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Should I buy Silver Age keys now?
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107 posts in this topic

6 hours ago, Mr.Fantastic said:

This is what I would be more interested to know. Which keys are considered values at the moment. For every Xmen 1 or 4 that that has spiked in price, which keys are holding their value or creating a base for a higher run later. Currently Im searching for a nice Avengers1 or  books outside the current speculation of the Wanda/Vision MCU theories. I may even buy a few GA books like some early Actions.

i think hulk1 and avengers1 are both reasonable right now, though showing signs of growth too. tos39 maybe, keep an eye on gpa to know for sure. i think hulk1 has better prospects than avengers1. i'd also recommend avoiding cream colored pages or worse. off white, off white to white, or white pages only.

beware of silver age dc keys. they've been called 'up and coming' and 'ready to burst' since i've been doing this for around 7-8 years now. and yet, they don't budge. too many marvel lovers out there who just dont care that much about anything dc, except batman. 

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7 hours ago, Rip said:

I would be very careful about putting big money into many Marvel keys right now. X-Men 4 at this time would be a very poor investment to buy. I would even argue X-Men 1 isn't the greatest investment especially in low grade.

That's not too say there still isn't some good deals out there. But its a time to be extra careful.

I agree with you on 4 because the WandaVision hype is driving this book up but I believe 1 is a solid investment in any grade and still has room to grow as a true introduction of a new team book and characters and one of marvel’s greatest villains not to mention being the 1st issue of one of marvels longest running titles. Number 4 will eventually slow down and even drop. Number 1 most likely, won’t.

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4 minutes ago, B2D327 said:

I agree with you on 4 because the WandaVision hype is driving this book up but I believe 1 is a solid investment in any grade and still has room to grow as a true introduction of a new team book and characters and one of marvel’s greatest villains not to mention being the 1st issue of one of marvels longest running titles. Number 4 will eventually slow down and even drop. Number 1 most likely, won’t.

Obviously no one really knows in the wacky MKT, but when a .5's sells for $3500, you have to ask yourself, how much more room does it have to grow.

It might squeeze a bit more, but I can think of a lot of better comic investments with a lot less capital spent that can generate more cash over and over. 

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4 hours ago, www.alexgross.com said:

i think hulk1 and avengers1 are both reasonable right now, though showing signs of growth too. tos39 maybe, keep an eye on gpa to know for sure. i think hulk1 has better prospects than avengers1. i'd also recommend avoiding cream colored pages or worse. off white, off white to white, or white pages only.

beware of silver age dc keys. they've been called 'up and coming' and 'ready to burst' since i've been doing this for around 7-8 years now. and yet, they don't budge. too many marvel lovers out there who just dont care that much about anything dc, except batman. 

So true on the DC keys. Collectors always calling them a bargain and overdue, yet they haven’t gained in value for years.  In fact some have decreased.  I would have been better off putting my money into an overpriced Marvel key which still makes gains while DC just sits still at the starting line.  

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12 minutes ago, Bluemedgroup said:

So true on the DC keys. Collectors always calling them a bargain and overdue, yet they haven’t gained in value for years.  In fact some have decreased.  I would have been better off putting my money into an overpriced Marvel key which still makes gains while DC just sits still at the starting line.  

So you don't think my first appearance of Detective Chimp will set me up nice for retirement?  Haaahhahahahhaa.  (Seriously though.  I do like Detective Chimp)

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12 hours ago, B2D327 said:

While some books are stagnant, there are keys that are gaining if you know what to look for. A high grade GL 87 was under $200 a little over a year ago, now a 2.5 goes for that much. Mister Miracle 1 comes to mind along with the other Kirby 4th world stuff. The good thing is that while collectors and speculators are concentrating on that stuff, it makes the lesser known books ripe for the picking. 

True, but for every 1 DC comic that goes up in value, 100 Marvel comics go up in value.

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1 hour ago, jharvey said:

True, but for every 1 DC comic that goes up in value, 100 Marvel comics go up in value.

Chalk that up to Disney’s marketing strategies. With how they’re handling the movies and tv shows, they’re basically making everything marvel a household word. Meanwhile, DC’s biggest brainstorm is to re-release the Justice League film while the last Harley Quinne, Wonder Woman films and the Bat Woman tv show just want to push “gender politics” that really wouldn’t give a fan the incentive to pick up the comics.

Edited by B2D327
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There is no bubble if values continue to appreciate, because bubbles are usually only identified in retrospect after a crash occurs.   The question is whether there is reason to believe that a bubble is unlikely here, i.e., that other (good) reasons could be at play that explain the increase in prices.  Thankfully, there could be.

New collectors, at least some of which stick long-term.  If new long-term collectors are gobbling up all the new offerings, that is a good thing for the hobby, and prices should eventually stabilize without ever adjusting down.  

Edited by Pantodude
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Also just an addendum.  Let's not overlook that, aside from any increase in the number of true collectors, the maturation of the comic book market (specifically for vintage keys) places addional demand on the limited supply.  If more non-collectors are now likely to consider slabbed books for investment, that would also pinch supply long-term.  That might have been the plan 20 years ago when slabbing started.  So maybe all of this activity is not as surprising as it seems at first blush.  This could be a huge factor.  That said, buy what you love, and you should be covered.  

Edited by Pantodude
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On 2/21/2021 at 2:42 PM, Colin Nash said:

I returned to comic collecting 18 months ago. I started by collecting some slabbed Silver Age comics, an age which has always been dear to me.  However, I find I can no longer compete with the crazy bids that are now being placed in auctions like Comiclink.com.

Last month, Jan 2021, I annoyingly missed out on an X-Men #4 cgc 7.0 due to computer lag on my laptop. Think it went for $2500, thats up $600 from Dec 2020. Ok I thought, thats life, I'll try again next time. To my horror, the current bid in the Comiclink February auction for the same comic is a staggering $3710 !! (The auction still has 3 days to run).

This now seems to be the norm on Silver Age major keys. A crazy time to be buying comics? I think there are General Investors, and not, Comic Collectors, out there throwing money at any Collectable they can get their hands on.

Should I still buy in this crazy environment, or should I sit it out for a couple of years in the hope things level themselves out? Even then, what prices will they be selling for?

Yes: buy, buy, buy.

gimme all your money👍

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to the OP - the answer to your question will also depend on whether you are using disposable income that you do not need and whether you are buying books that you will be happy to own and not need to sell.  If you are buying books for your personal collection with no view to a profit then the rising prices are less of a concern (especially if just with disposable income). 

That being said, if you are buying books for growth potential and/or short term holds (i.e., these will not be in your personal collection for several years) then it gets harder -a s the current market is crazy right now.  I haven't seen price increases like these in terms of volume or in terms of reach (as it appears sports cards, comics and other collectibles) are experiencing rapid growth across the board.  That is not to say it is a bubble or isn't sustainable - just that it is a bit uncharted.

That being said - DC keys are not going as crazy right now and I have managed to squeak out fair deals on a low grade copies of BB28 and Action 242 (both books I have wanted to own for quite some time) from fellow boardies.  So there are still opportunities for fair deals that aren't outdated price wise the next day :)

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19 hours ago, Bluemedgroup said:

So true on the DC keys. Collectors always calling them a bargain and overdue, yet they haven’t gained in value for years.  In fact some have decreased.  I would have been better off putting my money into an overpriced Marvel key which still makes gains while DC just sits still at the starting line.  

Not the case for all DC keys. Batman 121,  has reached crazy new levels these past few years and Detective 359 has tripled in value in a short time too. Showcase 17 is getting ridiculous prices I never thought it could get. And there's plenty more reaching all time highs now like Hawkman 4, Blue Beetle 1, Batman 189, Showcase 30, ect.

If anyone wants to sell me those DC books at the prices they were 6 years ago, by all means please do.

Edited by William-James88
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