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GA COMIC BOOK Collecting in the Financial crisis of 2020
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908 posts in this topic

7 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

I'll bite - how in the world did you guys arrive at that amount as opposed to something such as $1800; $1825; $1850?

Great question. 

 We agree on a price $1800.00 He had purchased it from Bruce for $1500. At time time that is triple price guide, and I did not care. But I mad as hell and not gonna take it any more about this disrespect from not only my family, friends and especially my grandparents who kept saying...you say this comic book is worth $$..who in their right mind would pay that. I told Theo, I was gonna gonna go public with my sale. I told him I am adding $1.26 to make the purchase seem more legitimate in this unbelieving world.  It worked out...

Edited by Mmehdy
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3 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

Not too sure it you're joking or not but I think that if I'd just paid a world record price for a comic, I'd be inclined to drive and pick it up.  I wonder if Mitch had seen the comic before buying it?

Not kidding...but evidently it wasn't for postage.  Mitch just explained it below...

Edited by Tri-ColorBrian
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5 minutes ago, Mmehdy said:

Great question. 

 We agree on a price $1800.00 He had purchased it from Bruce for $1500. At time time is triple price guide, and I did not care. But I mad as hell and not gonna take it any more about this disrespect from not only my family, friends and especially my grandparents who kept saying...you say this comic book is worth $$..who in their right mind would pay that. I told Theo, I was gonna gonna go public with my sale. I told him I am adding $1.26 to make the purchase seem more legitimate in this unbelieving world.  It worked out...

:roflmao:Great story!  One of the best that I've heard here and a hobby story finally clarified.  But I know how so true it was about the naysayers back at that time.  A lot of them grew up in the Depression and I'm sure that that had something to do with it...

Edited by pemart1966
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1 minute ago, pemart1966 said:

:roflmao:Great story!  One of the best that I've heard here.  But I know how so true it was about the naysayers back at that time.  A lot of them grew up in the Depression and I'm sure that that had something to do with it...

If I had listened to my dad about how this hobby was just a fad, I wouldn't have a collection today...:whatthe:

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On 4/14/2020 at 9:19 PM, batman_fan said:

I don't even want to talk about some of the stuff I had to do to get my collection.

hooker.jpg

I am not worried about having do some of it again, it is having to tell my wife that I sold the book and need to hustle to get it again . . . . 

Edited by SSkufan
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Did I see the copy before I bought  it..NO. Here is why, he told me he bought auction 1 for 1500, while we were awaiting shipment we talked and talked and he wanted 2k,,,I got him down...I was a good at doing deals and one of my conditions was that we open the package TOGETHER after I paid him with a cashiers check. There was not way I was gonna let him change his mind. He was really into cap 1 at the time and was going to pay 1000 for it or 1200 and I told him that would reduce the cost of the book. If anybody ever gets there hands on action 1..they are not gonna sell it for 300 bucks or 301.26 profit even in 1973 We opened it together and rest is history.

Edited by Mmehdy
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Mitch - I think that you missed your calling on another front - at 18 - owner of Action 1 at a then world record price; owner of a $20,000 comic collection; driving a Mustang; picture in newspapers all over North America (maybe the world I don't know).  You were no doubt BMOC.  I honestly don't know if I had 20,000 pennies to my name when I was 18!

You should have sold your money acquiring secrets!  I would have paid what would have been, from my monetary point of view, stupid money for that information but I'm sure you would have looked at what I had to offer and said - "That isn't money stupid."  

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3 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

Mitch - I think that you missed your calling on another front - at 18 - owner of Action 1 at a then world record price; owner of a $20,000 comic collection; driving a Mustang; picture in newspapers all over North America (maybe the world I don't know).  You were no doubt BMOC.  I honestly don't know if I had 20,000 pennies to my name when I was 18!

You should have sold your money acquiring secrets!  I would have paid what would have been, from my monetary point of view, stupid money for that information but I'm sure you would have looked at what I had to offer and said - "That isn't money stupid."  

Thank you but you have understand that i lived and breathed comic books hours upon hours each day, I would read and reread the Overstreet price guide until it was a rag...those were the days. No internet, no cable, snail mail...just pure GA

Edited by Mmehdy
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1 minute ago, Mmehdy said:

Thank you but you have understand that i lived and breathed comic books hours upon hours each day, I would read and reread the Overstreet price guide until it was a rag...those were the days.

Me too - I had it memorized - it didn't translate into any money though lol

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5 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

Me too - I had it memorized - it didn't translate into any money though lol

When I was 19 I started a door to door sales business.  Within 6 months I was driving a brand new Dodge Challenger.  Before I was 19 I had no real money to put into GA comics.  After I bought my car and kept working (and raising my prices for my service) I started buying GA comics again.  My biggest mistake was not buying GA between 1976 and 1993.  When I came back to the GA hobby the prices almost gave me a heart attack...

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9 hours ago, Ryan. said:

That all seems like a trying to time a market that cannot yet be predicted. 

As a long time collector, I am definitely much more interested in spending time in the market, as opposed to trying to time the market.  (thumbsu

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4 hours ago, Mmehdy said:
4 hours ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

I agree with most of these statements, but given your success rate on the 2020 predictions I might have to remain slightly skeptical.  By the way, how do you like my new avatar? (that's the picture under my name...) :roflmao:

The prices were off, but the advice was spot on, hold do not sell on any of those books and it  paid off big time.

Hey Mitch;

Nine short years later, do you have any changes in your Top 5 in terms of either additions/deletions, or change in your ranking order?  hm

On another point from that article, what was the "odd ball" Mickey Mouse book that you apparently paid $5K for at the time and the one you valued at $5K in your Mehdy Price Guide?  :whatthe:

Edited by lou_fine
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4 hours ago, KCOComics said:

Axman - I hope I'm not included in slapping you around. I didn't mean anything negative by comments, only that's its very difficult to time the market. The risk of selling books with the expectation of getting them cheaper later is to great for me personally. 

Apologies if I was insulting. 

Im joking mostly - and I have a pretty thick skin.  And my original question was a bit nasty anyway. But apology accepted. I do view myself as a "Real Collector." I look up to you guys that know more than me about buying/trading/selling and want to learn from you all!  Im hoping that with smart selling and trading of stuff in my collection I can end up with some previously thought impossible to obtain Grails over the next few years! 

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3 minutes ago, Axmen said:

Im joking mostly - and I have a pretty thick skin.  And my original question was a bit nasty anyway. But apology accepted. I do view myself as a "Real Collector." I look up to you guys that know more than me about buying/trading/selling and want to learn from you all!  Im hoping that with smart selling and trading of stuff in my collection I can end up with some previously thought impossible to obtain Grails over the next few years! 

:slapfight:

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5 hours ago, KCOComics said:
5 hours ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

I agree with most of these statements, but given your success rate on the 2020 predictions I might have to remain slightly skeptical.  By the way, how do you like my new avatar? (that's the picture under my name...) :roflmao:

His advice on AF15 was pretty good. That book went through a ton of growth. 

Well, although AF 15 (especially for the non uber HG copies) has certainly gone up quite a bit over the past few years, it should be pointed put that Mirch's price predictions for this book was off by a long shot in terms of millions of dollars.  It would appear that he most likely based his prediction upon the CGC 9.6 graded copy of AF 15 that sold for $1.1M back in early 2011 and probably thought that prices for HG copies would continue to move up from there.  Turns out that $1.1M sale was much more of an outlier and prices for lower graded copies over the next few years simply did not support that $1.1M price point.  :(

Perfect example being the CGC 9.4 graded copy that just sold last month for only $795K which is a far cry from Mitch's prediction of $4M for a CGC 9.4 graded copy by 2020.  Not even sure if this was an actual sale since there's talk that the book was actually purchased by the owner or consignor of this 9.4 copy.  (shrug)

It would appear that Mitch must have been a big Spidey fan as he also had Spidey 1 as one of his Top 5 books by 2020.  For me, I would most certainly have Batman 1 ahead of a Spidey 1 due to the sheer number of copies.  To tell you the honest truth, I would even have a book like Pep 22 ranked higher than a Spidey 1 since the Pep 22 is a first appearance while the Spidey 1 is not a first appearance.  Okay, true rarity also comes into play here for sure.   (thumbsu

Then again, maybe it's just me since I've always been an Archie fan from even before the mid-90's when the spandex super hero books moved past my price range. :(

Edited by lou_fine
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1 minute ago, lou_fine said:

Well, although AF 15 (especially for the non uber HG copies) has certainly gone up quite a bit over the past few years, it should be pointed put that Mirch's price predictions for this book was off by a long shot in terms of millions of dollars.  It would appear that he most likely based his prediction upon the CGC 9.6 graded copy of AF 15 that sold for $1.1M back in early 2011 and probably thought that prices for HG copies would continue to move up from there.  Turns out that $1.1M sale was much more of an outlier and prices for lower graded copies over the next few years simply did not support that $1.1M price point.  :(

Perfect example being the CGC 9.4 graded copy that just sold last month for only $795K which is a far cry from Mitch's prediction of $4M for a CGC 9.4 graded copy by 2020.  Not even sure if this was an actual sale since there's talk that the book was actually purchased by the owner or consignor of this 9.4 copy.  (shrug)

It would appear that Mitch must have been a big Spidey fan as he also had Spidey 1 as one of his Top 5 books by 2020.  For me, I would most certainly have Batman 1 ahead of a Spidey 1 due to the sheer number of copies.  To tell you the honest truth, I would even have a book like Pep 22 ranked higher than a Spidey 1 since the Pep 22 is a first appearance while the Spidey 1 is not a first appearance.  Okay, true rarity also comes into play here for sure.  (thumbsu

I agree with all of that. The price increase I was thinking of was the  lower end of the AF15 market.  It was eye popping to see 1.8s going for 5 figures. The book shifted from "some day" to "well,  that probably isn't going to happen".  So I do wish I followed Mitch's advice and picked up a low to midgrade back in 2011. 

I would also prefer pep 22 to ASM1.  Honestly,  ASM1 isn't even on my radar. Don't get me wrong,  if the right deal came along I would be all over it.  It's just never been a "must have" for me personally. 

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