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An Interesting Look at Overstreet's First Comic Book Price Guide
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108 posts in this topic

28 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Saw the attached YouTube video which took a look at some of the top books in Overstreet's first comic book guide from 1970 and how some of these books have performed over the years.  Thought some of us GA oldies would be interested since most of us might not have a copy as I believe it was limited to a very small print run of only 1,000 copies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xctA_pEfLc

Although it looks at everything from the point of view of Good valauations only, it's interesting to note that the spreads between Good to Fine to Mint were relatively small compared to today.  This is clearly evident with Action 1 which not surprisingly was (and still is) the most valuable book with a valuation of $300 in Mint, but not too far behind at $250 in Fine and still at $200 in Good condition.  Compared that to the spreads 48 years later with Action 1's valuations coming in at $200K in Good, $1.4M in Fine, and $3.8M in NM- condition.

In some cases, not much has really changed with the usual suspects such as Action 1, 'Tec 27, Marvel 1, and Supes 1 finishing up at the top of the chart.  And at the same time, although definitely not surprisingly, all of the strip reprint books and the historical books to a lesser extent have fallen way down the rankings and right off the charts for some of them.  A perfect example being King Comics #1 which was tied with Batman #1 in the #6 position with a Good valuation of $100.  Definitely hasn't fared too well performance wise relative to the other biggies at the time as its current Good valuation in this year's guide was only at $1,450.  Sad, but still a lot better than the Flash Gordon Four Color #10 which was ranked in the #9 spot (tied with 9 others) with a 1970 valuation of $85 in Good and now a humongous monstrous move all the way up to $86 in the current guide 48 years later.  The other strip reprints like Feature Book 25 (Flash Gordon), FB 26 (Prince Valiant), and Single Series 20 with Tarzan didn't seem to do much better with only a doubling in their Good valuation after all this time.  Definitely sad to say, but it looks like the historical books which gave birth to this wonderful medium of ours such as Funnies on Parade, Century of Comics, Famous Funnies #1 also seem to be slowly drifting in this same downward direction as time goes on.  :frown:

Lou, thanks for sharing this(thumbsu

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4 minutes ago, bronze johnny said:

Lou, thanks for sharing this(thumbsu

You are most welcome.  (thumbsu

I actually felt kind of sorry for poor Terry who must had spent quite a bit of time to put this 25 minutes video together, but yet had only 135 views after more than 2 years when I first saw it the other day.  :S

Maybe we can get it closer to 200 views by posting a link to it here.  lol

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13 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

 My $25 bucks went a long way when I spent the show on my knees. 

Words to live by!

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1 hour ago, circumstances said:

Interesting!

I can still clearly remember buying my first Overstreet Price Guide.

The Spirit of '76, Eisner Spirit issue, guide #6.

What an incredible feeling. And $7.50! I could buy a lot of comic books for that $7.50!

#6 was the first one I bought as well, though I had gotten a ratty copy of #4 earlier from one of the other kids in the neighborhood. 

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1 hour ago, Robot Man said:

My first one was #2. Was shocked to see how much old comics were worth! I’d been collecting for a few years but never paid much more than maybe $2.-$3.

I guess this is the reason why the initial Overstreet price guide was apparently laughingly referred to as the Overprice Comic Book Price Guide, as many people thought that nobody would ever pay those kind of monies for a comic book.  :takeit:

In actuality, although those books were probably around, I am quite sure that they were not around in true Mint condition and the valuations which everybody was supposedly ridiculing Overstreet for at the time.  (shrug)

 

1 hour ago, Robot Man said:

On the tables were early books like Prince Valiant, Tarzan and Flash Gordon priced the same as Batman, Submariner and Action. They were highly prized at the time. Sadly, there just isn’t much market for them now.

Yes, as I had alluded to in my initial post up above, it looks like the early strip reprint books such as Flash Gordon Four 10 has not only fallen off Overstreet's Top 10 list, but probably even right off his Top One Million list from a Good valuation point of view.  :frown:

Edited by lou_fine
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9 minutes ago, KirbyJack said:

Four Color 10 was one of the first GA books I looked for when I started in on gold.

You mean like this little beauty here:

Golden Age (1938-1955):Science Fiction, Four Color #10 Flash Gordon - Mile High Pedigree (Dell, 1942) CGCNM+ 9.6 White pages....

Even in only Good condition, I imagine this one should still be worth more than $86 though.  hm

Looks like this Church copy sold for over $6,500 last year when top of guide on the book was only at $2,400.  I guess this is actually a low multiple considering that it's a Church copy and the CGC highest graded copy to boot.  (shrug)

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2 hours ago, lou_fine said:

You mean like this little beauty here:

Golden Age (1938-1955):Science Fiction, Four Color #10 Flash Gordon - Mile High Pedigree (Dell, 1942) CGCNM+ 9.6 White pages....

Even in only Good condition, I imagine this one should still be worth more than $86 though.  hm

Looks like this Church copy sold for over $6,500 last year when top of guide on the book was only at $2,400.  I guess this is actually a low multiple considering that it's a Church copy and the CGC highest graded copy to boot.  (shrug)

And I retired banking on this one from my collection :cry:

0805171356421.jpg

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#4 was my first OSPG - still have it and every subsequent since even though I haven't cracked one in years, I still buy a hardcover edition.

I have picked up a #2 and #3 but first printings of #1 have been out of my reach.  

@lou_fine thanks for posting!

Edited by telerites
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5 minutes ago, telerites said:
2 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Even in only Good condition, I imagine this one should still be worth more than $86 though.  hm

Looks like this Church copy sold for over $6,500 last year when top of guide on the book was only at $2,400.  I guess this is actually a low multiple considering that it's a Church copy and the CGC highest graded copy to boot.  (shrug)

And I retired banking on this one from my collection :cry:

0805171356421.jpg

Well, so much for those who were thinking of using their comic book collection to fund their retirement.  :S

Hope you didn't trade a copy of Bat 1 or Cap 1 for this book which were both valued about the same as this Four Color 10 in Good condition back in 1970.  :tonofbricks:

Seriously though, from the way some of these comic books have appreciated over the years, they can most definitely be used to fund a part of your retirement or as a nice little cherry to top it off.  Of course, you would also have to have other things on the go such as a government pension, corporate pension, or your own more liquid investments other than your comic books.  (thumbsu

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6 hours ago, circumstances said:

Interesting!

I can still clearly remember buying my first Overstreet Price Guide.

The Spirit of '76, Eisner Spirit issue, guide #6.

What an incredible feeling. And $7.50! I could buy a lot of comic books for that $7.50!

that was my first issue too. (thumbsu

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7 hours ago, circumstances said:

Interesting!

I can still clearly remember buying my first Overstreet Price Guide.

The Spirit of '76, Eisner Spirit issue, guide #6.

What an incredible feeling. And $7.50! I could buy a lot of comic books for that $7.50!

#7 was my first and only one for many years. For the reason you mentioned- I could spend that money on comics instead! I can’t imagine how many times I read that. I no longer have my copy. I don’t know why I would have thrown it out. Probably in my later teen age years when I stopped collecting.

F8B5D38D-6D4D-4DE5-A830-3EE92C907E0B.jpeg

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