You say you know comics 2 2

[Majikspellzz]

Hi!! I have a vast comic collection from the 1940's-1990's and I'm currently cataloging them manually in notebooks one by one .. then looking up price guides between a few select sites for references... What advice do you have for me?! I have everything from Star Trek #1 Gold Key, yes, you read that correctly, to Ms Marvel #1, to Weird War Tales to Marvel Chillers #1-6, to Space Family Robinson to Walt Disney Comics and Stories to Turok Son of Stone to Little Lulu... To Debbie Does Comics to big books like thes Marvel Previews, Super Special, Graphic Novels to Heavy Metal to Elf Quest to DC to Love and Rockets to Epic to These cool 10¢ Girl magazines based on beautiful women in film (I've found 2 so far) I know this is a lot of information but I want you to understand the vastness of the unknown land I'm in..

Thanks for any input!! 

 

[SOTIcollector]

What is it you’re trying to accomplish?  Are you looking to catalog your collection so you know what you have and can buy more?  Looking for long-term or short-term storage solutions?Are you hoping to sell everything?  Looking for advice on how to find a fair market value?  How to sell?

You’ll get useful input if people know what your goal is.

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 7/20/2023 at 3:19 AM, Majikspellzz said:

Hi!! I have a vast comic collection from the 1940's-1990's and I'm currently cataloging them manually in notebooks one by one .. then looking up price guides between a few select sites for references... What advice do you have for me?!

Offer whatever PCH you have, to me, at a discount.

[zzutak]

On 7/20/2023 at 12:19 AM, Majikspellzz said:

What advice do you have for me?

1. One can't establish a price guide value (or range) until one establishes a grade; so be certain you can grade according to modern standards.
2. Market value is frequently much less than (and sometimes much greater than) guide value.  Unless you're familiar with the market on a specific book or series, you won't be able to establish these fractions (or multiples); so be certain to review databases of actual sales.
3. Value generally changes over time; so consider using a spreadsheet rather than a notebook.

Good luck. 

[shadroch]

Whatever value you have will be mostly in the older books.  If you want to save some time, go thru the collection and pull all the Marvels with 20-cent or less cover prices.  That is where the value lies. Next up would be 10 and 12 cent DCs.  Obviously, there are some exceptions to these broad statements but thars my free advice.

[Cman429]

Learn to grade. You don’t have to become an expert grader (I don’t even think a lot of the “expert” graders are expert graders going by some CGC subs LOL) but BEFORE you start cataloging value, learn the difference between a near mint comic and a VG/Fine one (that should be pretty obvious). THEN worry about looking up values. Often the difference between grades can mean a giant difference in worth. And often complete noobs think their books are “mint” when they’re at best average to below average. 

[marvelmaniac]

I did this in 2015, I graded (myself), photographed and cataloged 2000+ books and used Yahoo Mail Compose to catalog all of it, the list is saved in "Yahoo Drafts" so I can make changes (add new books) easily and as a PDF, the list and photo's are saved to my laptop and also on two separate flashdrives for backup, the PDF is 37 pages. When I cataloged them I made notations if there was an additional defect that lowered grade. I did this for future reference for me, insurance purposes and for my kids who will be left with these books when I am gone. Example ASM...

I, among others, use eBay sold auction prices for books in the same grade to determine FMV, this is as realistic as you will get to true FMV since this is what folks actually paid (on their own) for these books, just be careful, No BIN's, look for auctions that had at least 5 bidders and be sure there was not a bidding war that artificially increased the price.

Every 6 month's (June/December) I recheck FMV on my top books and record it, and save it to my laptop and flashdrives, I have been doing this since 2015, the past couple of years I have been recording the FMV for my top 50 books for the year to keep track of market trends, and yes, prices are falling. Example;

2015 

2022 

If you are going to undertake this I would suggest you purchase the Overstreet Price Guide and Grading Guide (or the new CGC Grading Guide), the price guide even with prices being outdated is filled with ton's of useful info.

[Mokiguy]

I'm curious as to how you came to have such a vast and possibly valuable collection. From how you pose your questions, it appears that it was not you, but rather these were inherited from somebody that did have this love of comics, like many folks here, and you've inherited this collection and are concerned with their value. So I think that the first place to start is not their worth, but to consider who it was that amassed this collection. Try to view things through his or her eyes, look at each book and try to see what they saw, and perhaps then you'll learn to love both the comics and the collector more for what they are and who they were, rather than the value that will have less importance. That's my philosophical 2 cents for this morning.

[Dr. Balls]

 

Is it ok I send you a DM offering to buy said ungraded comics for an astronomical amount via PayPal Friends and Family? Perhaps you can take pictures of the books against different backgrounds to show that they are, indeed, yours? 

Edited July 20, 2023 by Dr. Balls

[seanfingh]

Did I read that correctly?  He has a *gasp* Star Trek 1 *choke*?

[comix4fun]

On 7/20/2023 at 3:48 PM, seanfingh said:

Did I read that correctly?  He has a *gasp* Star Trek 1 *choke*?

[Tom789]

On 7/20/2023 at 12:19 AM, Majikspellzz said:

Hi!! I have a vast comic collection from the 1940's-1990's and I'm currently cataloging them manually in notebooks one by one .. then looking up price guides between a few select sites for references... What advice do you have for me?! I have everything from Star Trek #1 Gold Key, yes, you read that correctly, to Ms Marvel #1, to Weird War Tales to Marvel Chillers #1-6, to Space Family Robinson to Walt Disney Comics and Stories to Turok Son of Stone to Little Lulu... To Debbie Does Comics to big books like thes Marvel Previews, Super Special, Graphic Novels to Heavy Metal to Elf Quest to DC to Love and Rockets to Epic to These cool 10¢ Girl magazines based on beautiful women in film (I've found 2 so far) I know this is a lot of information but I want you to understand the vastness of the unknown land I'm in..

Thanks for any input!! 

 

If you're new to comic books, first learn how to handle them so you don't introduce damage - there should be several videos available.  Then, buy bags, boards and boxes to store them if they're not already stored that way.

[C. Spaulding]

Too many cliffhangers in this one. Now I’m invested. 

[L'Angelo Misterioso]

On 7/20/2023 at 8:26 PM, C. Spaulding said:

Too many cliffhangers in this one. Now I’m invested. 

Imagine he's burying a massive lede and all the early books are Timelys and popular horror comics

[MattTheDuck]

I'd suggest a more "electronic" means of cataloguing this group of books.  I personally use Excel, although there are on-line/app ways of doing this.  The trick is not only coming up with a value, but then updating those values which I think it's fair to say change "often."

[DougC]

Google Docs is free and you can just use the simple format of Name, #, and grade.

you can further categorize them by company in different tabs with an extra tab for oddities.

Given the books you have listed so far, it may not be worth the time though if you collection is as vast as you believe. You might want to do a once through to pull out the highest value books then sell the rest as a lot to the highest non-consignment offer.

[PovertyRow]

On 7/20/2023 at 12:19 AM, Majikspellzz said:

I have a vast comic collection from the 1940's-1990's

Well what comics do you have from the 1940s? Everything you list (maybe with the exception of Lulu) seem Bronze age or later.