What to do with ungraded Bronze (mostly) age collection 2 2

[Dillydally]

I have several hundred comics that I collected throughout the 70's and 80's (some are 10¢, 12¢, but most are Bronze age). Contrary to what my Grandpa used to tell me when I was actively collecting them, It seems that many of them have become quite desirable / valuable. From what I have seen online, the most desirable comics should be professionally graded, but for me to do that, I would need to go through all of the titles and figure out which ones are worth the trouble of packing and shipping... Most of them were placed in plastic sleeves when I collected them, but they are not organized, catalogued, or graded. I would love to hear any recommendations about how to best / easiest way to sell off this collection. I don't need to squeeze every cent out of it, but I also don't want to be completely ripped off... I also don't want to spend too many hours dealing with it...

[Galen130]

You could try selling them here on the forums.  It will still involve time and energy though.

[dbcn]

Ultimately it will depend on what you have… if you have a list of the books you could try listing them as a collection either here or elsewhere, or if you’re willing to disclose where you are in the world i wouldn’t be surprised if a boardie who’s geography close to you would be willing to help you go through it and give you a reasonable estimate, and/or help you sell it.

[shadroch]

When I make an offer on a collection, a significant factor is how much work I will need to get the books to market.   Are the books bagged and boarded?  If it will take me twenty hours to bag board and organize the books, that comes out of your end.   

[KCOComics]

 

The basic rule of thumb is,  the more work you put in,  the more money you'll get out. 

Ideally,  you could put the titles and numbers into an excel document.... then folks can help you zero in on the most valuable books.

From there, you could take pictures of those key issues and we could help with grading and make recommendations on which ones to grade. 

 

Bronze and copper age books are tough. Some are very valuable, some are vaulable only in high grade and the vast majority are not valuable. 

 

[media_junkie]

On 2/9/2024 at 9:47 PM, KCOComics said:

The basic rule of thumb is,  the more work you put in,  the more money you'll get out.

Exactly, the more work you put in on the front end the more money you'll get back out on the back end.

[Dillydally]

Thanks for the great responses. As suggested, I should probably start cataloging it, or find someone to help me with it. Much of the collection is either first editions or first 3, or first 5 issues, but there's lots of random stuff in there too. They are mostly bagged, but not boarded. If anyone in the San Francisco Bay area is interested in helping me decide what to have graded, please let me know. 

On 2/9/2024 at 5:44 PM, dbcn said:

Ultimately it will depend on what you have… if you have a list of the books you could try listing them as a collection either here or elsewhere, or if you’re willing to disclose where you are in the world i wouldn’t be surprised if a boardie who’s geography close to you would be willing to help you go through it and give you a reasonable estimate, and/or help you sell it.

 

Edited February 11 by Dillydally

[KCOComics]

On 2/10/2024 at 4:19 PM, Dillydally said:

Thanks for the great responses. As suggested, I should probably start cataloging it, or find someone to help me with it. Much of the collection is either first editions or first 3, or first 5 issues, but there's lots of random stuff in there too. They are mostly bagged, but not boarded. If anyone in the San Francisco Bay area is interested in helping me decide what to have graded, please let me know. 

 

I'm nowhere near San Fran, but feel free to PM me with questions or photos. 

Good luck! 

 

[shadroch]

On 2/10/2024 at 2:19 PM, Dillydally said:

Thanks for the great responses. As suggested, I should probably start cataloging it, or find someone to help me with it. Much of the collection is either first editions or first 3, or first 5 issues, but there's lots of random stuff in there too. They are mostly bagged, but not boarded. If anyone in the San Francisco Bay area is interested in helping me decide what to have graded, please let me know. 

 

Start with the assumption little needs to be graded. Unless they are very high grade, most books from that era sell for less than the cost to slab them.  Sending in a large amount of books will cost you thousands with no guarantee you'll recoup the investment. 

Don't rush it.  Spend an hour or two each night while watching a movie or show. sort the books- Marvel, DC, Indy, Silver Age( 12/15 cents).

Few DC books from the Bronze Age outside of Batman are worth much.  Bronze Age Spideys and X-men sell well through the 160s.  

If you want top dollar, you should rebag them, this time with boards.   It is much easier to use new bags and boards than it is to try and stick boards in a twenty-year-old bag.  

[DougC]

You have already received some good information; once you catalog the books ( I would just use a simple google doc ) you can share the doc here and the community can very easily pin point anything of extreme value as there are some bronze issues that absolutely should be graded. Also; I don't know if it is all Marvel/DC but bronze is still within the prime age for independent books that are surprisingly healthy in value.

[marvelmaniac]

Unfortunately if you want to know what you have you will need to sort the books by title and number to get any idea of what is there, once you know what you have you can post up the list and we can tell you if there is anything special in the lot.

If you take any pics, please remove the books from the bag(s) before taking the photos and be sure the pics are clear.

NOTE: When removing the books from the bag, remove any tape from the bag prior to removing the book and fold the flap down towards the back so you do not get the book stuck on any tape residue, same when putting the book back in the bag. To prevent future issues use these to seal the bags, not tape.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Avery-Removable-Print-or-Write-Color-Coding-Labels-3-4-Round-Assorted-Pack-of-1008-5472/15078669?athcpid=15078669&athpgid=AthenaItempage&athcgid=null&athznid=siext&athieid=v0&athstid=CS055&athguid=Dph_NX5UzmTqLv3wsweQBZIGA-ne4IK-i_-S&athancid=22697214&athposb=0&athena=true

 

You can also view the books listed on this site to get an idea of what books may be sought after or are hot at this moment.

Just click on "Top Lists" and see if any are books you have.

https://www.keycollectorcomics.com/content-group/top-100-lists,9/

Keep in mind, this is just a way to get started with what you have, if you have books that you are not sure of, post em up.

[Dillydally]

All super helpful advice, Thank you!

Is there a specific brand of boards and bags that is most preferred, or is anything off of amazon sufficient?

When you are archiving your comics, is there a specific price point that people would use something more robust than a board and a bag, and what would you use? I have one comic that I put in a rigid plastic display box for safe keeping.

I'll probably start working on photographing them, and based on your advice, this would be the best time to remove them from the original sleeves and re-bag them with boards.

Edited February 14 by Dillydally
Clarity

[William-James88]

On 2/9/2024 at 3:26 PM, Dillydally said:

 I don't need to squeeze every cent out of it, but I also don't want to be completely ripped off... I also don't want to spend too many hours dealing with it...

Here is the best solution, send all your comics to mycomicshop. They will grade them for you and you can sell them at whatever price you want there. You can even make them up up on auction. They basically do all the work you don't want to do and get a cut. And if you don't know the price, no worries, once your comics are up on their site, you can see what price they go for in that grade and work off that. You will not find a better solution i terms of how much you get from how little work it takes.

https://www.mycomicshop.com/?AffID=2072802P01&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAw6yuBhDrARIsACf94RUvvWTg3yiRl_XCiYEqqmxdaMcl0Bc_jXI6NwenZCcMOuKk5SS9rIEaAjCAEALw_wcB

[marvelmaniac]

On 2/13/2024 at 12:07 PM, Dillydally said:

All super helpful advice, Thank you!

Is there a specific brand of boards and bags that is most preferred, or is anything off of amazon sufficient?

When you are archiving your comics, is there a specific price point that people would use something more robust than a board and a bag, and what would that be? I have at least one comic (Hulk 181) that seems to be very high value, that I put in a rigid plastic display box for safe keeping. I think there might be a few more that could be over $1,000, and quite a few that seem to be in the $100's.

I'll probably start working on photographing them, and based on your advice, this would be the best time to remove them from the original sleeves and re-bag them with boards.

If you are looking to sell and you have major keys such as the IH 181 you mentioned, it may be wise to send those books for grading as they are much easier to sell when graded. (Verify that your IH 181 still has the MVS intact or it will get a Qualified Green Label)

Again, we need a list of what you have to determine value, if you have lots of $1.00 bin books then there is no point sending them to MCS or anywhere else for consignment or auction.

As far as bags and boards, always use Acid Free Boards, Poly Bags degrade over time and should be replaced every 5 years, Mylar (Mylites) are the best protection, Mylar is an inert/archival safe material that does not yellow or degrade over time. Mylites should be used to store any valuable books (depending on what you consider valuable), poly is fine for $1.00 bin books and you can get resealable poly bags.

https://www.incognitocomics.com.au/blogs/news/mylar-vs-poly-comic-book-bags

Regardless of what you use to store/protect your books (CGC grading, Mylites, Poly) they all need to be stored in the proper conditions, consistent humidity/temp, away from all UV light, away from all sources of moisture, heat, air vents, never store your books in an unfinished basement/garage/attic.

https://www.egerber.com/aboutpreservation2.htm

[Dillydally]

 

Thanks for all of the Great information. I will take my time and re-bag and board everything as suggested, to better archive the collection. I wound up using the Hipcomic app and doing  super quick photos without having to take anything out of the current bags, to get a quick idea of what I had. The app identifies the comic fairly accurately and logs it into the collection, so I was able to do the whole process in about a couple of hours.