Amazing Spider-Man Collecting Thread! 37 37

[JazzMan]

3 hours ago, piper said:

What grade criteria?

I am more of a completist when it comes to collecting...although I do become much more snobbish when, in this case, issues above 55, for example.  Most of them are at least 8.5 (VF+).  For the first 25, I'll take a VG/FN but I'd rather get what I can at the moment.  I don't generally upgrade much, but who knows, maybe this'll be a different.

[SECollector]

8 hours ago, JazzMan said:

The quest has started once again.  After selling off a good portion of my ASM 1-100 a few years ago to purchase Marvel Comics 1, I am once again putting the run back together, but this time I'm doing 1-200.  I've got about 42 left in the top 100 and about 60 between 101-200 so about 102 books left.  The ones over 100 shouldn't be too much of a concern, although I've never owned a 129 yet (I do have a reprint, but that doesn't count for the run), but there are lots of keys between 1-50.  I am only missing about half of those and I recently picked up my #1, so it's all down hill from now on.  The quest is on!

Good luck with the coolest quest of all!

For my part, I am on the other side and it feels like I am going through a collecting identity crisis lol. I had been working with my 1-400 run for a few years, took a break after I got most of the bigger keys (minus #101 and #300) plus almost all 100-400, and kinda lost my motivation. I came back a few months ago, decided to continue working with it but the spark isn't there unfortunately. I don't feel passionated enough to hunt (and pay current prices) for (otherwise awesome) books like #7, #11 and honestly the majority of the higher valued books I am missing. 

I decided to take the step and have sold my 301-400 run and I still don't know how I feel about it. My thought is to continue selling most of my 150-300 books except the bigger keys that I have graded and grab a #101 and #300, as well as a couple of non-spidey bigger keys that I always thought I would grab "later. Unfortunately IH #181 being one of them. 

However the case, I am so happy I have these and a few others that I am probably never ever letting them go!

 

[JazzMan]

6 hours ago, SECollector said:

Good luck with the coolest quest of all!

For my part, I am on the other side and it feels like I am going through a collecting identity crisis lol. I had been working with my 1-400 run for a few years, took a break after I got most of the bigger keys (minus #101 and #300) plus almost all 100-400, and kinda lost my motivation. I came back a few months ago, decided to continue working with it but the spark isn't there unfortunately. I don't feel passionated enough to hunt (and pay current prices) for (otherwise awesome) books like #7, #11 and honestly the majority of the higher valued books I am missing. 

I decided to take the step and have sold my 301-400 run and I still don't know how I feel about it. My thought is to continue selling most of my 150-300 books except the bigger keys that I have graded and grab a #101 and #300, as well as a couple of non-spidey bigger keys that I always thought I would grab "later. Unfortunately IH #181 being one of them. 

However the case, I am so happy I have these and a few others that I am probably never ever letting them go!

 

You've got the AF15 as your crown jewel, so you should be happy about that.  After owning one I stupidly sold it for what seemed like a huge profit at the time but, alas, it is becoming increasingly further from my grasp as the days move on.  I may settle for a nice looking restored book in the future. 

I went through something similar to you for a number of years, actually.  It wasn't until the last six months that I once again had a focus and discipline to hunt for a run or specific comic.  I've noticed that I prefer the thrill of the hunt rather than the trophy in the end.  Being an undisciplined collector brought me little joy - more of spontaneous buys rather than a methodical approach to collecting.  I would categorize it as impulse buys.  Bottom line, don't lose the drive - each book contains a story and has a story, so keep making stories.

[pickycollector]

[pickycollector]

[pickycollector]

[pickycollector]

[pickycollector]

[SECollector]

1 hour ago, JazzMan said:

You've got the AF15 as your crown jewel, so you should be happy about that.  After owning one I stupidly sold it for what seemed like a huge profit at the time but, alas, it is becoming increasingly further from my grasp as the days move on.  I may settle for a nice looking restored book in the future. 

I went through something similar to you for a number of years, actually.  It wasn't until the last six months that I once again had a focus and discipline to hunt for a run or specific comic.  I've noticed that I prefer the thrill of the hunt rather than the trophy in the end.  Being an undisciplined collector brought me little joy - more of spontaneous buys rather than a methodical approach to collecting.  I would categorize it as impulse buys.  Bottom line, don't lose the drive - each book contains a story and has a story, so keep making stories.

I am really really happy to have it. That AF15 was actually the first graded book ever I bought for my collection and getting it here in Sweden involved having a contact of mine driving from Michigan to Graham Crackers Comics in Chicago in order to pay cash, get it, drive back to Michigan and send it to me to Sweden. No, they wouldn't trust me enough to let me pay by PayPal and send it to Sweden or even send it to my guy in Michigan. I later got even my ASM1 from them, but by that time they "knew me" so they did actually accept to post it to "my guy" lol. Who said that collecting these books from Europe is easy? 

The #129 is the first and only book I had graded by myself and I totally randomly found it raw in a one-year-old post in a local group on FB. #50 was a birthday gift from my wife and daughters. The #15 was from Canada, but once again no-no shipping to Sweden, so @DST was recruited to receive it for me (thanks again Dave!) and send it over. My JIM83 and TTA27 were picked up from @blazingbob at a comic con in London where I travelled alone and kids-free for once just for a weekend and a couple others from my visit to Metropolis office in NY where I even took a selfie with the AC1 CGC 8.5 they were selling back then in 2018 (the same one I think that recently sold for $3M!).

So yes, I agree! Too many stories in there to let me part with them  I may just need to get a bit undisciplined in order to find my way back to the collecting light again. 

[capt hook]

2 hours ago, JazzMan said:

You've got the AF15 as your crown jewel, so you should be happy about that.  After owning one I stupidly sold it for what seemed like a huge profit at the time but, alas, it is becoming increasingly further from my grasp as the days move on.  I may settle for a nice looking restored book in the future. 

I went through something similar to you for a number of years, actually.  It wasn't until the last six months that I once again had a focus and discipline to hunt for a run or specific comic.  I've noticed that I prefer the thrill of the hunt rather than the trophy in the end.  Being an undisciplined collector brought me little joy - more of spontaneous buys rather than a methodical approach to collecting.  I would categorize it as impulse buys.  Bottom line, don't lose the drive - each book contains a story and has a story, so keep making stories.

Well said, for me, it's almost always about the hunt for the treasure,  Jealous of the AF15, unless I find it an attic somewhere, it will elude me.  It's just too expensive of a book, especially right now when a purchase of a Bronze key requires organ selling.

[Jordysnordy]

All other "0" books pale in comparison to this classic

Edited April 30, 2021 by Jordysnordy

[JazzMan]

18 hours ago, Jordysnordy said:

Let's see what you have so far.

I keep my collection in these magazine holders - It's so much easier to pull out and pick up a comic this way and it keeps with the aesthetics the wife appreciates.

Here's my raw stash of the first 200:

[JazzMan]

And my graded books:

Bookended by these two:

[JazzMan]

Some have history, like:

#10 - that's the first comic I bought to really start my ASM run.  Even though I had a few here and there, it was the one that I bought as a novice collector at Emerald City Comicon back in 2007.

The drug issues - 96, 97, 98 - that was probably my first mini focus run.  One of them came back as a married cover, but I can't see how that's the case.  

You may notice a couple of 185s - one I bought as a kid and got a kick of the story - how absurd that Peter Parker didn't graduate because he missed a PE credit   I upgraded that copy to a nicer one but kept my childhood copy.

Also, not part of the first 200, but I have a couple of 252s - the Stan Lee signed one I bought off the rack...at a Barnes and Noble back in the day.  I heard the buzz around Spidey changing his costume and thought I'd get myself a copy.  It had been years since I bought a new comic off the rack and I was in college at the time.  I'm astounded I kept it so well.

The 300 I bought off a fellow boardie.  I had recently sold my 300 9.6 and I thought I had made a big mistake - this was probably about 10-12 years back.  Well, one came up for sale at a decent price and I snatched it up.  Glad I did.

Lastly, the #1 - it's a recent purchase - I just got the box from Metro today.  I had a 6.5 signed by Jack Kirby  until about 5 years ago.  It was a birthday gift from 2008 - I had seen it at Metro when I visited earlier that year.  I liquidated a few keys back in 2016 to pay off my son's student loans (oy vay!), including that one.  I made a modest return of about 35% but now that same grade is about 350% of the price just 5 years back.  I had been shut out in recent auctions and in the last ComicConnect auction I told my wife that I was going to get it no matter what.  Both of us were glued to the auction site and saw the bidders jump in and I would retaliate.  It came down to the last few seconds and a bid comes in.  Unlike many auction houses, with ComicConnect it starts a 3:00 (I think) timer so you can't get sniped.  Well, this drove up the price to an area I wasn't too keen to getting but my wife told me to go for it.  We were so relieved when the final hammer came down and I finally owned a #1 again.  What an adrenaline rush!

[SECollector]

Lovely books and even more lovely stories behind them. I could almost smell the adrenaline from that ASM1 auction story! Congrats, its one huge addition and a very beautiful book 

I find group photos so much more exciting than usual scans. Can we keep them coming please?  Here is a Mysterio themed one!

[Webhead2018]

Where do you get that storage thing man. And how much space it takes up.

[JazzMan]

15 minutes ago, Webhead2018 said:

Where do you get that storage thing man. And how much space it takes up.

The best ones I found were from Ikea.  Unfortunately, they seem to be a lot of churn of the styles recently. I used to be able to count on the ones with the metal corners but I can't find those now.  In fact, the last ones I bought don't match any so they are relegated to hidden storage.  But if you're interested, here's the details for ones that are currently available:

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/tjog-magazine-file-dark-gray-90477658/

[JazzMan]

And by the way, they fit between 30-40 comics depending on the age and thickness.

[Webhead2018]

Nice what type of bookcase do you use them on. I recently moved and wanted to get some bookcases for some nick nacks and storage of games/movies and extra space for my comics. But I don't want any flimsy fake wood type bookcase like you see at Walmart or what not.

[chrisco37]

On 4/27/2021 at 10:37 PM, Albert Thurgood said:

Yes I noticed that too. I only need #1 to complete my ASM collection but it looks like it is out of my reach now.

 

As I chip away at my 1-40 run, I'm starting to think that the ASM 1 might not be attainable.  I may just "settle" for a GRR on that one.  I can only think of a few ways I could pull off an original at the current prices:

1. Sell off some of my other Spidey's to finance it (kind of pointless there)

2. Sell my FF5 to (partially) finance it  (don't see this happening)

3.  Put it on credit card (definitely not happening)

4.  Dip into my retirement to fund it (definitely not happening)

So, the GRR looks more and more likely.  I'll be alright.