Giant Size X-Men #1 and/or X-Men 94 Club 13 13

[mjoeyoung]

9 hours ago, Darthbryan said:

What some people spend on vintage Star Wars prototypes and /or movie props would make your brain spin.

But those are one of ones, completely unique items, like artwork.  If you want the original artwork for Wolverine's first appearance, there is ONLY one copy, so it goes for the big money.  GS X-Men and the like were mass produced in large quantities.  There are 10,000 copies in the CGC census alone, how many copies are in the wild?  There are 2,000 copies above 9.0.  These are not rare books.  Is there THAT much demand? Across all grades?  Maybe there will be an even bigger stratification between 9.8s and 9.6s, etc. (investment grade) and the lower grades.  Are people going to pay $7K for a 2.0?  I'm not saying it cannot happen, but how probable is it.

 

[lou_fine]

15 hours ago, Wolverinex said:

16 hours ago, pickycollector said:

If I had a GSX 1 9.8, I would happily sell it for $68K and would buy a GSX 9.6 for $18K, the difference in condition is often marginal if any. That would be $50K in my pockets for more books and I would still have a nice 9.6 in my collection but that is me.

That being said, my copy is just a 9.2 but I am very happy with it.

 

This is the way

Especially since we were alrerady saying the $40,500 for the CL copy last month was already rather looney bin, what can we then say about this copy here for $67,900:    

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3Fwhere%3Dsell%26title%3Dgiant%20size%20x-men%201%26ItemType%3DCB%26CGC%3D%23Item_1468605&id=1468605&itemType=0

For $67,900 all I can say is what the heck is going on with that bottom left spine portion (i.e. Marvel Comics Group) or is that just a fugly crushed staple indentation there?     

[ft88]

Can we add FOOM 10 to the thread?

[kimik]

3 hours ago, ft88 said:

Can we add FOOM 10 to the thread?

 

No. 

 

 

 

Just kidding. I actually think that there should be a separate FOOM thread in the BA section. There are enough interesting issues that it should have a thread of its own. If a Marvel Previews with Miles Morales can hit $9500 in 9.8, what should the first Wolverine or new X-Men in FOOM fetch?

[WolverineX]

X-men 94 continues its rise as a 9.0 hit $3400 yesterday

[bluehorseshoe]

17 hours ago, Kevin76 said:

Glad I picked this up for 5K 2 years ago when it first started taking off, GPA had hit 6K and a friend of mine was looking to move his copy. A little disappointed, the cover wasn't as white as I would have liked but at least the centering, PQ and the head and foot of the book all checked out.   

 

Contrary to GPA statistics. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

16 hours ago, kimik said:

Agreed. At this point, I can see it and Hulk #181 clearing that hurdle by end of next year.

At the current rate of growth, both books will hit 100k before summers end. 

Edited March 26, 2021 by THE_BEYONDER

[kimik]

6 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

At the current rate of growth, both books will hit 100k before summers end. 

That would be fine with me, as that would put 9.4 W at $20Kish, and drag XMen 94 9.4 up to $10K range as well.

Edited March 26, 2021 by kimik

[Skunkboy]

20 hours ago, Darthbryan said:

Over the past three decades of collecting, I’ve spent a lot of time and money in two other hobbies - Star Wars collecting and Movie Prop Collecting.  What some people spend on vintage Star Wars prototypes and /or movie props would make your brain spin.  That being said there are plenty of people who could afford $70k on the highest grade of one of the most important non-Silver Age books ever made. TAnd there seems to be more cross-over in collecting genres these days bringing in more people to the hobby.  There’s plenty of money out there to keep pushing this stuff up especially with the MCU speculation.  I think the faith in what Marvel has done on film with this title in the past, coupled with their current MCU movies, is driving people to invest in these books because they know the brand won’t in any way be diminished through poor quality movies or streaming shows.   My biggest question is what happens to the “yield curve” with this book - does it continue to spike or level off.   I don’t see it dropping significantly.  

 

I’ll also say that what is happening is exciting, unnerving, and to a point sad.  I’ve spent the last few years really investing back in the hobby and acquiring books that I coveted as a teen in the 80s:  FF1, X-Men 1, FF48 to name a few.  And of course a GS X-Men 1 9.6 which I landed a few years ago.  It’s a bit sad to me that even decent quality books in the 7.0-8.0 range are starting to price people out on titles like GSX1 and Hulk 181.  You always want people re-entering the hobby to have hope that they can move the needle on their collections but with what’s going on now that’s going to be tougher for all but the very rich if this continues.  

So much awesome discussion in this thread - this is a great post that nails a lot of important points.  The market shift we've seen has been so drastic and so immediate that it's understandable that many collectors are doubtful as to how legitimate or sustainable it is.  In comics the collector demographic has remained relatively stable for a long time, and now that things have shifted so quickly, many collectors are still applying the old rules or paradigm to the current market, and it's no longer appropriate.  We're still envisioning the longtime collector who's rolling into his/her LCS to pick up their pull list who may splurge on the occasional key - that person has a lot of competition now.

You bring up a great example with prop collecting - there is a whole lot of money out there in the world, and for the lifespan of the hobby, relatively little of it has been dedicated to comic book collecting.  For comparison, have a look at what's gone on in sports card collecting - some of the youtube vids of people who look like they're fresh out of high school flipping $10-50k basketball cards are mind-boggling.  I have a friend who sells vintage jewelry - again, the numbers can be stunning.  How about watches? Coins? From a pricing standpoint, comics are still in the minor leagues. 

I agree, there is definitely a sadness to it.  As prices continue to climb, more and more keys will ascend out of reach.  I'm hopeful that great content will continue to be released and new keys will continue to emerge.  I may have to manage my expectations with grabbing an FF1, however the EOSV 2 I was able to pick up recently isn't too shabby either .

 

 

 

[maraxusofkeld]

11 hours ago, mjoeyoung said:

But those are one of ones, completely unique items, like artwork.  If you want the original artwork for Wolverine's first appearance, there is ONLY one copy, so it goes for the big money.  GS X-Men and the like were mass produced in large quantities.  There are 10,000 copies in the CGC census alone, how many copies are in the wild?  There are 2,000 copies above 9.0.  These are not rare books.  Is there THAT much demand? Across all grades?  Maybe there will be an even bigger stratification between 9.8s and 9.6s, etc. (investment grade) and the lower grades.  Are people going to pay $7K for a 2.0?  I'm not saying it cannot happen, but how probable is it.

 

I think the standard, at least for me, was to get Bronze Age books in at least 9.4 or better as they were new enough to be available in mid to lower grades and a 9.4 generally didn't break the bank but was still nice enough of a grade for that age. With that being said, there are roughly 1107 copies in the CGC census that are 9.4 and above for a book that is a mega key of that age, which is not really that many consider the book has been a known key for nearly 4 decades.  I do not think the prices will last on lower grade copies but again just my opinion. Also I think the MCU has opened up a lot of books to buyers outside the USA which has increased demand and prices, especially for auction houses willing to ship outside the USA.

[Skunkboy]

18 hours ago, Kevin76 said:

The wise thing to do would be to hang onto a 9.8, it's going to hit 6 figures sooner than everyone thinks. 

Agreed - much of the new money coming in is from the sports card collecting world, where PSA 10s are king, and PSA 9s are a distant second.  We're already seeing the increased separation between 9.8s and 9.6s on some books, and think it will continue for large keys.

Edited March 26, 2021 by Skunkboy
typo

[canickus]

8 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Especially since we were alrerady saying the $40,500 for the CL copy last month was already rather looney bin, what can we then say about this copy here for $67,900:    

https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAUCTIONS%2FSEARCH.ASP%3Fwhere%3Dsell%26title%3Dgiant%20size%20x-men%201%26ItemType%3DCB%26CGC%3D%23Item_1468605&id=1468605&itemType=0

For $67,900 all I can say is what the heck is going on with that bottom left spine portion (i.e. Marvel Comics Group) or is that just a fugly crushed staple indentation there?     

This is a real nice Giant-Size X-Men 1 book, and I have looked at a lot of them.  Well centered (full Wolvie claws), and you can read the Title information on the side of the book because the front left black line is practiclally on the edge.  What is especially nice about this example is the bright white cover.  A lot of Giant-Size X-Men 1 books have a lot of cover bleed through (like picture below). but this is a full bright white cover - which I think is one reason for the high price.  The Comic Connect 9.8 currently in auction is also very attractive this way with no cover bleed through and it is already over 31k with a couple of weeks left before close.

Here is a pic of a typical cover showing the normal cover bleedthrough.

 

[WolverineX]

2 hours ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

At the current rate of growth, both books will hit 100k before summers end. 

Or next week..

[kimik]

2 hours ago, Wolverinex said:

Or next week..

[MGsimba77]

Maybe time to stop drinking ☕ from this mug?...eh, screw it...if it fades it fades. It's too cool not to use it 🤟

[BrooksR]

34 minutes ago, MGsimba77 said:

Maybe time to stop drinking ☕ from this mug?...eh, screw it...if it fades it fades. It's too cool not to use it 🤟

You need to get that mug slabbed! 😄

[kimik]

53 minutes ago, MGsimba77 said:

Maybe time to stop drinking ☕ from this mug?...eh, screw it...if it fades it fades. It's too cool not to use it 🤟

That may be worth $1000 right now.......

[MGsimba77]

37 minutes ago, kimik said:

That may be worth $1000 right now.......

 Someone should tell the two or three people selling one on Ebay 

[god503]

Safe to say I am definitely enjoying this ride...

[rexinnih]

Very nice!