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Alternate investment strategy - sell your collection for just a few high dollar comics
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66 posts in this topic

Jay Parrino of Heritage Auctions once suggested to coin collectors to sell off their collections of mostly lower to medium-priced coins and with that money, buy a half-dozen really valuable coins in high demand. Of course, if you just like reading your comics, this isn't for you. But if you like to see your comics appreciate in value, it does sound like a strategy worth investigating. I have lots of low to medium priced Silver and Bronze Age comics - I paid anywhere from $100 - $700 apiece for the good stuff, with one at $1400 (I'm rebuilding a lost collection). But if I liquidated the bulk of my collection, I could probably buy three for four thousand-dollar books (or two $2K books - you get the picture).

I don't really care anymore about completing entire runs, nor am I actually reading all those Sub-Mariners that I bought. I'm thinking how nice it would be to display, say, a $2K copy  of Marvel Mystery Comics with a WWII German war cover - or maybe a mid-grade Fantastic Four #4 with the first SA appearance of the Sub-Mariner. I guess the question would be whether a few high-dollar books will appreciate in value more than a lot of medium to low-dollar books in lesser demand.

I'm bound to get someone telling me to just collect what I like. But this thread isn't about that; it's about an investment strategy. Are there better investments out there? Probably. But I love investing in what I know and love - old comics.

Edited by Getoutandstayout
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1 minute ago, Getoutandstayout said:

Jay Parrino of Heritage Auctions once suggested to coin collectors to sell off their collections of mostly lower to medium-priced coins and with that money, buy a half-dozen really valuable coins in high demand. Of course, if you just like reading your comics, this isn't for you. But if you like to see your comics appreciate in value, it does sound like a strategy worth investigating. I have lots of low to medium priced Silver and Bronze Age comics - I paid anywhere from $100 - $700 apiece for the good stuff, with one at $1400 (I'm rebuilding a lost collection). But if I liquidated the bulk of my collection, I could probably buy three for four thousand-dollar books (or two $2K books - you get the picture).

I don't really care anymore about completing entire runs, nor am I actually reading all those Sub-Mariners that I bought. I'm thinking how nice it would be to display, say, a $2K copy  of Marvel Mystery Comics with a WWII German war cover - or maybe a mid-grade Fantastic Four #4 with the first SA appearance of the Sub-Mariner. I guess the question would be whether a few high-dollar books will appreciate in value more than a lot of medium to low-dollar books in lesser demand.

I'm bound to get someone telling me to just collect what I like. But this thread isn't about that; it's about an investment strategy. Are there better investments out there? Probably. But I love investing in what I know and love - old comics.

Personally, I think it is a good strategy.  Having a few high grade key books would be more desirable to me than a bunch of cheaper stuff of less significance. Also, think of the space saving!

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2 minutes ago, Getoutandstayout said:

Jay Parrino of Heritage Auctions once suggested to coin collectors to sell off their collections of mostly lower to medium-priced coins and with that money, buy a half-dozen really valuable coins in high demand. Of course, if you just like reading your comics, this isn't for you. But if you like to see your comics appreciate in value, it does sound like a strategy worth investigating. I have lots of low to medium priced Silver and Bronze Age comics - I paid anywhere from $100 - $700 apiece for the good stuff, with one at $1400 (I'm rebuilding a lost collection). But if I liquidated the bulk of my collection, I could probably buy three for four thousand-dollar books (or two $2K books - you get the picture).

I don't really care anymore about completing entire runs, nor am I actually reading all those Sub-Mariners that I bought. I'm thinking how nice it would be to display, say, a $2K copy  of Marvel Mystery Comics with a WWII German war cover - or maybe a mid-grade Fantastic Four #4 with the first SA appearance of the Sub-Mariner. I guess the question would be whether a few high-dollar books will appreciate in value more than a lot of medium to low-dollar books in lesser demand.

I'm bound to get someone telling me to just collect what I like. But this thread isn't about that; it's about an investment strategy. Are there better investments out there? Probably. But I love investing in what I know and love - old comics.

Definitely good for some folks.  But dont get rid of first Namorita the Everett art is stunning.

Sub-Mariner_Vol_1_50.jpg

ca926bc779b42ad97afcb2cae88c14be.jpg

first-appearance-of-namorita.jpg

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Over the decades, it's often been the "non-keys" that appreciated the most in value.  For instance, there are probably over a hundred bronze age Marvel comics that at one time were considered part of a run, but that have come into demand owing to story arcs that developed later and movie/television popularity.

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3 minutes ago, namisgr said:

Over the decades, it's often been the "non-keys" that appreciated the most in value.  For instance, there are probably over a hundred bronze age Marvel comics that at one time were considered part of a run, but that have come into demand owing to story arcs that developed later and movie/television popularity.

Over the last few decades I’d probably agree with you but the last few years suggests the tides may be changing especially if you are talking Silver and Bronze books.  The odds of a random book popping in price may be good but in the mean time the rest of the set will have dropped in price.  From a profit perspective I see having a few nice keys could pan out better over the long run in my opinion.  

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Been there done that.  It is quite liberating.

I whittled everything down to a complete ASM run for raw books and then whatever is in my registry for graded ASM 1-100, 1st Appearance Keys, and Golden Age. 

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I say go for it! I did this to a certain extent a number of years ago. I went from several thousand books to a few hundred. It allowed me to buy many key books without dipping into savings. 

 I’m not sure that I could go from my 4 CGC boxes to 10 or 20 books.  Would I still be a collector? I’ve had this debate with a friend from the boards every time I tell him that I’m priced out of major GA keys.  He says that I should just sell a few books.

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12 hours ago, Getoutandstayout said:

I'm bound to get someone telling me to just collect what I like. But this thread isn't about that; it's about an investment strategy.

Like I've been saying for the past few years:

In this current red hot marketplace, it's a lot easier to sell one $10K comic book, as opposed to trying to sell a thousand $10 comic books.

In your particular case though, the same would still apply in terms of trying to sell one hundred $100 comic books or fifty $200 comic books.  Especially in terms of the hassle and additional cost involved with shipping and grading all of those books.  :p

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3 hours ago, 1Cool said:
3 hours ago, namisgr said:

Over the decades, it's often been the "non-keys" that appreciated the most in value.  For instance, there are probably over a hundred bronze age Marvel comics that at one time were considered part of a run, but that have come into demand owing to story arcs that developed later and movie/television popularity.

Over the last few decades I’d probably agree with you but the last few years suggests the tides may be changing especially if you are talking Silver and Bronze books.  The odds of a random book popping in price may be good but in the mean time the rest of the set will have dropped in price.  From a profit perspective I see having a few nice keys could pan out better over the long run in my opinion.

+1

For every non-key that pops in value, you would most likely end up with 100 non-keys that absolutely flat lined or possibly even dropped down in value over the years.

A perfect example would be the Captain Marvel movie which was such a huge success from a movie point of view.  Although we certainly did see a pop in the price for Ms. Marvel #1, the rest of the run didn't really see much movement since today's speculators tends to focus almost entirely on the keys only and nothing else.  Of course, the one that virtually everybody missed here would hve been MSH #13 which was collected by far fewer collectors at the time.

So, if this is the best case scenario for a book with a blockbuster movie behind it, imagine what the results would be for non-keys that has no movie or television hype behind it.  :tonofbricks:

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56 minutes ago, piper said:

I say go for it! I did this to a certain extent a number of years ago. I went from several thousand books to a few hundred. It allowed me to buy many key books without dipping into savings. 

 I’m not sure that I could go from my 4 CGC boxes to 10 or 20 books.  Would I still be a collector? I’ve had this debate with a friend from the boards every time I tell him that I’m priced out of major GA keys.  He says that I should just sell a few books.

Your friend sounds like a genius.   :banana:

 

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12 hours ago, Getoutandstayout said:

Jay Parrino of Heritage Auctions once suggested to coin collectors to sell off their collections of mostly lower to medium-priced coins and with that money, buy a half-dozen really valuable coins in high demand. Of course, if you just like reading your comics, this isn't for you. But if you like to see your comics appreciate in value, it does sound like a strategy worth investigating. I have lots of low to medium priced Silver and Bronze Age comics - I paid anywhere from $100 - $700 apiece for the good stuff, with one at $1400 (I'm rebuilding a lost collection). But if I liquidated the bulk of my collection, I could probably buy three for four thousand-dollar books (or two $2K books - you get the picture).

I don't really care anymore about completing entire runs, nor am I actually reading all those Sub-Mariners that I bought. I'm thinking how nice it would be to display, say, a $2K copy  of Marvel Mystery Comics with a WWII German war cover - or maybe a mid-grade Fantastic Four #4 with the first SA appearance of the Sub-Mariner. I guess the question would be whether a few high-dollar books will appreciate in value more than a lot of medium to low-dollar books in lesser demand.

I'm bound to get someone telling me to just collect what I like. But this thread isn't about that; it's about an investment strategy. Are there better investments out there? Probably. But I love investing in what I know and love - old comics.

I’m of the Jay Parrino school of thought, definitely 

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3 minutes ago, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

I’m of the Jay Parrino school of thought, definitely 

Careful.  Parrino lost his shirt and much more investing in comic books.

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I've never approached collecting as an investment or a vehicle for profit...

but I recently sold the bulk of my huge collection to fund the purchase of more valuable comics, which now sit in a single box. 

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12 minutes ago, namisgr said:

Careful.  Parrino lost his shirt and much more investing in comic books.

Did he? I wonder what went wrong. Did he choose poorly, or spend recklessly? Or flip too fast?

ive made my choices, and my life is enriched. When I go to sell in 5 or 10 years, if I don’t make great money off them, it’s ok

Edited by GreatCaesarsGhost
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8 minutes ago, namisgr said:
11 minutes ago, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

I’m of the Jay Parrino school of thought, definitely 

Careful.  Parrino lost his shirt and much more investing in comic books.

Well, that's because he had over paid to acquire those books in the first place.

His second mistake was trying to exit the market way too soon before giving much of a chance for the books to go up in value.

Now, that's definitely a perfect recipe for losing your shirt in any type of  collectibles marketplace.  :tonofbricks:

Edited by lou_fine
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2 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Well, that's because he had over paid to acquire those books in the first place.

His second mistake was trying to exit the market way too soon before giving much of a chance for the books to go up in value.

Now, that's definitely a perfect recipe for losing your shirt in any type of  collectibles marketplace.  :tonofbricks:

Ok that makes more sense to me

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There are pros and cons to both scenarios.  There are more buyers for a $100 book than a $1000 book just based on price.  However, the $1000 book may have more salability.  The $100 book has more room for growth, but the $1000 book may be more likely to grow.  Ultimately, you should buy what you like.  Parrino was buying in a different market.  

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12 minutes ago, buttock said:

There are pros and cons to both scenarios.  There are more buyers for a $100 book than a $1000 book just based on price.  However, the $1000 book may have more salability.  The $100 book has more room for growth, but the $1000 book may be more likely to grow.  Ultimately, you should buy what you like.  Parrino was buying in a different market.  

Of course, the question facing me now is - if I squeeze $4K out of my collection to spend, do I get a high grade tier 2 book like, say, Silver Surfer #1 or #4? Or a 3.0 - 4.0 tier 1 book like, oh, Strange Tales #110 or Fantastic Four #4? What's the buying market like? People going after a good book in high grade, or a blue-chip book in a lower grade? The average Joe buyer will never be able to afford the first appearance of a major character unless it's at the low end, so I think those 3.0 copies will sell pretty well, IMHO. But those high-grade comics are sure easy on the eyes.

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5 hours ago, piper said:

I say go for it! I did this to a certain extent a number of years ago. I went from several thousand books to a few hundred. It allowed me to buy many key books without dipping into savings. 

 I’m not sure that I could go from my 4 CGC boxes to 10 or 20 books.  Would I still be a collector? I’ve had this debate with a friend from the boards every time I tell him that I’m priced out of major GA keys.  He says that I should just sell a few books.

That’s exactly what I did. Went from many books to only 8. I worried would it still feel like I’m a collector. Fortunately, at least for me, the answer was “yes”. It helps to follow the boards and the auctions, because it gives me a balcony seat to the action. The trick is to let go of that voice telling me “ more, More, MORE”.

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