Look at these Prices!!!

[Dad&Son-migration]

For fun I pulled out an old Overstreet Price Guide Update from 1989. The year I quit my 1st phase. Anyways... these are for Amazing Fantasy, Amazing Spider-man, Fantastic Four & X-men. I found it funny that during this time X-Factor #1 was slightly more then Spider-Man #300.

 

 

 

 

[MutantKeys]

I recently took a look at an old one and the old prices do amaze me.Comic value has really increased over the last 15-20 years drastically.

[esquirecomics]

It will drive you crazy to look at old price guide values!

[Timulty]

I remember buying about $200-300 in comics/cards a month in 89. I wish, I had spent it on GA comics. ;(

[MutantKeys]

It will drive you crazy to look at old price guide values!

 

Agreed, like damn I couldve bought this for ______

[otherworldsj33]

it's been 40 years of generally escalating prices, with few long down turns. And then it comes back even stronger. Makes me continue to wonder when a true prolonged price adjustment will come

[joe_collector]

Makes me continue to wonder when a true prolonged price adjustment will come

 

If it holds true with other collectibles, not long after the "slabbed speculation" fad starts to cool off.

[Dad&Son-migration]

True.. just like the stock market there are generally price corrections... but the bull market always lasts longer and comes back stronger then a bear market. The comic industry is unique because it continues to climb with titles being the specific part of the hobby that will go up or down, so as something corrects itself ie. Spawn or Punisher stuff... other will bounce back and climb higher and faster, ie... Marvel Silverage stuff.

[jokersrevenge]

the value of the dollar has gone down also.

[joe_collector]

True.. just like the stock market there are generally price corrections... but the bull market always lasts longer and comes back stronger then a bear market.

 

Tell that to the suckers holding boxes and boxes of slabbed coins and cards bought at 80's and 90's nosebleed price levels.

 

When is this mysterious "bull market" coming for them?

 

Trying to compare collectibles to the stock market is an exercise in futility, as we're talking apples and oranges.

[Dad&Son-migration]

True.. just like the stock market there are generally price corrections... but the bull market always lasts longer and comes back stronger then a bear market.

 

Tell that to the suckers holding boxes and boxes of slabbed coins and cards bought at 80's and 90's nosebleed price levels.

 

When is this mysterious "bull market" coming for them?

 

Trying to compare collectibles to the stock market is an exercise in futility, as we're talking apples and oranges.

 

Joe_collector... I meant true and then referred to the stock market. You'll notice my next line after you pasted my quote talks about the comic industry being unique.. so yes.. in your defense it is like comparing apples to oranges. But here's something for thought. The TSX, ( Canadian Stock Exchange ) over the last 100 years has averaged 10% compounded each and every year even during the depression.

[joe_collector]

The TSX, ( Canadian Stock Exchange ) over the last 100 years has averaged 10% compounded each and every year even during the depression.

 

What are you talking about? Each and ever year, the total of the TSE/TSX listed companies for that period, rose by 10%?

 

I think not.

 

If you're talking some made-up figure that totally ignores all the delisted companies, then possibly, but I could make up my own figures that would paint a far more grim picture, especially from 1986-88 and the 1997 resources meltdown.

[Dad&Son-migration]

On average!!! Sorry.. I didn't finish the thought thoroughly... those years during the 80's the market had a one day hit of over 5,000 points but they've rebounded stronger Y higher. Good ol' Black Monday... remember it well. With all fluctuations over the last 100 years there have been more positive increases then negative. I'm just saying that the things keep climbing, there are corrections but the markets keep chugging along nicely. I've done well and I've ridden out the worst times of the market without selling. But you're absolutely correct!!! This is apples and oranges.. I'm just threorzing that hobbies work the same way, peaks and valleys yet given inflation they keep moving ahead on average year to year. ( I'm basing this on equity markets, I can't speak for money market & bonds )

[UnrulyAppendage]

I'm just threorzing that hobbies work the same way, peaks and valleys yet given inflation they keep moving ahead on average year to year.

 

That only works if there are new collectors getting into comic books. There will always be people buying into stocks. However, will there be comic collectors to buy our collections in the future?

[joe_collector]

On average!!! Sorry.. I didn't finish the thought thoroughly... those years during the 80's the market had a one day hit of over 5,000 points but they've rebounded stronger Y higher. Good ol' Black Monday... remember it well. With all fluctuations over the last 100 years there have been more positive increases then negative.

 

I'm gonna reply just once, since I worked for a few years in the biz, but all the stats you're quoting are basically fabricated. Or to put it more politely, they are "selective statistics".

 

For example, let's say Hulk 181 is Bre-X. One day it's smoking, then the next it's DOA. But the TSE/TSX does not take that into account, since right before the announcement trading was halted, then Bre-X was quickly taken off the TSE Indexes, and then delisted. Naturally, it was replaced by another hot-performer, let's say an ASM 129 in comics lingo.

 

Great for the Index stats, but not for those holding a pile of Hulk 181's who couldn't "trade them in" for copies of ASM 129.

 

And there are tons of stocks like that, which are media darlings and rise quickly, but are just as quickly taken off the Indexes and delisted. The TSE/TSX Indexes automatically do well, since under-performing or delisted stocks are switched out for "hot performing" stocks to make the numbers look better.

 

This turn-over is NOT fully reflected in the Index and you cannot compare these stats to real-world returns.

[joe_collector]

However, will there be comic collectors to buy our collections in the future?

 

The only hope we have lies in cloning.

[Viscosity-migration]

Wait...Canada, has a "stock market"? guess that makes sense, using capitalist models, as to better feed all of those socialists

 

 

(j/k)...

[the blob]

Joe:

 

How many Dow stocks or even S&P 500 stocks get delisted? Yeah, I know, there are a few Enrons every decade, but seriously, how many? Do you have any stats on where the Dow or S&P 500 would be if delisted stocks over the last 20 years were averaged into the mix?

 

Nasdaq is something else, I agree.

[joe_collector]

Do you have any stats on where the Dow or S&P 500 would be if delisted stocks over the last 20 years were averaged into the mix?

 

Nope, and it would be almost impossible, since its a cummulative effect.

 

And the number of stocks taken off the Indexes are not just delisted companies, but also underperforming ones that are replaced on the list by "hotter" issues.

[iggy]

I can relate a story about the '80's coin boom and bust as I saw it through the eyes of my dad. He was buying proof Liberty Nickels and wanted a complete set (excluding of course the ultra scarce 1913 which there were only a few minted- the rest of the series were relatively plentiful). So he was buying the best examples of each year he could find- patiently during the late 1960's into the mid- to late '70's. He completed his set. Then in the 1980's the Hunt Brothers were hoarding silver which drove the price up and it in turn pushed collectible coin prices way up. Every month was a new adventure as dad got his subscriptions to various coin magazines and newspapers and watched as his collection value was shooting into the stratosphere. The Liberty nickel collection that he paid an average of $50 each were up to $2,000 each, some higher. Of course prices soon plummeted and the window of opportunity to sell high was gone. Now they are probably worth maybe $400-500 each, still not bad for his initial investment. I keep telling him to slab them but he wants to keep them as a set in his custom holder.