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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Oct 10, 2018 20:30:28 GMT -5
I feel as though I am at a crossroads in my collecting. I really would like to get after some key (and very expensive books), particularly older Amazing Spider-Man issues. I also want to add some Golden Age horror stuff to my collection.
The dilemma I have is that to do this and justify spending the money, I feel I would have to sell some other valuable stuff I have. I try my darnest to always sell stuff I don't want and keep what I like and make small profits here and there so my hobby funds itself, for the most part. To obtain some of what I currently want, selling some of my other books is a must.
My question is whether anyone here has had to do this and if they regretted it. For example, I would probably have to sell issues like my Batman #251, Marvel Premiere #15, etc. These are books I acquired cheaply and I worry I would never own either again (and I like both of them a lot). I struggle letting go, even if I do replace them (and several others) with, say an early single digit issue of Spidey. It is hard to part with 4, 5 even 6 valuable books to only get 1.
Has anyone had a similar struggle? Were you fine with selling stuff for something you desired more? Do you regret losing some stuff or was the new gain worth it? |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2018 22:06:08 GMT -5
I sold most of my stuff earlier this year and only have a small sample of stuff. I'm nearly 60 years old and I'm going to sell my 127 issue run of JLA done by Grant Morrison and Company next year and my beloved Showcase #22 and be done with.  I may have 10-20 years left to live and I feel it is right time to depart it and eventually my presence here will be limited and gracefully bowed out and might delete my account in a year or two. My interest is waning and not interested in Comic Books anymore. That's how I feel at my age now; and I'm sorry that I feel this way ... and I don't want my family to be burden with my collection(s) that I have right now. I don't regret it all and eventually your age will be factor in these decisions ... |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,220 
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Post by Confessor on Oct 11, 2018 1:22:34 GMT -5
Personally speaking, I could never sell comics that I loved to buy other comics...even something I'd love to own, like Amazing Spider-Man #5. That seems counterproductive to me: the aim of my collection is to own only the comics that I love. No way could I bear to part with my Batman #251, which I also picked up ridiculously cheaply, to get other books because, at the end of the day, I'd still be missing that Batman #251. I'd simply have to find another way. Work extra shifts, sell other non-comic stuff, or turn to a life of crime.
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Post by brutalis on Oct 11, 2018 7:42:00 GMT -5
Personally speaking, I could never sell comics that I loved to buy other comics...even something I'd love to own, like Amazing Spider-Man #5. That seems counterproductive to me: the aim of my collection is to own only the comics that I love. No way could I bear to part with my Batman #251, which I also picked up ridiculously cheaply, to get other books because, at the end of the day, I'd still be missing that Batman #251. I'd simply have to find another way. Work extra shifts, sell other non-comic stuff, or turn to a life of crime. Kind of difficult concept here. Wouldn't a 9 foot tall green British talking rabbit stand out a wee little bit in the police line up? Rather conspicuous looking feller came in here the other day. Tall he was. Green too. Big ears. Big Feet. Fluffy tale (not that I was lookin' at 'is butt mind you officer). Bloke was down right scary looking with that pair of nylons over e's head. Not like we couldn't tell it was that Confessor fellow from down the street. Eh? What's a big green rabbit be needin' money for anyways? There a big carrot sale happening what nobody knows about?!? |
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 11, 2018 8:22:00 GMT -5
The only untouchable in my collection are my Avengers V.1 boxes.
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Post by brutalis on Oct 11, 2018 8:51:31 GMT -5
Spent so much time and effort collecting my "love" series I won't ever sell them off. There are plenty of other series and issues though I can easily sell or trade off without worrying at all. I had complete runs or nearly complete of Star Wars, Star Trek (Marvel/DC), Micronauts, Silver Surfer (Buscema), Master of Kung Fu, Punisher, Defenders, Guardians of the Galaxy, Adam Warlock, Werewolf by Night, Tomb of Dracula, the Flash (Wally West), Impulse, Suicide Squad and others which I readily sold when they were "hot selling" for top dollars. These all were sold off due to financial reasons of helping my family when my mother passed away. Many of these I now have back in TPB or Omnibus format so there was no real emotional loss involved or felt.
These days as @mechagodzilla has stated, they are more and more just "items" that while they may hold some special emotional connection I could sell or lose many of them and still continue living my life. If or when they are gone, then they are gone not to be replaced in these later years of my twilight in life...
My not to be sold sets:
Avengers 1 to 402
Fantastic Four 1 to 416
Captain Marvel 1 to 62
Uncanny X-Men 94 to 219 approximately
John Carter Warlord of Mars 1 to 28
Godzilla 1-24
Rom 1-75
Eternals 1-19
Demon 1-16
Mister Miracle 1-25
Omac 1-8
Starman 0-80 (Robinson)
Swamp Thing 1-24 (original run)
Swamp Thing 1-171 (Vertigo/Moore/etc)
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Oct 11, 2018 8:57:51 GMT -5
Thanks to the MCU I have more comics now worth a good deal of money than I ever had before. Aside from the MCU the popularity of Deadpool and Harley Quinn have helped too.
That said back in 2008 I sold some comics to buy my kids a Xbox 360 because at the time I really couldn't justify spending money out of my earnings. I sold stuff like New Mutants #98 (which is now worth even more :mad:) and Deadpool one-shots or some Harley Quinn appearances. I think I ended up selling around 25 books that brought in the $350 I needed. The only regret I have is that the demand for these books has only increased their value more. But I don't regret not actually having the books themselves for reading material.
On the other hand, short of needing money for living expensive, I'd probably never sell all my cosmic Marvel stuff that the MCU has given demand and value to. Because for me, it's more than the actual reading material (as in selling them to make a profit and/or buy TPB for reading) there's a memory with almost everyone of those comics that I own. It's more like a memory caught in a photograph than a just a comic book. I could part with them in an emergency, but just for the money and/or to buy more comics, probably never.
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Post by Phil Maurice on Oct 11, 2018 10:17:10 GMT -5
While I haven’t sold any books in order to purchase others, I have sold them to finance our travels. In 2016, I sold ASM 14 (8.0) in order to travel to Vegas to see Black Sabbath. That same year, I sold Hangman Comics 5 (9.2) to pay for a Christmas trip to Vienna, Salzburg and Budapest. That last was a magical vacation that we had dreamed about for years. The Hangman made that possible.
I don’t regret selling either book. In fact, I intend to repeat the practice. Chamber of Chills 19 (5.0) may get us to Bermuda next year.
Ultimately, only you can decide what you can live with (and without).
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 11, 2018 11:16:31 GMT -5
I sold a bunch of Bronze Age stuff, when I was getting out of the military, to fund my new stuff, for a month or two; but, my philosophy was if I could get the story more cheaply, then I would. I never cared about the package as much as the story. If Marvel Tales reprinted the Death of Gwen Stacy, that was good enough for me. Heck, I picked up a British annual, reprinting the three Steranko Captain America issues, for a song......from Steranko! Bought it via mail order from his Supergraphics, along with his heroines calendar and some modesty Blaise collections (Titan). I think it was less than $5 and it came signed!
I donated the bulk of my collection (I had sold the then-valuable stuff) to a boys' home, where a friend was a volunteer. I later donated a bunch of graphic novels to the local library. Didn't recoup any money but it felt far better than even hunting them down did.
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 11, 2018 13:21:50 GMT -5
Years ago I traded in boxes of silver age comics for a small handful of expensive (and mostly great art) golden age comics. A few years later the silver age was almost caught up in price so I guess I lost out a bit, but then I had the experience of reading the comics. Now I have a more modest bronze age collection peppered with a few reprints. I don't miss the 'responsibility' of keeping a couple $600 potentially fragile golden age comic protected.
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 11, 2018 18:38:35 GMT -5
There was a time in the early 2000's that I had to sell some of my collection to make ends meet. I was all alone after my wife left me with a mortgage that I had to swing all by my lonesome. I sold:
The Eternals 1-19 and Annual
the complete Deathstroke series 1-60
Epic illustrated. I think I had 29 of the 34 issues run.
Batman from around 320-400
Detective 500-575
X-men 125-175
Spider-man 200-270
PP Spectacular Spider-man 1-100
That's all I remember. I didn't have to part with my treasures ( Avengers, FF, Teen Titans ) and a few other series.
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Post by hondobrode on Oct 11, 2018 20:11:46 GMT -5
I'm a reader not a collector.
Similar to codystarbuck, if I can read the story in a reprint or collection or digitally, I'm good.
Sure it's not the same as the original, but the money difference is good.
I've sold Superman # 4, March of Comics # 41 Carl Barks "Race to the South Seas", Zap Comix # 0, Incredible Hulk # 181, Adventure Comics # 247, etc
I've sold when I needed some extra money to help the family out and that felt good.
I'm going to be re-boxing and cataloging my collection soon. Nothing I have is of great value. I'm going to sort some of it out and sell it bit by bit. My son stated a year or so ago he doesn't want to deal with it when I pass (sigh).
A lot of the comics I've acquired over the years I could probably get rid of. Some of them I look back and think "What was I thinking ?". A lot of them were trying to acquire others for the run, but honestly, I have way more than I can possibly read in my lifetime. What's the point ?
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Pat T
Full Member
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Post by Pat T on Oct 11, 2018 20:14:41 GMT -5
I had to sell off most of my best books in 2013 for financial reasons, and afterward I felt terrible. It lasted for months, and really dampened my enthusiasm for the hobby in general. It took a few years, but I've replaced most of them a few at a time. Acquiring ASM 2-89 (among others) twice since 2010 is pretty tough. I'll never put myself in that position again. There are detailed instructions in my will for liquidating my collection if they are unwanted, and if my heirs don't feel like spending any time following them, they'll be knocking themselves out of about $150,000 minimum. But that's for them to worry about.
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Pat T
Full Member
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Post by Pat T on Oct 11, 2018 21:11:55 GMT -5
TDCs for November 2018 include:
1. Buy NM copy of NYX 3 (first X-23) vs...quite a number of other books, as this is several hundred dollars.
2. Sell a spare Advanced Reader Uncorrected Proof of Batman Damned to finance the above. (Cost me $99.95 the day Batman Damned was released). Have been offered $400 for it.
I don't really want to sell it as it's (1) very scarce (2) even scarcer in NM (3) I like having multiple copies of it.
Easy way out is to just dip into the comic book kitty, which I bankroll by flipping other books using a widely cussed strategy called "speculating"
Decisions....decisions.....
Watch out bringing up speculating. Most of the people here act like it's bad that people are willing to spend good money on them. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Oct 12, 2018 9:57:55 GMT -5
TCDs for November 2018 include: 1. Buy NM copy of NYX 3 (first X-23) vs...quite a number of other books, as this is several hundred dollars.
2. Sell a spare Advanced Reader Uncorrected Proof of Batman Damned to finance the above. (Cost me $99.95 the day Batman Damned was released). Have been offered $400 for it.
I don't really want to sell it as it's (1) very scarce (2) even scarcer in NM (3) I like having multiple copies of it. Easy way out is to just dip into the comic book kitty, which I bankroll by flipping other books using a widely cussed strategy called "speculating"
Decisions....decisions.....
I feel this way about a Tales to Astonish #13. I passed up opportunities to buy it long before the MCU blew up because of price and now I am regretting it. Yeah I have it reprinted but I would like to have a copy of the original story. I have no qualms about a lower grade just to own one. But even then it's outrageously priced. Regrets, regrets. |
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