Auction Highlights #80

Auction Highlights #80, Comic Link October Focused Auction

The Silver/Bronze portion of the October Comic Link Focused Auction has just ended. All results below ended Tuesday October 22nd.

I know I sound like a broken record but boy was this ever a Marvel heavy auction.

Of the top 50 books by price 48 were Marvels. DC’s only showing in the top 50 was at #3 with that CGC 6.5 Brave and Bold #28 that got $7877. Gold Key just snuck in at #49 with a tight CGC 9.4 copy of the Beatles Yellow Submarine, it fetched $940. Nice to see the Beatles book in there!

Seriously, are DC collectors holding on to their books? Where are the CGC 7.5 copies of JLA #1 or 5.5 copies of Showcase #22 or for that matter 3.0 copies of Showcase #4?

Speaking of Showcase #4 the top book in this auction was a solid looking CGC 6.0 of Amazing Fantasy #15. I thought the $17,500 was a bit disappointing for that grade, perhaps it was the date stamp.

Speaking of Spider-Man our favorite webslinger ruled the auction once again. Spidey has 12 books in the top 50 including that ASM #3 at CGC 5.5 that fetched $1200. I’ll agree with Charlie’s comment and go Advantage Seller on that one.

Right then! Let’s have a look, shall we?

 ah 10 st 110

Strange Tales #110, Marvel Comics, (July 1963) Graded by CGC at 6.0 with Off White to White pages sold for $2,500. The Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 6.0 is $672.00.

I feel terrible. Last week I gave commenter Angelo (posted on the Comic Culture podcast) some poor advice regarding a CGC 6.5 copy of Strange Tales #110. He had a chance to pick up a CGC 6.5 copy for a little less than $2750. I thought it a bit aggressive but a week later it looks like a bargain. Hope you didn’t listen to me Angelo. I just have this thing with 6.5s.

Strange Tales #110 is a hot book to say the least. How high will it go? Do CGC 6.0 copies deserve what Tales of Suspense #39 6.0s get? Well the last 6.0 TOS #39 got $5,420 and half of that is $2,710. TOS #39 is a mature market book it has traded heavily over the last few years and is a good comparison I think. Is Doc Strange worth half Iron Man?

This is a tough call as the price paid has moved ahead so fast.

There’s no weaseling my way out of a call so here it is. This is a good looking 6.0 with good page quality, centering and gloss. Also, in my opinion the 6.0 grade is the first strong grade for the Marvel Keys.

Advantage Buyer.

 ah 10 hulk 181 

Incredible Hulk #181, Marvel Comics (November 1974) Graded by CGC at 6.0 Qualified (coupon clipped out/incomplete) with White pages sold for $481. The Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 6.0 is $300.00.

This result scares me, makes me feel out of touch with what is happening or maybe more accurately it makes me uncomfortable with what is happening.

I recently priced up a raw 6.5 ish copy of this book at $900 on the advice of someone who knows the market. I was gonna put $650 on it. Hulk #181s have shot up dramatically in mid grades. It comes down to the utility of owning one I guess. We can’t afford the $2,000 that 9.2s are getting so we drop $700 on 6.0s. Makes sense.

What doesn’t make sense, to me at least, is a mid grade copy with the coupon cut out fetching almost $500. It honestly was only a few years ago when I’d be selling coupon clipped copies for $75. Wish I still had them all.

My 6.5 raw at $900 (I still have it) is a steal next to this.

Advantage Seller

 ah 10 kazar 1 

Ka-Zar v1974, Marvel Comics, (January 1974) Graded by CGC at 9.8 with White pages sold $333.00. The Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $24.00.

The highest graded copy of a comic nobody really wants can actually fetch 14 times guide folks.

I know I’m a minority here but we can’t keep paying for nothing books just because they are pretty. There are a lot of pretty copies of this book. Most sensible people have chosen not to send theirs in for grading though. But wait, it seems the most sensible of us all did send it in, then put it up.

Advantage Seller

  ah 10 ben bowie 13

Ben Bowie and his Mountain Men #13, Dell Comics, (January 1958) Graded by CGC at 9.0 with Off White to White Pages sold for $11. The Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.0 is $37.

Never got a dinner!

Poor Ben Bowie gets the Phil Kessel Award for this auction (lame reference that only hockey fans may get).

There are no other recorded sales for this book though a CGC 9.4 did sell for $150 a while back. Too bad that guy was out of town and missed this auction.

Lets just hope the winner picked up a few more comics to keep that shipping cost down. I hate it when shipping costs more than the comic.

Listen, I hope the buyer is happy with this pick up; finding “deals” like this is fun. Who knows this same buyer could have scored that AF #15.

Advantage Buyer

 ah 10 metal men 1

Metal Men #1, DC Comics (May 1963) Graded by CGC at 8.0 with Off White pages sold for $292.00. The Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 8.0 is $400.

Yay, I won this book!

Here’s a DC #1 from the early 1960s in high grade and I picked it up for 73% of Guide.

There are a bunch of DC titles from the Silver Age that deserve better including Challengers of the Unknown, Doom Patrol and Metal Men.

Advantage Buyer – obviously

 

 ah 10 asm 129

Amazing Spider-Man #129, Marvel Comics (February 1974) Graded by CGC at 9.4 with White pages sold for $1,416.00. The Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $975.

This book has been on a slow burn for a couple of years now. I honestly had 7 CGC 9.4 copies in hand in the summer of 2012 and sold them slowly over 12 months at $1,250. Should have kept at least one!!!

Prices actually vary quite a bit for 9.4 copies of this book from auction to auction. This one finished on the high side for sure.

Advantage Seller

 

Well? You pick up anything?

I picked up another book. I liked it because it was well centered, had strong colors and had no marvel chipping. I thought picking up a strong looking 4.5 below 2K was a good deal. The page quality could be better but it does not look bad. Agree? Disagree? 

ah 10 tta 27

Walter Durajlija
Walter Durajlija

Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton Ontario.

Articles: 1818
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Nestor
Nestor
10 years ago

WOW… that much for the Strange Tales #110 in a 6.0?? that’s incredible. crazy really. i’m completely out of touch these days..

“There are a bunch of DC titles from the Silver Age that deserve better including Challengers of the Unknown, Doom Patrol and Metal Men.”

i completely agree there. you have a first app of doom patrol or metal men for me at a decent price? those are definitely undervalued. congrats on the Metal Men #1

Mike Huddleston
10 years ago

Only 1 lonely book for me on auction so far. From the Undervalued Spotlight #110 Tales of the Tomb #1 a 6.0 for $80 (double guide). As of the post their were only 4 graded. I am happy to have this one until a better one comes along. Looking at some of the bulk DC and Marvel reader lots tonight.

Peter K.
Peter K.
10 years ago

Walter – Which Amazing Spider-man issues would be the best long term investments? Your top 3 in order would be great.

Charlie
Charlie
10 years ago

Hey Walt, I actually turned down that Hulk #181 raw 6.5 from Mike but now I regret it. Last month I would have said that $900 is way too much, but now I say go for it. I don’t think you guys are out of touch… but there has been a sudden shift in the market. Last year I noticed that SA books had started to really rise in value and a quick scan of eBay shows that mid BAs have caught on as well. I find myself paying top dollar for books I couldn’t get rid of at much lower prices 2 years ago. If this was the stock market, I would be very nervous of this kind of run up.

Here’s another example of what I mean… I picked up my DD#158 at 4.5 bill about 2 years ago. Has it really doubled now or is this just a fluke:

http://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAuctions%2Fsearch.asp%3FFocusedOnly%3D1%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Ddaredevil%2B158%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26ItemType%3DCB%23Item_987184&id=987184

In particular, I noticed Hulk#181 9.0’s closing in on the $2k mark but 9.2’s had barely risen. I think veteran flippers like Dan Gallo has noticed this disparity as well and he recently jacked up the price of his 9.2 to $2700. So I’m calling on all 9.2 owners to bump up their prices as well. If enough people list similar prices, the perceived value will become real value and I think that is whats happening with the mid grade Hulk #181s.

I recently picked up a TTA#27 as well. I paid much more then you for a lesser 4.0 but this book is rising quickly so I bit the bullet.

I guess it’s good that all these books are rising in value but I’m confused as to why. Has the US economy improved that much since 2008/09? Are Hollywood rumours the culprit… or just pent up demand. The CGC market is still far too young and far too small to identify any sort of pattern. Hmmm.

Nestor
Nestor
10 years ago

actually, no, i didn’t see. what grade? what did it fetch? .. i’m curious

these issues are all so hard to fine and rare. it’s no wonder good quality copies are going for so much. i’ve got a Strange Tales #110, but it’s a 4.5 CGC. so, im’ sure it’s not worth as much, but heck, it’s worth a TON more than i though. last i checked, i thought maybe $250-300 at best. but that’s obviously not the case any more.

nestor
nestor
10 years ago

man. that’s not bad, even at $338. i saw one on ebay a few months ago at 8.0, but didn’t go for it. the guy was just asking guide.

i’ve just not kept up with everything going on in the market place these last few years. there are some crazy happenings.

Dennis De Pues
10 years ago

I find it hard to figure out the market as well.Walt,I hope the people coming into the market are not all the speculators that drove up prices and eventually caused the crash of the nineties.I know when I saw all the gimmicky 3 D covers that have been coming out it reminded me again of the foil covers and the crash of the 90’s.There are so many Avengers, Cap and Xmen books that I for one can’t keep up.On the other hand there are a lot of great books coming from the smaller publishers.
Nice pick up on TTA #27.Can’t go wrong with Silver Age Keys!