What are your best comic collecting stories?10487
 Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| So what are your best stories...as in: Big purchases you hunted down and made. Purchases you didn't make. Biggest sales, do you regret or did you parlay into bigger success? Interesting tales of the collector journey. |
||
| Post 1 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
manfred_spain private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I was at a small comic show in Dallas, Texas nearly 25 years ago, and there was a dealer who had a low grade Amazing Fantasy #15 for around $300. Sounds like a no-brainer today, but back then you could get higher grade copies for decent money so a low grade copy was a little harder to sell. I tried to haggle with him on price, and got him to $200. Then I went in for the final call, and asked him to throw in one other book to make it a deal. He agreed, and I walked away with a low grade Amazing Fantasy #15 and a near mint Venom Lethal Protector #1 black cover variant for $200 total. Still have them both, and they're worth a little more than $200 nowadays. |
||
| Post 2 • IP flag post | ||
 The apple sauce and pudding were the best part...
|
Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| In high school I knew this kid that had a brand new car. He was a way more serious collector than I. He knew every key no matter how obscure. We got to be good friends and skipped school to go to comic book conventions and comic book stores from all over west, central, and south florida. I tallied up my absences to be about 75% attendance. Missing almost a full year of high school. We amassed a decent collection and my prize was an amazing Spider-man 6 in VF condition. We had a falling out and he essentially took all my valuable books. I lost many a night's sleep over that. I started my first job over a decade later and because I was tasked with computers I naturally looked at ebay. My boss was cool as hell. He said if you miss it, buy it. Since I made decent money my first goal was to reaquire Spider-man 6. I found it in 7, 7.5, and finally 8.5. I was satisfied with that book. Then I thought about the other books I had. I decided I was going to get better copies of every book I had. Next thing you know, I had boxes coming in every other day. CGC was only game in town so I went hunting for graded books, also because i dont know how to grade.(still dont have a damn clue.) Asm 6 8.5 Hulk 181 8.5, 8.5, 9.4 Asm 14 8.5 Asm 129 9.4 Iron man 9.4 Captain America 100 9.4 Etc...... After my life got complicated with moms breast cancer. I stopped losing sleep over books, and started losing sleep over her. I stopped buying and everything sat and collected dust for years. It wasnt until about 3 years ago, i joined this forum and i took inventory of what i actually had. And realized, that, holy crap a lot of these books are worth decent money. No more real regrets. I did end up with. Better stuff than before. I gained knowledge from my former friend and learned basic keys and bought them. Without his knowledge, I would have been buying blind. So in a sense, it was a life lesson that panned out. |
||
| Post 3 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Bronte I'm wondering if you bought my Hulk 181 8.5, I remember shipping it to Florida. White Pages? About $750-$800 on Ebay auction? (before I knew better than to use Ebay auction for selling). |
||
| Post 4 • IP flag post | ||
|
The apple sauce and pudding were the best part...
|
Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Pretty sure mine are not white pages. I didn't know better at the time to look or even care. I paid 896.85 & 886.85 |
||
| Post 5 • IP flag post | ||
 It was a one trick pony show but always hilarious.
|
GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
| About 12+ years ago or so: I bought a Marvel Super Heroes 18 (1st GOTG) high grade...will likely be in the 9s (at CGC right now) for $14. I bought a raw hulk 181 (turned out to be a CBCS 6.0) for $236. |
||
| Post 6 • IP flag post | ||
 I'm good with splotches.
|
Nuffsaid111 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Garage Sales for the last 5 years - Keys galore for $1. And I don't mean 1st appearance of Dominic Fortune. I'm talking Spider-Man 129 variety. | ||
| Post 7 • IP flag post | ||
 Thank you sir. May I have another?
|
Siggy private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Several years ago a man named Richard Rae purchased some pin ups from Mike Royer. These were based on Thor, Hulk, Captain America, and perhaps another, and were recreations of Kirby pencil art with slight tweaks here and there. Back then Mike signed pieces like this, "Jack Kirby/Mike Royer" (not the first time someone has done this, and many still do), and Richard Rae took advantage of this by trying to pass them off as having actual Kirby pencils underneath. Mike got sucked into the controversy and registered at CGC in order to have his say and set the record straight as for his part. In that one post he mentioned where he lives, and it just happens to be 10 minutes from me  I reached out to him, hoping to maybe get a sig  or even a commission. We got along great and have been friends since. Now I help him whenever I can with west coast shows (if I can work it into my work/family time), but most often when we visit, comic books hardly even come up. He'd rather talk about old Westerns and pre code Hollywood.I still get things signed from him when I find them. Not just comics- Anything with his work, including Disney Merchandise and catalogues and stamps and decals and art and Books (text) and postcards and pins and Foreign reprints … Over 500 signed items  |
||
| Post 8 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
cyrano0521 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Early days of eBay i picked up gorgeous copies of Strange Adventures, The Demon and others for very little. But my best buys are the original Phantom Strangers for under 200 USD each (some way under). Also, i used to work LCS and from a beautiful Original Owner collection, i bought almost all of Adventure Comics 300-429 in just amazing shape. |
||
| Post 9 • IP flag post | ||
 I showed my wife and she was so happy for me she started to cry.
|
Batman66 private msg quote post Address this user | |
  ive told this before, bought this Batman 2, sent it off to have it restored(before the taboo). When I met Susan at San Diego comic con she is the one who noticed the 15 cent price. We took it to Gary carter, he wrote it up in his magazine. To date there is 6 known copies. I traded the book for a run of Spiderman 1-42, fantastic four 1-44, tos 39. I sold Spiderman and ff's off for a few thousand and still have the tos. Total investment was 800 |
||
| Post 10 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Batman66 What a heart-stopping moment. Were you freaked out at first? |
||
| Post 11 • IP flag post | ||
|
I showed my wife and she was so happy for me she started to cry.
|
Batman66 private msg quote post Address this user | |
@EbaySeller yeah, the whole experience was freaking awesome, this is the tos I kept |
||
| Post 12 • IP flag post | ||
 I live in RI and Rhode Islanders eat chili with beans.
|
esaravo private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by cyrano0521 I am envious of those Adventure Comics! Nice score. |
||
| Post 13 • IP flag post | ||
|
Thank you sir. May I have another?
|
Siggy private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Decades ago in the late 70's my father liked tormenting my younger brother and I by retelling his story how when he was a boy he cut out all the pictures of "some #1 issue of Superman" to put on his wall. Decades later I never told him what he had. | ||
| Post 14 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Siggy Did you grow up on the East Coast? I only ask because I always question how many copies of early action and superman books ever actually made it out to the West Coast initially. I would suspect very few did in the early days, it's not as if today's distribution channels existed back then. And every time I hear about a "find" in an attic or under the stairs, it's always some 120 year old house from the East Coast. |
||
| Post 15 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
Paint_Monk private msg quote post Address this user | |
| As a kid, I traded the "new kid" on the block two Whitman Boris Karloff mystery comics for his X-Men #94 and Conan the Barbarian #2. Granted, it was the 1980s and the latter books hadn't taken off like they have in recent years. But it was still a HORRIBLY lopsided trade, even at the time. I was a jerk when I was little...  Needless to say, if I ever saw the guy today (we lost touch 30 years ago) I'd give him the books back just to make it right. I've still got the Uncanny X-Men #94, but I got rid of that Conan decades ago. I'd probably give him my now-graded Conan #2 to cover it. |
||
| Post 16 • IP flag post | ||
|
The apple sauce and pudding were the best part...
|
Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Paint_Monk Before I comment, I'll preface my comment with, I am a hypocrite. That being said. The angst and guilt you feel is probably as lopsided as your comic trade. He prolly hasn't given it a second thought decades ago. The point is, you learned from your mistake and try to be the best you can be now. That being said, and I know your not going to listen to me as I'm full of BS. You should liquidate all your comics, donate to a church, and enter a monestary and pray for forgiveness every day until you get alzheimers and dont recall what you were asking forgiveness for..... =) |
||
| Post 17 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
Paint_Monk private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Bronte Liquidate all my comics? Nah. Donate to a church? Check. Enter a monastery? Check. Pray for forgiveness every day? Check. Alzheimers? Some days I think I'm already there. 3 out of 5 so far. Don't see the first one happening though! |
||
| Post 18 • IP flag post | ||
|
The apple sauce and pudding were the best part...
|
Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| So what you are saying is you put, material possessions ahead of faith.... Next thing you know, you'll be listening to rock and roll..... @Paint_Monk I'm just messing with you. Folks that devote their lives to being "good" people and not heathens like myself is a good thing. |
||
| Post 19 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
Paint_Monk private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Bronte I know you're kidding But in truth, even a monk needs a hobby. It goes without saying that meeting a nice lady to spend the rest of my life with isn't an option. So comic books it is! |
||
| Post 20 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Early 2000's after about a 15 year break from collecting, the availability offered by Ebay tempted me to buy a Hulk 181. I had always wanted one, and now I could easily afford one as I had plenty of income and little responsibility. I won an auction for a raw copy at a little over $300. Sent it in to CGC alone (my first submission ever) and was pleasantly surprised that it graded 8.5. I thought the grade was generous and my LCS owner convinced me that CGC was starting to get a reputation for grading looser on the new slabs. So I decided to quickly sell it before the market stopped trusting CGC grading! Got about $800 in an auction. It had White pages, which wasn't much of a point of discussion back then. I don't regret selling, that sale gave me the inspiration to start buying and collecting again. Shortly after I bought a full run 1-100 of Sgt Fury for about $450 on Ebay. A few years later got the #1 graded and sold it for more than $450. Started attending local conventions and buying up minor Keys. It also motivated me to drive back to Oregon and pick up the 15 long boxes I had left under the parents stairs when I moved to California, although there wasn't much value there. Been buying and selling ever since, comic sales played an important part in my making it through the recession without going completely broke. | ||
| Post 21 • IP flag post | ||
 Why just the women? I like bears.
|
Gaard private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Paint_Monk My favorite bumper sticker... "I may have Alzheimer's, but at least I don't have Alzheimer's." |
||
| Post 22 • IP flag post | ||
 Leftover Sundae Gnus
|
CatmanAmerica private msg quote post Address this user | |
Best dealing experiences for GA comics were negotiating book deals with John Verzyl. In some cases we’d wrangle for many hours on a deal, take a short break then back to wrangle some more. If we hit an impass where we we’re far enough apart but still within range ...say $500 or $1000 or so, then we might reach the coin flip phase! Fans would gather round to watch, some folks probably took side bets.  |
||
| Post 23 • IP flag post | ||
|
The apple sauce and pudding were the best part...
|
Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @CatmanAmerica Sounds like more fun than a high stakes poker game..... |
||
| Post 24 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
CatCovers private msg quote post Address this user | |
| So many stories... I'll just hit a few highlights. Biggest miss: As a teenager in the late '80s I really got into Golden Age collecting. Prices were still reasonable, pretty much all my income was disposable. I made a lot of my purchases from one dealer (can't recall his name now) who liked that I was a young collector interested in GA. At a con, he offered me an Action #1 in nice shape (I won't try to offer a grade - in my rosy memory it's flawless) for something like %15,000. I was a teenager, so of course I didn't have anything like that kind of scratch. So I went home and asked my dad for a loan. You can imagine how that went. Until recently, I kept him regularly updated on the sale prices of Action 1. Found a gorgeous copy of ASM 129 for $4 back in the '90s. A ragged copy of Showcase 22 for $5. Once, between jobs, I supported myself for several months on a stack of McFarlane-signed Spider-Man 1s. All gone now, sadly, but they kept food on my table and a roof over my head. Worked in an LCS in the late '80s and early '90s. Someone came in asking if we were interested in his grandfather's comic books - there were several large boxes. The owner said yes, that he'd pay $1 per book. The guy promised to come back the next day with the collection, and the LCS owner and I agreed to split what came in, with him getting 2/3 and me 1/3. The next day, the guy showed up with several boxes and our dreams of a new Mile High collection were dashed. There were comics, but mostly there were old newspaper and magazines. There had also been a fire at some point, and lots of the books in there were little more than charcoal. But it wasn't all bad. I got about 30 mid-grade Plastic-Man and Police Comics by Jack Cole for $1 each. |
||
| Post 25 • IP flag post | ||
|
It was a one trick pony show but always hilarious.
|
GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Gaard LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gold!!! |
||
| Post 26 • IP flag post | ||
 Captain Accident
|
the420bandito private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Doesn't involve collecting per say but a friend and I were at Wizard World Philly one year to get Stan's sig and photo, etc. We got there almost on time and while I was waiting for my buddy to hit the bathroom I turn around and boom! Stan Lee standing right there. We got say hello and thank him which was way cooler than the signature line where he barely looked up.. | ||
| Post 27 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
comic_book_man private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbaySeller I bought a 1st Rocket Racoon from a record store for $150, came back a CGC 9.6, and then I ended up selling it for a record price during the week of the 1st movie release - which I still think is the highest ever sold. Even higher than any 9.8 has ever sold. I still have the transaction receipt somewhere from eBay, I think it was around $4500.  |
||
| Post 28 • IP flag post | ||
|
Leftover Sundae Gnus
|
CatmanAmerica private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Bronte Absolutely, ...I wouldn't be surprised if there's cell-phone footage floating around somewhere! . |
||
| Post 29 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
Watcher private msg quote post Address this user | |
| reading stories like these...I dont have any of my own |
||
| Post 30 • IP flag post | ||
This topic is archived. Start new topic?