Comics, Pulps, and Paperbacks: Why such a discrepancy in values? 25 25

[Surfing Alien]

Here's a bunch of keepers from some lots.

[comicjack]

city limits 

[Randall Dowling]

@Surfing Alien Is that copy of The Drowner a first printing?  I've looked at several copies and the 40 cent cover price makes me think it is.  

Unlike the guy on eBay selling a 60 cent version claiming first edition, first printing.  

[Westy Steve]

Damn. I’m slogging through EBay and I see a cool, Lion book for $12 shipped. It’s a good price on a “tittlating” book in acceptable condition that ticks all the boxes.

I wanted to make sure it was a good price so I search for other books like it and learn its kind of rare.  In the process, I find a copy of the same book in Fine.  Ironically, it’s a better relative bargain than the low grade copy, I feel this one should cost twice as much as the asking price.  

Wouldn’t be a big deal, but I’ve spent a lot lately on home renovations and I shouldn’t buy anything right now but an interesting Lion in Fine is a must have.  So I pull the trigger.  I had to.   But now I can’t read it.  And I really want to!  Now I can’t spring for the cheap copy either.  

 I keep falling in the same trap. I keep finding that a little bit more money buys a lot more book so I spring for the nicer book but then I don’t dare read it. I know this is a first world problem of ridiculous proportions but it’s irksome. 

Sorry, just venting.  Wish it was cheaper to read these stories.  

[Westy Steve]

6 hours ago, Surfing Alien said:

Here's a bunch of keepers from some lots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That drowner is insanely cool!  How do you keep finding these?

[Surfing Alien]

8 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

@Surfing Alien Is that copy of The Drowner a first printing?  I've looked at several copies and the 40 cent cover price makes me think it is.  

Unlike the guy on eBay selling a 60 cent version claiming first edition, first printing.  

Yup, both MacDonalds are 1sts. Pretty minty too. Colors are unreal.

[Surfing Alien]

5 hours ago, Westy Steve said:

Wouldn’t be a big deal, but I’ve spent a lot lately on home renovations and I shouldn’t buy anything right now

I got the same deal going. It's a dilemma for sure !!!

[Surfing Alien]

5 hours ago, Westy Steve said:

That drowner is insanely cool!  How do you keep finding these?

Patience, pluck and luck. It helps that I collected pbs for a long time so when I see things i've never seen or know are good, I can hit the BIN if it's cheap or bookmark the auction if I have to bid on it.

[Westy Steve]

3 hours ago, Surfing Alien said:

Patience, pluck and luck. It helps that I collected pbs for a long time so when I see things i've never seen or know are good, I can hit the BIN if it's cheap or bookmark the auction if I have to bid on it.

That's a murder in progress (MIP) cover, which is kind of rare.  I see lots of "about to murder" covers, and a ton of "she just got murdered and she's sexy" covers (which gives me pause.).  But yeah, definitely a cool cover on the drowner. 

FWIW, I look at books most every night now on ebay, and I'm starting to be able to pick out the uncommon ones, but most often, after doing the research, I find that they are indeed uncommon, rather than rare.  The learning curve can be exhausting at times.

[Westy Steve]

This is interesting.  I have pre-set search for cheap golden age comics on ebay.

This popped up from my search parameter and was posted in the comic book section (not the antiquarian book section)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143633553578?ul_noapp=true

If you don't want to click the link, it's an early Croydon with a L.B. Cole cover.

I'm seeing more cross-over from the comic book people lately...just recently bought a book from a vendor known for selling comics, for example.

[Surfing Alien]

1 hour ago, Westy Steve said:

This is interesting.  I have pre-set search for cheap golden age comics on ebay.

This popped up from my search parameter and was posted in the comic book section (not the antiquarian book section)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143633553578?ul_noapp=true

If you don't want to click the link, it's an early Croydon with a L.B. Cole cover.

I'm seeing more cross-over from the comic book people lately...just recently bought a book from a vendor known for selling comics, for example.

That's my under copy. I figured it would go up for sale at some point but I have no problem with that, I made some money on it and used it to fund others. If comic guys get back into them big time it could wipe out supply of anything scarce in an instant, although higher prices will bring out more copies of things you don't see much of now.

[Westy Steve]

Heh sorry. Well I didn’t out you. You outed yourself.   I go back-and-forth as to whether I want the main stream comic book guys to catch onto this. At some point that would be cool to be one of the kings of this genre along with most everybody else active in this thread. But the more I do this the longer my want list gets and that would make it impossible to fill because tough books would get too expensive.  Right now I’m enjoying the fact I can buy stuff that only has a few of the copies available on the Internet in the entire world for less than the cost of getting one of my comic books slabbed. 

Something else to consider is that the hard cover book collectors may be taking paper backs a little bit more seriously now. Seems like the articles that I can find on the Internet touching on paper back collecting are mostly written from the perspective of how paper back cover and PBO collecting can be as rewarding as hard cover book collecting.

 

[jimjum12]

2 hours ago, Westy Steve said:

  I go back-and-forth as to whether I want the main stream comic book guys to catch onto this. At some point that would be cool to be one of the kings of this genre along with most everybody else active in this thread. But the more I do this the longer my want list gets and that would make it impossible to fill because tough books would get too expensive.  Right now I’m enjoying the fact I can buy stuff that only has a few of the copies available on the Internet in the entire world for less than the cost of getting one of my comic books slabbed. 

This is part of what breathed such vitality into the Comic market in the early days. I'm not that old and I still remember a time when a AF 15 ,,,AND an ASM 1 were 50 bucks for the pair. Comfort level in regards to pricing was almost of no concern. It was fun and refreshing. Honestly, if you could delay mainstream acceptance you would thank yourself later. GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Westy Steve]

Wow!  That’s crazy! I do remember when they were about $1000 apiece. The thing is it would be odd for Books to have that kind of explosive price appreciation since they are an older collectible, but not impossible. 

 

I don’t know if you’ve seen what’s going on with video games right now, but they are getting stupid expensive due to the advent of third-party grading. My thought is that third party grading will eventually happen to books like it did with video games  That will be the starting gun and the end of collecting as we enjoy it now.   Kind of surprised it hasn’t happened already what with the cost of some hardback books now.

 

[jimjum12]

43 minutes ago, Westy Steve said:

Wow!  That’s crazy! I do remember when they were about $1000 apiece. The thing is it would be odd for Books to have that kind of explosive price appreciation since they are an older collectible, but not impossible. 

 

I don’t know if you’ve seen what’s going on with video games right now, but they are getting stupid expensive due to the advent of third-party grading. My thought is that third party grading will eventually happen to books like it did with video games  That will be the starting gun and the end of collecting as we enjoy it now.   Kind of surprised it hasn’t happened already what with the cost of some hardback books now.

 

My friend Lewis does paperbacks. He was at a show... a Pulp Fest I think, and he stumbled on to a guy selling high grade paperback specimens for 3 bucks each. This was last year. He cherry picked a stack of a couple dozen and moved on. A few minutes later he decided to go back and get them all, only to find that David Alexander had beat him to the punch. When Dave is buying out tables, you know something has it's market share... he's no dummy. GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Surfing Alien]

46 minutes ago, jimjum12 said:

My friend Lewis does paperbacks. He was at a show... a Pulp Fest I think, and he stumbled on to a guy selling high grade paperback specimens for 3 bucks each. This was last year. He cherry picked a stack of a couple dozen and moved on. A few minutes later he decided to go back and get them all, only to find that David Alexander had beat him to the punch. When Dave is buying out tables, you know something has it's market share... he's no dummy. GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

I noticed a few months ago that DTA was selling vintage PB's. It came up in one of my eBay searches.

[Surfing Alien]

2 hours ago, jimjum12 said:

Honestly, if you could delay mainstream acceptance you would thank yourself later.

There's a lot of barriers to this but I have been picking up whatever I can at reasonable prices, when I can.

I remember AF at $100 but I was very young and that was a mountain to me then. Earliest Marvels I ever owned were VG Spidey 2 and FF 3. Those prices won't ever happen to PB's but there's definitely upside from current, all over the map prices. There just need to be some organizing forces in the market. I'm in no rush

[Surfing Alien]

4 hours ago, Westy Steve said:

Heh sorry. Well I didn’t out you. You outed yourself.   I go back-and-forth as to whether I want the main stream comic book guys to catch onto this. At some point that would be cool to be one of the kings of this genre along with most everybody else active in this thread. But the more I do this the longer my want list gets and that would make it impossible to fill because tough books would get too expensive.  Right now I’m enjoying the fact I can buy stuff that only has a few of the copies available on the Internet in the entire world for less than the cost of getting one of my comic books slabbed. 

Something else to consider is that the hard cover book collectors may be taking paper backs a little bit more seriously now. Seems like the articles that I can find on the Internet touching on paper back collecting are mostly written from the perspective of how paper back cover and PBO collecting can be as rewarding as hard cover book collecting.

 

There's nothing really to out lol. I've mentioned on here before that I've been selling on ebay since 1998 but i'm nothing like a traditional dealer. I have a full time job and I sell my doubles and unfocused books to feed my buy habit. I occasionally sell some of my remaining comics and flip guitars, amps and pedals because they take up even more space than paper collectibles

I  get frustrated with ebay at times with all the changes and BS but I have done infinitely better with it than back when all I could do was sell to a dealer or set up at a show. I've made obscene profits on some books and done boneheaded things like getting my profits killed with shipping but it's all good. I'm getting better at it.

I love the fact that hardcover book dealers have always frowned on paperbacks - more for us!

[jimjum12]

7 minutes ago, Surfing Alien said:

There's a lot of barriers to this but I have been picking up whatever I can at reasonable prices, when I can.

I remember AF at $100 but I was very young and that was a mountain to me then. Earliest Marvels I ever owned were VG Spidey 2 and FF 3. Those prices won't ever happen to PB's but there's definitely upside from current, all over the map prices. There just need to be some organizing forces in the market. I'm in no rush

It's gone now.. but for years I had my first Rogofsky catalog with, IIRC, the price for FF 1 was $30, AF 15 was $25, and ASM 1 at $ 18. He also had an Action 1 for $ 1800. I really do miss those days, it was all about fun …. with 50 bucks at a show you could gather up a plethora of awesome. I talked a guy down to $ 10 for X-MEN 1 and JIM 85 … For BOTH of them.... those were the days  ... parts of the Pulp market are still like that a little. GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Surfing Alien]

4 minutes ago, jimjum12 said:

parts of the Pulp market are still like that a little

A little - but asks are going up lately. I've been picking a few favorites off here and there while I can.

Pb's are still in the real wild west, even though there have been various guides and periods of increased activity, notably in the late 80's early 90's, there's never been a consistent guide, or even sellers, other than Gryphon and Holroyd.

I won't be upset if more people get into it, I dig the discussions and pics here!