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How many copies of Detective Comics #38 are estimated to still exist?
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69 posts in this topic

my best "guess" would put the # of copies at just south of 1000... 750-900 is highly probable, but again, just basing it on experience

 

And I would certainly defer to the person who has much more experience in dealing with Detective Comics than I ever will. :)

 

(I don't know if you remember me but I was in your booth in San Diego looking at the Tomb of Terror #15 (exploding face cover) but I just couldn't pull the trigger on it.)

 

I recall...always nice to meet a fellow boardie!

 

I look at tec 38 this way...for there to be 750 copies, that means there needs to be, on average, 15 copies in all 50 states...well, given that I know of about 40 collectors in NY alone that have copies, you can see how easy it is to extrapolate 750 being a realistic quantity!

heck, I know of a dozen in Fl collectors hands too (thumbs u

 

Hell I must have 15 copies alone sitting in my Robin shrine room (shrug)

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If you average it out state by state, NY is going to have far more then anyone else anyway. Its essentially the heart of comic collecting, Metropolis, Big Apple Comic Con, etc. A state like South Dakota might have zero. Even if you count all the copies Metropolis has, comiclink, ebay, etc..you are never going to come anywhere near 750. Of course many people would just keep them for themselves, but even though we see more Tec #38's then others on the market does not make them much more common, it means the demand is higher.

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If you average it out state by state, NY is going to have far more then anyone else anyway. Its essentially the heart of comic collecting, Metropolis, Big Apple Comic Con, etc. A state like South Dakota might have zero. Even if you count all the copies Metropolis has, comiclink, ebay, etc..you are never going to come anywhere near 750. Of course many people would just keep them for themselves, but even though we see more Tec #38's then others on the market does not make them much more common, it means the demand is higher.

 

Actually, it probably means both. As an interesting issue, it is more likely to have been saved by its original buyers than other issues, and so more copies will have survived. And as an issue that commands a substantial premium in the OPG, it's more likely to be offered for sale.

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Detective Comics is a highly collected title. What you have to realize is that there are many people out there who are just pure collectors who have no interest in selling their comics any time soon. I suspect that many copies have been residing in permanent collections for several years.

 

If a collector enjoys looking through his comics and has no plans of selling them any time soon, what is the point of getting them slabbed? (BangZoom as a prime example.) I suspect that there are many collectors of Detective Comics who may be approaching middle age, or older, who fall into this category.

 

Add to that the fact that the vast majority of surviving copies are low grade, VG or lower, and maybe there is a perception that those low grade copies aren't worth getting slabbed. Also take into consideration that if books are known to have moderate or extensive restoration, the owners might also decide that those books aren't worth getting slabbed either.

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What i dont get is, lets say there are 700-1000 copies, why have only 52 of them been graded by CGC? Are there really that many owners who prefer their books unslabbed?

 

Yes

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If you average it out state by state, NY is going to have far more then anyone else anyway. Its essentially the heart of comic collecting, Metropolis, Big Apple Comic Con, etc. A state like South Dakota might have zero. Even if you count all the copies Metropolis has, comiclink, ebay, etc..you are never going to come anywhere near 750. Of course many people would just keep them for themselves, but even though we see more Tec #38's then others on the market does not make them much more common, it means the demand is higher.

actually, I would say that of tec 27-38, the demand is much much less for 38 compared to previous issued copies (that is why those are generally quickly gobbled up into collections, and 38 sells much slower)

 

one reason we see so many copies for sale, is that we don't see very many of them sell at the asking prices .... don't get me wrong, it is a GREAT issue, but there are a ton of them, and presumably (based on the continual available supply) they are not in that much demand relative to the price and supply, when compared to most issues 27-37 :sorry:

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If you average it out state by state, NY is going to have far more then anyone else anyway. Its essentially the heart of comic collecting, Metropolis, Big Apple Comic Con, etc. A state like South Dakota might have zero. Even if you count all the copies Metropolis has, comiclink, ebay, etc..you are never going to come anywhere near 750. Of course many people would just keep them for themselves, but even though we see more Tec #38's then others on the market does not make them much more common, it means the demand is higher.

actually, I would say that of tec 27-38, the demand is much much less for 38 compared to previous issued copies (that is why those are generally quickly gobbled up into collections, and 38 sells much slower)

 

one reason we see so many copies for sale, is that we don't see very many of them sell at the asking prices .... don't get me wrong, it is a GREAT issue, but there are a ton of them, and presumably (based on the continual available supply) they are not in that much demand relative to the price and supply, when compared to most issues 27-37 :sorry:

 

I agree here. Alot of guys want the pre-robin tec's. He was always a 50/50 character , some like him some dont. But the first batman only issues are always going to go faster. 31 for me is the #1 I would like to own out of the 27-38. #27 is a close second.

Edited by The Resurrection
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I agree here. Alot of guys want the pre-robin tec's. He was always a 50/50 character , some like him some dont. But the first batman only issues are always going to go faster. 31 for me is the #1 I would like to own out of the 27-38. #27 is a close second.

 

#31 is a great cover but #27 is the grail.

 

27-37 is a great run for sure and was always first on my list to complete but #38 is historically significant.

 

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I agree here. Alot of guys want the pre-robin tec's. He was always a 50/50 character , some like him some dont. But the first batman only issues are always going to go faster. 31 for me is the #1 I would like to own out of the 27-38. #27 is a close second.

 

#31 is a great cover but #27 is the grail.

 

27-37 is a great run for sure and was always first on my list to complete but #38 is historically significant.

you are absolutely correct... just seems like way more "kids" kept issue 38 because of the intro to Robin, than had been kept on the previous issues (as evidenced by available supply)... it is just more common, so to speak...but definitely a great book ,and one that I included in my "run" 27-38 (thumbs u

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I agree here. Alot of guys want the pre-robin tec's. He was always a 50/50 character , some like him some dont. But the first batman only issues are always going to go faster. 31 for me is the #1 I would like to own out of the 27-38. #27 is a close second.

 

#31 is a great cover but #27 is the grail.

 

27-37 is a great run for sure and was always first on my list to complete but #38 is historically significant.

 

I dont disagree with you one bit. But for my personal collection , detective comics 27 isnt a blip. From a financial standpoint I doubt I will ever own a copy that I would actually want to admit to owning. My major Grail right now is Batman 1 Joker is far and away my favorite villian of all time, the guys nuts ! But I love the Batman 227 cover, and would love to own the original detective #31. So from my seat here, that is my preference. But historic significance 27, and 38 both top it.

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What i dont get is, lets say there are 700-1000 copies, why have only 52 of them been graded by CGC? Are there really that many owners who prefer their books unslabbed?

 

Yes

 

It is easy to get wrapped around the axle on the slabbing issue and think that other collectors would certainly want copies of whatever issue slabbed. Simply because "we", or "most", "many", "some" of us would.

 

The truth is that their are collectors out there, who have zero desire to let anyone handle their books. And the thought of wrapping, shipping and letting strangers handle and critique their books is not on their radar screen.

 

Some of these folks are known, others may have finished their buying in the 70's, 80's, etc.. and moved on to other collectibles. But those books are there. Stored safely away.

 

 

Is their a glut of 27's hidden away. I doubt it, but 38's, in my opinion, were not considered that scarce 30 years ago.

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What i dont get is, lets say there are 700-1000 copies, why have only 52 of them been graded by CGC? Are there really that many owners who prefer their books unslabbed?

 

Yes

 

It is easy to get wrapped around the axle on the slabbing issue and think that other collectors would certainly want copies of whatever issue slabbed. Simply because "we", or "most", "many", "some" of us would.

 

The truth is that their are collectors out there, who have zero desire to let anyone handle their books. And the thought of wrapping, shipping and letting strangers handle and critique their books is not on their radar screen.

 

Some of these folks are known, others may have finished their buying in the 70's, 80's, etc.. and moved on to other collectibles. But those books are there. Stored safely away.

 

 

Is their a glut of 27's hidden away. I doubt it, but 38's, in my opinion, were not considered that scarce 30 years ago.

 

I would say that only a small percentage of comics, and Golden Age comics, are slabbed. Most dealers and collectors are not interested in slabbing- you don't need to be 70 years old! I personally crack almost all slabbed book I buy, with some rare exceptions.

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What i dont get is, lets say there are 700-1000 copies, why have only 52 of them been graded by CGC? Are there really that many owners who prefer their books unslabbed?

 

Yes. I've bought less than 10 slabbed books and cracked open all but one of them. If I'm not planning on selling a book then I see no need for someone else to grade it and I'm quite content to keep it in a mylar with an acid-free board.

Edited by thecollectron
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