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Discussed but been a while: Existing #s of mega keys
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87 posts in this topic

3 minutes ago, N e r V said:

Comic fans and collectors were always applying it in their own terms going back several decades ago. It never was matched up correctly as we use the word in English exactly but I always understood what and why comics used it as they did.

Times change and the market changed with it so we either go with the flow or we stay behind annoyed at the changes. 

As comic collectors, we just become desensitized to hype.  Everything becomes a "key," and "prototypes" abound even when they really aren't.  The end effect is that using the terms in those ways devalues the terms and forces us to make-up new terms like "mega-keys" to discuss old concepts.  The hobby was more intellectually honest in the old days.  Ok to admire that.

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If you have to pay at least 5k entry level for even a .5 than it's a mega key.

Here's some books that are mega keys imo.

Action 1, 7, 10, 13

Detective 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38

Superman 1

Batman 1

All Star 8, Sensation 1, Wonder Woman 1

Captain America 1, Maybe 3.

Marvel Comics 1

Whiz 1

All American 16

Flash 1

More Fun 52, 73

All Story 1

Amazing Fantasy 15

Showcase 4 getting close.

All super liquid.

Name some books that do or don't work with my theory, I find it interesting.

 

Edited by Knightsofold
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44 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

As comic collectors, we just become desensitized to hype.  Everything becomes a "key," and "prototypes" abound even when they really aren't.  The end effect is that using the terms in those ways devalues the terms and forces us to make-up new terms like "mega-keys" to discuss old concepts.  The hobby was more intellectually honest in the old days.  Ok to admire that.

No there's nothing wrong with that. I also don't disagree there was something to admire there in the past. I miss the whole "underground" feel collecting had back then. I don't like the fact that people today accept the fact I collect old comics and many even think it's cool.

Comic collecting is a hobby that was meant to be shunned by the General public  with private membership to outsiders.

This whole acceptance thing in the hobby today I find repugnant. :devil:

Edited by N e r V
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4 hours ago, Knightsofold said:

If you have to pay at least 5k entry level for even a .5 than it's a mega key.

Here's some books that are mega keys imo.

Detective 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38

36 0.5 is not a 5K book.

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This mya be circular reasoning, but one definition of a key book is, when say you are selling your OO collection to a dealer, and his reaction to your collection and his financial offer is directly proportional to the amount of, and condition of, only your keys.  And he says something along the lines of "I can give you X for these 15 books, or X times 1.1 for the whole lot (say 15 long boxes) 

the definition of a key book is what's in that small pile.

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Key is a pretty broad term and can refer to books that only would be seen so in the context of a run, or to a very select group of collectors - hence "minor key". 

Major key should have more meaning, but I think can be flexible beyond the historic parameters of first appearances. Classic covers have come into their own, and if you collect them by genre or publishers, there are a few that are so widely sought after, that it's hard not to see them as being major keys to collectors in the same way that first appearances and first issues have long been seen as. 

Such designations will be flexible, depending on the both the collector and the current attitudes of the community at large.

Mega Key, if it has any meaning at all would refer to only a vey select group of books, that nearly everyone one, whether they covet a copy or not, appreciates the significance of.

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