Auction has just started and set a new record for Action #1. 7 7

[Dr. Balls]

Who here has the nuts to put in a $3.6M bid? It'll get outbid for sure, but typing it in and hitting 'submit' would be kind of exciting.

[Axe Elf]

Probly 'cause it's from the Kansas City pedigree, and the Chiefs just won their second Super Bowl in a row.

[EC ed]

On 3/15/2024 at 4:23 PM, Axe Elf said:

Probly 'cause it's from the Kansas City pedigree, and the Chiefs just won their second Super Bowl in a row.

Taylor Swift 

[PopKulture]

In the 70’s, a serious die-hard comic collector could sacrifice and make owning an Action 1 a reality, as it was several times lower in price than an average annual income. Now this example will go for nearly a hundred times the average annual income. That to me is sad. It’s been fully commoditized. 

Just like the NBA final games or the Super Bowl isn’t necessarily populated with the most rabid fans but rather the richest fans, so too has gone comic collecting.  

[Readcomix]

I’m just happy I got to hold one recently without having to pay a vig to @Professor K! 

Seriously, while these moments underscore the fact that the top items in our hobby are reachable by fewer and fewer among serious collectors (NOT to say the ultimate buyer isn’t one as well), it’s also a nice confirmation of the hobby’s place in pop culture history.

As @shadroch said, a rising tide lifts all boats. But the very best boats do get lifted disproportionately to all others.

What always strikes me when we read about another seven-figure book at auction is how many collectors out there who have a seven-figure collection (not necessarily one book) could amass it today — only a subset of that old guard, I’d guess. But there’s buyers. Don’t be sad that the old guard is changing, be thankful there’s a new guard on the buy side. I’m always glad there’s future stewards.

[Hepcat]

On 3/15/2024 at 3:56 PM, szav said:

...you have to wonder how the other potential million dollar books go, and if they’re pulled up to any degree by the action 1.

 

Might hurt the prices of those other high value comics because whoever wins the Action 1 might not be able to afford to bid on any of the others.

 

[adamstrange]

On 3/15/2024 at 7:21 PM, PopKulture said:

In the 70’s, a serious die-hard comic collector could sacrifice and make owning an Action 1 a reality, as it was several times lower in price than an average annual income.

I have RBCC issues from the 70s.  There is more than one article lamenting the inability to collect like they used to.

[Hepcat]

On 3/15/2024 at 9:54 PM, adamstrange said:

I have RBCC issues from the 70s.  There is more than one article lamenting the inability to collect like they used to.

Start a thread on those issues! Or have you done so already?

[Readcomix]

On 3/15/2024 at 9:57 PM, Hepcat said:

Start a thread on those issues! Or have you done so already?

That would be a fun read!

[adamstrange]

I'll see if I have something scanned.  In the meantime...

 

[adamstrange]

[adamstrange]

[adamstrange]

[adamstrange]

[Readcomix]

Thank you @adamstrange for these historic reads! While the old cliche “The more things change, the more they stay the same” sums up the articles, it’s sad that the one theme that did NOT pull through to the same extent over the 50-ish years since those articles came out is the notion of top storylines with strong art being enough reason to consider a book a key.

”Key” has been narrowed so much that many now equate only first appearances with key status. A narrow scope undermines a rich history. We’ve got numerous threads on these boards in which boardies lament the future of comics as collectibles. Lots of young people read comics; casual readers become collectors when learning about the history of the medium we enjoy hooks us. Curiosity creates run collectors and drives back issue sales.

[adamstrange]

You're welcome.  There are more articles, including complaints that the Overstreet Guide is pushing up prices, but to find them I'd have to go back through my collection of RBCCs.

I was surprised at how early on this concern was raised.

[Readcomix]

On 3/15/2024 at 11:10 PM, adamstrange said:

 

I was surprised at how early on this concern was raised.

Me too. I’ve been hearing it a while, but it clearly goes back before my time. (Bought bronze off the racks as a grade-schooler in the 1970s; I think my first back issue for more than cover price, bagged and boarded by a dealer, was somewhere around 8th grade.)

[sfcityduck]

On 3/15/2024 at 4:21 PM, PopKulture said:

In the 70’s, a serious die-hard comic collector could sacrifice and make owning an Action 1 a reality, as it was several times lower in price than an average annual income. Now this example will go for nearly a hundred times the average annual income. That to me is sad. It’s been fully commoditized. 

Just like the NBA final games or the Super Bowl isn’t necessarily populated with the most rabid fans but rather the richest fans, so too has gone comic collecting.  

Yep. What saddens me is a number of books we see coming up repeatedly for auction have entered a spin cycle of flipping and are not being bought by collectors at all. Hariri, at least, was a collector with a very intense emotional association with Superman. But you know what makes me feel good about the hobby? I know of guys who acquired their action no. 1s in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Some, like Dave Anderson (the king of the hill) will likely never sell. Others I thought would sell by now but would rather hold than sell even with the astronomical increases because (1) they love the book and (2) probably have FOMO of missing the book and the constant increase in value more than they want the money. But the clock is ticking ...

Edited March 16 by sfcityduck

[Readcomix]

On 3/15/2024 at 11:19 PM, sfcityduck said:

Yep. What saddens me is a number of books we see coming up repeatedly up for auction have entered a spin cycle of flipping and are not being bought by collectors at all. Hariri, at least, was a collector with a very intense emotional association with Superman. But you know what makes me feel good about the hobby? I know of guys who acquired their action no. 1s in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Some, like Dave Anderson (the king of the hill) will likely never sell. Others I thought would sell by now but would rather hold than sell even with the astronomical increases because (1) they love the book and (2) probably have FOMO of missing the book and the constant increase in value more than they want the money. But the clock is ticking ...

It’s an N of 1, but I had that exact conversation with an Action 1 owner earlier this week. You nailed it.

[sfcityduck]

On 3/15/2024 at 8:10 PM, adamstrange said:

You're welcome.  There are more articles, including complaints that the Overstreet Guide is pushing up prices, but to find them I'd have to go back through my collection of RBCCs.

I was surprised at how early on this concern was raised.

Overstreet definitely pushed up prices because without price increases each year why buy the book? But he also attempted to dampen the price increases. Now, there is no restraint on the market at all. The market has ALWAYS been divorced from any economic rationality other than hype. Comics are truly a "tulip market." Just like art and Bitcoin. There is no rational value proposition (unlike gold, commodities, real estate, and non-fraudulent stocks), so prices could collapse at any moment. But its amazing how hype can make people irrational - maybe even for a lifetime.

Edited March 16 by sfcityduck