What are your best comic collecting stories?10487
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Paint_Monk private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I recently picked up my complete Walt Simonson Thor run for a mere best offer of $100 on eBay. This included everything Walt worked on during his popular stint (#337-382 + Balder the Brave #1-4), including the increasingly popular #337, which as you know, is the 1st appearance of Beta Ray Bill. The seller was extremely professional and shipped fast and well packaged. However, his communication was non-existent. When I sent an email thanking him for such a great item at a great price, I received a mere "Thanks" as a reply. I'm guessing his wife or someone may have accepted the best offer not knowing how much the lot was worth, but I was blessed with a great deal. I know I would have been upset if I let a whole lot like that go for the price of one of the issues (#337). All the comics are easily VF-NM and I'm really happy.   |
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 Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock
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Quote:Originally Posted by sborock That's awesome! I owned Detective Comics #31 for about a day once, back in the 80's. But I've told that story already. Here's a new one: When I was 4 to 7 years old and my brother was 7 to 10 or so, there was a guy I knew who lived down the street, who was just a couple years older ... maybe 12, when I was 6? Because he was six years older than me, the comics he had were also six years older than my comics. Seeing his collection - boxes worth - it was like magic. All these great issues I've never seen before! TONS of stories I'd never get to read, couldn't ever hope to own. We didn't even have a comic book store in town then. This was the 70's, so they were rare. Though when we moved to Durham (North Carolina) a few years later, there was a shop in nearby Chapel Hill that sold old comics. But that's another story, too. Anyway, I remember a few times going over to his house and how I loved to just look at them. He was very particular and wouldn't let me read them, which I totally understood. Gotta keep them in mint condition! I've posted a few pictures from his Flash run that I *think* he had ... definitely, there were a lot of the "checkerboard" DC's in his collection. But it was so long ago I barely remember. I know he had some cool Neal Adams covers, who was pretty amazing back then. I remember one anecdote about John that I think will tell you something about those comics. One day my mom was visiting his mom, and I was so young that meant I went visiting, too. So while they had their chat I went upstairs to see what John was up to. Maybe I could look at those comics again! At the top of the stairs I saw he had the ironing board out in the hallway. That seemed pretty odd. Ironing is not something I'd ever think to do. That was an adult thing, not a kid thing. Curious, I asked him what he was doing, and he showed me ... he was ironing his dollar bills! Ironing money? Sure. He said he liked them to be crisp and sharp, as if they were new. I liked the feel of crisp, new money, too, so I could kind of see it. Seemed like a lot of trouble to go to, for something you're just going to spend anyway. But it kind of made sense. Now, I don't think he ironed his comics, or even thought to do it. But I KNOW he liked to keep them very, very nice. He may or may not have had them in plastic bags. Was that even a thing back then? I'm not sure. But he definitely took care of them. I often wonder, when I buy high-grade silver and bronze age books from some dealer on eBay and they arrive and are all absolutely cherry, I ask myself: who on earth managed to keep these comic books pristine for so many years? What kind of person is that? It's so hard! Decades and decades, across many different homes and lifestyles. High school, college, first job, second job, marriage, kids ... it's crazy! How many times do you have to tell yourself: well, I'll be careful with these at least, put them away, stored and protected. How many times do they have to survive changing priorities, and various environments? How many times do they avoid neglect. (Or get just the right kind of neglect, sitting undisturbed for years!) John may be exactly the type. Not overboard with it. Certainly not narrowly focused on the condition of his comic books above all else. But careful. And persistently so, I think. Even though he stopped collecting comics decades ago and hasn't gone back. I met up with him in Cincinnati a few years ago. He's a best-selling author now. You may even have heard of him if I told you his name. He was in town to do a signing event at one of the big bookstores. He was delighted to see me. Turned to the bookstore lady and said, laughing, "I used to babysit this guy!" I gave him a ride to his hotel after the event, so we could catch up a bit. Along the way I asked if he still has all those comic books from when we were kids. Yep, he told me, I still have them. Every single one.     |
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| Post 52 • IP flag post | ||
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comic_book_man private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @EbaySeller @Batman66 woah.. You guys know Ed? I just saw him yesterday. Great guy!  |
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| Post 53 • IP flag post | ||
 Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by comic_book_man He's part of the core group that I'm comfortable haggling with at SoCal conventions. My go-to dealers are: A1 Comics from Sacramento (can't remember owners name, he was a Tight End for the Seahawks) Brad at FVF Phil at Hero Comics Ed Robertson Terry at Terry's comics I mostly keep circling around those 5 until one of them breaks and gets in a haggling mood.  I trust their grading and restoration checks. Phil at Hero Comics is my presser. He will pre-screen for me at conventions and only press the ones that make financial sense. Any others I should be getting to know? |
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| Post 54 • IP flag post | ||
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Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Paint_Monk As you should be...lucky Monk. Was your offer auto-accepted, or did it take some time for the response? |
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| Post 55 • IP flag post | ||
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Paint_Monk private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbaySeller Nope. Not auto-accepted. I think perhaps an over-eager wife or spouse may have clicked "accept offer" for a quick $100 hence the short reply to my one email to the seller. Quite honestly, I was expecting an email to describe a situation like that and "cancel" the sale, but the seller obviously has a whole lot of integrity if that was the case. I was glad when that email never came. |
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 The Fifth Golden Girl
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sborock private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbaySeller A1 is Brian Peets. He's a great friend of mine. One of the best in the hobby! |
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| Post 57 • IP flag post | ||
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CatCovers private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Perhaps my best collecting story is unfolding now... I've been lucky enough this year to meet a couple of older collectors. One has decided to liquidate his collection, and I've gotten a couple of good deals from him - though sadly his health has taken an extended turn for the worse and he's been coping with that instead of selling his books. The other collector, though, is much more impressive. The man's in his 90s now, but still very sharp. He used to live in Oregon, where he was neighbors and friends with Alex Schomburg - he's got a bunch of pictures in his house of the two of them hanging out together. He also has a significant collection of Schomburg books, including a lot of his lesser-known "Xela" covers. He has original art by Schomburg as well. As if that's not enough, he also knew Carl Barks, and while he doesn't have any Barks books, he has some original Barks art, including character development sketches for characters like Uncle Scrooge. Sharp as he is, he still knows he won't be around much longer and is interested in divesting his collection. I'm just hoping I'll be able to find a way to finance it.  One story he told me is heartbreaking on several levels. Schomburg kept a collection of every comic he ever worked on - exceptional copies, apparently. When he passed, his wife inherited them. After she developed dementia, she burned the entire collection. Imagine what the value of that would be today - a bunch of high-grade GA books from the personal collection of Alex Schomburg. |
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| Post 58 • IP flag post | ||
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Ladic private msg quote post Address this user | |
| around 95-96, LCS was going out of business or at least I thought so, but for a good 2 years they had a 50% off back issue sign before finally closing down. In those two years I managed to Snatch ASM 300 for $12 (last year got CGC 9.4 w/o pressing), FF 49 for less than $20 (came back cgc 2.0 last year). For me paying $12 for a comic as a 14 year old was all the money in the world. |
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| Post 59 • IP flag post | ||
 I showed my wife and she was so happy for me she started to cry.
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Batman66 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @CatCovers I remember you picking up a gsx1 and a ss 1 (I think) from this person. Sorry to hear about him. But hope all works out with this deal for you, fingers crossed. The story of Alex and Carl are way cool , that collection would have been AMAZING | ||
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CatCovers private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Batman66 Yes, the SS1 and GSX1 are from the first collector mentioned. His health has not been good recently. I checked in on him a couple of times, but I'm stepping back and waiting for him to contact me again. It might not be the "best" thing to do regarding continuing to acquire books from him, but I don't want to seem like a vulture. Self-respect is a better thing to have than comics. | ||
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Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by CatCovers Collecting valuable items like comics helps to understand what the term "gold fever" is all about. We all get it to some degree. Some people get a fever that burns them up to a degree that they lose all judgment and decency...would make a deal with the devil to get the treasure. Keep your integrity...our reputation is the only thing we take to the grave with us. |
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| Post 62 • IP flag post | ||
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Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock
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Tedsaid private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbaySeller Along that same subject, has anyone bought comics from ConditionFreak's family? I think I talked to one of the sons on eBay, when he advertised a few things, but crickets after that. Certainly I don't want to be disrespectful, and so I've left it alone, largely forgotten about it. But I'd also be glad to participate if they want to have a big sale or something. Or even just give them advice, you know? I wonder what they decided to do. |
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