He doesn’t make that much in the last route. People know far more now than at any time in the past. Dudes running comic book stores know what they’ve got.@eppy99 I know a guy who makes a shit ton on comic books. He was collecting them long before the big Marvel movie boom and had a bunch of rare first edition issues then. I'm way watering it down, but he was saying whenever a movie is announced with a character that hasn't been in the movies yet, the issue with said character's first comic appearance shoots way up. Sequels can help too, but not as much as that first appearance.
He also tries to follow the MCU/DCU trades so he knows which 'books' to take to shows or post online. He does overpay for first editions and has some that are worth a lot that he's holding onto. He has a whole room in his house where he keeps them.
One thing he told me is that it's surprising how many people don't know what they have. He said he'll go to trade shows and comic book stores and buy boxes and boxes of old comic books. He said he usually finds a few that are worth something in those boxes.
My resume: X-men 94, Fantastic Four 49-50, Amazing Spider-Man #15, and more!
He doesn’t make that much in the last route. People know far more now than at any time in the past. Dudes running comic book stores know what they’ve got.
That's probably fair. I think it was a lot more common for him to be able to do that awhile back. The last time I was with him when he bought a bunch of boxes of old comics was in 2016 or so. He's been doing this a long time - he's my age - and I think he'd been buying up anything he could get his hands on since he was a teenager. So maybe it was much more common early on in his collecting days.
At one point I thought he had a facebook page dedicated to what he has/is selling. I couldn't find it, but if I do I'll post it here.
~$1k@bradstevens what is your best comic worth today?
I have a buddy I grew up with who has collected his whole life. About 8 years ago, he moved and some dude with the moving company stole his best comics. He had scrupulously accounted for them, though, including grades and his insurance company paid him after about a year of fighting (I helped). I was thinking, damn, this guy must have $100k coming to him. Nope. $17k.
When you see the pricing for most comics and sports cards, they are usually quoting gem mint, top of the top, condition. Even new cards or comics might not meet these requirements if they've been printed a little off. My X-Men #94, for example, I expected to grade out at about a 9 when I sent it in to get graded. Got a 7. Dad across the street (who is now getting divorced) went and showed his baseball cards to a dealer here. Again, I thought he was sitting on a gold mine, with two rookie Koufax cards that I thought were 10s. Dealer told him they were about 8.5s and he might get a couple hundred for each.
@ohio-guy it’s easy to do the same with soccer if you don’t know the players well. I never get rid of a rookie card. You never know when their game will take off. Sometimes it takes until they get loaned to another team to get some playing time. Sometimes once a player moves to a big team like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man United their card values take off as there’s more eyes on them. I do like prospecting, it’s kind of like buying cheap stocks.
@eppy99 my soccer watching began with soccer made in Germany. An hour long pbs show. You didn’t even get a full game. Bayern featured weekly. I wore a moechengladbach hat when watching and reading soccer digest and soccer America.
. Not long after misl games were shown on kplr 11. The lord of indoors Steve zungel. My all time favorite soccer player Stan the pizza man stamenkovic. He smoked on the bench. He was too fat for all but a slow walk. But his feet were divine. Like no other.
I spent every waking moment practicing. In 82 I watched Italy. In 86 maradona in puma kings. 92 when the premier league started I tuned in religiously. cantona. Collar popped. Henry at arsenal. I have seen every single game Messi played at Barca. Every. Single. Game. Literally. I even invested in my buddy’s bar on the promise he’d air every champions league game so I could walk from my firm at 1:45. 1:45. The golden hour.
in my almost 50 year love affair with the sport I have never heard of soccer cards
Your love of soccer is inspiring! Well beyond mine, but I did read Soccer Digest religiously. At the time it was the only way I knew how the USMNT was doing. How close or far they were from qualifying. I recall watching the Maradona “hand of G-d) game over and over on VHS. I watched it so much until the tape inside got ruined and I tried to repair it using scotch tape (you have to cut out the bad part and splice it together). It worked once on one of my dad’s pornos (I was scared shitless he’d know I’d watched it). Btw, the only other sporting event I’ve watched more is the IU/NC Jordan vs Dakich game). Shit my ADHD is bad right now.
Oh soccer, yes soccer trading cards are massive too. Like Jordan, Messi’s 2004 rookie cards with a highest quality grade have sold for over a million (twice this year). They’re absolutely hot right now. The YTD change for the soccer card index is 142%. By comparison, basketball is up 49% (the Wemby rookie cards effect) and football is up 29% YTD.
Enough for now, it’s 5:00am….
@eppy99 so during all of that time I spent watching the sport. I could have been collecting cards. Unreal.
dot.com
flipping houses.
crypto.
soccer cards.
I’ve missed it all. The one thing I said I won’t miss legal pot! The one that was a disaster
@eppy99 @bradstevens if you had a 4 yr old and wanted to start collecting something for him anything jump out?
whatever he loves. Better, something you both love so you can do it with him.@eppy99 @bradstevens if you had a 4 yr old and wanted to start collecting something for him anything jump out?
whatever he loves. Better, something you both love so you can do it with him.@eppy99 @bradstevens if you had a 4 yr old and wanted to start collecting something for him anything jump out?
Electric trains.
@unclemark his favorite thing of all. Haven’t gotten to electric yet. He’s too rough