comic book appraisal
September 12, 2010 6:08 AM Subscribe
I have two boxes of (mostly Silver and Broze-era) comic books. One just sold at an estate sale for $4200. How do I figure out how much the other one is actually worth?
They are in reasonably good condition and belonged to my mother, and are mostly late-60's early 70's era, with some earlier ones. Range of DC and Dell comics mostly. I'd like to get them appraised, but by someone who isn't immediately interested in buying them -- there were a few fairly valuable comics that I suspect were worth a lot more than they sold for, and she's being pressured to sell the other ones immediately (which suggests to me that we should take the time to figure out the value). I don't know if they're valuable, but money is tight, so if they are I'd like to get more than estate-sale prices for them.
Suggestions please! I am in Boston / Cambridge and would be grateful for general advice or specific recommendations, especially if you've worked with someone personally. I've checked this thread, this thread, and this thread, I tried to sell a few on ebay but they didn't sell for much (less than comparable titles) so I'm not sure what the next step is.
They are in reasonably good condition and belonged to my mother, and are mostly late-60's early 70's era, with some earlier ones. Range of DC and Dell comics mostly. I'd like to get them appraised, but by someone who isn't immediately interested in buying them -- there were a few fairly valuable comics that I suspect were worth a lot more than they sold for, and she's being pressured to sell the other ones immediately (which suggests to me that we should take the time to figure out the value). I don't know if they're valuable, but money is tight, so if they are I'd like to get more than estate-sale prices for them.
Suggestions please! I am in Boston / Cambridge and would be grateful for general advice or specific recommendations, especially if you've worked with someone personally. I've checked this thread, this thread, and this thread, I tried to sell a few on ebay but they didn't sell for much (less than comparable titles) so I'm not sure what the next step is.
If you want to price them yourself, you should also become familiar with how comics are graded on their quality. The prices in the guides are for Mint or Near Mint Condition. So unless your comics are of that quality, you won't get those prices. There are lots of guides online. There's also a service that does this, which you may want to think about if you have some expensive ones in your lot. It can be well worth the investment.
posted by Tooty McTootsalot at 6:52 AM on September 12, 2010
posted by Tooty McTootsalot at 6:52 AM on September 12, 2010
Also, for high-value Silver Age comics in particular, CGC is worth knowing about.
Also, one of your friends knows about comics. And that person has a friend who is an expert. Talk to the expert. He or she may want a cut but chances are they'll prefer to just to be able to see the collection. It would be honest and considerate to offer them a selection of one or two or three comics—which they will clearly explain the value to you and their interest in those particular comics—for their time and effort.
This happens more often than you'd imagine. To comic aficionados these are rare opportunities to use vast knowledge for a practical and helpful purpose. Of course, make sure it's a good friend of a good friend IMO the 1st Rule of Comic Collecting must always be Use your powers for good never for evil. However YMMV.
After all, as we all are all too aware, there be villains.
posted by humannaire at 7:25 AM on September 12, 2010
Also, one of your friends knows about comics. And that person has a friend who is an expert. Talk to the expert. He or she may want a cut but chances are they'll prefer to just to be able to see the collection. It would be honest and considerate to offer them a selection of one or two or three comics—which they will clearly explain the value to you and their interest in those particular comics—for their time and effort.
This happens more often than you'd imagine. To comic aficionados these are rare opportunities to use vast knowledge for a practical and helpful purpose. Of course, make sure it's a good friend of a good friend IMO the 1st Rule of Comic Collecting must always be Use your powers for good never for evil. However YMMV.
After all, as we all are all too aware, there be villains.
posted by humannaire at 7:25 AM on September 12, 2010
As a person who sold his entire, not unimpressive, comic collection before moving cross country the answer to how much a comic collection is worth is: what the market will bear.
You can use CCG or Wizard or some other price guide to get an idea but like an auction, when it comes time to cash out it is only worth what someone will pay.
My advice is to make a list of what comics you have and bring an issue or two (no more than three) to a couple of places that sell comics or collectibles. Get price quote from a of them. Even if you're only asking one person say you'd like to hear their offer and consider it.
Everyone will try to lowball you so you have to ask yourself if you'd rather take an early offer or wait until you get something closer to what you want.
posted by jaybeans at 11:32 AM on September 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
You can use CCG or Wizard or some other price guide to get an idea but like an auction, when it comes time to cash out it is only worth what someone will pay.
My advice is to make a list of what comics you have and bring an issue or two (no more than three) to a couple of places that sell comics or collectibles. Get price quote from a of them. Even if you're only asking one person say you'd like to hear their offer and consider it.
Everyone will try to lowball you so you have to ask yourself if you'd rather take an early offer or wait until you get something closer to what you want.
posted by jaybeans at 11:32 AM on September 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
she's being pressured to sell the other ones immediately (which suggests to me that we should take the time to figure out the value)
Yes, absolutely take your time with this. If you're not one of those folks who just wants to be done with the sale quickly - i.e., if you have the time and inclination to spend an afternoon or two checking the comics against one of the price guides, then selling them in small batches or individually over weeks or months - by all means slooow the process down and do it right. Start by checking your oldest copies first, but me, I'd check everything since there may be odd "first appearance of SuperX's pet monkey" issues that won't be obvious but may be very collectible.
The potential increase in what you'd earn by taking your time and selling issues individually or in small lots can be big, but it's a bigger hassle to deal with. At the very least, when you have a sense of the more valuable issues you're in a better position to bargain with a reseller, if that's the route you decide to go. Keep in mind that a reseller is only going to give you from 10-40% of what s/he thinks they'll sell for (at our store we usually go 30% but will go as much as 50% for something we think can sell quickly), so approaching resellers with that understanding will help the two of you see eye-to-eye. But be sure to double-check guidebook prices against what people are actually buying them for at Amazon/eBay. Guide prices (on books, comics, antiques, whatever) are notorious for being inflated, esp. when compared to "Buy It Now" prices at eBay, say.
Try Craigslist if eBay's been disappointing. Small lots of relatively valuable comics might attract the kind of collector you want to deal with.
posted by mediareport at 2:50 PM on September 12, 2010
Yes, absolutely take your time with this. If you're not one of those folks who just wants to be done with the sale quickly - i.e., if you have the time and inclination to spend an afternoon or two checking the comics against one of the price guides, then selling them in small batches or individually over weeks or months - by all means slooow the process down and do it right. Start by checking your oldest copies first, but me, I'd check everything since there may be odd "first appearance of SuperX's pet monkey" issues that won't be obvious but may be very collectible.
The potential increase in what you'd earn by taking your time and selling issues individually or in small lots can be big, but it's a bigger hassle to deal with. At the very least, when you have a sense of the more valuable issues you're in a better position to bargain with a reseller, if that's the route you decide to go. Keep in mind that a reseller is only going to give you from 10-40% of what s/he thinks they'll sell for (at our store we usually go 30% but will go as much as 50% for something we think can sell quickly), so approaching resellers with that understanding will help the two of you see eye-to-eye. But be sure to double-check guidebook prices against what people are actually buying them for at Amazon/eBay. Guide prices (on books, comics, antiques, whatever) are notorious for being inflated, esp. when compared to "Buy It Now" prices at eBay, say.
Try Craigslist if eBay's been disappointing. Small lots of relatively valuable comics might attract the kind of collector you want to deal with.
posted by mediareport at 2:50 PM on September 12, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by shinybaum at 6:34 AM on September 12, 2010 [1 favorite]