I'm getting priced out of collecting 4 4

[1Cool]

Just now, Mr.Mcknowitall said:

 Now we know why Japanese and Korean autos work......

Mechanical Engineering in U.S. schools is hard. It has mechanics and stuff.

Mechanical Engineers stink.  Civil or nothin!

[Ken Aldred]

For now, I'm really enjoying reading digital comics. One consequence of this is that I read some keys and find that they might be poorly written or drawn, dated, and that they often aren't anywhere near as good as I remember them to be. That attenuates a lot of the intense, nostalgic driving force behind wanting to hunt the books down, especially at their current, severely-inflated prices. 

I hope for a significant downwards correction in the market, which would then rekindle my interest in physical, newsprint copies.

 

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

4 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

Mechanical Engineers stink.  Civil or nothin!

Well, there was Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets, so I will give them that.

[Artboy99]

I collect golden age more than silver age ( silver age is far to common ) and I definitely agree with you that the price of books is skyrocketing. FYI try collecting Golden Age classic covers / horror comics! The price increase in this genre is crazy.

I find to compensate for the extremely dramatic upswing in price I am just buying a lower number of books per year. I am also getting more selective on what I buy.

Budget and stick to it is my advice.

[october]

10 minutes ago, Artboy99 said:

I collect golden age more than silver age ( silver age is far to common ) and I definitely agree with you that the price of books is skyrocketing. FYI try collecting Golden Age classic covers / horror comics! The price increase in this genre is crazy.

I find to compensate for the extremely dramatic upswing in price I am just buying a lower number of books per year. I am also getting more selective on what I buy.

Budget and stick to it is my advice.

I collect the same, and it's a serious struggle. It's not just that I can't afford some things now, it's also that I don't WANT to afford a lot of things. Books that were fun to buy at $200 are no longer desirable to me at $2000, even if I have the money.

I've compensated by looking harder for bargains, narrowing my focus, and taking a harder look at genres I formerly ignored.

[Ken Aldred]

26 minutes ago, Mr.Mcknowitall said:

Well, there was Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets, so I will give them that.

You forgot a certain type of pistonless rotary engine.

[Artboy99]

I also have to say that I do not find the increase in value of some of the books mentioned all that extreme. Example: GSXM 1 is increasing, but it is a slow and steady increase of a low percentage  per year. Similar to a "blue chip" investment.

Some data in the grade discussed: VF

( 8.0 )

(28) $845

(31) $944

(29) $994

(8) $1,057

$1,036

$845 avg in 2016

$944 avg in 2017

recent 2018 data is $1057

This is a consistent 12% each year increase.

Lets compare that to a Golden Age classic horror cover books.

Chamber of Chills 23

( 5.5 )

(1) $239

(1) $1,793

(1) $1,842

(1) $1,842

$1,842

[Artboy99]

I bring up the CoC 23 as I sold my 5.5 for under $250.00 to find a mere year later it sells for over $1700! To try to re-buy the book now I am sure it would be even more as that $1700 price is a year ago in fact I bet it would be over $2000 now, or nearly 10X the cost of 2 years ago!

There are numerous other examples.

 

Edited May 9, 2018 by Artboy99

[Wall-Crawler]

As someone "chasing" completing an ASM run (including AF #15 - ugh), I certainly feel your pain and will have some hard decisions to make and I am in it for the "long haul".

Humble Advice/Options:

• Determine what you really and truly want to collect and try to stick with it as best you can. I find that in this crazy hobby, there is simply too much cool stuff to collect. I marvel at what people here collect and anytime I see something cool, I think I should dabble in it (like cool GA horror and sci fi covers for example).  I was very scattershot before I decided to stick with one goal (but I am not always perfect LOL, sometimes other stuff does pique our interests) but I find that has helped tremendously.
• If only keys interest you, maybe once you decide what you want, sell the run and buy the trades and/or omnibus editions so you still have the stories and invest that cash into one or two or however many keys you can afford/want.
• Sell other books that are not part of your focus - Easier said than done, I have several non-Spidey bronze age keys I just can't bring myself to let go of yet...Even though they would help out a lot with reaching my goal...It is a mental hurdle 
• Be selective, figure out what "minimum" grade you would find acceptable for any given key that you may want to pick up.  If you are not in a "rush", be picky. You can still get some low or mid grade keys that present great, I love my ASM #3 CGC 5.5 for example and I waited a long time to find one that looked nice in the price range I wanted.
• Don't get frustrated. You have lots of collecting options. Exploring those could be a lot of fun in and of itself.  If collecting becomes something that frustrates you instead of something you take enjoyment from, it might be time to  take a break or find something else that makes you happy.

 

Edited May 9, 2018 by Wall-Crawler

[BuscemasAvengers]

As time consuming as it is, finding books/collections in the 'wild' at antique stores, garage sales, old businesses, etc. is still, for me, part of the 'thrill of the hunt'.  I have more time in the summer to pursue these places - usually, I don't find much ... regardless of whether I find something I'd like to have in my collection or not, I just like that part of the process of the hobby ... Also, DON'T short-change the feelings you have about the rising-costs of some books ... maybe it's just a better part of you that's saying there are other more important things at this time in life my money should be directed towards ... nothing wrong with recognising priorities ...

[Knightsofold]

Just get lower grades.  No 2nd app or good story arc is as awesome as the first app.  

Try it out, a 1.0 AF#15 in one hand and the equivalent in price ASM minor keys in high grade.  

If you went for the minors you’d wish you had the key. 

If you have the low grade key you’d think maybe I’ll get the minors sometime.  No rush.  Or maybe I’ll upgrade the key someday.

90% of the time a major key is so satisfying that I forget all about wanting the minor keys after getting the major.  I wanted the minor keys because they were substitutes for the real deal.

Everyone’s different, but I think the disappointment of realizing the $ used for the long box of minors was enough for 3-5 satisfying keys is universal.

 

[Shadow Images]

2 hours ago, The Resurrection said:

Evolve with the hobby is my advice. Most of us have to buy and sell in order to fund our own collections, the unfortunate part is the buying and selling is as addictive if not more.

Part of the problem in a lot of hobbies today. More flippers/investors than collectors. Everyone wants to pay wholesale or less but then believe its worth higher prices. If everyone in paying 20-60% less than guide value is that not the actual value, jmho.

[NoMan]

3 hours ago, Westy Steve said:

Hey guys,

Just venting.  I like collecting keys, with the exception of accumulating a nice stock of worthless stuff that I like to read.  So traditionally, my acquisitions were either $1 or $2 books or nicer key items.  I've been doing this a long time, but (dope that I am), I sold off stuff every once in a while to fund other collecting genres.

I'm finding I can't afford to collect anymore...at least not the way I used to.   I used to collect silver age keys.  I enjoyed owning first appearances because it made me feel more connected to my favorite characters.  But now, those books are so insanely expensive that I had to shift my focus to bronze age keys, which is the era I grew up with.  That's been pretty satisfying. 

Now it's getting to the point where I feel I can't really afford bronze keys.  At least not the books that are important to me in grades that I don't find objectionable.  And I feel if I sell something, I can't afford to replace it later.  As an example, I put together a nice run of Giant Size X-men 1 to X-men 101.  The harder books are more like VF, and the rest in the low 9's.  Now that "short set" is worth over $4K.  WTH!!!   My God, man, I could buy a pretty cool vintage car for that kind of money.  Yet, I dare not sell them.

Today I'm a 50-something professional engineer, and I find I can't buy books as nice as the ones I was buying back in college.  Back then, I felt that I'd be able to buy better books once I got established in my career.  Ha!  Joke's on me!

So, I guess there is copper and modern, but...with no offense intended, with the exception of a couple noteworthy copper books, I just don't connect to that era very well.

I'm frustrated! 

Here's the thing...there isn't a hobby as cool as ours.  Our keys are so much more interesting than...say...a key from a coin collection which might be only distinguished by a different date.  Our keys are uniquely cool.  Trying to figure out what to do next.  Sacrifice grade expectations?

Steve

what copper books do you like? 

[Erndog]

-  Pace yourself.  Recognize you won't get everything you want in a quick time frame.  Make it a long term goal with only a handful of acquisitions a year.
-  Drop your grade requirements.  Instead of NEEDING a 9.0 (just as an example), go for a 7.0 with nice eye appeal. 
-  Focus on "lesser" keys or 2nd tier books.  Many of these become hot "must have" keys at some point


I've done those 3 things for years and it's served me exceptionally well.  I've literally managed to grab almost all the keys I want, at reasonable prices and grades.  I understand the grade thing may be bothersome (esp at first for someone who may be used to 8.0+ type grades) but I've come to find some great 5.0-6.0's with great eye appeal at really good prices (in comparison to their 8.0 counterparts for example).  I love mid grade. 

 

[1Cool]

29 minutes ago, Shadow Images said:

Part of the problem in a lot of hobbies today. More flippers/investors than collectors. Everyone wants to pay wholesale or less but then believe its worth higher prices. If everyone in paying 20-60% less than guide value is that not the actual value, jmho.

I find that this is true here on the boards but not on E-Bay.  Not to say there is not a bunch of flippers on E-Bay but they seem to be willing to pay current prices - maybe in the hopes books go up from there. 

[1Cool]

I think the OP is just in shock at how many people have switched over to his mindset.  He use to be able to hop in and grab some keys and hop out when ever he felt like it.  Now that everyone is using his keys only mentality he is getting shell shocked at how tough it is to find those cheap gems any longer.  Too bad he didn't keep all those keys over the years or he would be sitting on a pile of cash.

[adamstrange]

1 hour ago, Mr.Mcknowitall said:

Mechanical Engineering in U.S. schools is hard. It has mechanics and stuff.

Civil Engineers are most likely to get a Professional Engineers license due to its value with respect to government regulations. 

There are only three rules of CE and they aren't that useful to car repair:

1. If you press on it hard enough it will fall over

2. Water flows downhill

3.  Don't push on a rope

[Larryw7]

I have to sell books if I want to buy other stuff that's more important to me. That's one of the only ways that non millionaire collectors can survive in this crazy market. I also agree with October that there are some books that were great at say 200-500 bucks that now go for thousands. I'm a Batman/Joker nut, but there's no way I'll pay 4 grand  for a .5 Detective 69 with the title stripped from the cover. The market is bonkers.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

24 minutes ago, adamstrange said:

Civil Engineers are most likely to get a Professional Engineers license due to its value with respect to government regulations. 

There are only three rules of CE and they aren't that useful to car repair:

1. If you press on it hard enough it will fall over

2. Water flows downhill

3.  Don't push on a rope

 You forgot the most important civil engineering Rule: #4: Green side up.

[FineCollector]

3 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

-  Collect secondary keys . Sometimes they turn into primary keys upon an announcement.

This.  If you're chasing books that everyone else wants when everyone else wants them, you're paying top dollar or more.

Key collectors frustrate me when they wait for something to break out before they start looking for it.  I hope the OP isn't one of those collectors, but if he is...