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Chuck and Estate Auctions

Started by drice6900,

13 posts in this topic

drice6900

drice6900

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Posted

From his latest letter:

 

Howdy!

 

I'm writing you this morning from Arlington, Texas. I'm here this weekend to attend Wizard World: Dallas. I was already quite successful at buying old comics this week before I even arrived here, however, as I first flew to N. Canton, Ohio (southeast of Cleveland) on Wednesday to attend an estate auction that contained a large number of Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age back issues. The collection (the estate of a long time local comics fan) was broken up about 125 lots of comics, ranging from single key issues, to short boxes containing about 150 books. By the end of the evening, I had purchased about 40 of those lots, for a total of about 1,400 different great books. I flew back to Denver with 700 of them at 6 AM yesterday morning, left them off at the Denver airport for Pam to pick up, and boarded my flight to Dallas just 40 minutes later. Whew! Those were really tight airline connections, but as you can see from the accompanying list that Pam has already created, the trip to the auction was well worth my effort!

 

One observation about the auction that I did want to pass on to you is that the comics market is holding incredibly strong at the moment. The Ohio area is experiencing some economic difficulties right now, so I had in the back of my mind before attending the auction that not too many bidders might show up for the comics lots. The auction also contained some incredibly cool old dolls, nice glassware, railroad memorabilia, old coins, and a large number of old wooden clocks. For the most part, those genres brought half, or less, than what I expected based on my experience of sitting through antiques auctions for 20 years in Colorado. I saw a couple of dolls sell for $15 (1800's German dolls in original clothes) that I had fully expected to bring $100-$300. Same was true for almost every item in the auction, until they got to the comics lots. Then the bidding went crazy!

 

To back up a bit, I was told about the Ohio auction by a friend that I met at the Pittsburgh show a couple of years ago. He told me that this auction might attract some local interest, but that it was doubtful that any national dealers would attend a Wednesday evening local auction. In that regard, he was quite right. But about 20 local collectors showed up, as well as 5-7 small time Internet comics sellers. The heaviest buyer of the evening, however, was a young local doctor who reportedly had set up an investing pool to buy old comics with some of his wealthier buddies. He was bidding like a drunken sailor, and managed to spend many thousands of dollars on books that I personally valued at considerably less. He was not, however, the only aggressive bidder of the evening. Unlike every other collectible and antique in the auction, all the back issue comics lots were attracting spirited bidding. Even though I didn't manage to purchase as many books as I original had wanted, it was quite refreshing to see that, even in an economically depressed area, that comics fans are still dedicated to buying old books.

 

The one, very brief, lesson that I did learn at the auction was that far too many people can't grade comics very well. When the difference between a book in Good and a book in Fine is nearly triple, it is imperative if you're bidding on an older comic book at an auction to make darn sure that you know what you're doing. I saw people paying Fine prices for Good books, over and over. At the same time, however, there were some lots that simply didn't attract attention. I have no idea why the other comics folks didn't want the lots that I snagged, but I was quite grateful to be able to buy them at prices that I could afford. I'm most certainly not going to get rich from attending this particular auction, but I more than covered my expenses. I also had a great deal of fun, and learned a lot. Best of all, however, I was able to purchase some very nice older books to offer you that we seldom get in stock any more. All of the books listed are only single copies, however, so please do hurry to get your order in if you see a book that you've been waiting for...

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Lazyboy

Lazyboy

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The one, very brief, lesson that I did learn at the auction was that far too many people can't grade comics very well. When the difference between a book in Good and a book in Fine is nearly triple, it is imperative if you're bidding on an older comic book at an auction to make darn sure that you know what you're doing. I saw people paying Fine prices for Good books, over and over.

 

27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif

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cd4ever

cd4ever

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The one, very brief, lesson that I did learn at the auction was that far too many people can't grade comics very well. When the difference between a book in Good and a book in Fine is nearly triple, it is imperative if you're bidding on an older comic book at an auction to make darn sure that you know what you're doing. I saw people paying Fine prices for Good books, over and over.

 

27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif

 

No kidding....

Pot

Kettle.

Black.

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nik

nik

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The one, very brief, lesson that I did learn at the auction was that far too many people can't grade comics very well. When the difference between a book in Good and a book in Fine is nearly triple, it is imperative if you're bidding on an older comic book at an auction to make darn sure that you know what you're doing. I saw people paying Fine prices for Good books, over and over.

 

27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif

 

Kinda like the books he is selling yeahok.gif

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sckao

sckao

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The poor guy is still flying commercial? I'd have figured him to have a private plane by now.

 

The richest people in the world are often the most "economical." That's how they became rich.

 

Doesn't Bill Gates fly coach too? (Although now, he probably just borrows Warren Buffet's plane.)

 

Correction: Bill Gates DOES own a personal jet now. Many, in fact.

 

 

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comicparadox

comicparadox

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From his latest letter:

 

Howdy!

The one, very brief, lesson that I did learn at the auction was that far too many people can't grade comics very well. When the difference between a book in Good and a book in Fine is nearly triple, it is imperative if you're bidding on an older comic book at an auction to make darn sure that you know what you're doing. I saw people paying Fine prices for Good books, over and over.

 

And if anyone should know that people can't grade comics very well, it's Chuck! 27_laughing.gif

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carcrawfordfan

carcrawfordfan

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I live about 10-20 minutes from there. I can assure everyone that it is not "economically depressed" as this guy claims. This is one of the richest areas of Ohio and this area of the state is pretty busy as far as comics and collectibles are concerned. We have local sportscard shows every single weekend that are pretty busy. The local comic show is about once a month and is VERY busy. I know a few shops that do very well in these areas also. I was not even aware of this auction or I would have attended it, but I am sure many well-off people were in attendance. Just my 2 cents.

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Wrightson fan

Wrightson fan

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The poor guy is still flying commercial? I'd have figured him to have a private plane by now.

 

 

If anyone here gets his almost daily email ramblings, you will understand what I mean. His private jet would be constructed from the fragments of various native american pottery which would be held together by the incredible clay he could create which he finds at the edge of the river that runs through his farm. He could use his rented backloaders to fill the fuel tanks full of compost so that he could burn it for fuel, while using his largest pumpkins as landing gear/wheels. This guy has more going on and is more ingenuis than McGuyver when it comes to rigging stuff/junk up. What a nut job this guy is. I signed onto his website for one reason and one reason only, his messages. They truly give me a major gut laff.

 

Scott

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LordThanos1969

LordThanos1969

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The poor guy is still flying commercial? I'd have figured him to have a private plane by now.

 

 

If anyone here gets his almost daily email ramblings, you will understand what I mean. His private jet would be constructed from the fragments of various native american pottery which would be held together by the incredible clay he could create which he finds at the edge of the river that runs through his farm. He could use his rented backloaders to fill the fuel tanks full of compost so that he could burn it for fuel, while using his largest pumpkins as landing gear/wheels. This guy has more going on and is more ingenuis than McGuyver when it comes to rigging stuff/junk up. What a nut job this guy is. I signed onto his website for one reason and one reason only, his messages. They truly give me a major gut laff.

 

Scott

 

sign-funnypost.gif

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