Action Comics #1 - 3.25 Mil new highest sale! 2 2

[LDarkseid1]

28 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

He didn't touch the book - he only touched the case...still

Yeah I mean close enough lol.

[Mmehdy]

12 hours ago, Crowzilla said:

I know this is a record and all, but isn't this sale kind of low? A decade later and the 2nd highest graded Action 1 only doubles in value?

Didn't we just see that a 7.0 Tec 27 tripled in value in that time period, and HG Bat 1s have at least gone up 5x in the last decade, as has Superman #1. And does anyone doubt that the 9.0 Marvel #1 pay copy would sell for more than double its $227K price from 2010?

Sad to think that the #1 book in the hobby would give you the worst return out of all the mega-keys in the last decade.

No, its very high. The page quality is inferior to the 3.2 M copy, the grade is lower, but the biggest factor is the staple quality...which is in a constant state of degeneration ...3.25 for a rusty staple book....this is a price record which will stand the test of time...ONLY a speculator who looks at this as a widget would pay that record price....

Edited April 7, 2021 by Mmehdy

[G.A.tor]

1 hour ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Any migration to the paper?

I can’t imagine there isn’t but book was in slab so no way to know 

[Mmehdy]

Any Action #1 graded 3.0  Blue or higher with decent staples have hit the mother load, especially 5.0 or higher graded copies. I can see a 8.5 with Snow White pages and great staple quality hitting 3 M...that makes sense, this does not....

Edited April 7, 2021 by Mmehdy

[LDarkseid1]

24 minutes ago, Mmehdy said:

Any Action #1 graded 3.0  Blue or higher with decent staples have hit the mother load, especially 5.0 or higher graded copies. I can see a 8.5 with Snow White pages and great staple quality hitting 3 M...that makes sense, this does not....

I believe this copy has white pages. Regardless though and staple issues aside, it's still the lone 3rd nicest copy of the most expensive and holy grail of comics in existence. And not knowing when either of the 2 9.0's may be up for sale, this appears to be the nicest attainable copy one can get. So the price seems fine to me if I'm being honest. I mean I don't know how anyone can truly be surprised by record breaking prices the way everything is right now. Seems like every week a comic breaks a new record or a sports related rookie card sells for millions more than it normally does haha. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by LDarkseid1

[THE_BEYONDER]

57 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

I can’t imagine there isn’t but book was in slab so no way to know 

Which makes the removal of the rusty staples notational complete BS

[Mr bla bla]

2 hours ago, pemart1966 said:

He didn't touch the book - he only touched the case...still

Dont shake it

Dont drop it ...

[LDarkseid1]

18 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Which makes the removal of the rusty staples notational complete BS

Well, I don't believe they do that anymore, or stopped listing that notation on labels a while ago. So when it was reholdered, the notation naturally came off. At least I believe that's why. It's still noted in the grader notes I'm sure, which whoever is shelling out the cheddar cheese for that will see I would think haha.

[Mr bla bla]

2 minutes ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Well, I don't believe they do that anymore, or stopped listing that notation on labels a while ago. So when it was reholdered, the notation naturally came off. At least I believe that's why. It's still noted in the grader notes I'm sure, which whoever is shelling out the cheddar cheese for that will see I would think haha.

I wonder who is dishin out that kinda moolah?

[LDarkseid1]

2 minutes ago, Mr bla bla said:

I wonder who is dishin out that kinda moolah?

Equally curious. Probably someone who bought a lot of crypto years ago haha.

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

33 minutes ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Equally curious. Probably someone who bought a lot of crypto years ago haha.

Or GME more recently.  

[LDarkseid1]

Just now, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

Or GME more recently.  

Very possible 

[sfcityduck]

With very very few exceptions, the guys who pay big bucks for comic books are comic book fans or have a personal connection to the characers.  Hariri got into comics because of an editorial that depicted his, now assassinated, father as Superman.  That's why he would pay record princes for Action 1 and what got him into other comics (and, yes, DC comics were published in Lebanon).  The celebrities like Nic Cage and Jack White who bought Action 1s were comic fans.  They weren't investing.  The investors who have paid record prices have tended to get burned, and more than one high end dealer has told stories about Wall Street investors electing not to invest in comics because the market is to thin and small to make it worth their while.  There are people who are passionate about comics and are willing to drop big bucks on a comic out of their love of comics, not a desire to cash in a year later.  That is the pool that is probably buying these comics.  Because, let's face it, a 50% rate of return over two years is a return the high end investors believe they can beat in other arenas.  

 

Edited April 7, 2021 by sfcityduck

[Crowzilla]

2 hours ago, Mmehdy said:

No, its very high. The page quality is inferior to the 3.2 M copy, the grade is lower, but the biggest factor is the staple quality...which is in a constant state of degeneration ...3.25 for a rusty staple book....this is a price record which will stand the test of time...ONLY a speculator who looks at this as a widget would pay that record price....

No, It's not "Very High", it's solid, but not very high.

We just had a Bat 1 sell for $2.2 Million. A 7.0 Tec 27 just sold for triple it's 2010 price. This copy of Action #1 has a very strong chance to be the most expensive book we see sold in our lifetimes (at least long-time collectors like you and me). The owner of the 9.0 copies has very little desire (and certainly no need) to ever sell his copies, and the Church (and Allentown Tec 27) will most likely not come to market. The 9.2 Tec 27 is the only other candidate and there is no sign that it will enter the market anytime soon. The $3 million sale happened seven years ago, that is a lifetime in this market. Every major key has doubled (at least) in that time, with many going up 50% or more in the past three months alone. I thought it was low when it sold three years ago (that seller held it for eight years for a 33% return before fees), and honestly expected it should be about double the previous price.

[LDarkseid1]

14 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

With very very few exceptions, the guys who pay big bucks for comic books are comic book fans or have a personal connection to the characers.  Hariri got into comics because of an editorial that depicted his, now assassinated, father as Superman.  That's why he would pay record princes for Action 1 and what got him into other comics (and, yes, DC comics were published in Lebanon).  The celebrities like Nic Cage and Jack White who bought Action 1s were comic fans.  They weren't investing.  The investors who have paid record prices have tended to get burned, and more than one high end dealer has told stories about Wall Street investors electing not to invest in comics because the market is to thin and small to make it worth their while.  There are people who are passionate about comics and are willing to drop big bucks on a comic out of their love of comics, not a desire to cash in a year later.  That is the pool that is probably buying these comics.  Because, let's face it, a 50% rate of return over two years is a return the high end investors believe they can beat in other arenas.  

 

I'm not sure about this book, but there's nothing anyone could tell me that would make me believe it's "comic book fans" that have suddenly decided to buy books for what they've been going for. That's investors without a doubt, GSX1 9.8 selling for almost $70K, Hulk 181's over $10K now in an 8.5. Nah, no comic book fans there. Those guys are priced out of the current market, and I have to at least believe it's possible it wasn't a comic book fan who bought this Action 1. I don't disagree with you that they may get burned down the line though, maybe big time if that is indeed the intent. But yeah, I'm not sold on that theory at all anymore, that only comic book fans pay big bucks. The kind of money that's been made lately on cryto, the stock market, people misusing PPE loans, the insane rise of sports card sales, too many variables to know who's spending all this money in our hobby. Too many books selling for insane prices, beyond comprehension. And we can point back to the Tec 27 7.0. Many people felt that might struggle to even break a million at first because there's only a "handful of people" who spend that kind of money on comics. That clearly went the opposite direction.

[LDarkseid1]

7 minutes ago, Crowzilla said:

No, It's not "Very High", it's solid, but not very high.

We just had a Bat 1 sell for $2.2 Million. A 7.0 Tec 27 just sold for triple it's 2010 price. This copy of Action #1 has a very strong chance to be the most expensive book we see sold in our lifetimes (at least long-time collectors like you and me). The owner of the 9.0 copies has very little desire (and certainly no need) to ever sell his copies, and the Church (and Allentown Tec 27) will most likely not come to market. The 9.2 Tec 27 is the only other candidate and there is no sign that it will enter the market anytime soon. The $3 million sale happened seven years ago, that is a lifetime in this market. Every major key has doubled (at least) in that time, with many going up 50% or more in the past three months alone. I thought it was low when it sold three years ago (that seller held it for eight years for a 33% return before fees), and honestly expected it should be about double the previous price.

Have to agree there.

[sfcityduck]

2 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

I'm not sure about this book, but there's nothing anyone could tell me that would make me believe it's "comic book fans" that have suddenly decided to buy books for what they've been going for. 

Instead of speculating, why not find out the identities?  The folks who I can identify who have paid more than $1 million for a comic were collectors.  So who are these investors that your are talking about?  

Here's what you might not be getting.  A lot of folks have a lot more disposable income right now because they aren't doing a lot of the expensive activities they used to engage in like eating out, traveling, vacations to luxury resorts, etc..  They've got more money, more time, and they are bored.  So its natural that a lot of folks are putting their money into collectables as a diversion.  It's COVID safe.  And entertaining.  

Edited April 7, 2021 by sfcityduck

[LDarkseid1]

3 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

Instead of speculating, why not find out the identities?  The folks who I can identify who have paid more than $1 million for a comic were collectors.  So who are these investors that your are talking about?  

Here's what you might not be getting.  A lot of folks have a lot more disposable income right now because they aren't doing a lot of the expensive activities they used to engage in like eating out, traveling, vacations to luxury resorts, etc..  They've got more money, more time, and they are bored.  So its natural that a lot of folks are putting their comics into collectables as a diversion.  It's COVID safe.  And entertaining.  

I mean unless people publicly identify themselves, I have no idea how I could find out who they are haha. Do you know who bought the Tec 27 7.0 or Batman 1 9.4, or this Action 1? I'd certainly love to find out, if anything to see who's theory is correct. As far as everything else selling for what it is, I don't see how that's created the madness that we're in. Sure people have more to spend due to the pandemic and would buy more, but not suddenly create a massive uncharge in what things are going for. I don't see it that way at least. I know a lot of people agree or at least feel people have entered the comic book market and created a fluctuation in prices. There's no way you can deny that possibility as well. I watch sports card investors on youtube talk about the comics they're buying now all the time.

[Mmehdy]

2 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

I believe this copy has white pages. Regardless though and staple issues aside, it's still the lone 3rd nicest copy of the most expensive and holy grail of comics in existence. And not knowing when either of the 2 9.0's may be up for sale, this appears to be the nicest attainable copy one can get. So the price seems fine to me if I'm being honest. I mean I don't know how anyone can truly be surprised by record breaking prices the way everything is right now. Seems like every week a comic breaks a new record or a sports related rookie card sells for millions more than it normally does haha. 

This copy at least according to the label was not graded or judged "white pages" and that amazing movie made of the guy in the dark room showing what white pages really look like, helped contribute to the then world record price and it is quite an amazing  video which i have seen a dozen times or so. If it does have white pages, wait to the staple bleeds and it is not gonna look pretty

 My opinion on the purchase price is that he/she overpaid. Not because of the time involved between sales, which was considerable. But that in my opinion, having rusty staples is MAJOR defect which can only be repaired by downgrading the book to either restored or conserved. I do not believe that anybody, including you would say 3.25 Million dollars is a reasonable, fair price for a conserved copy of Action 1. In reality that is what you really have.

 The two most important things for me after cover quality is paper and then staple. Bad pages which are gonna someday disintegrate or have a staple which is slowly going to do the same thing over time, decrease value and demand.

 At $3.25 M you should NOT  be dealing with these issues.

I understand your point about world record prices, I agree with you 100% speculators are coming in to invade our territory and upset what we have carefully built up in the last 50 years of comic book collecting...Bob Overstreet's genius was PRICE RESTRANIT... he was always be a little bit "behind" the market. BOB and with help of the CGC have grown our market in a safe and sane and stable manner. This purchase is way way out of actual true comic book collector value in my opinion, nor does this purchase help our GA comic book world in the long run.

[sfcityduck]

54 minutes ago, Mmehdy said:

I do not believe that anybody, including you would say 3.25 Million dollars is a reasonable, fair price for a conserved copy of Action 1.

I do not think a staple replacement should impact value one iota.  In fact, I think we, as a collecting community which wants to see books preserved, should encourage staple replacement.  In the fine art world, no one would downgrade a piece of art because an inherently damaging object is removed or replaced.  Comic collectors should not be so dumb as to insist that switching out rusting staples, of all things, for period correct clean staples is a "downgrade" warranting a price reduction.  They are just staples for God's sake!  

In a relatively short time, my view will be the norm.  Don't be surprised.

Edited April 7, 2021 by sfcityduck