Upon my recent decision to sell off part of my vintage comic book collection, I received a lot of interest from a variety of different collectors. A lot of interested parties asked about the condition of the items I had decided to sell. None of the graded comic books in my collection were graded lower than a 9.2 (near mint minus condition) by Comics Guaranty Corporation (CGC). While most collectors liked the strict criteria I set for these items, others simply said they would never to be able to afford them. For some reason, this lament stayed with me. As a member of several well-known comic book collecting forums, I decided to talk with several collectors about this subject in depth. All of the collectors I spoke to already knew about my decision to consign the collection to Heritage Auctions.
As someone who has been active in the antiques and collectibles trade for more than a few decades, I have always classified most collectors as being enthusiasts, casual collectors, or hardcore collectors. I myself am a hardcore collector. While even I have limits, I still adhere to a strict policy that simply dictates quality over quantity. I would much rather have a few high-grade rarities than a multitude of lower-graded items. Over the years this approach has served me well. Judging by the interest my items have already started to receive in their upcoming auction, I have no reason to suspect this approach will not continue to serve my best interests. Still I wanted to talk to various enthusiasts and collectors to get their opinion on this approach. The results were quite surprising.
Of those who wanted to discuss this topic in depth, most of the participants classified themselves as either casual collectors or hardcore collectors. Obviously, since most participants in this discussion already belonged to an online comic book collecting forum, the results would skew to favor the hardcore collectors over the casual collectors and enthusiasts. Still I did have more than several participants tell me that they favored owning low-grade key issues over owning fewer high-grade keys. Curious as to their reasoning, I was pleasantly surprised that the number one answer was not a lack of funds as I suspected. It was actually diversification. By owning lower-grade key issues, many collectors stated that they could better diversify their holdings to include books that may accrue in value more quickly over time, even while being in a lower grade. Even I have to come to respect this approach. The second answer I received was exactly what I suspected: a lack of funds. Still, many of the collectors who answered that a lack of funds was the number one reason that they chose to collect lower-graded books over high-grade keys tended to spend as much as or even more than most high-grade collectors within a given time frame! The truth of the matter was that they placed a greater emphasis on quantity than on quality. The average amount of money spent by this group of collectors ranged from $5,000 to $25,000 a year! This amount is nothing to be ashamed of and should give any hardcore collector pause.
As a result of this unscientific experiment, I have to wonder if there truly is such a thing as a casual collector. While an enthusiast may simply buy comic books on a regular basis just to read and a hardcore collector may buy solely to invest, where does this leave the casual collector? If he or she is spending as much as a hardcore collector and the only difference is the overall condition of the item in question, shouldn't he or she be considered hardcore as well? While I fully understand the results of my experiment were skewed simply due to the environment I chose to conduct it in, I still have to ask this question: Are the vast majority of casual collectors merely hardcore collectors seeking a different collecting approach? Are they any less obsessive than the truly hardcore?
I am often glad I have never chosen to settle for a lower-grade item that I can afford just to say I own it. However, I also know I am only hurting myself at times. Had I bought an Amazing Fantasy #15 (first appearance of Spider-Man) in low grade back in 2003, for example, I would have something that would have almost tripled in value in less than 12 years. The same can be said of any other vintage Marvel comic book key issue. The gains that even low-grade vintage comic book key issues have returned in the last decade have been nothing but marvelous (no pun intended).
In conclusion, I am actually considering taking some of the money from the sale of part of my collection and buying a copy of Strange Tales #110 (first appearance of Doctor Strange). The only question left to ask is if I can bring myself to buy anything under my coveted grade of 9.2. I guess time will tell. Until next time, thanks for reading!