• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Looking at a Large DC Copper Age Collection
2 2

206 posts in this topic

A co-worker approached me this week about his comic book collection. He has been collecting since the mid 80s. It is all DC and includes runs of most of the major titles and a lot of titles I am unfamiliar with. He says I am getting the first look and nothing has been cherry picked so I am assuming all of the copper keys from the mid/late 80s are there. The collection is current to about a year ago. The collection consist of 60 long boxes and all of the books are bagged and boarded.

I will probably go look at the collection this weekend.

Anything outside of the ordinary I should be on the lookout for?

What is a good price assuming everything is in good shape and the keys haven't been cherry picked?

Thanks in advance for any tips!

Highlights
6 long boxes of Batman including Detective, mini series, one shots, Elseworlds
5 long boxes of Superman titles
Wonder Woman 2nd and 3rd series
Cat Woman 1st and 2nd series
Preacher
Transmetropolitan
Fables
Suicide Squad
Harley Quinn

Things of note missing
JLA
Batman Adventures
Sandman & Death
Hellblazer
Swampthing
Teen Titans

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depending on condition, $40-80 per long box if you're getting it all. If you're buying that much, you're probably going to end up with about 4 long boxes worth of decent stuff and 56 of dollar books. 

60 long boxes is a LOT OF WORK. Make sure this is something you want to take on before buying the collection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The time commitment is something I am worried about. From the list he sent me it looks pretty organized. I currently have around 8000 comics so this will almost double what I currently have. I have mostly Marvel so there wont be much overlap. I am currently parring down the personal collection and getting books ready to setup at shows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

60 long boxes is about 15,000 books. 

There's a ton of junk in there. A ton of it. 

I wouldn't pay more than $15-$25 a long box for that stuff. 

The "keys" aren't very key, and they're not worth the massive amount of junk in there. A run of Batman #400-#700 sounds like fun, but the vast majority of that is junk that no one wants.

The Supermans are virtually worthless. The Wonder Womans are virtually worthless. Yes, there are "keys" in those runs...barely...but they don't make up for the runs and runs of junk. Do people want Adam Hughes Catwomans? Sure. Do they want 90s Catwoman? Nope.

I cannot stress to you enough how much junk there is, here. The key books that people can mention are nothing in the face of the onslaught of material that very few people want. 

So, unless YOU want these books, and are prepared to pay a premium for them, don't get oversold on them. Even if they were all 9.8 potential books...and they're 99% certainly not...that's still a ton of work and expense to get there first.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A follow up to the original post. The owner of the collection wants .10 a book if I take entire runs. So I can buy all of the Catwomans for .10 each but I need to buy the whole run. If I take the entire collection it will be cheaper than .10 per issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Dormian said:

A follow up to the original post. The owner of the collection wants .10 a book if I take entire runs. So I can buy all of the Catwomans for .10 each but I need to buy the whole run. If I take the entire collection it will be cheaper than .10 per issue.

Yeah, that's about where it ends up. Me? I'd offer to buy the whole thing for $15 a long box...but I'm crazy like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Dormian said:

A follow up to the original post. The owner of the collection wants .10 a book if I take entire runs. So I can buy all of the Catwomans for .10 each but I need to buy the whole run. If I take the entire collection it will be cheaper than .10 per issue.

As an example...the original run of Catwoman? #1-94? The last 5-6 issues are "worth something", especially the Harley issue #89, and that's it. Everything else isn't even worth 10 cents a book. You'll have a dickens of a time trying to move them as loose dollar books. You would probably sell the No Man's Land issues, and that's about it.

Now, Catwoman #44-83 from the 2002 series? Now, those are worth it, especially if there are 9.8 potentials. But #1-43? Again, junk that no one wants.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Dormian said:

A follow up to the original post. The owner of the collection wants .10 a book if I take entire runs. So I can buy all of the Catwomans for .10 each but I need to buy the whole run. If I take the entire collection it will be cheaper than .10 per issue.

At that price I would just cherry pick the heck out the series and leave the mass of junk behind. Once you've pulled all the decent 10 cent series stuff he will have to give away the other 45 long boxes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 cents per book equates to $35-40 per long box. 60 long boxes of all bagged/boarded, organized stuff   $1900-$2400 ask, sounds like a no brainer to me. You said this is a co worker correct. Leaving them with 45 long boxes of drek even in runs is not something that will keep you on good terms with this person down the road in my opinion. There are some very cool runs of books adam hughes catwomans are always popular Batmans from 400-700 have some very nice books,  detective towards the end of vol 1 871-881 sell all day long flash 197 (zoom) is always a hot title. As I say no brainer indeed. I'd be all over a deal like this one bags and boards are probably several hundred dollars on their own. Good luck with this purchase wish all deals were this easy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, anstettoman said:

10 cents per book equates to $35-40 per long box. 60 long boxes of all bagged/boarded, organized stuff   $1900-$2400 ask, sounds like a no brainer to me. You said this is a co worker correct. Leaving them with 45 long boxes of drek even in runs is not something that will keep you on good terms with this person down the road in my opinion. There are some very cool runs of books adam hughes catwomans are always popular Batmans from 400-700 have some very nice books,  detective towards the end of vol 1 871-881 sell all day long flash 197 (zoom) is always a hot title. As I say no brainer indeed. I'd be all over a deal like this one bags and boards are probably several hundred dollars on their own. Good luck with this purchase wish all deals were this easy

If you can get 400 books in a long box you must really stuff them in there. He said bagged and boarded which means about 250 per box in my experience. Although buying half and leaving the drek might be the best case  I really enjoy selling comics so I would probably go for $15 per long box of 250 comics and take them all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, anstettoman said:

10 cents per book equates to $35-40 per long box. 60 long boxes of all bagged/boarded, organized stuff   $1900-$2400 ask, sounds like a no brainer to me. You said this is a co worker correct. Leaving them with 45 long boxes of drek even in runs is not something that will keep you on good terms with this person down the road in my opinion. There are some very cool runs of books adam hughes catwomans are always popular Batmans from 400-700 have some very nice books,  detective towards the end of vol 1 871-881 sell all day long flash 197 (zoom) is always a hot title. As I say no brainer indeed. I'd be all over a deal like this one bags and boards are probably several hundred dollars on their own. Good luck with this purchase wish all deals were this easy

A long box averages about 250 books, bagged and boarded. Unbagged, you'll get to your 350-400, but they have to be packed, and these books are bagged and boarded.

I would never pay $2000 for this stuff, unless I could look at it and be guaranteed (my guarantee, not the seller) of finding 9.8s of the keys.

Otherwise...hard, hard pass.

And I am NOT a dealer, and I AM a hoarder, who will buy anything if it's cheap enough, and have frequently paid substantially more than any dealer would. Dealers with limited space and resources will almost certainly pass, even at "free."

Detective #871-881 does NOT make up for Detective #550-870, which is a mindless sea of drek, with very, very few bright spots, unless you absolutely love the character (which I do.)

60 Longs takes up roughly 100 cubic feet of space, and unless you have land that's paid for, and that you're not already using for something else, that space costs you money.

If you're paying $35-$40 a long, I've got about 200 longs I'd like to sell you. I'll even include the same keys. 

:whistle:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With new books condition is everything. I want to check them out and make sure they were taken care of. Assuming they were read once and carefully put away having a bunch of 9.8s is still unlikely. Worst case scenario I leave with several boxes of elseworlds, vertigo, and other reading material.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd take it at $0.10/book if they're bagged and boarded and in alpha numeric order. And assuming the stuff is mostly strict NM and higher. Why?

Because I could easily locate and pull the better stuff that way, then simply cart it all off to some local events and start dumping at $2/book, then $1/book, then $0.50/book as you get closer and closer and closer to just the drek. It's the least labor intensive approach for me to get my money back quickly. It might take a couple of years, but you should get your money back quickly, within the first few months if you have access to a couple of fairly priced local shows. Then unload the remains for $0.10 or so per book when you're sick of doing it.

BUT if they're not bagged and boarded, nor in order and in the VF/NM range for many, I would seriously reconsider though...

SIDE NOTE: If only I cold get books that cheap in my area. There is soooo much competition for collections and lots of younger collectors skip the middle man altogether, making it tough to restock at such low prices.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Dormian said:

With new books condition is everything. I want to check them out and make sure they were taken care of. Assuming they were read once and carefully put away having a bunch of 9.8s is still unlikely. Worst case scenario I leave with several boxes of elseworlds, vertigo, and other reading material.

Yeah, cherry picking is the best approach if he's letting you choose series. Why take on the burden of the 60 boxes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am setting at two local shows in my area this summer.

I won't know for sure until I look at the collection but it is 12 page document of titles by box with 55 of the boxes listed.  I can only assume it is in numeric order.

Rough estimate it is around 600 titles counting one shots, mini series, and regular series. Batman alone is 90 titles

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If he's really offering 10 cents a piece if you take a full run, then it's a no-brainer for Preacher, Batman, and some others. But why would he sell the whole Preacher run for under $7?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
2 2