Strategies in collecting runs: Keys first or non-keys first? 1 1

[NoMan]

Strategies in collecting runs: Keys first or non-keys first?

I'm curious as to collector's strategies in putting runs together. Do you go for the higher dollar keys first or grab the less costly non-keys first? For our hypothetical lets say all the books in the run are not rare and can be found easily. 

I'm putting two runs together at the moment and finding it hard to lock down on one strategy or the other. Curious as to how some of you go about it.

As always, thanks for input and responses.

[oakman29]

This could be found with a little searching.

I'll play anyway.

I have put together many runs, from Silver age to moderns. AF15,ASM 1-700, Silver Surfer 1-18, Vampirella 1-113, and currently working on Creepy 1-146 ,and Eerie runs notably.

Needless to say I'm a run collector.

I have found that getting the keys first and foremost is important, reason being the keys are expensive and if you wait longer they they are much more expensive. The filler books usually stay at relatively the same price. So there's my , and it has worked for me.

Happy run collecting, it's usually that one filler book that's a pain in the A to get.

[FineCollector]

Once you've committed to making the run, know what you should expect to pay for things.  If part of the run presents itself to you cheaper than you thought, don't wait, get it.

Keys first is generally a good idea, but I made that mistake with Tomb of Dracula.  Many years ago, I didn't have any issues in the run, but I wanted to get into it for the Gene Colan art.  I saw a run go up on eBay missing the 1 and 10 for cheap.  I was keeping to a student's budget back then, so buying the keys was a question of if, and not when.  I figured I'd rather not get stuck with a run missing the keys, so I didn't bid.  The commons weren't in demand, so I figured I could pick them up anytime.  Bad move, as I haven't seen a cheap run since.

[Shaolingoat]

1 hour ago, oakman29 said:

This could be found with a little searching.

I'll play anyway.

I have put together many runs, from Silver age to moderns. AF15,ASM 1-700, Silver Surfer 1-18, Vampirella 1-113, and currently working on Creepy 1-146 ,and Eerie runs notably.

Needless to say I'm a run collector.

I have found that getting the keys first and foremost is important, reason being the keys are expensive and if you wait longer they they are much more expensive. The filler books usually stay at relatively the same price. So there's my , and it has worked for me.

Happy run collecting, it's usually that one filler book that's a pain in the A to get.

I would agree with this approach as well.  While my sample size after getting back into collecting is much smaller (mostly limited to high grade SA Avengers), I'm of a similar mindset.  The last few years, I've split my collecting funds into a monthly budget for the more common non-keys while stockpiling a rainy day fund for the keys like #1, 4, 57 and the rarer books in high grade like #3.  

I'll second the notion that the filler books tend to hang around, but when a key pops up at the right price--you jump on it if you can.

[Ken Aldred]

3 hours ago, oakman29 said:

I have found that getting the keys first and foremost is important, reason being the keys are expensive and if you wait longer they they are much more expensive.

Yup.

Since 2012 and so much more manic film speculation, and the shift of focus of many onto keys rather than runs, and the resultant huge price increases, this has become much, much more imperative.

Edited June 4, 2017 by Ken Aldred

[NoMan]

thanks for taking the time to respond, Ken, Finecollector and Shaolingoat. 

I'm sort of taking the opposite approach and hitting the non-keys first. Might be a mistake, but it sort of suits my collection-deposition for the moment. 

[FN-2199]

You could opt to buy keys and filler at the same time.

Here is what I mean: If your making an ASM 1-700 run, break up the series into smaller runs. For instance, save ASM 101, 121, 122, 129 for another day and concentrate on ASM 300-400. Buy the keys from ASM 300-400 first and then buy the filler. After you buy ASM 300, 301, 316, 344, 361, etc. the rest is easy and those are obtainable books. It's kinda like Dave Ramsey's "debt snowball" theory. Kill the easiest run first to gain momentum into the larger or harder to obtain runs.

If you go about buying random copies from Bronze, Copper, and Modern age, you miss market trends and end up overpaying. If you narrow your focus to 50-100 books, you will know what a book in that run generally goes for as opposed to jumping around.

[Mercury Man]

I agree with most posters that keys first, but if you see high grade fillers, hard to pass those up.

[NoMan]

16 minutes ago, FN-2199 said:

You could opt to buy keys and filler at the same time.

Here is what I mean: If your making an ASM 1-700 run, break up the series into smaller runs. For instance, save ASM 101, 121, 122, 129 for another day and concentrate on ASM 300-400. Buy the keys from ASM 300-400 first and then buy the filler. After you buy ASM 300, 301, 316, 344, 361, etc. the rest is easy and those are obtainable books. It's kinda like Dave Ramsey's "debt snowball" theory. Kill the easiest run first to gain momentum into the larger or harder to obtain runs.

If you go about buying random copies from Bronze, Copper, and Modern age, you miss market trends and end up overpaying. If you narrow your focus to 50-100 books, you will know what a book in that run generally goes for as opposed to jumping around.

Interesting! Thanks for your thoughts. I believe this is what I was doing, just didn't have a name for it.

[NoMan]

15 minutes ago, Mercury Man said:

I agree with most posters that keys first, but if you see high grade fillers, hard to pass those up.

Thanks.  I think when you get down to it, all comics are expensive these days. 

[oakman29]

1 hour ago, NoMan said:

thanks for taking the time to respond, Ken, Finecollector and Shaolingoat. 

I'm sort of taking the opposite approach and hitting the non-keys first. Might be a mistake, but it sort of suits my collection-deposition for the moment. 

Then why did you ask for opinions?

Oh, and thanks Oak for giving me your wise input that took years to bestow upon me.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Go with the keys first because most likely you will be paying more in the future.

[NoMan]

2 hours ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Go with the keys first because most likely you will be paying more in the future.

Not necessarily. I've seen GPA's of Keys that fall in value. Lots in fact.

[kav]

4 minutes ago, NoMan said:

Not necessarily. I've seen GPA's of Keys that fall in value. Lots in fact.

He said most likely and that is true.

[atomised]

I find it's helpful to hone in on grade because there's a lot of inventory of SA books.  When I started my X-Men (1963) run I targeted books in 9.0+ condition and if the book was selling near gpa I bought it.  That's it. For the keys in the X-Men run there's not that many big keys in any event beyond #1 #4 and #12.  The ASM run is filled with a number of keys whereas with the X-Men books, outside of the first book the Silver Age characters and plots has been largely overlooked in movies in favor of stuff from the 80's/Chris Claremont stories etc.  You would think X-Men #2 would be a key with the 1st Vanisher but no one knows who the hell he is so it's just a tough book and relatively affordable.  Other 1st appearances in the first run such as the Mimic and Banshee and a host of others barely move the price so I try to get a 9.2 or a 9.4 over the 9.0 since the prices don't climb too much.

[shadroch]

Keys, first, keys, next, and keys last. The rest of the run you can fill in anytime.  Having extra keys to trade or sell is a great way to finish runs.

 

I have just about the entire SA Marvel run in the form of Omnis and I much prefer having 8 copies of Spidey 14 to having one each of 14-35. I reduced my Avengers run from two long boxes to six or seven books and a couple of Omnis. The whole Kirby FF run fits into a foot of space on my bookshelf.

Edited June 5, 2017 by shadroch

[Knightsofold]

Work hard to get your absolute favorites first.  Then fill in the rest as you find bargains.

I like keys first.  

Sometimes when you get the key you realize you don't even want the rest.  

I've also done all the non keys first because cheaper only to realize that together they cost the same amount of a key... 

 

 

[ChiSoxFan]

I would say to pick up the keys first as well, since they are always in demand, and they have a much stronger chance of going up in value compared to the non-key books in the run.

That said, focusing on "keys" only at the expense of other books in a run can come back to bite you when a book unexpectedly becomes a "key" overnight, due to a movie or television show spotlighting a character.  Ask anyone who was putting a run together of Incredible Hulk how they felt when #271 went from dollar box fodder to a three figure book overnight.  Thankfully, I had a nice #271 already when the book caught fire, but I would have been banging my head against a table if I hadn't and realized I was going to have to pony up what the book suddenly shot up.  

On my end, I've tried to do a little of both.  I'll choose a key over a non-key when spending money, but I work on my runs when a key I'm looking for isn't readily available.

[Beardown]

Not a ton of experience to share but my son and I started on an Avengers run and decided to simply go in order.   

Save to get #1 and then continue on in number order.  

We haven't been at it very long, and the first few were pricey for us, but we are currently on track to buy #4 at the August Chicago Comic Con.  

Definitely no right or wrong way I suppose just as long as you're having fun and I would also agree to stay within a "grade" range to keep the run consistent.  

[Dogsupreme]

I go for keys first when I can afford them. I do the non-keys as the present themselves. I try to get as high a grade for the lowest price. I also keep out for other people's runs they wan to sell or lots.