4s appreciate. Especially for keys that have been keys for a long time, for example...

For IH181 from 2006 to 2021: 9.8 average value increased 331%, 9.4 increased 800%, 8.0 increased 977%. 

For ASM129 from 2006 to 2021: 9.8 average value increased 253%, 9.4 increased 525%, 8.0 increased 1020%

For Bat244 from 2006 to 2021: 9.8 average value increased 71%, 9.4 increased 100%, 8.0 increased 1000%

 

Mid/High grade books are (in most cases) a much better investment than the highest grades* (past performance does not guarantee future performance)

B|

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