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Ever Think of Selling Your Entire Collection for One Big Book?
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Started by Professor K,

104 posts in this topic

GreatCaesarsGhost

GreatCaesarsGhost

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On 3/12/2022 at 9:32 AM, Straw-Man said:

i've recently given a good deal of thought into moving my biggest g.a. book and my af 15 undercopy into the highest graded af 15 they would essentially "trade" for.

I’ve given thought to this too. Mostly what stays my hand is I don’t know if this recent astronomical run up is for real. I don’t want to be the guy dropping $50k for a 3.0 that sold for $15k a few months ago. I guess the bus has left the station for me

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GreatCaesarsGhost

GreatCaesarsGhost

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On 3/12/2022 at 12:05 PM, Flex Mentallo said:

To each his own. I can understand why a collector would want to. It's the reverse for me. Over the past few years, as my posts in other threads show, I've built a library of hardcover books that span the whole spectrum of my various interests and I'm now enjoying reading them. Effectively, my apartment became a three room library. To do so I stopped buying comics, though I held onto what I had. I've no idea what the books cost me, but while it would probably have been more than their resale value, I can be fairly sure that what they cost me would have bought me no more than a handful of GA comics, as opposed to some 1500 to 2000 hardbacks. And I'd have nothing to read. While its certainly true that the hypothetical handful of GA books would have had greater investment potential, I don't think that would have been adequate compensation.

Think how many more books you could buy if you sold me your Planets

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Gotham Kid

Gotham Kid

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On 3/12/2022 at 6:05 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

I’ve given thought to this too. Mostly what stays my hand is I don’t know if this recent astronomical run up is for real. I don’t want to be the guy dropping $50k for a 3.0 that sold for $15k a few months ago. I guess the bus has left the station for me

I thought about buying an AF15 too. Fortunately that thought only lasted a few minutes...

Edited by Gotham Kid
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Flex Mentallo

Flex Mentallo

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On 3/12/2022 at 6:07 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

Think how many more books you could buy if you sold me your Planets

Cash, in small denominations, £ sterling only, on a street corner somewhere in the UK, after midnight on Midsummer's Day. [As you can see, I'm reading far too many books!]

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Chicago Boy

Chicago Boy

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On 3/12/2022 at 5:42 AM, Gotham Kid said:

I would consider buying a Tec 38 but only at 40-50% off going rate in today's market. :sumo:

paging @Chicago Boy Robin's greatest cheerleader lol

The other day on Instagram I saw someone post a handful of (entry level) 38s in his collection. As if 1 copy wouldn't be bad enough. Is that you Chicago Boy ? :baiting:

Seek HELP. Quickly.

I've finally come to the realization that Tec 38 will NEVER be the book I thought it would or should be,  I am a product of my time and the watering down of the number of Robin's didn't help the cause. 

Edited by Chicago Boy
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Professor K

Professor K

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On 3/12/2022 at 6:28 AM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

I’ve done it. I sold maybe a dozen $5k to $10k books a couple years ago to finance a Cap 1.  I’d had the books a few years, which was just long enough to net me about 10% after CC’s seller commission). Like you, I’d posited this same question to the boards beforehand, and got mostly encouragement. A couple comments cautioned me that it may prove more satisfying to own 10 books rather than 1 book, but I haven’t found that true for me. Another cautioned that if I need to free up some $ down the road, I may wish I had a $10k book rather than a $100k book to part with, depending on the need. The only other thing I can think to add concerns long term value. To use a stock analogy, you may be better off with a diversified portfolio, because some books might heat up while other books cool down. With just 1 book, you’re putting all your eggs in one basket. At this exact moment in time, that’s great if you moved into a Bat 1. Jury is still out, IMHO, as to where the market is on a Cap 1. Of the books you name, they all look good. I personally hate Robin, so the Tec 38 wouldn’t be my choice. Love the rest. YMMV.

Lots of good points there. For me the "having to free up some $ down the road" is a strong one. As far as long term value that is a tough thing to figure out, especially if you'd be selling dozens or more books to get that one Big One. Hard to figure what has peaked or nearly peaked at this point in history. Tec 38, yeah for me that would be mostly just for investment potential reasons. I'd rather have a 29,31, or 33 over a 38. Like someone said here long ago "It's been all downhill for Batman since Robin showed up". 

On 3/12/2022 at 7:36 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

The idea doesn't appeal to me too much. I'm not interested in first appearances; I mostly collect books for the cover art, and there are plenty of affordable books out there with covers that I like quite a bit. There are only a few books on my want list that would be six figures in 8.0, and I can't imagine selling my entire collection to buy one of them and having only one book to look at.

I get that. For me the greatest appeal of GA's by far is the cover art. 

On 3/12/2022 at 10:07 AM, Chief1332 said:

Timing, always timing.  Your grail may not come up for you again, or at least when you are prepared.

 

Tell me about it. I sold a few key Silver/Early Bronze books in early 2020 to put toward a few others. By time I found what I wanted everything went nuts. I guess all you can do is sell out, bank it, don't touch it, and pray.

On 3/12/2022 at 10:43 AM, eccomic said:

I would never even entertain that thought....I could never replace the historically, rare and important esoteric books I have taken decades to amass. :wink:

DSCN3865.JPG

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Beautiful room. That framed October 1933 Weird Tales, what is that? 

On 3/12/2022 at 11:25 AM, batman_fan said:

My number one rule I have learned over the years, never sell something to buy something else.  Only sell something to cover for something you already bought.

Every time I sold stuff to build a war chest for an upcoming auction I got screwed and the cash gets frittered away.

It happens to me every time. Wind up spending it on something else, then finding what I originally intended to buy becomes a mild obsession.

On 3/12/2022 at 11:42 AM, Nic8612 said:

I should clarify I suppose. I have a ton of golden age books that are super rare, I did not part with ANY of those. Most of what I sold were my major ASM and Thor keys. I have a lot of books that are essentially irreplaceable

 

Edit: Also, that AF15 is worth 3x what I paid for it less than a year later. So I'm glad I made the move when I did

 

On 3/12/2022 at 1:05 PM, fishbone said:

How about this question :   selling some (only some though, not all)  big books to purchase original comic art ?

That's kinda been my MO over the last 4 years   :cheers:

Yeah that too. Consider Original Art retconned in my original post. 

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Professor K

Professor K

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On 3/12/2022 at 1:18 PM, MrBedrock said:

I sold all of these...

fantasticfour3.jpg

...when I bought this...

action15cover.jpg

Incredible. My goodness. Stunning. Is that OA or Ashcan?I see those FF's are pretty high grade. Very high grade actually. You must have had more than enough to get that after selling all those. I'm not asking for numbers of course, just those are some serious FF's. 

On 3/12/2022 at 2:58 PM, Terry JSA said:

Yes. I’m actually doing that right now. 

Would you like to share with the class? If not I get it. It's perfectly understandable...... TELL ME WHAT YOU'RE GETTING!

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MrBedrock

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On 3/12/2022 at 2:51 PM, Professor K said:

Incredible. My goodness. Stunning. Is that OA or Ashcan?I see those FF's are pretty high grade. Very high grade actually. You must have had more than enough to get that after selling all those. I'm not asking for numbers of course, just those are some serious FF's.

That is the original cover art. At present it is the earliest known existing original Superman cover art. At the time (2013) I didn't have much wiggle room between the FF run and the price of the art, which anyone can find in the Heritage auction archives -$286,000. Now, even though the FFs have gone up quite a bit (probably somewhere in the $1,200,000 - $1,500,000 range), I would still much rather have the art and personally value it much higher.

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Nic8612

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On 3/12/2022 at 4:02 PM, MrBedrock said:

That is the original cover art. At present it is the earliest known existing original Superman cover art. At the time (2013) I didn't have much wiggle room between the FF run and the price of the art, which anyone can find in the Heritage auction archives -$286,000. Now, even though the FFs have gone up quite a bit (probably somewhere in the $1,200,000 - $1,500,000 range), I would still much rather have the art and personally value it much higher.

I would have to imagine that cover art would sell for significantly higher than that

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