Post your Garage Sale/Flea Market/Antique Mall Finds Here 59 59

[Senormac]

There are deal out there 

[Robot Man]

12 hours ago, littledoom said:

Dec 2019 estate sale, couple bucks each

 

Cool, seem to be a lot of sales in your area. Where do you live?

[littledoom]

1 hour ago, Robot Man said:

Cool, seem to be a lot of sales in your area. Where do you live?

Mind you this is maybe only once or twice a month .. secret

[Keys_Collector]

1 hour ago, littledoom said:

Mind you this is maybe only once or twice a month .. secret

 

[mrwoogieman]

Here is the story of my greatest find - so far (sorry no photos):

Summer 2001, I am at a tag sale on LI and ask, as I always do, about comics. The homeowners say no, sorry, none here. I ask a few follow up questions and they say yes, a cousin used to collect comics, give me your number and I'll pass it along. Great, you never know. So, I get a phone call some days or weeks later and it's the cousin. We speak a couple of times and talk about his collection and eventually set up a time for me to go to his apartment in Hoboken, NJ to check it out. September 10, 2001, I leave work and head to Hoboken by way of the Path train from the World Trade Center. I get to the apartment, meet the guy, and he tells me they're up there in that box on top of a high shelf? refrigerator? I can't recall exactly, but the medium sized, brown cardboard box has a pretty thick layer of dust on the top and the guy tells me that he was an active collector years ago going to shows in NYC, etc., but gave up the hobby.

I spend about two or three hours going through about 150 or so comics, many are low grade, poor and incomplete, missing pages, etc. I'm not a dealer and eBay hasn't been around that long and I had only just returned to active comic collecting after college/law school, so I'm overwhelmed by what I'm looking at or what I should offer. I've got my current Overstreet with me so that's about all the guidance I had. I go through the books as best I can making notes as to condition, missing pages, possible restoration, pricing tiers from Overstreet. I do the best I can and add it all up on a notepad and base my offer on a percentage of the total.

Meanwhile the guy is leaving me be, he's in the kitchen having dinner and watching tv. Finally, I finished and we sit down with my notes. I say, based on what is in there, their condition known and unknown, I am willing to offer you $_______ for the whole box (I won't say how much it was exactly but it was low four figures). He looks at me and says, you're willing to give me that amount for those comics? I say yes, that's what I come up with as a comfortable number for me and a fair number for you, with my lack of pricing knowledge on many of the books and their overall low condition. He asks about a couple of books in particular and how I priced those into my offer. Satisfied, he says when can you pay? I respond that I can come back this weekend with a cashier's check for the full amount. We shake on it.

I leave and head back on the Path train back to the WTC. I head to the 1/9 subway to get back up to Penn for the ride back to LI. It's about 11:30 p.m. by that point. I use a pay phone on the 9 train platform to call my wife, letting her know that I was heading home. The next morning, 9/11/01, two planes hit the WTC, ultimately collapsing the 1/9 tracks underneath. The 9 train never re-opens. I was probably the last person to use that pay phone on that platform the night before. Weird.

Over the next few days, the seller wants to complete the deal asap to get the cash that I offered. I'm hesitant but ultimately decided to go through with the transaction.

What was in the box? Again, keep in mind some were incomplete, many in Poor condition, restored, etc.

AF 15; ASM 1-20; B&B 28, 30; Daredevil 1; Avengers 1, 4; about 10 early Batman/Detective issues from the 40s with Batman 9 being the earliest (it turned out to have missing pages and the guy who ran Four Color Comics who I submitted to CGC through made fun of me for paying to grade a comic that got a .5 grade - thanks for insulting your customers boss); about 10 Timelys including MMC, Cap and HT issues with wartime covers; MFC 73; many more ASMs under 100; about 15 early FF issues; and I forget all what-else.

That's my story, hope you enjoyed it.

 

 

[littledoom]

3 hours ago, mrwoogieman said:

Summer 2001, I am at a tag sale on LI and ask, as I always do, about comics. The homeowners say no, sorry, none here. I ask a few follow up questions and they say yes, a cousin used to collect comics, give me your number and I'll pass it along. Great, you never know. So, I get a phone call some days or weeks later and it's the cousin. We speak a couple of times and talk about his collection and eventually set up a time for me to go to his apartment in Hoboken, NJ to check it out. September 10, 2001, I leave work and head to Hoboken by way of the Path train from the World Trade Center. I get to the apartment, meet the guy, and he tells me they're up there in that box on top of a high shelf? refrigerator? I can't recall exactly, but the medium sized, brown cardboard box has a pretty thick layer of dust on the top and the guy tells me that he was an active collector years ago going to shows in NYC, etc., but gave up the hobby.

 

A lot of people would have just walked away after the initial "no" glad that wasn't the case

 

[Bob7891]

Picked this up at an antique shop 3 months ago. Asked owner how much and happy to pay his $10 asking price.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Bob7891

[littledoom]

1-12-20 $21 Flea haul

 

[spreads]

11 hours ago, Bob7891 said:

Picked this up at an antique shop 3 months ago. Asked owner how much and happy to pay his $10 asking price.

Antique stores seem to be the epitome of laziness when it comes to valuing comics.  I found a great score of comics at a place that had 4-5 long boxes priced at $1 each (five copies of SSM 64 in there), but when you only have a few comics to value, you'd think you take a minute and put your coffee down to look up the price of a book.  

Great grab for you!!

[littledoom]

July 12, 2019 I was on my way to get a haircut at a friends house and this yard sale was on the way.. I went an hour and a half past when the sale started (Federer v Nadal Wimbeldon) so I potentially missed out on better caliber comics but it was cool to pay $25 for the leftovers pair

[comicdonna]

On 4/29/2020 at 9:45 PM, Bob7891 said:

Picked this up at an antique shop 3 months ago. Asked owner how much and happy to pay his $10 asking price.

Is this the first Donald Duck comic?

[littledoom]

2.9.20 Once a week I hit up several thrift stores in one outing. Rarely are there ever any comics let alone decent ones. This is probably 1 per 500 trips. All recent 2011-2019 New 52/Rebirth/NOW comics. Full runs/sets.. The original owner took really good care of his books. I bought 7 boxes. Issues like All New Wolverine 2, DP/Spidey 1, Invincible Iron Man 9, Seven to Eternity 1. Side note: try not to show the employees you're getting a deal

[littledoom]

This was my last flea comic haul two months ago before everything stopped. The Punisher was 50 cents and the Boba was $20.. Really nice solid copies.. As I was paying $15 for the X-Men 50 a random guy was literally pulling it from my hands.. He's said "it's a nice one".. yeah jerk it's mine lol. I don't mind others taking a look at what I have but just don't grab it and be polite

[spreads]

19 hours ago, littledoom said:

2.9.20 Once a week I hit up several thrift stores in one outing. Rarely are there ever any comics let alone decent ones. This is probably 1 per 500 trips. All recent 2011-2019 New 52/Rebirth/NOW comics. Full runs/sets.. The original owner took really good care of his books. I bought 7 boxes. Issues like All New Wolverine 2, DP/Spidey 1, Invincible Iron Man 9, Seven to Eternity 1. Side note: try not to show the employees you're getting a deal

Added bonus - boxes in great shape!

[spreads]

6 hours ago, littledoom said:

This was my last flea comic haul two months ago before everything stopped. The Punisher was 50 cents and the Boba was $20.. Really nice solid copies.. As I was paying $15 for the X-Men 50 a random guy was literally pulling it from my hands.. He's said "it's a nice one".. yeah jerk it's mine lol. I don't mind others taking a look at what I have but just don't grab it and be polite

What's the deal with the Punisher, just low print run?

[littledoom]

1 hour ago, spreads said:

What's the deal with the Punisher, just low print run?

Yeah it's like around a $20 book... last issue in the Punisher Armory series.. kinda hard to find mixed in with an amazing Michael Golden cover

[Robot Man]

8 hours ago, littledoom said:

This was my last flea comic haul two months ago before everything stopped. The Punisher was 50 cents and the Boba was $20.. Really nice solid copies.. As I was paying $15 for the X-Men 50 a random guy was literally pulling it from my hands.. He's said "it's a nice one".. yeah jerk it's mine lol. I don't mind others taking a look at what I have but just don't grab it and be polite

Yeah, there’s a lot of that that goes on out “in the wild”. People can get very aggressive. The worst is when you see a hand grab a book out of a box you are looking through. I have had to calmly look them in the eye and tell them when I’m done you can look. The way I look at it is I was there first and it is MY box until I am through. I have actually, lightly slapped such hands. 

I recently watched a guy pick out book after book out of a box right in front of me. I knew I missed them and it was his lucky day. When he got done I gave him a quiet thumbs up and we both smiled as he walked away. 

The worst thing you can do is cause a commotion. Don’t alert a seller that he blew it. Usually ends up with the seller pulling them back and no one gets anything. 

Sometimes, it’s just some one else’s lucky day. There is always another day when you will come out on top. 

I get a lot of stuff other people never see because my wife and I are dealers and we know a lot of other dealers. Because we spend money and pay fair, I get a lot of stuff that they hold for me first. 

Like you, I work very hard at it but find that being aggressive and nasty just isn’t the best way anymore.

[Turnando]

9 hours ago, littledoom said:

As I was paying $15 for the X-Men 50 a random guy was literally pulling it from my hands..

That's insane.  The guy is probably mentally ill.  Good on you for handling it in a civilized manner... it takes some Jedi skills to handle a surprise attack like that.

[Robot Man]

I had to deal with a guy that literally pulled an expensive piece of art pottery out of my wife’s hands at a show. 

It did not go good for him. Some people are just animals...

[Bearcatcoach]

For the 1st time in a couple months was able to (safely) buy a small collection that consisted of 6 long boxes of paperbacks, a mag box of mostly comic book marketplaces, a small box of comics, a couple boxes of hardbacks and a couple other boxes of miscellaneous stuff.....

A few pics of the cooler comic related books....happy days!