Best site to buy Golden Age Comics? 2 2

[Robot Man]

On 3/19/2024 at 10:58 AM, Hudson said:

I can see how that would be frustrating and cause people not to want to go to that thread.

I have not used the WTB thread too often, however, I believe anytime someone has contacted me with a book I am looking for, we have made a deal.   Then again, I am not a "dealer" or "flipper"; I am a collector.  As such, the exact price point is not as important to me, as it would be if I were trying to locate a book to make a profit.  In the cases when I want a certain grade, I always am specific about that (as to avoid the situation you described).  In MOST cases, I will take any grade if it is a book I am trying that hard to find.  Honestly, I sometimes like a "well loved" copy of a book (books after all were intended to be read).

We sound like brothers from different mothers…

I love high grade books as much as everyone else does and have a lot of them. But I love the books first and formost. I have long ago realized that what I collect, obscure GA, sometimes it is wise to, within reason, go for any copy available. Might never get the chance. And, if I wanted an upgrade, I can keep looking but the hole is filled for the time being.

I guess, to some extent, I have always been a bit of a dealer or flipper. In looking for stuff I want, I often bump into stuff I don’t want but others do. I have sold off that stuff to pay for what I want. My collection has almost always been totally self funded. A process that has worked out very well for me and kept my family happy…

[Robot Man]

On 3/19/2024 at 7:33 PM, samfromcalifornia said:

I had a table at San Diego in the mid-80s and a young man came up, asking me if I had a copy of Nature Boy. I said yes, issue #3. He was dumbfounded, He said he couldn't count the number of conventions he had gone to, trying to find a copy of that run. I sold it to him for a reasonable price and he thanked me vociferously. I'll bet he remembered that find for quite a while. It gave me a good feeling as I hitched up my covered wagon for the trip back to LA, of course carrying my long rifle in case of grizzly attack.

Now he could go online and find 50 copies offered for sale, most of them encapsulated to protect the market value. I sorry, I just don't see the same magic of collecting as I experienced. 

I thought you were going to say, the next day you saw it on EBay or saw him selling it to the next guy.

In all my years buying and selling comics, I have probably heard every senario or reason why I should sell a book cheap to someone.

Like you, it is always very satisfying to get a book into the hands of someone who really wants and treasures it.

We now live in a world of money and the quick flip. That’s how it is and I really don’t care what you do with it once it’s paid for. Just don’t think everybody is stupid enough to fall for some age old story.

Am I jaded? No, not really just a little smarter than some people give me credit for.

I still enjoy this hobby! 

[PDGray]

I have to admit to being guilty of overpaying for old books that are torn and ratty just to save them from being thrown away.  Age doesn't matter to me, but I do love the GA and SA stuff.

 

PDG

[samfromcalifornia]

I stopped collecting about 30 years ago(after about 25 years in the hobby). Yet, here I am, checking the CGC two or three times a day. I stopped collecting, not because I lost interest or enthusiasm in the subject, but because I was alienated by the trend of overarching commercialization of a hobby I enjoyed.  Now, I am not naive enough to claim that financial considerations have not always played an important, even central, role in comics fandom. I just feel we're approaching a time when they might be the sole consideration. As more long time collectors pass from the scene, I feel their places are taken by people who regard comic book collecting in the same way another person might regard wheat futures. Long ago, when I tried to explain why I was so enthusiastic about comic book collecting, I spoke of how in, say, coin collecting, a 1909s VDB Lincoln penny looks pretty much like every other Lincoln penny ever minted. In comics, though, when you open them, there are so many different elements to appreciate(character, artist, first appearance, even the ads and many more). I think I made the case for my hobby well. Now, you can appreciate the cover and that's about it. You may dream about the first work of your favorite artist gracing a back up feature, but to actually look at it may impose a severe financial penalty.

That's why, in my original post, I stated that I didn't see the same magic of collecting as I experienced it, not that I stopped enjoying the hobby. Now, if the new collectors of today get as much enjoyment as I did in the days of yore, I couldn't be happier. I just don't think I would enjoy collecting in the current environment. But there were probably similar comments from the times of the pharaohs to the effect that the ankhs made at the time weren't as good as the ones of their youth. The phrase "the good old days" reflects less a relative quality than the magic of our younger days.

[Robot Man]

On 3/21/2024 at 2:02 PM, samfromcalifornia said:

I stopped collecting about 30 years ago(after about 25 years in the hobby). Yet, here I am, checking the CGC two or three times a day. I stopped collecting, not because I lost interest or enthusiasm in the subject, but because I was alienated by the trend of overarching commercialization of a hobby I enjoyed.  Now, I am not naive enough to claim that financial considerations have not always played an important, even central, role in comics fandom. I just feel we're approaching a time when they might be the sole consideration. As more long time collectors pass from the scene, I feel their places are taken by people who regard comic book collecting in the same way another person might regard wheat futures. Long ago, when I tried to explain why I was so enthusiastic about comic book collecting, I spoke of how in, say, coin collecting, a 1909s VDB Lincoln penny looks pretty much like every other Lincoln penny ever minted. In comics, though, when you open them, there are so many different elements to appreciate(character, artist, first appearance, even the ads and many more). I think I made the case for my hobby well. Now, you can appreciate the cover and that's about it. You may dream about the first work of your favorite artist gracing a back up feature, but to actually look at it may impose a severe financial penalty.

That's why, in my original post, I stated that I didn't see the same magic of collecting as I experienced it, not that I stopped enjoying the hobby. Now, if the new collectors of today get as much enjoyment as I did in the days of yore, I couldn't be happier. I just don't think I would enjoy collecting in the current environment. But there were probably similar comments from the times of the pharaohs to the effect that the ankhs made at the time weren't as good as the ones of their youth. The phrase "the good old days" reflects less a relative quality than the magic of our younger days.

I completely understand what you are saying. Things have really changed over my lifetime of collecting. Mainly, the values of the books I have enjoyed for all these years. Maybe bad for buyers and good for sellers. They have become “widgets” to many. Maybe to some, it legitimates their hobby.

I tend to limit my reading and participation in threads here on auction prices and threads with a big key in the title. Frankly, the money talk really bores me. Any big keys I have aren’t going anywhere and I have long been priced out on most of the rest. Not that I’m not acutely aware of current pricing. But, this is not why I got into this hobby in the first place.

None of this has really diminished my enjoyment of the hobby. I have just adjusted my interests and maybe lowered my grading expectations in order to keep my foot in the door.

The love of the hobby is still very strong. There is a wonderful group of true lovers of the medium here on the boards. We share information freely and still show off the books we love. At the end of the day, it is the love of the books themselves that keep us all in the game. 

[samfromcalifornia]

I've seen so many posts that confirm your statement about lovers of the medium on this board.  For instance, I always enjoy reading the Four Color Comic Covers thread. I was aware of the FC runs mainly through the Disney and Warner Brothers books, but I was never aware of the tremendous variety the FC books provided. I'll see some examples of media of the time that I was totally unaware of. A quick visit to Wikipedia will provide info that inspires link...link...link and many minutes of enjoyable discovery.  The contributors to the thread are so infectively enthusiastic about the subject that it's like a glass of cool water in the desert. Another fun read is the great SPLASH thread.  I think it connects us with the artists who worked on these books. You can feel how they cared about the work they did. They were artists who were passionate about their work.  Their creations were never going to appear in the Louvre(excepting Roy Lichtenstein, of whom I have rather strong opinions about), but they wanted to make the most of the hand that Fate dealt them. Wherever they are now, I hope they know that their work is remembered and appreciated almost a century later.