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Recent Action #1 Sale

Started by esquirecomics,

357 posts in this topic

dgillock

dgillock

Posted
Posted

My apologies if some of these thoughts have already been expressed by others, but I have to say that all this discussion about the wisdom of the buyer's "investment" seems like a whole load of Monday morning quarterbacking.

 

So few of us (though I know that there are a few here) will ever be dealing with purchasing books on this level that it's difficult for me to take a lot of the opinions expressed seriously. I respect everyone here and their right to express their views, but I don't think that some are looking at this deal from the right perspective.

 

One has to assume (hope) that the buyer of this book has a bunch of money. If I had a million, ten million, or a hundred million sitting around in the bank and I wanted an Action #1 to drool over, I doubt that the difference between $125K and $195K would really leave me wondering. Maybe this purchase was a big splurge for the buyer, maybe it wasn't, but I find it highly unlikely that the $75K difference is detracting for his enjoyment of the latest addition to his collection. The scale of the money involved is so large that this deal is not one that I can relate to my own collecting experiences and expertise, so I ogle the book and move on.

 

Personally, I think it is appropriate to simply congratulate Mark on the record-setting sale (shouldn't we be happy about record-setting sales?), drool a bit onto my keyboard while dreaming about that big lottery win in my future, and go back to my everyday life.

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Thegoldenage

Thegoldenage

Posted
Posted

>>Personally, I think it is appropriate to simply congratulate Mark on the record-setting sale (shouldn't we be happy about record-setting sales?), drool a bit onto my keyboard while dreaming about that big lottery win in my future, and go back to my everyday life. <<

 

Should we be happy about record setting sales? I'm not so sure. While I don't begrudged the buyer getting a book he wanted, record setting sales always seem to push books farther away from the rest of us. Maybe just a fact of life, I guess.

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jkrk

jkrk

Posted
Posted

Micellaneous thoughts"

 

1)Mark should be proud for brokering the book. Congrats. A buyer is responsible for their own decisions.

2)If we are discussing investment as a monetary phenom then I believe the buyer overpaid for the book.

3) I have spent too many years observing traders mark up positions in illiquid markets attempting to attract the lemmings.

4)This is a public forum. The posters come from different backgrounds and have different agendas. Some posts are amusing. Some tend to be more informative. I enjoy reading the entire content. I respect them all as individuals. I do not respect any" Big time dealers" who refuse to voice their opinion on this site for fear

of harassment they might face. I simply view their aloofness as a message that the "elite" don't have to mix it up with the peons. If you can defend you business model and really care about the hobby then you should be able to get involved with many venues.

 

I spent three years on a public message board attemting to educate the posters on equity trading. I took a bit of abuse as many tried to expose me as a "fraud". I simply gave my viewpont with the benefit of my experience and let the threads move in the direction the posters took them. My view was that I was giving something back top the community and it was up to each poster to decide what to do with the info. Who looks up to a dealer that needs an audience of loyalists before he can have a say?

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dgillock

dgillock

Posted
Posted
While I don't begrudged the buyer getting a book he wanted, record setting sales always seem to push books farther away from the rest of us. Maybe just a fact of life, I guess.

 

I see your point.However, though I don't know your financial status or where you expect to be in the future, I can say for one that a copy of Action #1 was, is, and will continue to be outside of my realm of collecting. Would I be happy to have the amount of expendible income necessary to start purchasing $100,000+ books? Sure, but I don't consider it a realistic future for myself. Does a $200K sale at the top end of the hobby effect the sub-$200 books that make up the majority of my collection? No, I don't think so. In fact, I think it might have the opposite effect in most cases. I'm happy for these big buyers to be throwing lots of money into single issues as opposed to going around on spending sprees accumulating large collections of lower-priced books. Talk to people who have tried to put together sets of tougher to find Disney books and you'll know what I mean.

 

As I implied before, it's all a matter of scale. If this discussion was over a $200 sale of a book that normally would trade at $100, no one would blink an eye. But instead, we are taking about a much larger sum of money- I'm sure it seems substantial to most of us, but I find it unlikely that it seems that important to the buyer.

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Aman619

Aman619

Posted
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I think you are blinded by the enormity of the 200K number and dont see the paralells to a "lowly" 100 book. We point out when somebody pays 200 for a 100 book ALL THE TIME! You can be sure peopel will laugh, sneer etc whenevr some "fool" pays 100% more than they "should." It all relative: paying too much is always paying too much.

 

I dont think you, in your $200 book world really go around paying double, do you?

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dgillock

dgillock

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I dont think you, in your $200 book world really go around paying double, do you?

 

No, I'm a cheap-skate and most of my purchases of "$200 books" are in the $100 range. devil.gif But then that's the case with most of our purchases on that scale in this Ebay driven market and has little to do with the sale of an Action #1, as I was saying above.

 

That said, there are several books that I would be happy to pay twice Guide for. Anyone have any copy of a Best of Crime Does Not Pay other than 1953 lying around? How about any copy of Black Diamond Western #60? Or copies of the Lev Gleason Adventures in Wonderland series? If so, PM me (and yes, I'm serious).

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1koko

1koko

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I think most people on this site would agree that the purchase is above the expected market value. The key point not mentioned is whether the difference between market value and the purchase price is relevant to the purchaser?

 

In the UK a Russian has changed the outlook of world soccer by purchasing a football club (Chelsea) and spending vast amounts to indulge his hobby (USD 400MM in last 4 years). Often spending sums on players way above market value. If he wants something now he has the purchasing power to buy it regardless of whether it is at market value or not.

 

In terms of the Action 1 the purchase price yet alone the difference with market value does not amount to more than a days interest on his fortune! If we assume that the buyer has similar financial muscle and wants it now it easy to see why he would be prepared to pay such a price.

 

Furthermore, Mark mentioned that he is a major collector of other items, if he collects art on a major scale then the Action 1 purchase price is low versus his comparative art purchases in terms of cultural significance!

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action1kid

action1kid

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Posted

I will admit that before this sale I would have expected at 4.0 to go for around 75k.

This sale just crushed that mark and maybe or maybe not has created a new pricing standard for Action #1[Meaning multiples of guide in any grade what so ever for this book in unrestored condition.Certainly what it means to me is that it has probably catapolted the price of a high grade Action 1 even out of my reach.

I mean if someone is going to pay 200k just for a 4.0 it is going to have an effect on the higher end with this particular book.A low grade sale effecting the high end,sure.... [Gee,if he can get 200k for his 4.0 just think what I can get for my 8.0 ,for example.]

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