VHF05 Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 I am need of advice from all of y'all. My only child, my son, died in car accident 19 years ago at 18yrs. Old. I am just now able to go through his comic book collection, which was his life until his death. They have been stored in an extra bedroom in my home so they have been kept safe with climate control. It appears they are dc and marvel collections, mostly Spider-Man, x-men, captain America and the like. He was a huge spider-man collector...his hero! All, I mean ALL his comic books he had in plastic sleeves with the backer board stuff...sorry I'm not savvy with comic book info. And all in those long cardboard boxes with lids for comics. There must be 1000s of comics, comic book cards in notebooks, action figures in boxes unopened....help? I'm quite sure I could be taken advantage of due to my ignorance so I prayed and here I am. I started buying my son comic books when he was 4 and thus it began. On special occasions I would purchase a SPECIAL comic book..always spider-man. I think the most I paid was $100.00 in the 80s and that was from working extra jobs...yea I was not wealthy by any means...what am I saying? I'm still not! Any advice would be greatly appreciated and please be gentle as this is soooo difficult for me. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artboy99 Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 1 hour ago, VHF05 said: I am need of advice from all of y'all. My only child, my son, died in car accident 19 years ago at 18yrs. Old. I am just now able to go through his comic book collection, which was his life until his death. They have been stored in an extra bedroom in my home so they have been kept safe with climate control. It appears they are dc and marvel collections, mostly Spider-Man, x-men, captain America and the like. He was a huge spider-man collector...his hero! All, I mean ALL his comic books he had in plastic sleeves with the backer board stuff...sorry I'm not savvy with comic book info. And all in those long cardboard boxes with lids for comics. There must be 1000s of comics, comic book cards in notebooks, action figures in boxes unopened....help? I'm quite sure I could be taken advantage of due to my ignorance so I prayed and here I am. I started buying my son comic books when he was 4 and thus it began. On special occasions I would purchase a SPECIAL comic book..always spider-man. I think the most I paid was $100.00 in the 80s and that was from working extra jobs...yea I was not wealthy by any means...what am I saying? I'm still not! Any advice would be greatly appreciated and please be gentle as this is soooo difficult for me. Thank you. Sorry for your loss, and welcome to the boards. First, I am not sure what you are asking help about? Are you planning to sell them? Are you keeping them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber-Bob Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 First, I would take a detailed inventory of your son's comics, making note of the title and the issue number. Next, you will want to identify any key books, the ones that are most desirable with more value. You can use E-Bay sales as a source or buy an Overstreet Price Guide. The next step, probably the most difficult, is to assign a grade to your books. I would suggest you find someone you can trust to help you, possibly a Local Comic Shop Owner ? Whatever you do, don't sell them as a lot to anyone 'helping' you until you can ascertain a proper value . Trust me, some will try and take advantage of you. Good luck. The-Collector 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The-Collector Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 11 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said: First, I would take a detailed inventory of your son's comics, making note of the title and the issue number. Next, you will want to identify any key books, the ones that are most desirable with more value. You can use E-Bay sales as a source or buy an Overstreet Price Guide. The next step, probably the most difficult, is to assign a grade to your books. I would suggest you find someone you can trust to help you, possibly a Local Comic Shop Owner ? Whatever you do, don't sell them as a lot to anyone 'helping' you until you can ascertain a proper value . Trust me, some will try and take advantage of you. Good luck. Bob's advice is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H0RR0RSH0W Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 Sad about your son . I am sorry. He would be around my own age. Always wondered what my mom would do without me to steer the collection. Good advice from Bomber-Bob. Sounds like a somewhat valuable collection so no reason to just give it all away. The Price guide is a really good way to figure out what is valuable and what is not so it might not be too much of a time commitment to just spend a few hours going through things. After you know what is key you could spend a little more time trying to ascertain a current going rate. If you do not care to spend that much time on it you could pull the most valuable books aside and sell off the rest as a large lot and not have to worry about being taken advantage of. Then you could try to move on the smaller lot of books at your own leisure using someone you trust , perhaps a family member or as suggested a local comic shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHF05 Posted August 14, 2017 Author Share Posted August 14, 2017 4 hours ago, H0RR0RSH0W said: Sad about your son . I am sorry. He would be around my own age. Always wondered what my mom would do without me to steer the collection. Good advice from Bomber-Bob. Sounds like a somewhat valuable collection so no reason to just give it all away. The Price guide is a really good way to figure out what is valuable and what is not so it might not be too much of a time commitment to just spend a few hours going through things. After you know what is key you could spend a little more time trying to ascertain a current going rate. If you do not care to spend that much time on it you could pull the most valuable books aside and sell off the rest as a large lot and not have to worry about being taken advantage of. Then you could try to move on the smaller lot of books at your own leisure using someone you trust , perhaps a family member or as suggested a local comic shop. 4 hours ago, H0RR0RSH0W said: Sad about your son . I am sorry. He would be around my own age. Always wondered what my mom would do without me to steer the collection. Good advice from Bomber-Bob. Sounds like a somewhat valuable collection so no reason to just give it all away. The Price guide is a really good way to figure out what is valuable and what is not so it might not be too much of a time commitment to just spend a few hours going through things. After you know what is key you could spend a little more time trying to ascertain a current going rate. If you do not care to spend that much time on it you could pull the most valuable books aside and sell off the rest as a large lot and not have to worry about being taken advantage of. Then you could try to move on the smaller lot of books at your own leisure using someone you trust , perhaps a family member or as suggested a local comic shop. Thank you so much...my friend and I found a computer print out where my son had written numbers by each series name...we think that is the ones he owned but not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glassman10 Posted August 17, 2017 Share Posted August 17, 2017 Anytime a parent has to bury one of their children is a terrible moment. What you describe is a collection that stopped about 1998 and began in the 1980's . If at that time you were buying occasional spiderman comics for up to $100 and he was avidly collecting Spiderman you do indeed have a potentially valuable collection and it's likely that your Private message box is lighting up right now. I found that using the Overstreet guide was adequate on some books and off the mark on many. Grading is the single hardest part of valuing the books since it defines what they're now worth. I find Overstreet to be really vague when trying to tell you a grade that means anything. Bomber bob's advice is spot on. Don't let anyone come and cherry pick the collection. I would urge you to take your time deciding who might handle the books for you. Just don't be in a hurry. The list from the computer is very useful except that it gives no grade but the very fact that the books are bagged on backer boards indicates they were treated carefully. If they are in actual plastic cases, that's a recognizable process establishing condition and implies the value as well. Best of fortune for you. It must be really hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisco37 Posted August 17, 2017 Share Posted August 17, 2017 On 8/13/2017 at 10:21 PM, VHF05 said: Thank you so much...my friend and I found a computer print out where my son had written numbers by each series name...we think that is the ones he owned but not sure. Take picture(s) of the list and post it. Should be pretty easy to determine if this was his master-list (most likely). We'll be able to give you ball park on the price range you can expect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
