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What is the status of the Golden Age market?
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33 posts in this topic

On 1/30/2023 at 9:20 AM, nearmint said:

We've seen a downturn in Silver Age and later, but is Golden Age affected as well?  

Not so far to this current point in time, but then again the comic book marketplace tends to move in cycles, so who really knows.  (shrug)

Case in point, I was watching the Heritage Sunday Auction for a bit last night and noticed this book seem to sell for a pretty strong price:  :applause:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/detective-comics-82-dc-1943-cgc-vg-40-cream-to-off-white-pages/a/122305-19343.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

Golden Age (1938-1955):Superhero, Detective Comics #82 (DC, 1943) CGC VG 4.0 Cream to off-white pages....

I figure the GA market must still be running strong if a low.mid-grade non-classic comical Batman cover can still sell for $840 or 2.6X condition guide value with another 34 higher graded copies out there.  :whatthe:

From the Heritage scan here, definitely a nicely presenting copy relative to its assigned CGC 4.0 grade, but kind of makes me wonder what a HG copy of this book would go for in today's GA marketplace.  hm

Then again, maybe it's just that time of year and the bidders were all hyped up while watching the Super Bowl semi-finals at the same time.  :bigsmile:

Edited by lou_fine
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On 1/30/2023 at 1:58 PM, buttock said:

I have seen absolutely no evidence that it's down.  It's as hot as ever.  The difference is that SA tripled overnight and then dropped down to a double valuation.  GA grew more linearly.  

Absolutely right and there's no need to check on the status of BA and CA as the roller coaster ride there was even steeper and deeper.  (thumbsu  :fear:

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The fact that many of the wanted PCH/GA comics have a built-in supply scarcity as opposed to something like hundreds or thousands of slabbed copies in circulation like many more modern issues helps the cause, too.  As long as the interest is there and for some reason people don't decide to dump them at once, I'm guessing it's ok.  Sure prices can correct, but... *shrug*.  It also helps that the majority of existing owners of the rare issues are probably "holding forever" or don't care about selling anytime soon.  If I get a GA comic, you can rest assured you won't see it on the market again for years (I've actually never sold a comic, now that I think about it... LOL).  I generally buy a comic for its cover now and just get enjoyment out of looking at artwork from a completely different era.  I wish I had discovered this and GA comics, in general, a lot sooner -- it would've saved me money, for sure.

 

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On 1/30/2023 at 11:50 AM, lou_fine said:

Not so far to this current point in time, but then again the comic book marketplace tends to move in cycles, so who really knows.  (shrug)

Case in point, I was watching the Heritage Sunday Auction for a bit last night and noticed this book seem to sell for a pretty strong price:  :applause:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/detective-comics-82-dc-1943-cgc-vg-40-cream-to-off-white-pages/a/122305-19343.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

Golden Age (1938-1955):Superhero, Detective Comics #82 (DC, 1943) CGC VG 4.0 Cream to off-white pages....

I figure the GA market must still be running strong if a low.mid-grade non-classic comical Batman cover can still sell for $840 or 2.6X condition guide value with another 34 higher graded copies out there.  :whatthe:

hm

Then again, maybe it's just that time of year and the bidders were all hyped up while watching the Super Bowl semi-finals at the same time.  :bigsmile:

Is it the first football cover on a GA DC? Supa-hot, as a football may appear :nyah: in 'The Batman' 2 movie?

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I've seen some books sell for very strong prices, but I've seen some lackluster results, too. HA seems to be mostly immune to any softening of prices. Maybe HA bidders have more liquidity than the customer bases of other venues.

I don't think it's fruitful to go by anecdotal information because the extremely strong and extremely weak results are probably the ones that people notice and remember. Dealers are in the best position to know whether the books priced as buy-it-nows are selling as quickly as they were in 2021 at the same price points. That would be the best indicator of the health of the GA market. (If things have slowed, some dealers might not be totally forthright about that.)

On 1/30/2023 at 7:33 PM, Primetime said:

Timelys are 🔥 Can barely acquire any complete low grade Timelys for under $1000-$1500 these days. 

Edited by jimbo_7071
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On 1/30/2023 at 8:21 PM, comicnoir said:

How about this from last night? Great Baker cover, double trouble, tough. The exact same copy sold for $132.00 in 2018.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/romance/diary-secrets-22-st-john-1954-condition-gd/a/122305-19354.s?type=bidnotice-dailystatus

 

Diary Secrets 22.jpg

A little rough around the edges, but the colors and main image looks amazing for the assigned grade.

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On 1/31/2023 at 3:35 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

I've seen some books sell for very strong prices, but I've seen some lackluster results, too. HA seems to be mostly immune to any softening of prices. Maybe HA bidders have more liquidity than the customer bases of other venues.

 

I would ascribe HA's bidding mechanism as an important factor, actually, and it's caused me to bid beyond what I normally might have O/W. 

With eBay, you perhaps simply snipe with your best shot and that's it.  With HA, they'll show you either winning or not, and you have a chance to increase your bid within a few seconds.  I guess call it "bidding fever", but it seems to work, and is a real world gauge of value.

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On 1/31/2023 at 12:33 PM, fifties said:

I would ascribe HA's bidding mechanism as an important factor, actually, and it's caused me to bid beyond what I normally might have O/W. 

With eBay, you perhaps simply snipe with your best shot and that's it.  With HA, they'll show you either winning or not, and you have a chance to increase your bid within a few seconds.  I guess call it "bidding fever", but it seems to work, and is a real world gauge of value.

Yes, definitely don't care much for the eBay type CL bidding mechanism where it's seemingly all about a Hail Mary last second auction snipe.  :p

Now, if you like the HA auction format where you have quite a few seconds to think whether you hit that bid button or not, then you should really love the CC bidding mechanism whereby they keep giving you a full 3-minute extension to do your thinking and analysis and even enough time to run to the fridge for a snack. (thumbsu :bigsmile:

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On 1/31/2023 at 3:41 PM, RareHighGrade said:
On 1/31/2023 at 1:07 AM, Primetime said:
On 1/30/2023 at 6:45 PM, aardvark88 said:

Is it the first football cover on a GA DC? Supa-hot, as a football may appear :nyah: in 'The Batman' 2 movie?

More Fun 50 was earlier (12/39)

And More Fun nos. 25 and 37 were even earlier.  

Although I think he was just being a bit facetious with his response here, it's certainly good to know that all of you football fanatics are right on top of your game here. :applause:

Maybe we'll find out when the trailers come out for Batman 2 and there's a huge football in there.  lol

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On 1/31/2023 at 2:24 PM, lou_fine said:

Yes, definitely don't care much for the eBay type CL bidding mechanism where it's seemingly all about a Hail Mary last second auction snipe.  :p

Now, if you like the HA auction format where you have quite a few seconds to think whether you hit that bid button or not, then you should really love the CC bidding mechanism whereby they keep giving you a full 3-minute extension to do your thinking and analysis and even enough time to run to the fridge for a snack. (thumbsu :bigsmile:

That 3 minute mechanism is also on the My Comic Shop Monday auctions, and frankly I hate it.  I don't mind other bidders having maybe 5+ seconds to one-up me, but 3 minutes is just agonizingly too long.  A bidder knows within seconds. 

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On 1/31/2023 at 5:24 PM, lou_fine said:

Yes, definitely don't care much for the eBay type CL bidding mechanism where it's seemingly all about a Hail Mary last second auction snipe.  :p

Now, if you like the HA auction format where you have quite a few seconds to think whether you hit that bid button or not, then you should really love the CC bidding mechanism whereby they keep giving you a full 3-minute extension to do your thinking and analysis and even enough time to run to the fridge for a snack. (thumbsu :bigsmile:

You call the number of seconds you have on HA "quite a few"? It isn't an adequate amount of time to make a good decision—FOMO takes over—as evinced by the numerous times I've paid far more for books than I would have if I had had time to think.

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