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Single best profit or loss on a comic deal?
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104 posts in this topic

4 minutes ago, Transplant said:

Nope.  The comment you responded to, mine, was just pointing out that this is yet another measuring thread among wannabe dealers.  I may flip books, but I don't feel the need to whip it out to be judged by people.  Same stupid result as threads where people are asked about the most they've ever spent on a book or what they do/make to be able to afford comics.  It's all the same end game, trying to impress people.

Understood, but that wasn't how I read it. Throwing everyone under a single blanket leaves a lot out in the cold.

6 hours ago, Transplant said:

More proof that the boards have little to do with collectors anymore.

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8 minutes ago, october said:

I am going to take this as agreement to sell me your Brenda Starr 14 at cost, in a very real and legally binding sense. 

And THIS is what happens when you make friends with someone that has a law degree????

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My best flip is a story worth telling. 

I saw this thread posted on these boards back in 2011 entitled "Anydbody Own or Seen the Book "The Nightingale."  A guy who posted in it, SOTIcollector wrote in a different thread: "I've spent years tracking down all of the comics mentioned by Wertham in Seduction of the Innocent, and discovering new ones that were previously unknown to collectors. The one book that still eludes me is The Nightingale. Anybody have one for sale or trade?"

See here: 

It sounded like a really cool book.  It is the only "good" comic book according to Frederick Wertham.  But, despite the fact that it got national press when it was published, with articles about it in major newspapers and magazines, it is incredibly rare.  Only 5,000 copies were printed, and distribution was limited to the Bronx and Westchester County with most copies given away at public schools.  That any copies survive is a miracle.  According to SOTIcollector, only one copy existed in private hands, and that had been purchased by a collector directly from the artist, with the only other copy he knew about in the Library of Congress.  (Later, I found out a few other copies were in public collections.)

The art was by Dong Kingman, an SF artist with whom I was familiar because I collect art by other Asian-American artists of his time period.  I thought maybe I could find a copy in the art world, as opposed to the comic book world. 

Ultimately, after a two year search, I found a copy.  As I expected it came from an art book dealer.  I bought it for a nominal sum.  I posted about that here:

It was a fun search and fun find, but now what was I to do?  I really didn't want to undertake obtaining every comic mentioned in SOTI.  And since SOTIcollector first alerted me to the book's existence, and he desperately needed it to complete his very passionate collecting interest, I felt it really made sense to sell it to him.  I did so for a decent sum (huge percentage increase over purchase), albeit for less than I could have sold it to others or at auction. 

But, I gained something far more important than money:  I helped a fellow collector complete his lifelong dream.  SOTIcollector completed the only known complete collection of every comic book mentioned SOTI.  Thanks to me, he found his grail.  And you know what?  It probably made me feel even better to get the book to SOTIcollector than it did to find the book.  An important and lasting lesson that collectors should keep in mind.

You can read his website here:

http://lostsoti.org/FoundSOTI.htm

 

 

 

Edited by sfcityduck
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I think a large amount of people here "flip" some books to fund collecting, and I see nothing at all wrong with that.  And I imagine there are also a lot of people that just happen upon deals too.  In the last few years I've found two New Mutants 98's for under $5.  I didn't steal them, mislead someone trying to sell something they were unfamiliar with, or even haggle on the price.  Should I have passed those up when I knew it meant finishing my New Mutants run and selling the other to purchase other books I needed? 

And I'm willing to bet no one here has forced anyone to buy a book for a price they weren't willing to pay.

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Have I made and lost money flipping comics? Sure, who hasn't? Have I had a few incredible flips? Sure. I just don't need to brag about it to mostly total strangers. Hey, it's just me...

I do know for a fact, that one day, I am going to make more money than I could have imagined on stuff I bought 40-50 years ago!

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29 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

My best flip is a story worth telling. 

I saw this thread posted on these boards back in 2012 entitled "Wanted: Nightingale Comic (1948) Used in SOTI."  The guy who posted it, SOTIcollector wrote: "I've spent years tracking down all of the comics mentioned by Wertham in Seduction of the Innocent, and discovering new ones that were previously unknown to collectors. The one book that still eludes me is The Nightingale. Anybody have one for sale or trade?"

See here: 

It sounded like a really cool book.  It is the only "good" comic book according to Frederick Wertham.  But, despite the fact that it got national press when it was published, with articles about it in major newspapers and magazines, it is incredibly rare.  Only 5,000 copies were printed, and distribution was limited to the Bronx and Westchester County with most copies given away at public schools.  That any copies survive is a miracle.  According to SOTIcollector, only one copy existed in private hands, and that had been purchased by a collector directly from the artist, with the only other copy he knew about in the Library of Congress.  (Later, I found out a few other copies were in public collections.)

The art was by Dong Kingman, an SF artist with whom I was familiar because I collect art by other Asian-American artists of his time period.  I thought maybe I could find a copy in the art world, as opposed to the comic book world. 

Ultimately, after a year long search, I found a copy.  As I expected it came from an art book dealer.  I bought it for a nominal sum.  I posted about that here:

It was a fun search and fun find, but now what was I to do?  I really didn't want to undertake obtaining every comic mentioned in SOTI.  And since SOTIcollector first alerted me to the book's existence, and he desperately needed it to complete his very passionate collecting interest, I felt it really made sense to sell it to him.  I did so for a decent sum (huge percentage increase over purchase), albeit for less than I could have sold it to others or at auction. 

But, I gained something far more important than money:  I helped a fellow collector complete his lifelong dream.  SOTIcollector completed the only known complete collection of every comic book mentioned SOTI.  Thanks to me, he found his grail.  And you know what?  It probably made me feel even better to get the book to SOTIcollector than it did to find the book.  An important and lasting lesson that collectors should keep in mind.

You can read his website here:

http://lostsoti.org/FoundSOTI.htm

 

 

 

Great story and a great thing to do for a fellow collector. At one time in the mid 1970's, I also decided to collect every book mentioned in SOTI as well as Love and Death and Parade of Pleasure. A monumental task since so many were un-identified. I amassed most of them but lost interest when I ran up against this book and several others.

You might have actually sold that to the right guy in more ways than one. I doubt I would have ever paid much for it just because I really didn't think I'd like it all that much. I believe everything eventually lands where it should and this is probably the case with this one.

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1 minute ago, Robot Man said:

 

You might have actually sold that to the right guy in more ways than one. I doubt I would have ever paid much for it just because I really didn't think I'd like it all that much. I believe everything eventually lands where it should and this is probably the case with this one.

I could have sold for more to others, but I don't think anyone wanted it more or deserved it more.  SOTIcollector has done more to identify books mentioned in SOTI than anyone.

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28 minutes ago, tmcneil82 said:

I think a large amount of people here "flip" some books to fund collecting, and I see nothing at all wrong with that.  And I imagine there are also a lot of people that just happen upon deals too.  In the last few years I've found two New Mutants 98's for under $5.  I didn't steal them, mislead someone trying to sell something they were unfamiliar with, or even haggle on the price.  Should I have passed those up when I knew it meant finishing my New Mutants run and selling the other to purchase other books I needed? 

And I'm willing to bet no one here has forced anyone to buy a book for a price they weren't willing to pay.

NOBODY has said that flipping books is wrong ? If so, it was merely tongue in cheek. Not sure who you are debating with.  The point trying to be made here is that flipping books and then coming here to brag about it is in poor taste.  Too much E-Peen going on in this thread. Cool word that I just learned. @October

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I had a PGX IH181 4.0 restored with a "significant piece missing" noted on it also incomplete cause it was missing the MVS..... bought it for $500 in 2014 sold it for 375$$ Christmas 2016 store credit at a movie trading company.... only to see it for sale last month for  $600 and last weekend it was no longer there lol

 

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4 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

NOBODY has said that flipping books is wrong ? If so, it was merely tongue in cheek. Not sure who you are debating with.  The point trying to be made here is that flipping books and then coming here to brag about it is in poor taste.  Too much E-Peen going on in this thread. Cool word that I just learned. @October

Well then, I don't know who I'm trying to debate with either lol.  Read through most of it in a hurry and think I picked up the wrong vibe.

 

Carry on

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