What Is Your Biggest Regret or Worst Mistake in Collecting? 1 1

[jsilverjanet]

seems we have a lot of these threads 

most fall under the regret of selling something too early

I always say the biggest regrets are the purchases I didn't make - there have been many.

 

[batman_fan]

20 minutes ago, jjonahjameson11 said:

After reading about more horror story dealings with Showcase New England, I wonder who's the bigger crook: Daniel G from Showcase or Gerry Ross?

I gave the short version of the story, longer version is

1.  Got Showcase's new catalog in the mail (1990s).  Saw several Batman's I was interested in.

2.  Call and talked to Danny to get more details on the books (defects, interior cover tanning, page quality, etc).

3.  Bought several Batman's based on page quality, etc.

4.  Books arrive, all were way over graded with tan interior covers and tan to cream pages.  The Batman 18 was trimmed ~1/8 to 1/4 around the edges so very obvious.  Other books had non-disclosed restoration.

5.  Called and told him how disappointed I was and I wanted to return

6.  Got a bunch of but he took them back, shipping both ways was on my dime

7.  Fast forward to 1999/2000 and Showcase is selling on eBay and what do you know, list a Batman 18, unrestored.  

8.  I watched it closely and it closes higher than I originally paid.

9.  Fast forward a few months and it is re-listed by Showcase but this time CGC graded restored with the note "trimmed on three edges". Cant remember what they got for it.

[serling1978]

On 4/23/2021 at 8:16 AM, MatterEaterLad said:

 

But I think my good moves have overshadowed my bad ones. Got a great deal on a Hulk 1 years ago, recently bought a 1,000+ book SA collection fairly cheap, etc.

Same here. About 5 years ago I made what I thought was a risky move and bought a solid lower grade raw that was missing the last ad page. A year later I sold it and paid for most of the cost of a CGC 2.5. Was also able to finish the original 6 issue run.

 

But another regret I have is currently ongoing. That's is not buying a JIM 83 in 2020. Could have sold my TTA keys to cover about 60% of the cost or more. NOW JIM growth is outpacing ant-man at a pretty staggering pace. Need to figure out a scheme to give ant man some heat...

[Larryw7]

Dan was a jerk. He would threaten buyers with legal action for giving him(well deserved ) bad feedback on feebay.

 

[mcribar]

1 hour ago, DocHoppus182 said:

Selling Hulk 1 and Showcase 4 10 years ago.  I’ve been able to right those wrongs over the past several years thankfully.
 

Incredible books to own.  Glad you have them back!  I would love to have that Hulk #1

[badback83]

45 minutes ago, mcribar said:

Incredible books to own.  Glad you have them back!  I would love to have that Hulk #1

Thank you.  I consider myself pretty lucky.  The Hulk 1 I sold was also a 1.8, which is weird.  The Showcase 4 I had was a 4.5.  Oh well.

[Hollywood1892]

1 hour ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

I think it was the Steel City show in Monroeville, PA in 2011.  Maybe 2010

I was at this show and found a dealer I had never seen before.  A local guy that hardly ever sets up.

He had four wall books I was interested in; I estimated all four to be 2.5s.  

• FF #1
• FF #1
• TTA #1
• X-Men #1 

The Fantastic Fours were $1200 each.  I forget the prices of the TTA and X-Men.  I had about a grand on me.  Since this dealer didn't know me, he wouldn't take a check and couldn't take a credit card. 

I ended up with the X-Men #1 and TTA #1 for $800.  What I could have done was go to a dealer friend that was setup there and grabbed the cash for one or two of the FF #1s and gave him a check.  He would have been OK with that. 

I don't know if this post is more about regret or greed. 

 

Definitely regret, but did you sell the X-Men and TTA yet? 

[Nazirite]

Play to win, if you want that book and can afford it, buy it. That’s what I tell myself now, being hesitant has backfired more than it helped. Jesus, I can still see that ultimate fallout 4 CGC 9.8 sitting in my cart for only 858 smh.  
 

PS: That includes buying in at a lower grade too. 

[toro]

Regret when I got back into comics in the early 1980s that I didn't buy NM.  In the Koch-Dolgoff-Koch warehouse find they would have books like Daredevil #7 NM $10 FN $6 or VG/F 3 for $9.00.  I would buy 3 VG/F and not buy a NM.  Same for FF48.  Also regret when Keith Conterino would send me books, most times I would buy them.  Most of my Spider-mans 2-60+ came from him, but once he sent me an X-Men #1 that was around a 2.0, he said he wanted $300.  I said, I couldn't do it as I was dirt poor, so he said what could you do and I said I couldn't even go $100 so he said okay, $99.  I talked him into taking it back. 

Other regrets was when I first got into graded books, was either getting them graded and selling them right away.  ASM 14 in 7.5 and ASM 122 in 9.0,  I sold them for $1,000 combined not each.  Getting the highest graded Avengers #55 and sold it for around $300.  Then the Avengers movie came out with Ultron in it and that would have gone for $3000. 

 

[BlowUpTheMoon]

6 hours ago, Hollywood1892 said:

Definitely regret, but did you sell the X-Men and TTA yet? 

Nope.

[Hollywood1892]

19 minutes ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

Nope.

Sweet!

[Iconic1s]

In 2011 I bought an Incredible Hulk 181 7.5 for $750.00 (it was the most I ever paid for a book up until that point)... I looked for a nice one on eBay for a year making sure it had perfect centering, etc and one I thought would press well.  I sent it to Classics Incorporated (Now CCS) for pressing and had it regraded... it came back 9.0 WP.

Here comes the 'regret.'  I was stationed in Okinawa Japan at the time and was literally leaving the next day for some leave in Hawaii with my wife, and then my next duty station in Korea.  Because I was staying in the Pacific area I was able to use the Military Postal System (MPS) to send packages for free from Okinawa to Korea.  We had a total of nine boxes that we sent on their way, and then headed to Hawaii.  About 10 days later I arrived in Korea and eight boxes had made it safely... the only one missing was the Hulk 181!  The rest had last minute household items that the packers missed, or that we needed for our last few days in Okinawa... pretty much worthless stuff.

I did every type of search you can imagine, what I did not realize about MPS is that even if it had a customs label with bar code and all that and looked like regular mail, it was never actually ever entered into a system, no tracking.  There was NO WAY to know where it went missing, or what happened to it.  It was no better than handing the box to a stranger and asking them to drop it off somewhere for you!

This decision haunted me for awhile... I really regret not just hand carrying that book to Hawaii and then to Korea but I was worried about it getting damaged doing that.  My wife and I were in Korea for two years and to be honest, this event put a dark cloud over that time.  It ended up that the Army P.O. (I was in the Marines) on the Base in Korea had a reputation of stealing mail and I always felt that someone there had stolen my book.  Such a violation, especially if another military person did that (I'll never know for sure).

Here's the cert # 1028062001

I have this in my Registry and no other Registry participant has tried to 'own' it.  I imagine someone stole it that had no idea just what they had gotten their hands on.  

Edited April 25, 2021 by Iconic1s
Confused my years! Got to Oki in ‘09, left in ‘11. Left Korea in ‘13 for Pensacola! Getting old!

[Gaard]

For my 13th birthday (1975), my present from my sister was a bottle of Tahitian Treat, a can of Pork-n-Beans, and a Daredevil #1. I regret not waiting to eat/drink until after I read the comic.

[The lips]

On 4/24/2021 at 1:15 PM, Randall Ries said:

A lot of THIS.^

What has remained consistent through the 40+ years I have been dabbling in this hobby is that the keys that are REALLY keys (HOS 92, Superman 233, Batman 232, GL/GA 76 etc) have always been on the radar and been sought after. Others come and go. My bigger regrets is trading off or selling keys without having another copy for myself. There needs to be that. For example, I wouldn't keep 10 copies of Bat 227. I'd keep one. They are too hard to replace because I am not a dealer or ebay seller etc so my income doesn't support multiple issues of one given key. Just a simple collector.

The keys that are and have been keys will remain so. Then, the problem becomes speculative. Will THIS book be a key? Will THAT one? Who knows? There are far more "Flash in the pan" keys than there are actual keys that will remain sought after. Everyone thought Concrete was going to be a hot item. Not so much, right?

That was always the beauty of the OPG. I could go through a list of Batman issues and watch the values fall for several lines of books then a blip. Usually a key book. That was year after year.

When I began collecting again, it wasn't like before where I'd come home every week with $150 worth of books under my arm. I began collecting books I couldn't afford before. Mainly key DC books. Sure I paid more. Made the mistake of trading a Bat 227 in 9.4 a while ago. Instant regret. Won't do that again w/o a back up for my own collection.

Is Superman 233 such a key issue ?

I sold one on eBay very recently and only got £15 for it. There wasn’t much interest at all. 

[Randall Ries]

1 hour ago, The lips said:

Is Superman 233 such a key issue ?

I sold one on eBay very recently and only got £15 for it. There wasn’t much interest at all. 

Was it a rat? The high grades are going for bigger $$$. Mine shown here might fetch $500-$600 or so. I think it's a key. Clark goes from newspaper to tv. Kryptonite goes inert. Sand Superman story line by Denny O'Neil begins. It sort of falls between Bat #227 and being a key. One of those nebulous books that isn't being ignored.

[Randall Dowling]

Biggest regret or worst mistake in collecting?  Not buying more.  And getting bored easily with rare books that took me years to find and selling them just before they took off in price.  

Otherwise, I'm all good.

[Comic Consortium]

Flahback 1994, 11yr old me picked Gambit #4 over TMNT 1. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

Buying 6 slabs of Modern dreck for $200 a couple years ago.

[Bluemedgroup]

Mine would be TILT selling. Tilt is a poker term that is mainly used for the ensuing wave of frustration and anger play after some unlucky card hands.  

Bought an ASM 14 raw that was supposed to be at minimum 8.0.  Came back from CGC 7.5 and was on tilt so I put it up for sale on these board pages and a tiny profit.  

Sent in a JIM83 CGC 2.5 for CPR that got damaged in transport and came back 2.0.  Sold it on tilt just to break even.  

I knew that DD1 was undervalued for years and was frankly tired of waiting for it to pop.  Sold my 4 copies in range of 4.0-5.5 early last year when covid hit.  Lost out on big profits.  Did the same with GSX1.  

 

[linmoth]

No regrets even though I have let $1000 of dollars pass through my hands but put many in my pocket. Back in the days of Comic Buyers Guide I met many collectors that I still consider friends although some have passed but I have the memories. I had the opportunity to but the Western Penn run of Fantastic 4 1-150 and passed because I’m a DC guy. Owned the X-men 1 that I bought from the OO of the Pacific Coast Collection that later graded 9.8 and sold at Heritage. Carl was a great guy who passed to early from a heart attack.