What's the future hold to older comic's values? And does age play a factor? 1 1

[KCode98]

I personally find this topic very interesting and one that I also practiced in firearms collecting. A good example I think is below...

 

• Colt single action army values range usually between $2,000 - millions right now due to supply of course but also demand. Most will fly off the market within a day of going up. However what is interesting and also a little concerning to me is that most collectors are in the age group of 50-80 years old. Also most will tell you they collect due to watching spaghetti westerns as a child. 

 

Now what does this have to do with comic collecting? Well alike, I look in the gold and silver age market place here and surely and rightfully so they cost a huge premium over bronze and copper, BUT what I wonder is what is the driving force of the demand and what is the age group of most of the collectors. Another factor that can't be ignored is most adults past the age of say 30 have more of a disposable income than younger for sure. But still...I have to wonder what is the future value of gold, silver, and even bronze age books might be going forward. And a final piece of the puzzle I believe is the fact that before Disney, Marvel went into bankruptcy (so what does that say for comic collecting value?). But I think the key to the answer might or has to lie with Disney and what they have brought to the table. Mainly the movies and Marvel in general going forward.

 

Opinions?

[theCapraAegagrus]

The MCU doesn't have much to do with incoming comic book readers. They won't be the driving force behind potential new readership.

Older comics will maintain a lot of value because of their scarcity. People like me tend to buy reprints because buying full runs is nigh-impossible.

There will be a turning point at some time in which many older collectors will try to sell around the same time, and when their prices are not consistently met, the market will dictate a downturn if not a crash. That's my prediction, anyways.

[MattTheDuck]

This is purely observational, but it seems to me like there are a reasonable number of younger comic collectors, or maybe they're speculators.  I see them here, but I also see them at garage and estate sales, mostly elbowing me out of the way.  My personal experience is that I bought my first Golden Age book about a year ago, even though I've been collecting off-and-on since the early 1970s.  There are no guarantees, but it seems reasonable to expect that some percentage of younger collectors who today are interested Copper or Modern books may eventually develop wider interests in the hobby.  But you're right to focus on price - if a mid-grade Silver Age ASM #44 is $20,000 sometime in the future, almost everyone may be priced out.

[bc]

On 3/11/2022 at 11:44 AM, KCode98 said:

Now what does this have to do with comic collecting? Well alike, I look in the gold and silver age market place here and surely and rightfully so they cost a huge premium over bronze and copper, BUT what I wonder is what is the driving force of the demand and what is the age group of most of the collectors. Another factor that can't be ignored is most adults past the age of say 30 have more of a disposable income than younger for sure. But still...I have to wonder what is the future value of gold, silver, and even bronze age books might be going forward. And a final piece of the puzzle I believe is the fact that before Disney, Marvel went into bankruptcy (so what does that say for comic collecting value?). But I think the key to the answer might or has to lie with Disney and what they have brought to the table. Mainly the movies and Marvel in general going forward.

 

Opinions?

Hey Kcode98,

Saw your other post about the 9.8 dilemma a few days ago and wonder if this might tie in.

The "premium" depends on what you buy. There are affordable GA titles out there as long as you set the right condition based on your disposable income and collecting strategy. You ain't gonna see many GA books in high 9.x grade, hence the premium in that range. Same holds true for the early SA, but many books are plentiful and affordable if you just step down the grade a few notches. Supply is much more of an issue with GA compared to SA books. Sometimes you just have to settle for a copy of some GA books since you might not see another for several years.

The demand part of the equation is easy - collectors collect what they like and can afford.

If you spend some time in the GA section here, you're probably going to be surprised by the age spread of the community. As mainly a 70's Marvel zombie, I started picking up some GA books in my 20's just because they were "cool" and "old" compared to what I had experienced. Once I got into the history of the publishers, artists and writers, my interest continually grew and so did that part of my collection.

If you look at some of the hottest markets now, GA Pre-Code Horror (PCH) is extremely hot, Matt Baker books are hot (as well as pretty much any GGA/bondage covers) as well as several other genres. Point here is that NONE of that is due to the Mouse Factory, bankruptcies or modern media exposure (except when one sells for a million bucks, then its a news story).

I know that none of us want our comics to ever become worthless, but the resale value is not why I got into collecting comics nor does it stop me from expanding the collection. Wish we had the crystal ball to glean the answers about future values, but from a long-term historical perspective the hobby has weathered several bad periods and seems to be in its hey day right now.

The biggest recent market corrections have been in the uber high grade "speculator-type" books (mainly from the bronze and modern ages) based on movie/tv show hype (there's your Disney tie-in). Books shot up thousands of dollars during the run up and then quickly lost much of that value before settling into a relative market price based on a true supply/demand curve as speculators moved onto the next "big thing".

Have fun, it's supposed to be a hobby!

-bc

 

[darkstar]

Concerning older books I think there has been way too much worry here lately in regards to what will happen to prices when the older people who hold substantial positions of books from that era are no longer acquiring them and likely making them available to the market. If an actual freefall in prices were to occur you would still have a few handfuls of people coming in and just buying up everything. The rarity and significance of that stuff is only increasing and its place the history of American art remains secured, regardless of whether the content remains a part of pop culture or not, and regardless of whether the people who have nostalgia for it are still around. While younger people within the hobby might be priced out of it at some point and older people with childhood memories of it will no longer be around at some point, eventually it will become far too attractive to art collectors outside the hobby to ignore.   

[D2]

On 3/11/2022 at 11:52 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

The MCU doesn't have much to do with incoming comic book readers. They won't be the driving force behind potential new readership.

Older comics will maintain a lot of value because of their scarcity. People like me tend to buy reprints because buying full runs is nigh-impossible.

There will be a turning point at some time in which many older collectors will try to sell around the same time, and when their prices are not consistently met, the market will dictate a downturn if not a crash. That's my prediction, anyways.

I think this. 
 

If you want a “bulletproof” approach, I’d advise to purchase books that are rare. 
 

Whatever that means. 
 

So whether they are rare in high grade, or rare in signature… rare in print count, whatever. But a rare, popular, desired book, will always be sought after. I think the days of collecting full runs is over. First of all, no one cares, and secondly, when a flood does eventually happen, and it will, when all the comics of the wives and sons of the deceased comic collectors hit the market, all those fill in issues are going to rot. 

Edited March 12, 2022 by D2

[Westy Steve]

You guys need to go to a coin show, and see the age of the people at the shows and the prices they are paying. You will stop worrying. Just like them, most of us here will collect until the day we die, propping prices up. When your kids are middle-aged, maybe they’ll start to see prices dropping.

[Courageous Cat]

IMO comic values are here to stay...maybe a bit of leveling out is in order, but I didn't grow up in the 30, 40's and 50's, but yet I still go gaga over the books from that era. Sadly though, I think investor's have seen the potential in these once in a lifetime gems and I firmly believe they are not going away anytime soon which I understand will make it tougher to collect for the average Joe. Guess ya'll better load up on Fawcetts and Western photo books

[kav]

On 3/11/2022 at 8:44 AM, KCode98 said:

I personally find this topic very interesting and one that I also practiced in firearms collecting. A good example I think is below...

 

• Colt single action army values range usually between $2,000 - millions right now due to supply of course but also demand. Most will fly off the market within a day of going up. However what is interesting and also a little concerning to me is that most collectors are in the age group of 50-80 years old. Also most will tell you they collect due to watching spaghetti westerns as a child. 

 

Now what does this have to do with comic collecting? Well alike, I look in the gold and silver age market place here and surely and rightfully so they cost a huge premium over bronze and copper, BUT what I wonder is what is the driving force of the demand and what is the age group of most of the collectors. Another factor that can't be ignored is most adults past the age of say 30 have more of a disposable income than younger for sure. But still...I have to wonder what is the future value of gold, silver, and even bronze age books might be going forward. And a final piece of the puzzle I believe is the fact that before Disney, Marvel went into bankruptcy (so what does that say for comic collecting value?). But I think the key to the answer might or has to lie with Disney and what they have brought to the table. Mainly the movies and Marvel in general going forward.

 

Opinions?

what happens is younger collectors invariably get drawn to the most valuable books and as they age they can afford more expensive books.  I'm old but I wasnt around in the golden age but I still want them books.
There is no cause for alarm here.  Plenty of people want Action #1, and not because they have nostalgic memories of buying it off the stands.

[kav]

Same holds true with guns.

[Mercury Man]

On 3/11/2022 at 10:43 PM, Westy Steve said:

You guys need to go to a coin show, and see the age of the people at the shows and the prices they are paying. You will stop worrying. Just like them, most of us here will collect until the day we die, propping prices up. When your kids are middle-aged, maybe they’ll start to see prices dropping.

Hmmm...the only thing I will say about this, is that gold/silver/copper and other precious metals have been sought and sourced for centuries, based on usage.    Funny books about 100 years.   We can melt certain metals and make some serious weapons, bullets, make tools, fill teeth, who knows what, when the big one drops.   As for Action #1 during the Apocalypse......it can start a fire for your next meal. 

[Coverless 9.8]

On 3/11/2022 at 11:28 PM, kav said:

what happens is younger collectors invariably get drawn to the most valuable books and as they age they can afford more expensive books.  I'm old but I wasnt around in the golden age but I still want them books.
There is no cause for alarm here.  Plenty of people want Action #1, and not because they have nostalgic memories of buying it off the stands.

 

On 3/11/2022 at 11:28 PM, kav said:

Same holds true with guns.

The only way I'm going to get the first appearance of Superman is with a gun in my hand!  Either me or the book will wind up slabbed!  

[stock_rotation]

If you want to know what the future of GA comic collecting looks like, look at the Hummel market.

[darkstar]

On 3/13/2022 at 10:20 AM, stock_rotation said:

If you want to know what the future of GA comic collecting looks like, look at the Hummel market.

Hard to overstate how poor a comparison comic books are to Hummel figurines.