BakerFanOne Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 I would say that in general, PCH is valued correctly. However, that does not mean that PCH is priced correctly by many dealer and venues. There is a huge gap between the truly iconic PCH covers and the relatively run of the mill PCH. Asking $250 for a standard bland low-grade Ace PCH is grossly overpriced as an example. But I still think there are a few PCH sectors that remain undervalued but likely not for long. Funnybooks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the blob Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 1 minute ago, Robot Man said: And that was considered crazy for a 10 year old book. 5 years later prices had gone way up. i remember my dad took us to a convention in 1977, he came back with a few things. unfortunately, he didn't know the difference between ASM 1 and ASM Annual 1, so he would up buying 2 mid-grade annuals for $10 each. Not terrible, but my guess is that the $20 could have gotten something more substantial. greggy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 1 minute ago, the blob said: No. It is pretty expensive. It is often hard to get even a beater of a third tier title for $50. Some of the pre-hero, but post-code Marvel monster books are not too bad, but many are surprisingly "common," as an there always seem to be 5-10 copies of a given issue for sale. Odd because as a little kid buying off the rack in 1960-1962, I never saw any of those. Rarely did I see them in my neighborhood friends collections either. I’m sure I would have bought them if I had. bc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakerFanOne Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 7 minutes ago, Robot Man said: EC prices are getting real aggressive these days. Was looking at a common sci-fi issue on the bay recently. A year ago would have gone for $175-200. It went for $560. In spite of most of them being pretty common. Back in the early 1970’s, Weird Tales of the Future and Weird Mysteries were $1-3 but Crypt, Haunt and Vault were $5-7... Unfortunately, I could not take advantage of the 70s but I was very active in PCH, Romance, Good Girl, LB Cole in the 90s and prices were not much higher. The Gerber guides helped tremendously in providing visibility and exposure to the iconic covers. Although the classic covers seemed a little more plentiful back then, there were still many that were quite rare even when demand was pretty limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the blob Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 2 minutes ago, Robot Man said: Odd because as a little kid buying off the rack in 1960-1962, I never saw any of those. Rarely did I see them in my neighborhood friends collections either. I’m sure I would have bought them if I had. I knw when I see them I price them out and there are always a bunch for sale of any given issue. That's all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 2 minutes ago, BakerFanOne said: Unfortunately, I could not take advantage of the 70s but I was very active in PCH, Romance, Good Girl, LB Cole in the 90s and prices were not much higher. The Gerber guides helped tremendously in providing visibility and exposure to the iconic covers. Although the classic covers seemed a little more plentiful back then, there were still many that were quite rare even when demand was pretty limited. I would agree with that. In that genre, I think Matt Baker has appreciated the most. His stuff was dirt cheap back in the day. I remember legendary dealer Redbeard turning me on to LB Cole. I was grabbing anything with a great cover even the funny animal books. Problem was I really didn’t like the contents. Then the prices started surging so I backed off until the wave passed and started buying again. Now, most are out of my comfort zone again. Dylan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 6 minutes ago, the blob said: I knw when I see them I price them out and there are always a bunch for sale of any given issue. That's all. True. Pretty much all of them are readily available and affordable in lower grades now. KirbyJack 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the blob Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 1 minute ago, Robot Man said: True. Pretty much all of them are readily available and affordable in lower grades now. yes, not high grade.. i am usually looking at a $20-25 reader and trying to figure out if the price is good. i usually decide to pass or get outbid. they're cheap, but there's enough demand that they never go THAT cheap, I just don't see bidding wars on these lower grade ones like you see on some of the PCH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakerFanOne Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 3 minutes ago, Robot Man said: I would agree with that. In that genre, I think Matt Baker has appreciated the most. His stuff was dirt cheap back in the day. I remember legendary dealer Redbeard turning me on to LB Cole. I was grabbing anything with a great cover even the funny animal books. Problem was I really didn’t like the contents. Then the prices started surging so I backed off until the wave passed and started buying again. Now, most are out of my comfort zone again. There is no doubt that Matt Baker has received the recognition he so richly deserves. I was turned onto Baker by a dealer friend in Philly back in the early 90s. He loved his St. John work as well as Phantom Lady. I still will never forget when he excitedly called me into the shop as he had just purchased a small 50s collection that had a Weird Mysteries 5 ($25) and 12 ($15), Catman 32 ($20), and Guns Against Gangsters 6 ($10). There were also many ECs, and other cool horror like Chilling Tales, Mr. Mystery (16, 18) Weird Horrors and Weird Chills. Those were the days! LB Cole jungle covers were pretty common back then as was Captain Aero 26 (I knew one dealer who had about 15 low grade copies as his shop was close to where the comic was printed). But the early Suspense comics (1-4) were always rare as well as Terrific 5. Larryw7 and thehumantorch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JazzMan Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 PCH undervalued? Nope, just look at EC pre-code offering. Atlas PCH and some others like Harvey's Black Cat Mystery are in the top tier and garner a premium. Second rate PCH being undervalued is slightly more debatable, but let's face it, it's second rate. Namtak 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KirbyJack Posted March 16, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted March 16, 2021 I found this a couple of months ago priced at $360. I couldn’t pay the guy fast enough! Ken Aldred, Northwest, badback83 and 7 others 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverseeker Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 (edited) Speaking of ECs, I'd have to say no, and this is part of the reason I sold the handful of EC books (except for Weird Science-Fantasy #29) I had last year. When I got back into collecting in 2000, getting a few nicer issues of each EC crime, horror and sci-fi title was one of my collecting goals. Once books featured in SOTI (CSS #22 comes to mind) started blowing up like crazy I decided to step away from ECs and narrow my focus down to my other two interests, Silver Age Marvels and DCs. It basically got to the point where collecting ECs was going to eat up more of my comic collecting budget than I was willing to allocate to it. I did get to read and enjoy each of my EC books before slabbing them to sell, and have to say there's nothing else like them. Edited March 16, 2021 by silverseeker Minor tweak. KirbyJack and Funnybooks 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCOComics Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 We are in the middle of an unsual market where anything that isn't sky rocketing feels undervalued. I think PCH has been experiencing "normal" steady growth, with a few big books sky rocketing. Because it's not rising like SA marvel it feels under valued. Funnybooks, F For Fake, Dylan. and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KCOComics Posted March 17, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted March 17, 2021 10 hours ago, Funnybooks said: I'll buy a comic book for the same type of gratification and regardless if it goes up or down, I still get the enjoyment of collecting/owning the books until the day comes that I sell/trade the book for some other form of enjoyment...spend within your means and you'll have more enjoyment in the hobby... Words to live by. This has been my approach for years. I never speculated, I never watched for who was going to be in the next movie, I just bought the things I loved at a prices I could afford. If prices crash, I'm at peace with it. These funny books have brought me a lot of joy. If they keep soring, I'm ok with that too. KirbyJack, Funnybooks, D84 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post troydivision1 Posted March 17, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted March 17, 2021 Currently - No 5 Years From Now - Yes Eight to ten years ago in some shops that still focused on Overstreet (and even on these boards), you could get 'deals' on pre-code horror. eBay lacked consistent sales data and the number of 'key' apps was nil. Now everyone accesses GPA or Go Collect or eBay before figuring out their starting bid and adding 10-15%. Example, I scored this personal grail via a sales thread on the boards in 2013 for $40 raw. (it was advertised / pictured with all its flaws present) thehumantorch, KirbyJack, silverseeker and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumantorch Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 10 hours ago, dylanthekid said: That's a full circle of events though: Prices go up, you buy BECAUSE prices are gonna go up. Why does this market keep going up? there's most of the the non-comic investment factors but these seem to accelerate faster I heard the same point 40 years ago when Overstreet was the only pricing guide available and only in print format. Overstreet raises prices every year and people accept the new prices and then Overstreet raises prices again the following year. Prices have gone up as long as I can remember and that's a pretty long time. What's this worth and books like this and can they go up? I think so badback83, greggy, Dylan. and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post oakman29 Posted March 17, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted March 17, 2021 Hey the laugh emoji is back...... thehumantorch, Dylan., KirbyJack and 4 others 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post oakman29 Posted March 17, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted March 17, 2021 Pre code horror can be pretty pricey, but I'll tell you what's undervalued Warren Horror. Blazing Combat, Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella and Other Warren horror Properties. I can now say this because I own all of them, before I didnt want to raise the prices by talking about them.😂 allthingskryptonite, speedcake, greggy and 5 others 4 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumantorch Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 10 hours ago, Funnybooks said: If we only had a crystal ball or a DeLorean...I look at collectibles like any non-essential expense...cup of cofee, pack of smokes, a daily donut or a vacation...you'll spend money on some consumable that gives you a moment of pleasure but what's left is gone but an instant form of gratification or a memory...you spend the money nonetheless, knowing that it's a "cost" that you can never recoup...I'll buy a comic book for the same type of gratification and regardless if it goes up or down, I still get the enjoyment of collecting/owning the books until the day comes that I sell/trade the book for some other form of enjoyment...spend within your means and you'll have more enjoyment in the hobby... Absolutely. I own comics because I enjoy them and I love to look at them and flip through them. While I'm aware the value of my collection that's not why I collect and I believe a lot of the problems we have in the hobby today are related to dollar signs and greed rather than an appreciation of the art form. Funnybooks, oakman29 and silverseeker 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumantorch Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 10 hours ago, Robot Man said: Sometimes it pays to be a geezer. I bought 80% of mine in the early to mid 1970’s. PCH (other than ECs), were under tables unbagged for a buck apiece. Maybe $4-5 bucks top on the table. $10-20 were WAY over priced. In those days, Timelys were hot. I bought Nedors cheap. DCs were hot so I bought MLJ, Ace, Chessler and other odd ball publishers cheap. Prices now are crazy! We are looking at current prices using the past as a reference. It's like our parents complaining that a gallon of gas costs 30 cents. Prices do indeed seem crazy but perhaps we're just too old october, oakman29, silverseeker and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...