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The thrill is gone.
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393 posts in this topic

On 12/20/2020 at 6:02 PM, Poekaymon said:

As I said.  You can drone all you want, but the empirical fact is collectibles and the stock market are at all time highs.  The people who drive the majority of the prices, at least on the stuff I collect, do not have to sell their stuff to pay for food or the electric bill.  In fact, a lot of them profited through the downturn.  But keep spreading that doom and gloom.  Remind me what you do again?  

I don't know how many people selling off their comics are on the edge of going hungry, but there is a chunk of the collecting community who work in industries that have been hammered. they have bills to pay. I know people who once had good six figure incomes in the movie/TV/theatre industry who are currently on foodstamps. a few of my closer friends in other areas are unemployed.... if you're a white collar worker in your 50s this is a lousy time to get laid off (it is always a lousy time to get laid off in your 50s).....but for others not so impacted I guess times are fine. i'm fine, for now. my wife is fine, for now (though, frankly, in my area, the law, we are busy, but many of my friends who are partners at firms have said they're doing a lot of work, but not getting paid for it...). I find it surprising that the lower tier, sub $300 market, is doing so well, with so many dollar box books now $10-$25. That's the price point I'd think a lot of lower end collectors who might be economically impacted would find themselves in. 

 

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On 12/22/2020 at 4:54 PM, the blob said:

I don't know how many people selling off their comics are on the edge of going hungry, but there is a chunk of the collecting community who work in industries that have been hammered. they have bills to pay. I know people who once had good six figure incomes in the movie/TV/theatre industry who are currently on foodstamps. a few of my closer friends in other areas are unemployed.... if you're a white collar worker in your 50s this is a lousy time to get laid off (it is always a lousy time to get laid off in your 50s).....but for others not so impacted I guess times are fine. i'm fine, for now. my wife is fine, for now (though, frankly, in my area, the law, we are busy, but many of my friends who are partners at firms have said they're doing a lot of work, but not getting paid for it...). I find it surprising that the lower tier, sub $300 market, is doing so well, with so many dollar box books now $10-$25. That's the price point I'd think a lot of lower end collectors who might be economically impacted would find themselves in. 

 

I don't even disagree.  It seems like things should be crashing, but they aren't.  So yes, it's surprising.  I'm also surprised that the stock market "crash" lasted about a month and is now at all time highs.  Or that TSLA is a 650 billion dollar company.  Or that I can never win a bid on anything anymore, comics, art, comic/game statues, or otherwise.  But this is the reality in which we find ourselves.

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On 12/4/2020 at 3:30 PM, shadroch said:

Comics didn't go well from 1939 to the 1990s. 

They imploded in the mid 1950s after only being around for a little over a dozen years.  Few artists and writers could make a living off comics, and even fewer companies stayed afloat. 

Fast forward to the mid-1970s when a rag paper shortage and inflation nearly doomed the industry.  If it wasn't for comics reinventing the way they were distributed, they most likely would have failed as an industry.  The 80s Indy movement brought some great comics, but just about every publisher failed.  Pacific, Eclipse, First, Eagle, I could go on, but they all failed. Heck, DC was in talks to license a few heroes to Marvel but that fell apart.

 

 

 

Comics have never been printed on rag paper.

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I should add in this thread that although most collectibles just aren’t doing it for me anymore whether it be art or comics or cards, I’ve actually read more comics than ever in the last 9 months. Starting back in 2014 I started really picking up the amount of comics I read with a lull in there after I moved in with my fiancé but with Covid I picked back up and devoured a lot of comics. My drive to read them is there but the satisfaction I ge tour of having an expensive CGC book is just not there anymore. Maybe if I got a BIG key in my hands that would change but once it’s in a box for a few months it might dwindle greatly again and not be too eager to add others to the party. 🤷‍♂️.

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On 11/30/2020 at 12:33 PM, shadroch said:

I consigned 25 books to MCS that went up for sale on the 24th. fourteen of them sold by yesterday. I lost money on one of them- a TOS 50, but thats because I bought it at its height and meant to flip it but missed the bubble. Otherwise, I made well over 200% return on every book. Have another sixty ready to send, and a few hundred I'd like to sell here if I can ever find the time.Just purging my doubles and multiple copies will take me a few months. With the renewed interest in foreign editions, I'm confident my copies will find new homes rather quickly. 

Be sure to inform the IRS, so they can calculate your capital gains tax correctly! :banana: 

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On 12/1/2020 at 9:05 PM, Poekaymon said:

I felt the same in 1991, sold everything, and left the hobby for three decades.  I recently came back, but in moderation.  The thrill is certainly diminished, but I still admire the hobby and hope it persists.  If I were you i'd dump most of the graded books (keeping a few favorites) and mostly collect/keep lower-mid grade raws for nostalgia/handling, as well as certain omnibuses of all-time favorite titles for actual reading. 

 

Pin on AP Psych

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On 12/4/2020 at 12:01 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:
On 12/4/2020 at 10:59 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Avengers-Age-Ultron-2015-the-avengers-ag

Expand  

My point is that something new will have to happen to once again boost up the market.  CGC brought new life to the existing raw comic market.  When the slabbed market started to stagnate, along comes the movie hype machine. 
 

What could possibly come next that would not only sustain current prices, but increase them?(shrug)

The third world?  Canadians? (shrug)

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Just to follow thru on this. 

It's a few weeks later and I have sent some $50,000 worth of books out on consignment and have a box of slabs I'm sending to NY after the holidays. 

In a move that was surprisingly quick, we go to escrow on my building on Monday. I'd been in discussion s with a group but they were having difficulty getting financing.  To my surprise, thet showed up yesterday with an open line of credit for a cash sale. 

The only point of dispute right now is I want 60 days to vacate and they are offering 45.  That will not be a deal breaker.

 

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On 12/4/2020 at 3:21 PM, Hollywood1892 said:

That is a good point, matter of fact it's a brilliant one....and grading standards whether or not the become harsher, or if they change policies regarding bindery defects ect would only negatively impact the market...age will always help...movies will help smaller characters i.e Vision, Thanos, stuff like that

But what about Batman Who Laughs?(a dc character who has never appeared in a movie) a 9.8 of his first appearance sells for $500.

Knull (a marvel character) first appearance sells for about $300 (no movie appearance or spec)

Ultimate Fallout 4 exploded after Miles Morales was announced for a new video game

Savage She Hulk got her own show, but the current climate might have helped it too.

But none of these spec books have gone up like mainstays, mostly in spidey runs- ASM 14,50 ect

FF 48, 49- no way the movies helped those characters

I guess variants help moderns 

It's really hard to say, I can't even surmise a guess

What do you think though?

FF 48 was a book that didn't sell for guide before the movie. It was a " toss in" book whenever I would buy a stack of SA books in the 90s. It is very plentiful. I owned 10 copies over the years and it was never a book I hunted for. When I say didn't sell for guide I mean 1/3-1/2 guide. When the movie came and suddenly my copies sold for guide or more I unloaded all of them. Little did I know those $150-200 vg to fine copies (unslabbed) would be $1500-2000+ now! So yeah, the increases since the movie have been about the market's emphasis on key chasing, but the movie did lift the book initially. If you collected in the 90s you knew that was one of those books with a bloated opg divorced from reality.  (I am talking about not high grade copies. Genuine high grade copies probably were more in tune with guide)

Edited by the blob
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On 12/4/2020 at 3:36 PM, Hollywood1892 said:

I think my greatest worry is the bin fodder affects the keys...but I doubt it...would you say NM 98 was bin fodder pre movie? Certainly BA 12 was

(I only started collecting again a couple years ago)

No and no. At some point both were overlooked for a decade, but they went off well before any movies. Many years. 

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9 hours ago, the blob said:

No and no. At some point both were overlooked for a decade, but they went off well before any movies. Many years. 

I personally never found a nm 98 in a dollar box. And I would buy all the liefield issues when I saw the. I thought they'd bounce back. I have 3 copies of 87 and I can't imagine they were $1 or I would have bought them for any real money. Maybe $2-3 boxes. The BA 12 was stupedously under the radar. Overstreet did not even say what it was, yet an inch down on the same page in the 34th edition (2004) for example Batman Adventures: Mad Love is broken out as HQ origin and is $12 (real money for a modern then)... So they busted out the origin, but not her first app! Negligence! Harley was popular at that point and it would have made sense to bust out her first. (Harley was popular enough that nerd friends almost named their daughter Harley Quinn in early 2000)

Edited by the blob
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21 minutes ago, the blob said:

I personally never found a nm 98 in a dollar box. And I would buy all the liefield issues when I saw the. I thought they'd bounce back. I have 3 copies of 87 and I can't imagine they were $1 or I would have bought them for any real money. Maybe $2-3 boxes. The BA 12 was stupedously under the radar. Overstreet did not even say what it was, yet an inch down on the same page in the 34th edition (2004) for example Batman Adventures: Mad Love is broken out as HQ origin and is $12 (real money for a modern then)... So they busted out the origin, but not her first app! Negligence! Harley was popular at that point and it would have made sense to bust out her first. (Harley was popular enough that nerd friends almost named their daughter Harley Quinn in early 2000)

87 was worth something early--for a while it was higher than 98.  As a kid, I bought them both new to read, and very soon thereafter noticed that 87 was up in value.  It was the first time I noticed that something I had bought at cover price, and didn't really even like, had actually appreciated, and it really stuck with me.

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4 hours ago, Poekaymon said:

87 was worth something early--for a while it was higher than 98.  As a kid, I bought them both new to read, and very soon thereafter noticed that 87 was up in value.  It was the first time I noticed that something I had bought at cover price, and didn't really even like, had actually appreciated, and it really stuck with me.

87 was like a $75-100 book at the height of cable mania in the early 90s. I am not sure what 98 ever got to. The guides did not break it out from the other liefield issues and was $5 for a long time, which was weird because it stayed there even after the mini series, etc. I remember it starting to perk up somewhere around 2005/6. My 34th overstreet makes no mention, but I believe the 35th or 36th talks about cgc 9.8 copies approaching $100, which was a big deal then. And I do remember some buzz here or on the old ebay chat boards on it then.

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25 minutes ago, spidrvacc said:

Follow up. Wound up selling 3/4 of my collection last week 400 of 500 books. Kept my personal favorites.  Got 5 figures and paid off some credit cards, got a new TV , took the family out to eat and still got some money left over, Honestly , felt good . . Will eventually sell the rest and keep my favorite 10 or so. But so happy to get rid of them. They just sat in a box . 

I assume a lot

First off congrats!

To sell 400 books at one time (I have 335 slabs) were all yours slabs? How did the profit margin work out? These are questions I'm curious that don't necessarily need answering, but that is an even break if done all at one time? Sheesh, I can only imagine the pressure or relief or just the overall blessing of no longer being caretaker, and/or now having that change of focus to different priorities  :whatthe:

That must be a feeling that is unique for sure, so again congrats I'm happy for you!

They served their purpose  :x

 

Edited by ADAMANTIUM
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No slabs but all keys or first app and hot books.  Hulk 102, silver surfer 1 & 4.clone wars 1, batman beyond 1, ASM 100, 101 , invincible 1,  xmen 94, 101  ,comico primer 2,  , caliber presents 1,  ultimate fallout 4, spiderverse  2,  HOS 92 etc.  Guide about 25k. Got about 45 % of guide.  Was happy with the price. He got a steal, if i wanted to take the time to list, ship etc could have doubled my profit  But with work 10 hours a day and family etc im happy with the deal.  Just dont have the time. Just wanted the worry about all these expensive books gone.

I thought i would miss them since i had sone of them for 25 years  but weird , i don't. 

 

 

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28 minutes ago, spidrvacc said:

No slabs but all keys or first app and hot books.  Hulk 102, silver surfer 1 & 4.clone wars 1, batman beyond 1, ASM 100, 101 , invincible 1,  xmen 94, 101  ,comico primer 2,  , caliber presents 1,  ultimate fallout 4, spiderverse  2,  HOS 92 etc.  Guide about 25k. Got about 45 % of guide.  Was happy with the price. He got a steal, if i wanted to take the time to list, ship etc could have doubled my profit  But with work 10 hours a day and family etc im happy with the deal.  Just dont have the time. Just wanted the worry about all these expensive books gone.

I thought i would miss them since i had sone of them for 25 years  but weird , i don't. 

 

 

Man I bet the pressure is off for sure! I'd love to hear of a deal, of I ever swung 5 figures lol

I'm low on the totem

Still happy for you, even if raw double the relief to not worry to say slab or keep raw ha, such time has better priorities I'm sure!

Still glad it benefited  ^^ hope I or we all see that payday :wishluck:

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2 hours ago, spidrvacc said:

Follow up. Wound up selling 3/4 of my collection last week 400 of 500 books. Kept my personal favorites.  Got 5 figures and paid off some credit cards, got a new TV , took the family out to eat and still got some money left over, Honestly , felt good . . Will eventually sell the rest and keep my favorite 10 or so. But so happy to get rid of them. They just sat in a box . 

Frankly, if you collected them because they're worth money, then the end goal was always to liquidate, and profit from their sale.  I wouldn't expect a lot of sentimentality for random books that were purchased because the price tag was impressive.  The person with a more emotional attachment to their collection wouldn't feel that same sense of relief.

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