why does the value increase if...? 2 2

[BA773]

You probably already seen videos of speculators on youtube who repeat why you have to invest on this book or this one because if you dont do it now it will be too late in few time...

The things i cannot understand is why the books even the older will continue to increase now that we have service like cgc who prevents the books from disappearing in the wild and be destroyed? 

In my mind there will be a roof, a certain point where it will be over. if a great quantity of a specific book are already slabbed and with the time the latest raw copies will be progressivly slabbed too why the books will increase, i dont imagine the number of slabbed book reduce, people arent going to broken them... so the books cannot became really more rare...

I think to books like Batman 227, 251 or Green Lantern 76. People continue to send these kind of books to cgc so im a bit confused about the increasing even in ten or twenty years.

[Nick Furious]

On 12/16/2023 at 8:00 AM, BA773 said:

You probably already seen videos of speculators on youtube who repeat why you have to invest on this book or this one because if you dont do it now it will be too late in few time...

The things i cannot understand is why the books even the older will continue to increase now that we have service like cgc who prevents the books from disappearing in the wild and be destroyed? 

In my mind there will be a roof, a certain point where it will be over. if a great quantity of a specific book are already slabbed and with the time the latest raw copies will be progressivly slabbed too why the books will increase, i dont imagine the number of slabbed book reduce, people arent going to broken them... so the books cannot became really more rare...

I think to books like Batman 227, 251 or Green Lantern 76. People continue to send these kind of books to cgc so im a bit confused about the increasing even in ten or twenty years.

The slabbed supply of those books will increase by some small number each year, but that doesn't mean that the supply available for sale will increase each year.  If 10 new copies enter the market next year and 15 copies are purchased by long-term collectors, the supply available for sale has gone down by 5.  Sometimes an event (like a movie announcement) will bring in a larger-than-usual number of new submissions for slabbing.  But that is only because the event has also increased demand.  You always have to look at the balance of market demand vs. market supply.  Think of it like Gold, Silver, or Houses.  Bringing in new supply each year does not reduce prices as long as demand stays strong enough to absorb that supply.  

[LowGradeBronze]

When we all start fighting each other for the last tin of soup on the supermarket shelves or the last bottle of safe clean drinking water, the prices of certain comics might come down a bit, so cheer up! 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

In addition to what others stated about basic market (supply /demand)

Just because a book is slabbed does not mean it is safe and perfectly preserved.  There are many stories of slabs being destroyed, books being ruined in the slab from being stored improperly, etc. 

[themagicrobot]

Isn't it all fast on its way to becoming a Ponzi Scheme? To date there are 4790 slabbed 1963 Amazing Spider-Man Number 1s listed. For a "valuable" comic it appears to be quite common. There must be raw copies out there too. However there are only 104 slabbed pence variants (and only 80 pence AF15s) and still some consider pence variants to be inferior. I'd think that they ought to be more valuable.

PS: I find navigating the CGC Census quite difficult and there are loads of anomalies. Even tracking the 1963 Spidey 1 meant scrolling through loads of more recent totally different comics. And according to them there are two slabbed Alan Class Amazing Spider-Man Annual Number 1s (which were issued in 1900). What nonsense.

Edited December 16, 2023 by themagicrobot

[MattTheDuck]

I'm generally operating under the assumption that the overall supply of books I am trying to collect (primarily raw Silver Age Marvels and Planet Comics) is shrinking every year.  I am sure - and sometimes you'll read stories right here that confirm it - that books are being destroyed by fire and flood, damaged through accident or mishandling, thrown away on purpose or by accident and so on all the time.  Even if the attrition is small, it's not insignificant.

However, I also believe there are a lot of these books in private collections that may or may not eventually come up for sale.  There are several Boardies who know collectors with large, pristine copies of books from the Golden Age and the Silver Age.  That is also frequently mentioned here.  Slabbed books represent only a small fraction of total books and even some of them revert to raw books every year.

[Ryan.]

On 12/16/2023 at 1:19 PM, MattTheDuck said:

Slabbed books represent only a small fraction of total books and even some of them revert to raw books every year.

This point is routinely, and possibly willingly, overlooked, especially on these boards. 

[BA773]

On 12/16/2023 at 7:42 PM, Ryan. said:

This point is routinely, and possibly willingly, overlooked, especially on these boards. 

Yes and i have to admit that maybe a day i will buy some slabbed comics just by security to know exactly what i buy or even if the book arent avalaible on the condition i want in raw, but instantly after the purchase i will destroy the slab trust me.

[AndyFish]

CGC states that books should be reslabbed every 7 years or so don't they?   Regardless, the process is not archival, so to those fans who think they've sealed a book in a forever encasement there is going to be a day of surprise.

Hulk 181 is a great example, I've seen more copies of this book over my course of 40 years of collecting than any other title, and yet it still commands high dollar values.

No matter if the market collapses, like Mr Potter in It's a Wonderful Life-- when the panic comes and folks start selling for pennies on the dollar there will be a lot of us waiting there to pounce, enough of us that I imagine pricing will remain competitive.

[Lazyboy]

On 12/16/2023 at 10:34 AM, themagicrobot said:

Isn't it all fast on its way to becoming a Ponzi Scheme? To date there are 4790 slabbed 1963 Amazing Spider-Man Number 1s listed. For a "valuable" comic it appears to be quite common. There must be raw copies out there too. However there are only 104 slabbed pence variants (and only 80 pence AF15s) and still some consider pence variants to be inferior. I'd think that they ought to be more valuable.

Rarity and value are different things.

[Lazyboy]

On 12/16/2023 at 5:53 PM, AndyFish said:

CGC states that books should be reslabbed every 7 years or so don't they?

No.

[Jesse-Lee]

On 12/16/2023 at 10:34 AM, themagicrobot said:

Isn't it all fast on its way to becoming a Ponzi Scheme? To date there are 4790 slabbed 1963 Amazing Spider-Man Number 1s listed. For a "valuable" comic it appears to be quite common. There must be raw copies out there too. However there are only 104 slabbed pence variants (and only 80 pence AF15s) and still some consider pence variants to be inferior. I'd think that they ought to be more valuable.

PS: I find navigating the CGC Census quite difficult and there are loads of anomalies. Even tracking the 1963 Spidey 1 meant scrolling through loads of more recent totally different comics. And according to them there are two slabbed Alan Class Amazing Spider-Man Annual Number 1s (which were issued in 1900). What nonsense.

Amazing Spider-man 1 is one of the most sought-after comics of one of the most popular comic book characters of all time. I never loved the argument that "this book has X number slabbed, which seems like a lot, so why is it so valuable?" It's obviously most often used with books like New Mutants 98 and Hulk 181.

Take the 4,790 slabbed ASM 1s for example. Let's throw out an assumption that there are only 1 million people in the entire world who collect comic books. If that were true, it would mean that - even if every single one could afford a slabbed copy of ASM 1 - only one-half of one percent of collectors would ever have the opportunity at one time.

Obviously I don't know how many actual collectors there are, but it stands to reason that it's more than 1 million people.

Even with a book like New Mutants 98 at 28,000+ slabbed copies, in our 1 million collector example it would still mean that fewer than 3% could own a copy at one time. It's not necessarily the rarity that drives the value, it's supply and demand.

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

On 12/16/2023 at 11:53 PM, AndyFish said:

when the panic comes and folks start selling for pennies on the dollar there will be a lot of us waiting there to pounce, enough of us that I imagine pricing will remain competitive.

Keep dreamin'  

[Semicentennial]

On 12/16/2023 at 6:00 AM, BA773 said:

I think to books like Batman 227, 251 or Green Lantern 76. People continue to send these kind of books to cgc so im a bit confused about the increasing even in ten or twenty years.

It doesn't matter if people continue to send books like that in because it will continue to go up in price.  It's just the way it works.  Ask yourself, are there any books you would gladly pay 2013 or 2003 prices for today?  I'm sure you would.  As others stated, it's supply and demand.  Not many dealer will stay in business if they sold books for the price they paid for it.  They're going to have to charge more and if their replacement costs go up so does the selling price.  

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

On 12/16/2023 at 4:05 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

In addition to what others stated about basic market (supply /demand)

Just because a book is slabbed does not mean it is safe and perfectly preserved.  There are many stories of slabs being destroyed, books being ruined in the slab from being stored improperly, etc. 

Also some of us like to do this....