When would you say that average people started "knowing" that comics could be valuable? 1 1

[lordbyroncomics]

2 hours ago, KirbyJack said:

Absolute museum pieces, all of em.

I love Reprint Comics so much.

[lordbyroncomics]

1 hour ago, valiantman said:

The most submitted book of the 1950s is Showcase #22 with just over 1,000 copies CGC graded.  Iron Man #1 from 1968, by itself, has 6,500+.

And you think that's from speculators hoarding? And not increased print runs and the rise of fandom?

 

Again, the question here was when Non Collectors became aware there might be investment value in comics. It was certainly not in 1968. 

[lordbyroncomics]

Marvel, under new ownership, was finally allowed to significantly increase their print runs and maximize increased newsstand distribution in.. wait for it.. 1968! It's not like I'm making this stuff up because I want to, or it's my opinion. This is documented history. Marvel was not "slapping #1s" on things because they "realized they could". I seriously believe more fans should guess less and simply put the time in to read about these things- they are well documented.

Also, the collector's mentality showed itself a couple of times in the seventies. There was a genuine scandal, reported on and commented on in the comics press, about how some comic store owners purposely bought a ton of Howard the Duck #1 to hoard and then sell at a higher profit later. Again, these are all things easily researched.

[nmtg9]

2 hours ago, thunsicker said:

@Mmehdy

That's very cool. What year was that? 

(I was specifically talking about the mainstream media in the UK with the Duncan McAlpine article. 👍) 

[Robot Man]

20 hours ago, KirbyJack said:

This bothers me, too. My older brothers would shake their heads and say, “ if I had those comics, I’d sell em so fast... prolly get me a Camero!”

 

I’m afraid my younger daughter will do that when I’ve gone to the great comic con in the sky. 

I’m also afraid she will keep my ‘49 Indian and try to ride it...

[Robot Man]

53 minutes ago, wisbyron said:

And you think that's from speculators hoarding? And not increased print runs and the rise of fandom?

 

Again, the question here was when Non Collectors became aware there might be investment value in comics. It was certainly not in 1968. 

In my house, I got chewed out for paying $3. For a MAD #9 at Cherokee Books by my dad. First time I had paid over cover price for any comic. This was around 1964. I went from being a “crazy kook” to a “smart business man” a couple years later when I started selling some of my extras and dupes. 

[thunsicker]

9 minutes ago, nmtg9 said:

2 hours ago, thunsicker said:

@Mmehdy

Expand  

That's very cool. What year was that? 

(I was specifically talking about the mainstream media in the UK with the Duncan McAlpine article. 👍) 

1973 I believe.  And that was UPI which was one of the two main news wires in the day.  Carried across the US.

[mcribar]

22 hours ago, Larryw7 said:

Marvel Comics 1 was the most valuable book when I started collecting. I think it was listed at 7500.00 in OSPG.

You know what Larry....It was so long ago it's hard to remember but yes...for me it was Whiz#1 first, than a few year later it was Marvel #1 and about 5 years or so after that it was Action #1.

[valiantman]

1 hour ago, wisbyron said:

And you think that's from speculators hoarding? And not increased print runs and the rise of fandom?

 

Again, the question here was when Non Collectors became aware there might be investment value in comics. It was certainly not in 1968. 

Something changed with the average person in 1968, beside the print run increases.  Those 1968 print runs aren't higher than decades earlier.  

Average people threw away a half-million copies of everything pre-1960s... so an increase in Marvel print runs alone didn't do anything new.

"The rise of fandom" is the the average person knowing things.  Without average people "starting to know" something, there is no fandom.

[Namtak]

The selling of Nicolas cage action comics 1for 1.161million dollars

[Namtak]

 But first edition overstreet open the eyes of many action 1 for a thousand dollars at the beguenning of the 70s

[Randall Ries]

On 4/27/2021 at 2:52 PM, KirbyJack said:

I’ve got a fun uncle in Chicago that likes playing angles and taking shots. He’s called me about comic books twice. First, when the Keaton Bat Man movie was imminent. A collector friend of his reportedly sold Danny DeVito a pricey lot of golden age Bats and Tecs. My uncle wanted to know if those comics were really that valuable. I told him yes; he should buy some. He didn’t.

Second, probably with regret that he didn’t listen to me, he called to see if I could get him The Death of Superman.  I told him I could get him as many as he wanted, but not until next year. I ended up mailing him the one copy I bought. Which he still has, and we laugh about.

The Death Of Superman was a doomed failure to begin with. Were there really speculators that paid giant money for those books thinking that Superman was going to STAY dead? Man. I read about it while it was happening and immediately the first word in my head was "Major Grift." Ok. That's two words.  I knew as soon as he was brought back to life, those books were worthless. Be more like the Simpsons. They kill their characters and they STAY dead.

[Randall Ries]

1 hour ago, valiantman said:

"The rise of fandom" is the the average person knowing things.  Without average people "starting to know" something, there is no fandom.

Right. We were ALL people who didn't "know" something at one point. We weren't born comic book collectors. We weren't infants who were inconsolable without a Superman cape blankie in our cribs. Something flipped a switch. The books couple with a possible monetary value or a book that was rare and we had it and they didn't drove most collectors.

As far as 1968 goes, The Democratic Convention happened along with MLK getting assassinated. Couple social unrest and societal upheaval with the omnipresence of retro culture, which runs about 20 years out. What was a commonplace fixture in the toy/book/whatever world 20 years ago and taken for granted suddenly finds itself in fashion and desirable again as the kids have grown and are pining for yesteryear. The "Goodle Days" 1940-1948 would have been the years being pined for if we look at retro culture being an actual phenomenon. Makes sense that generation was perhaps the first one in pop culture that was REALLY looking backward wishing for better days. It certainly spawned the collector culture we enjoy today.

It also its well into my theory that people my age (60 or so) were the ones that accomplished 2 things: First was to put the OS "Star Trek" on the map and secondly spawning the comic book collecting phenomenon we enjoy today.

[Math Teacher]

2 hours ago, Randall Ries said:

I read about it while it was happening and immediately the first word in my head was "Major Grift." Ok. That's two words.

You should have hyphenated those two words. Presto! One word.

[Robot Man]

2 hours ago, Randall Ries said:

Right. We were ALL people who didn't "know" something at one point. We weren't born comic book collectors. We weren't infants who were inconsolable without a Superman cape blankie in our cribs. Something flipped a switch. The books couple with a possible monetary value or a book that was rare and we had it and they didn't drove most collectors.

As far as 1968 goes, The Democratic Convention happened along with MLK getting assassinated. Couple social unrest and societal upheaval with the omnipresence of retro culture, which runs about 20 years out. What was a commonplace fixture in the toy/book/whatever world 20 years ago and taken for granted suddenly finds itself in fashion and desirable again as the kids have grown and are pining for yesteryear. The "Goodle Days" 1940-1948 would have been the years being pined for if we look at retro culture being an actual phenomenon. Makes sense that generation was perhaps the first one in pop culture that was REALLY looking backward wishing for better days. It certainly spawned the collector culture we enjoy today.

It also its well into my theory that people my age (60 or so) were the ones that accomplished 2 things: First was to put the OS "Star Trek" on the map and secondly spawning the comic book collecting phenomenon we enjoy today.

I STILL don't know. I have collected for 50 years. They just keep going up and up every year. 2020 was mind blowing. I have a hard time putting any kind of a price on any key or key cover these days...

[Gatsby77]

6 hours ago, wisbyron said:

Also, the collector's mentality showed itself a couple of times in the seventies. There was a genuine scandal, reported on and commented on in the comics press, about how some comic store owners purposely bought a ton of Howard the Duck #1 to hoard and then sell at a higher profit later. Again, these are all things easily researched.

Another one: As reported in a coffee table "History of Comics" book I had that came out in 1990, somebody jacked an entire truckload of Shazam # 1, that effectively accomplished two things at once: 1) extremely limited initial distribution in parts of the mid-west and west; and 2) two brothers who effectively sat on 30%+ of the entire print run of that book for years, such was it seen as a "sure thing."

[Randall Ries]

3 hours ago, Robot Man said:

I STILL don't know. I have collected for 50 years. They just keep going up and up every year. 2020 was mind blowing. I have a hard time putting any kind of a price on any key or key cover these days...

I was looking at my x4 signed Regular cover 9.8 Dark Knight III #2. I am giving serious thought to posting it in the moderns for sale section. Asking price? $50,000.

What? Why NOT? It's a 9.8! It has WHITE PAGES! It's SIGNED by Miller, Janson, Kubert and Azzarello! It's BATMAN! Mint! 9.8! IT'S A WELL POPULATED 9.8!!!!!!!!

[Lazyboy]

8 hours ago, valiantman said:

Something changed with the average person in 1968, beside the print run increases.  Those 1968 print runs aren't higher than decades earlier.  

Average people threw away a half-million copies of everything pre-1960s... so an increase in Marvel print runs alone didn't do anything new.

"The rise of fandom" is the the average person knowing things.  Without average people "starting to know" something, there is no fandom.

Nothing changed with the average person then, only with comic readers and collectors. Fandom (for anything) has nothing to do with the average person.