Silver age comics that are heating up 26 26

[Wreck-It Ralph]

10 minutes ago, KCOComics said:

 

I'll preface this by saying, I don't use either. 

I do watch sold prices from the big auction houses. eBay is usually my first go to. 

GPA is "the standard" around here and that's what most collectors seem to like. I have heard prices are increasing so quickly, GPA has been a bit behind lately. When books are as hot as Xmen1 and Hulk 181, being a week or two behind can be a big price discrepancy.

 

Can I flip some questions around on you? 

There has been a lot of chatter about investors entering the market and driving up prices. 

So what brought you to the comic book market? Are you into other collectibles? 

Do you put your money in traditional investments (stocks, ETFs, mutual funds) and view comics as diversification? Or are you focused on alternative investment strategies? 

Do you see your interests in comics expanding beyond financial gain? Meaning if the comic market died tomorrow, would you hang on to JIM85 because you love it? Or would you dump it like an underperforming stock? 

None of this is meant to be cagey or personal. I'm really curious. Most of us on here are guys who have been reading comics our entire lives. We have favorite artists, story lines and are happy to discuss Kirby vs Lee endlessly. I'm curious for your perspective and interest. 

My primary collecting focus is Star Wars Action Figures, I collect Palitoy 12,20 and 30 Backs I own most of them and what I don’t have is crazy rare so it is a waiting game even if you have the money to buy them as collectors are very reluctant to sell what can’t be replaced.

I got into comics as I bought a X Men 1 back in 2015 as I loved the film X Men First Class, I also unsuccessfully tried to buy TOS39 at the time in an 8.0 as I also love the Ironman film and the not buying of that book has been a thorn in my side since. I saw both books increase in price and became more interested in comics and started buying a few, 40 or so, some valuable some not, a couple of years ago. I got back into recently after someone mentioned on Facebook or a Star Wars forum how buoyant the Comic book market was. 

The only stock investment I do is via my pension and I don’t do that the financial advisor does, they often show me growth graphs which are pure fiction so it is not something I hold much faith in.

I prefer to invest in tangible things like property that either offer a high yield or high capital appreciation or in a perfect world both.

For the most part Star Wars MOC especially in the Palitoy market is a terrible investment as almost everything, especially the rare items are sold privately resulting in no benchmarks being set and no price increases. Prices could be dropping and no one would know as private sales do not create any sales data. I buy it because I love it not to make money. The same applies to comics as I enjoy owning them as it links to some of the films I love which I have great nostalgia for. I would only sell them in the future if I lost the love for them as I am not buying them to make money. 

I am however very interested in not overpaying hence the GPA analysis and buying the comics that I like and offer the greatest growth potential hence some of my investor like questions.
 

 

[Rip]

1 hour ago, Wreck-It Ralph said:

Do you think TOS 52 & 57 offer good value now, do you think it is a good time to invest in these books?

I actually just picked up a mid grade copy of 1st Hawkeye the other day. I don't think you can go wrong with TOS 57 right now. 

[Wreck-It Ralph]

29 minutes ago, PeterPark said:

Negative interest rates just make people pull money from the market or the bank. I suppose on some level it must be possible but conventionally rational behavior would go out the window. No one will pay to loan someone money, etc. 

If Interest rates do go negative then you will see a boom as people with large sums of money could withdraw it and put it into a safety deposit box but more likely they will put it into something that is appreciating, easy to manage and easily disposable, combine that with people selling up Bitcoin and you got yourself a Perfect Storm!

[Wreck-It Ralph]

16 minutes ago, Rip said:

I actually just picked up a mid grade copy of 1st Hawkeye the other day. I don't think you can go wrong with TOS 57 right now. 

What do collectors class as Mid grade is it 5.0?

[Rip]

I bought a 6.0, but "mid grade" tends to be kind of a rough estimate depending on who you talk to, 5.0 to 7.0.

[Wreck-It Ralph]

I got a couple of new comics in the house waiting for me when I get home not an AF15 but they will still bring a smile to my face.

[silverseeker]

6 minutes ago, Rip said:

I bought a 6.0, but "mid grade" tends to be kind of a rough estimate depending on who you talk to, 5.0 to 7.0.

That's what I tend to think of as Silver Age mid grade, although I would not call 7.5 high grade, so it's kind of a tweener...

For me, Silver Age high grade starts at 8.0, but I'm sure everyone has different opinions on this...

Edited March 19, 2021 by silverseeker
Minor tweak.

[Wreck-It Ralph]

3 minutes ago, Rip said:

I bought a 6.0, but "mid grade" tends to be kind of a rough estimate depending on who you talk to, 5.0 to 7.0.

So would high grade be 7.5 or above?

[silverseeker]

3 minutes ago, Wreck-It Ralph said:

So would high grade be 7.5 or above?

To me, 7.5 is a book that can't quite figure out if it wants to be "mid grade" or "high grade". 

I think 7.5 is actually a great grade for finding affordable copies of books for this reason...of course, this doesn't apply to the big keys that we're discussing.

Edited March 19, 2021 by silverseeker
Minor tweak.

[Rip]

Kind of a self judgement call. Myself I call Silver age books around 7.0-8.0 upper grade, then high grade for 8.5 and above. Again this is kind of a rough and loose call.

But there are some tough in grade Silver age books like Showcase 4 or TTA 27. So a 7.5 Showcase 4 might be considered high grade.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Rip

[KirbyJack]

I’ve seen SA comics in 7.0 slabs that I’m comfortable calling high grade. I don’t have a numerical cut-off.

[PKJ]

9 minutes ago, KirbyJack said:

I’ve seen SA comics in 7.0 slabs that I’m comfortable calling high grade. I don’t have a numerical cut-off.

And if you collect DC Silver age War... 5.5 can be high grade.

[Roger66]

1 hour ago, Wolverinex said:

Hopefully it crashes, so I can get some more books I want.  

That will have to be one hell'of'a'crash for prices to come down that low.  And if so perhaps most will be too busy buying week old bread and questionable cold cuts to bother with the complete inanity of buying comics. 

[WolverineX]

7 minutes ago, Roger66 said:

That will have to be one hell'of'a'crash for prices to come down that low.  And if so perhaps most will be too busy buying week old bread and questionable cold cuts to bother with the complete inanity of buying comics. 

I already have my guns and peanut butter ready for bartering for a 5.5 AF 15 when  the crash happens.

[Pantodude]

1 hour ago, Rip said:

But there are some tough in grade Silver age books like Showcase 4 or TTA 27. So a 7.5 Showcase 4 might be considered high grade.

There are [only] 827 blue TTA27s, and of those only 88 are above 6.5!   One could argue 7.0 is the high-grade cutoff for that book.

It is even more stark with SC4.  Out of 365 blue, only 43 are above 6.0!   So for SC4, one could argue 6.5 should be the high-grade cutoff.   

Interesting, for what it's worth.  But technically of little moment, as 7.0s and 7.5s are not high grade.  It should suffice to say that certain books are rare in high grade.  

Edited March 19, 2021 by Pantodude

[Callaway29]

1 hour ago, Pantodude said:

There are [only] 827 blue TTA27s, and of those only 88 are above 6.5!   One could argue 7.0 is the high-grade cutoff for that book.

It is even more stark with SC4.  Out of 365 blue, only 43 are above 6.0!   So for SC4, one could argue 6.5 should be the high-grade cutoff.   

Interesting, for what it's worth.  But technically of little moment, as 7.0s and 7.5s are not high grade.  It should suffice to say that certain books are rare in high grade.  

Agree, all relative. Only 79 universal SC22's > 6.0, and only 32 > 7.0.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Callaway29

[Westy Steve]

Everything.  Everything is heating up.

[Broke as a Joke]

4 hours ago, Westy Steve said:

Everything.  Everything is heating up.

Seriously, I was flipping through one small box that I had to pull a book from and realized in todays market that box alone is worth over 100 grand.  3 years ago it was about a 3rd of that.  I had said years ago that these books would be to help put the kids through school but I'm beginning to realize the best bet is to cash out now before these "new investors" get bored and move on to the next thing.  

[WolverineX]

Just now, Broke as a Joke said:

Seriously, I was flipping through one small box that I had to pull a book from and realized in todays market that box alone is worth over 100 grand.  3 years ago it was about a 3rd of that.  I had said years ago that these books would be to help put the kids through school but I'm beginning to realize the best bet is to cash out now before these "new investors" get bored and move on to the next thing.  

That may not be a bad idea since a lot of the books spiking are ridiculous.  

[Wreck-It Ralph]

27 minutes ago, Wolverinex said:

That may not be a bad idea since a lot of the books spiking are ridiculous.  

I think they will continue to Spike until the Pandemic ends assuming that ever happens as many people have considerably more disposable income due to not travelling, certainly is my biggest annual expense and I have not been on a plane for over a year.