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Available older keys "drying up" a report from NYCC
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223 posts in this topic

5 hours ago, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Is that you narrating the video and interviewing the dealers?

No (never even been to NY) but I certainly appreciate his videos. He covered SDCC 2019 as well.

For someone who lives in Paris, I am quite grateful for his videos. It is as close as I'll get to being there I guess.

Edited by Gotham Kid
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9 minutes ago, Gotham Kid said:

No (never even been to NY) but I certainly appreciate his videos. He covered SDCC 2019 as well.

For someone who lives in Paris, I am quite grateful for his videos. It is as close as I'll get to being there I guess.

Isn't there a big show coming up in Paris?

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1 hour ago, Foolkiller said:

Silver Age Batmans?  There were a lot in the room.  plenty 9.0+ and plenty with ow/w or better.  Plenty CGC graded.  I should know, I bought 3 of them.  

Maybe that's why I couldn't find any LOL.  I have to say that I was looking for a handful of specific issues as opposed to the full 1964 - 1967 range and more leaning to the "white" page designation.

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The entire premise of this thread seems a little iffy and based on purely anecdotal evidence.  I spent four days at NYCC. There were comics galore, from all ages and in all grades (of course golden age stuff is much tougher to find and in grade. of course). There are quite a dang lot of dealers actually, when you add them all up. It might not seem that way if you are only there for a day or a few hours. Even though they are mostly congregated in one area of the show floor, they aren't all in that area and in the vast chaos that is NYCC their numbers can seem small. But it just isn't the case. 

Walls were lined with big keys, and just because you either didn't see one you were looking for or only saw one copy, doesn't mean dealers didn't have that book or multiple copies of that book.

This has been my anecdotal contribution to the thread. I hope OP had a nice time at NYCC regardless!

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1 hour ago, speedcake said:

The entire premise of this thread seems a little iffy and based on purely anecdotal evidence.  I spent four days at NYCC. There were comics galore, from all ages and in all grades (of course golden age stuff is much tougher to find and in grade. of course). There are quite a dang lot of dealers actually, when you add them all up. It might not seem that way if you are only there for a day or a few hours. Even though they are mostly congregated in one area of the show floor, they aren't all in that area and in the vast chaos that is NYCC their numbers can seem small. But it just isn't the case. 

Walls were lined with big keys, and just because you either didn't see one you were looking for or only saw one copy, doesn't mean dealers didn't have that book or multiple copies of that book.

This has been my anecdotal contribution to the thread. I hope OP had a nice time at NYCC regardless!

Concur.

From only a 20 min video you can see the following GA books:

Marvel Comics 1 - Heritage

Action Comics 1(R), 13 - ComicConnect

Detective Comics 29, 30, 31(R), 35(R), 36, 38(R)

Batman 1 - Heritage

Superman 1 - Metro/ComicConnect

Sensation Comics 1 - Heritage

Captain America Comics 1 - Heritage

early More Fun Spectre

etc ...

SA books: pretty much multiples of every key were in the video. No AF15s though. :ph34r:

Edited by Gotham Kid
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For me, most of the major keys are priced clear out of my league. I would have to have a seven or eight figure salary (which I don't) to purchase anything. Even high grade copies of Silver Age keys such as Fantastic Four #52 have gone into the stratosphere, pushing the $15,000+ price range now. Sorry, but I can't drop that kind of $$$. I'm sure a lot of us have the same limitations that I do, so I just have to "sigh" and move on, hoping to find something that might fit into my budget.

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7 hours ago, Gotham Kid said:

Concur.

From only a 20 min video you can see the following GA books:

Marvel Comics 1 - Heritage

Action Comics 1(R), 13 - ComicConnect

Detective Comics 29, 30, 31(R), 35(R), 36, 38(R)

Batman 1 - Heritage

Superman 1 - Metro/ComicConnect

Sensation Comics 1 - Heritage

Captain America Comics 1 - Heritage

early More Fun Spectre

etc ...

SA books: pretty much multiples of every key were in the video. No AF15s though. :ph34r:

You're rattling off a list of mega-mega-keys though.

Without saying the OP really has a case, he is talking about an entirely different class of books.  Context is key (pun intended) when interpreting the meaning of a "key" book -- some people are trying to chase down Cap #1, some are after TOS #52, some want their very own Special Marvel Edition #15, and some are hunting for ASM #238.  Big difference -- each of these books is part of a distinct market within the market, even though many collectors freely move between these sub-markets.

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8 minutes ago, blazingbob said:

There were many cases where a customer asked to see if I had a copy of a particular key.  4 copies will be presented and I get "I was looking for a 8.5" and I had a 8.0, 9.0, 9.2 and 9.4.

Not me, now if you were to offer your 9.0 at the 8.0 price, you would have yourself a sale!

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8 minutes ago, blazingbob said:

I tell collectors if a book has left their collecting budget to find the best copy of a lower grade with the best eye appeal.  We all have seen examples of even 4.0/4.5's that look way better then the grade because of a defect that may be on the back cover.  Even when I was a high grade collector I always found the best value was in the 9.0 grade.  I could get great copies with great eye appeal at affordable prices.  I left the label chasers and multiples of guide that could easily compress to the other guys.  If a higher grade presented itself at a good price I'd buy it and sell the 9.0

Which is exactly what I do most of the time. Eye appeal is a big factor for me. I have several books in lower grade that I went for just because I thought they looked better than some available higher grades and fit better into my budget. 

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45 minutes ago, Jaylam said:

Which is exactly what I do most of the time. Eye appeal is a big factor for me. I have several books in lower grade that I went for just because I thought they looked better than some available higher grades and fit better into my budget. 

Is the mega key the only issue you have left to complete a set?  If the FF 52 is out of reach then maybe a nice FF 53 would do just fine in your collection.  This key or nothing mentality is quite shocking for a person who remembers a time when an Avengers 101 would do just as well to most collectors as an ASM 101.

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1 hour ago, Jaylam said:

 

Not me, now if you were to offer your 9.0 at the 8.0 price, you would have yourself a sale!

I would check out www.highgradecharitycomics.com.  Set this up to help out the needy comic collector.  My paperwork is filed,  personal references can be supplied upon request.  

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40 minutes ago, Hamlet said:

I think people have gotten way too focused on keys currently, especially at conventions where everyone has the keys priced at FMV at the minimum.  Conventions are for buying cheap books that don't make sense to buy when you have to pay for shipping, IMO.  The keys are always available online.  You just have to pay the money.

I've always enjoyed hunting through the bargain bins and finding cool books that no one is currently interested in at the moment.  I have varied enough collecting interests that there is almost always something neat I can find for almost no money.  I'm generally not all that picky on condition if the price is right.

At the local convention I just went to, I found some real nice DC SA books.  Some examples--

Flash 167 in Fine for $5.40

Flash 183 in F/VF for $5.40

Superboy 131 in VF for $5.40

Superboy 139 in VF ( oops, much lower, didn't see the popped staple :) ) for $5.40

Tomahawk 98 in F/VF for $5.40

I also found-

TTA 93 in G/VG for $25 ( seems reasonably priced to me )

A high grade Thor 339 for $3

Some mid-grade Conans for a few bucks each

A high grade ASM 220 for $4 

The beauty of collecting what is currently cold is that occasionally cold books develop heat.  Stuff like FF 67, Thor 165, Marvel Premiere 1, Thor 337, ASM 316, and Astonishing Tales 25 are all books that I bought really cheaply 5-10 years back because no one was all that interested in them at the time that I have recently sold for many multiples of what I bought them for.  Now those sales are funding my current collecting.  In 5-10 years, I imagine that some of the stuff I am buying today will be a little hotter than it is currently.  Even if it isn't, I'm getting pretty neat books for almost nothing.

I am all about box diving. That is always were the best deals are. Don’t overlook other genres you might think you don’t want. Lots of under appreciated and overlooked stuff there at great prices. I usually buy one or two pretty wall books if there is something I really want and are maybe willing to pay a little more than the going rate for. Then I hit the boxes and find stuff to make up for the over payment. You just gotta work a little harder...

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1 hour ago, blazingbob said:

I tell collectors if a book has left their collecting budget to find the best copy of a lower grade with the best eye appeal.  We all have seen examples of even 4.0/4.5's that look way better then the grade because of a defect that may be on the back cover.  Even when I was a high grade collector I always found the best value was in the 9.0 grade.  I could get great copies with great eye appeal at affordable prices.  I left the label chasers and multiples of guide that could easily compress to the other guys.  If a higher grade presented itself at a good price I'd buy it and sell the 9.0

Excellent advice. I would say I can easily drop down to 8.0 depending. Once you hit 9.0 you are in the near perfect range. So many of them are so pretty I am very happy with them. After 9.0 it usually becomes just a number on a slab and not worth the extra cost to me. 

When you collect esoteric GA like I do, some times a 4.0 might be the best I can find. Buy it and be happy to own it at all. You can usually upgrade later. Sometimes not. But having a lower grade copy is better than not having one at all. 

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13 hours ago, pemart1966 said:

Maybe that's why I couldn't find any LOL.  I have to say that I was looking for a handful of specific issues as opposed to the full 1964 - 1967 range and more leaning to the "white" page designation.

LOL is all over the internet, just google it. My grand daughter finds plenty of it...:roflmao:

d04ee71b-66a9-4c77-a336-87f6779216a5_1.23d7f7e4b628e264d3b88a5c6a3b5768.jpg

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2 hours ago, blazingbob said:

I would check out www.highgradecharitycomics.com.  Set this up to help out the needy comic collector.  My paperwork is filed,  personal references can be supplied upon request.  

My story of how Bob found me in 1998 without even one copy of Journey Into Mystery in my collection will be featured on the site shortly.  It's just taking a lot out of me to record the highly emotional testimonial video.

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