While collectors almost always have a bucket list of the specific books they want to acquire, investors are less tethered to the psychological malady of “oneitis.” Is buying in bulk the best strategy for building an incredible collection?
instant bragging rights
While the prices realized in Heritage Auctions’ Anime & Everything Cool II this past November fell short of most high-end consignors’ expectations, it still generated enough capital for me to buy a massive Silver & Bronze Age comic book collection.
You are reading: Buying comic books in bulk
After a house and a car, this was the most expensive thing I’ve ever bought, and a bargain by almost any metric. this set had a run of incredible spider-man from #7 to #122 (missing only a few major mid-issues), and similar runs from Fantastic Four (#9 above), Avengers (#21 to #100 >), strange tales (including #110), journey into the mystery (#84+ ), x-men (#94 to #200) and two dozen key themes from thrillers and stories to amaze.
fundamental clues were missing in all of them (such as asm #50 and 51, avengers #57 and fantastic four #12), but there were also nearly complete versions of daredevil and conan (including the first issues of each one). also to be found? nearly every appearance of shang-chi, from marvel special issue #15 to master of kung fu #125 and all of his guest appearances, including marvel two-in- uno #29 (the second appearance of the spider woman). while not much of the collection was of high quality, most of it was at least good to very good and (as mentioned) absolutely key-laden.
buying power
See Also: Covering Books | TheRoomMom
Like most of my fellow collectors, I have a shortlist of comics that I never thought I’d be able to own at current prices. Many of those are listed above. The benefit of buying in bulk is that you get to aggregate cost across hundreds (or in this case, thousands) of comics.
This particular collection included some of the most sought after keys in the hobby right now. Apart from the above, there was a Fantastic 49 and a Thor #165, but also two dozen boxes of other great comics. when you add up the individual values of these milestones, it’s easy to spend $50k without even considering the entire silver surfer vol. 1, and hulk #102, the minor keys and non-high-value keys that comprise most of the era before and after the greats’ books, nor the additional 20 boxes of modern comics that they all came with that silver and bronze age goodness.
some might call that theft. so why did I choose to flip it right away instead of keeping it?
It’s always a buyer’s market
While this seems like a once-in-a-lifetime haul, it’s not. I’ve bought and sold many collections over the years. This one was particularly sweet, but a major purchase like this comes with a lot of work. Aside from the tens of thousands of dollars spent on the comics, I was looking at thousands more in cleaning, pressing, and submitting – not to mention a turnaround time approaching a year, which would put me almost six bills out-of-pocket before ever recouping a single cent.
Instead, I opted to double my money and move on. I have to walk away with some spoils from my conquest, but I want to emphasize that there are opportunities like this available at all investment levels if you’re willing to acquire more inventory than you necessarily wanted. . there’s no reason why you can’t make a profit and satisfy the collection error at the same time.
A mere week after I sold the collection that inspired this column, I picked up a Star Wars collection that had every issue of the original Marvel series (including #1) and important recent keys like Darth Vader #1 (Scottie Young Variant) & Darth Vader #3, Star Wars V2 #1 ComicXposure (the John Tyler Christopher color negative variant). This was a treasure trove of high-grade Bronze & Modern comics with high potential for massive up-tick as new series continue to populate the Disney+ app and placate Gen-X nostalgia.
Two days after that, I got another (albeit smaller) collection of classic marvel and dc silver age keys and some original comics that were probably worth more than the comic collection, but were included as an add-on. when you buy in bulk, individual comics can end up costing a dollar or less each. But even if you agree to buy just the keys, you’ll usually get a significant discount that leaves a lot of meat on the bone to clean, press, sort, and still make a lot of money reselling.
what have you got in bulk purchases? comment below!
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*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not reflect advice on behalf of GoCollect
See Also: 10 Best Star Wars Legends Books & Series – Bossk&039s Bounty