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STAR WARS #1
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967 posts in this topic

On 12/26/2020 at 11:09 PM, SkyJuice said:

If you have been following the prices, the 9.8 have reach high 2K and some even hitting above 3K. That's a fast surge in demand for sure.

This is most likely a reaction to the high prices that modern Star Wars books are reaching in the past few months.  If you're in the market for Star Wars CGC graded books and there are books from the past 20 years that sell for $1,000+, it seems like it would be an easy shift toward the original Star Wars #1 which was being sold before the first movie was in theaters.

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4,560? https://comics.ha.com/itm/bronze-age-1970-1979-/star-wars-1-marvel-1977-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/122103-15403.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Looks to me by recent happenigs that the hobby is being overrun by people who have no idea what they are doing. For example this book is everywhere, not hard to find. But it seems people I'm asumming are new to auctions are just bidding with no self control instead of waiting for the next one to come. I'm pretty sure its not people who have been into comics for a while like most of us are who are driving the prices into Never Never Land. 

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7 hours ago, Professor Chaos said:

4,560? https://comics.ha.com/itm/bronze-age-1970-1979-/star-wars-1-marvel-1977-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/122103-15403.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Looks to me by recent happenigs that the hobby is being overrun by people who have no idea what they are doing. For example this book is everywhere, not hard to find. But it seems people I'm asumming are new to auctions are just bidding with no self control instead of waiting for the next one to come. I'm pretty sure its not people who have been into comics for a while like most of us are who are driving the prices into Never Never Land. 

I think it should be worth more!

vqMPslN.png

Untitled-SW5.jpg

Edited by Chaos_in_Canada
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13 hours ago, Professor Chaos said:

4,560? https://comics.ha.com/itm/bronze-age-1970-1979-/star-wars-1-marvel-1977-cgc-nm-mt-98-white-pages/a/122103-15403.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 Looks to me by recent happenigs that the hobby is being overrun by people who have no idea what they are doing. For example this book is everywhere, not hard to find. But it seems people I'm asumming are new to auctions are just bidding with no self control instead of waiting for the next one to come. I'm pretty sure its not people who have been into comics for a while like most of us are who are driving the prices into Never Never Land. 

I have to agree.  I have a CGC 9.6 that I paid $229 for in Nov. 2019.  Collecting the original Marvel Star Wars run is what got me back into comics, and Star Wars #1 is my most prized comic for sheer wonderful nostalgia.  But even I’m tempted to sell it at the astronomical prices on offer right now.  But I just won’t be able to bring myself to do it 😜

Edited by Dergrosse13
Grammar
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9 hours ago, Dergrosse13 said:

I have to agree.  I have a CGC 9.6 that I paid $229 for in Nov. 2019.  Collecting the original Marvel Star Wars run is what got me back into comics, and Star Wars #1 is my most prized comic for sheer wonderful nostalgia.  But even I’m tempted to sell it at the astronomical prices on offer right now.  But I just won’t be able to bring myself to do it 😜

Thank you. Or you can wait a few months until your 9.6 is selling for 3K. Joking , kind of.

I think Star Wars 1 is a good example of not supply and demand but irresponsible, uncontrolled, inexperienced bidding. Which I think may be the main reason there has been such a spike in auction prices of so many books (sports cards as well).

A few weeks ago a Batman 181 9.8 went for 90K. Sure, there is only 3 of them. Detective 359 9.8 - 120K , there is only 6 of them.  A few days ago Batman 227 9.8 went for 31K (when there was one on sale for 9K). The last sale was in 2019 for 5K (9  9.8's out there).  OK fine, these are rare possibly once in a lifetime chance to own books so you would expect high prices (but still not that high).

But Star Wars 1? There are people who own hundreds of these out there. Almost 10,000 graded, 644 9.8 and 1800+ 9.6's. So why bid like a lunatic which it seems people are doing instead of just waiting a day or two for the next one to come around. Seems more like impatience than the natural outcome of supply and demand. 

I could be completely wrong but it seems to me the economy isn't exactly booming lately so where's all this money coming from? Thats why I don't think its people who have been collecting for a while jacking up the prices all around  but new people who are really just investors who are creating the price escalation. Ok I'm done with my rantrant

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29 minutes ago, the blob said:

Sorry, not #1, #2... is this a reprint and what is the difference between it and the ones that say "reprint" on the cover? was this some sort of thing that came in a pack?

s-l1600.jpg

Yes, I believe that is a reprint because of the Diamond shape where the 35c is and also no UPC.  The #1 also has 2 other reprints. One like the one blew but with no Reprint on the cover.  The other has a a 35c diamond also I believe (?) says reprint but does have a UPC.

IMG_2226.jpeg

Edited by Xenosmilus
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OK, so maybe the one that says "reprint" came in the 3 for 99 cent bags and the one that does not was sold at newsstands/shops? I assumed it was a reprint, but just wondered if it was less common than the one that says "reprint"

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12 hours ago, the blob said:

OK, so maybe the one that says "reprint" came in the 3 for 99 cent bags and the one that does not was sold at newsstands/shops? I assumed it was a reprint, but just wondered if it was less common than the one that says "reprint"

I would say, anecdotally, more common. It is the most common variation and printing of the issue in my experience.

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On 1/18/2021 at 5:58 AM, Chaos_in_Canada said:

I think it should be worth more!

vqMPslN.png

Untitled-SW5.jpg

The way Star Wars cards are going, that wax box may end up being worth more than the Star Wars 1. (Especially if you have an error card in there):applause:

Edited by Rip
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On 2/6/2021 at 11:06 AM, Rip said:

The way Star Wars cards are going, that wax box may end up being worth more than the Star Wars 1. (Especially if you have an error card in there):applause:

Damn forgot about the cards.  I use to have tons of them.  Not sure where they are or they got lost in a mother clean out.  

 

As for Star Wars books, they are always going to be tied to the health of the franchise.  When the "value" of the franchised dipped with the soft response to the Disney movies, prices stagnated.  With the Mandalorian doing well, they have advanced again.  

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On 2/6/2021 at 11:06 AM, Rip said:

The way Star Wars cards are going, that wax box may end up being worth more than the Star Wars 1. (Especially if you have an error card in there):applause:

I still kept an OPC s2 empty display box from 1977, and all the cards are off centered with jagged edges.

UntitledSWs2 010.jpg

Edited by Chaos_in_Canada
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I just had to re-post this here, in case another novice comic book deep pocket is ignorant of the real difference between the regular 30-cent version of Star Wars #1 through #4, and the scarce 35-cent price variants of those four books.  This past week, a universal 9.8 Star Wars #2 regular 30-cent version sold for $3700 and $4500 on eBay!   I kid you not!   

Higher prices are nice for the hobby, but why must they be so irrational?  I feel a bit bad for the buyers because I am almost certain they would have spent their money differently if they knew about the price variants.  Prior to the recent storm, a grade 9.8 regular 30-cent SW#2 has NEVER gone for more than even a grade 3.5 SW#2 35-cent version.  That was the scarcity premium at work, no doubt.  But these two recent sales went for DOUBLE or more of the May 2020 price of a SW#2 35-cent version in grade 9.2!    Yes, you read that right.  

This tells me that a lot of the buying activity this past year has been by deep pockets new to the comic book hobby--in other words, with little knowledge of comic books.  They are grabbing key books while remaining oblivious to their rarer counterparts, here the price variants.   Wonder if it would make a difference if they knew that the 35-cent versions of SW#1 and SW#2 have long been among the top ten or so Bronze Age keys, not the regular 30-cent SW#1 or SW#2, which were never even in the top 50 before this storm.  Obviously, any version of these books is super cool, but scarce is scarce.  

This means that Star Wars 35-cent variants (actually, any 35-cent variants, and even Canadian/UK/Australian price variants of Silver and Bronze Age keys for that matter) are very, very undervalued for now, until they too get sucked into the storm.  That's if the folks in question do their homework.  

Edited by Pantodude
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5 hours ago, BrooksR said:

Also a good idea to remind new collectors that the reprints are 35 cents and are not always easy to identify.

http://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/StarWars/Marvel/StarWars/001-006.html

Below are a selection of price boxes and diamonds for Star Wars #1 (at the upper left of the front cover).  The first two were distributed first and are both known as "first prints"; the rest are later reprints (2 of the 3 even say "reprint"):

Star Wars #1 Price boxes and diamonds

For those new to this variant thing and don't know how rare they are, there is some speculation that less than a third of the 1,500 estimated print run for the Star Wars #1 35c newstand variant (the left-most example above) is thought to have survived to this day, so they are rare.  Low census for SW#2, SW#3, and SW#4 as well in the 35-cent variant (first print run).  

The rare 35-cent variant is actually pretty easy to spot.  Just makes sure the upper left contains the price box (not diamond) showing "Star Wars" with 35 cents and "July" below it.   For clarity, here is the rare Star Wars #1 35-cent variant price box by itself, and SW#2 35-cent variant would simply have a "2" where the "1" is and "AUG" where "July" is:  

  An example of the 35 Cent variant price box

The two eBay sales discussed above of Star Wars #2 30-centers were of the second left-most example in the first image.  So they were valuable first print books, just not the rarer 35-cent version.  

Edited by Pantodude
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