High Grade Hoarding

[Aman619]

Well, yes thousands of 181 added to the census would depress prices...but to me, there are ALREADY enough slabbed high grades to depress the market, or at least give it second thoughts. There are 46 9.6s already.....

 

Also, to the thought that there probably arent hoards of KEYS arond like 181, why not? Wasnt it just another issue of Hulk for months afterwards? If Chuck (in this case) came across a warehouse of ALL unsold comics from that period, why wouldnt Hulk 181 be in there in quantity like all the other contemporary comics?? He said in the article that the owners only pulled the XMen issues...they might also have pulled the 181s, but if they did they would have been sold back into circulation anyway.

 

I've seen long boxes of the 1968 new Marvel #1s (Iron man#1, Cap#100, Hulk#102, Subby#1) in the past few years. I can now NEVER even think of buying any of these books!! As JC said earlier here, its depressing to know for a fact how MANY high grade comics exist as we delude ourselves into thinking they are "rare"

 

 

[nochips]

I see a bunch of Strange Tales 138 and 148 for sale, lots of X-Men 10? Avengers 44 is another one.

 

If you think about it theres a bunch of books that always turn up in nice shape.

[joe_collector]

>>As JC said earlier here, its depressing to know for a fact how MANY high grade comics exist as we delude ourselves into thinking they are "rare"

 

There are a ton of comics like this that I refuse to even look at anymore, due to this type of hoarding. For example, I used to think Marvel Special Edition #15 (first MOKF) was a cool book, and own a few high-grade copies.

 

Then I hit a show and saw a guy with huge stacks of the books, and later on EBay found a seller with more stacks of it (I bought a copy cheap to see and it was spectacular). He later loaded reams of CGC 9.6-9.8 copies on EBay and sold them off for a mint.

 

That book is right up there with Devil Dinosaur #1 for me now, since I've had a small glimpse at the hoards os ultra-high grade copies out there. I can't imagine how many Hulk 181's are sitting in stacks out there, since the comic was identified early as a Key and I can remember sellers in the early 80's with piles of the issue, barkering them off like carnies.

 

Chuck also illustrates this quite well, when referring to the MH 2 owner threatening to sell these off piece-meal to other dealers:

 

"... that massive quantity of Silver Age comics flooding the market at one time might well very have put me out of business"

 

Silver Age? Let's not even get into the amount of Bronze Age Keys that were in the collection.

[Aman619]

JC--some of the younger guys all excited about the Bronze Age (cause that's their childhood stuff) dont really like it when those of us who were schooled on Silver refer to Bronze as "common." But compared to SIlver, it is. Just as Silver compared to Golden is plentiful.

 

Im not trying to [!@#%^&^] anyone off---Im only stating that Bronze is much more available than older periods. They are rarer in true highgrade, but the bar may be raised to 9.8 across the board when they all come out

 

 

[Aman619]

Okay---Ive posted these figures TWICE now and NO ONE has replied!/??

I think those numbers bumps in EVERY high grade for Suspense#74 is statistically significant? NO??

[joe_collector]

I think there were a ton of "thousand issue" hoards on the MH 2 collection, and it looks like TOS 76 was one of them.

[COI]

Bronze books are common. I grew up with early/mid 80's books and some late Bronze(back issues). I now collect mostly key stuff from silver, up to around 1986. As much as I love the books from 1975-1985, there's no disputing that they are extremely common. I doubt anyone would dispute them, or get offended. They're still good, and very collectable, as long as people don't get suckered into paying ridiculous prices.

[joe_collector]

>>JC--some of the younger guys all excited about the Bronze Age (cause that's their childhood stuff) dont really like it when those of us who were schooled on Silver refer to Bronze as "common."

 

Hey, I don't mind either way, as I only buy and collect what I like, and books that mean something to me, no matter if the entire market collapses. If a few thousand more NM copies emerge, I could care less.

 

Then again, if I were buying something like an Iron Fist #1 CGC 9.6 for "Investment Purposes" - ULP!

[COI]

I've also noticed that Suspense #74 is much more common than the other books in the run, but I doubt this is the book with 14,000 high grade copies. Again, I'd be more inclined to think it's either ASM #33 or Thor #132, or maybe even Avengers #24.

[joe_collector]

Avengers 24 is another wild issue, and in addition to the much-higher CGC subs, that issue shows up a lot in VF/NM to NM raw form.

 

ASM 33 is the issue that I alluded to earlier, and large dealers like the Blazing One and others seem to load a new CGC 9.4-9.6 issue on EBay every single week. It was so bad, that some were theorizing it was a double-printed comic.

[Aman619]

there's no disputing that they are extremely common. I doubt anyone would dispute them, or get offended. They're still good, and very collectable, as long as people don't get suckered into paying ridiculous prices.

 

That sums it up perfectly for me. good job.

[Aman619]

I remember---I went down and pulled out all my copies and looked for any hints of a second printing or plate change. Couldnt see any.

[Lofwyr]

You seem to forget that most serious collectors have significant financial resources already, and would never think of selling their prized collection. In fact, many would view the $18K for a CGC 9.8 Hulk 181 as chump change, compared to some of the Golden Age keys they hold.

 

While that may be true for hardcore golden/silver age collectors most Bronze and those that dabble lightly in silver seem to be average people working regular jobs who indulge in the hobby. I'm only in my mid 20's so I guess the thought of throwing down 18k+ on a fairly recent (1970s) book is beyond ludicrous. I'm what you call a "budget" collector I try to pay rock bottom prices for as much quality as possible. I know a lot of people have a similar mindset.

 

 

 

[ninanina]

Joe, been reading this post and it's a good one. Just wanted to let you know how much I'm enjoying it.

 

Sorry, don't have anything to contribute.

 

But, a great post.

[Aman619]

so I guess the thought of throwing down 18k+ on a fairly recent (1970s) book as beyond ludicrous

 

I think there's plenty of us here who think its ludicrous too...

One hopes that by now the owner of the book also has come to that conclusion. I can guess the seller has!

[joe_collector]

I understand fully, but the people holding these keys have been buying in bulk off the shelves since they were young, kept buying HG collections, and hitting up dealers for first dibs on things like pedigree discoveries, and multiple issue investments like the MH2 collection.

 

The usual suspect would be a professional, nearing retirement and with significant financial holdings, along with a few core collectibles. These are not people who get excited over an $18K sale.

 

Longtime dealers can easily identify with this type of client; doctor, lawyer, executive, etc. with a long-term hankering for some high-grade comics.

[jordanabigail]

I hate to admit it...but you're making a lot of sense with this thread

Please give me a bit of history on the Mile High collection - how did Chuck come across an entire warehouse of unsold comics? Did this warehouse just appear like a ghost in some backlot somewhere in North Dakota?!?!

 

AND...can someone give me numbers on the amount of Silver vs. Bronze books that were being sold each month back then? I know that in the early 90's books would sell 1 million copies a month...and now the best selling book sells 100,000. But what kind of numbers are we talking about for stuff like Cap 100 vs. Iron Fist 1?

 

Thanks!!!

[murph0]

Mile High Comics, click the 'Tales from the Database' link

 

Brian

[jordanabigail]

Thanks for the link. I'm reading it now. Unreal.

[murph0]

Speaking of which does anyone else find it a bit fishy as to why he couldn't come up with more then 25 cents a book? Did he have horrendous credit or something? I guess it would be tought to prove profitability in a collectible though...

 

Brian