Two different million dollar books in the same week

[Dr Hackenbush]

I'm going to make every effort to watch it, Jeannie.  I've seen a few of the comic ones, so I'll be interested to watch my first movie poster live bidding.  We have a forum member on the comic board that does the same as you, play by play (results, actually) for those that can't watch.  Discussing the results as they happen adds a certain excitement to the happenings.

Having someone rip you off that you've allowed into your house must make one feel violated (and pissed).  The fact that they were behind security glass leads me to believe that whoever did it had prior knowledge of Cage's house and had this planned out.  With Cage dropping the investigation, speculation was that he discovered it was someone he knew and was just so disappointed/disillusioned with that revelation, he sold off his comics, cars, etc.

[Harry Caul]

Well, I'm sure disillusionment due to the theft wasn't the only reason he sold off his comic book collection.  He apparently owes the IRS 6+ million in back taxes (back to 2002) and his spending habits are definitely part of the problem.  If you recall, many of the best pieces in the signature auction last March (2009) were from Cage's poster collection, including two Dracula 1-sheets... an original (3 copies known) and an awesome only-known R38 as well.  I think a combination of the reigning in of his spending habits and his tax debts must be contributing to these high profile sales...

[Dr Hackenbush]

At the time, people speculated that Lisa Marie made him sell the books (they had recently been married), but I highly doubt that was true.  Recently Cage had stated that he had gotten too obsessed with possessions at that point in his life, and he realized it wasn't healthy and needed to purge himself of them.  I'm sure it's a combination of factors.  These thing often are.

[kauaitx]

I, too, was told that the reason Cage sold his comics collection was because Lisa Marie told him to, which just seemed strange to me, for a couple of reasons.  A person would have to be a very cold, non-empathetic, non-understanding person to force one's spouse to sell something that he/she loved and that he/she acquired before their marriage.  It would be like forcing your spouse to give up a beloved pet.  I don't know these people at all, but I just couldn't imagine a new wife doing that to her husband.  And, I would have thought that Cage would have put up a fight about that and resisted.  Oh, who knows?  It's all speculation unless Cage announced his reasons.


Jeannie

[Dr Hackenbush]

The ironic thing is that her dad, the King, collected comics as a kid and was such a big fan of Captain Marvel Jr that he modeled his hair style after him, specifically the hair hanging down in the front

[kauaitx]

Now that is an interesting piece of trivia.  Do you know what happened to Elvis's comics collection?  Did he collect anything else?

What other celebrity collects comics?   It surprised me when I found out that a physician colleague collected them.  Not just a particular comic subject, but every current comic that came out.  He simply had his comics store gather the weekly releases and then he'd come in on a biweekly or monthly basis to retrieve them.  I had my comics store do the same for me for the Star Wars comics, but after a few years, when I acknowledged that I wasn't actually reading these comics, which are now sitting in boxes in storage, I stopped collecting them.  Comics simply don't hold the same thrill for me as posters, and I wouldn't have started in the first place if it hadn't been for Star Wars.



Jeannie

[Dr Hackenbush]

The comics are stored in the attic at Graceland.  I really hope it's ventilated as comics are so easily affected by environmental conditions over time. 

Off the top of my head I know Leo DiCaprio, Seth Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Miguel Ferrer, Drew Rosennhaus (sports agent), Sebastian Bach, Rob Zombie, Glenn Danzig, and many more.  Here's an old thread where people listed a few.  Ian Levine has collected a copy of every DC comic ever produced to this day.

I hear what you're saying about comics.  I'm in the same boat, actually.  I've been collecting comics for years and while I still enjoy doing so, it's gotten a by stale for me.  Movie paper, because it's so new, really has me invigorated and excited, hence the reason I've bought more movie stuff than comics the past few months (haven't bought any comics, actually).

[Ari]

Ive got a few thousand comics,None very rare that I know of, mainly Horror comics and stuff like Planet of the Apes, whatever, you know my taste I just spent years buying them from garage sales and junk shops, also subscribing to stuff like 2000AD, Fantastic 4, Beano, never cared about values, I bought to read. As said on Mopo I hate the idea of slabbing comics. They are meant to be read.

[kauaitx]

Thanks, Angelo.  The link to Ian Levine doesn't work, btw.

So where do you keep your 1000 comics, Ari?  From the photos of your house, you've filled it up already with 1000's of books. 

Not quite in the league of comics or posters but take a look at this:  $40,000 Nintendo video game: http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/rare-nintendo-game-is-40-000-windfall/1391148.

No slabbing for this little puppy, but you can never open or play it if you want to keep it at this value. 



Jeannie

[Dr Hackenbush]

Hm, let's try this again Ian Levine

I've seen that game and what it fetched.  Pretty amazing!

[Ari]

most of my comics are in boxes thousands of miles away at my Dads house,dont really read or buy them anymore, one day Ill get them shipped over, maybe. All been read many times, so I don't care much.

[Dr Hackenbush]

Well, that record price for the Tec 27 8.0 will most likely soon be eclipsed.  In fact, it already has…but not on a public site.  ComicConnect will soon have a fixed price listing for the highest graded Action 1, an 8.5 with Off White to White page quality.  It was reportedly bought for more than the 1.075M the Tec 27 sold for.  Speculation is that the asking price will be in the neighborhood of 1.5-2M

[kovacs01]

Jerry Siegel was my great uncle.  The story of how DC comics acquired the Superman character is a very sad one for him and Joe Shuster.  They received $65 apiece when they sold the rights to DC in 1938.  I met him a couple of times when I was a kid, but didnt really understand the implications of who he was or what he did.  He was a very nice man.

Schan

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Jerry Siegel was my great uncle.  The story of how DC comics acquired the Superman character is a very sad one for him and Joe Shuster.  They received $65 apiece when they sold the rights to DC in 1938.  I met him a couple of times when I was a kid, but didnt really understand the implications of who he was or what he did.  He was a very nice man.

Schan

Good news.  Siegel's estate has been engaged in litigation for years with Time Warner & DC Comics and has recaptured some of the Superman rights.  Also, at some point he did begin receiving $20,000 a year for life.

[Dr Hackenbush]

Jerry Siegel was my great uncle.  The story of how DC comics acquired the Superman character is a very sad one for him and Joe Shuster.  They received $65 apiece when they sold the rights to DC in 1938.  I met him a couple of times when I was a kid, but didnt really understand the implications of who he was or what he did.  He was a very nice man.

Schan

All creators operated on a work-for-hire basis and, as such, gave up all rights for steady employment.  The only one that had a stake in his creation was Bob Kane, and that was due to his father getting involved in the writing of the contract.  Courts have since changed their stance on this issue, due in large part to the Seigel estate's lawsuit.

[ddilts399]

Well that record didnt last long:

After a short reign as the highest-priced comic book at $1,075,500, Detective Comics #27 (May 39, the first appearance of Batman) has been bested again by the sale of a higher-grade copy of Action Comics  #1 (Jun 38, the first appearance of Superman), for $1.5 million.

ComicConnect.com, which brokered the first $1 million sale for a copy of Action Comics #1 Feb. 22 (You can read more about that sale here.), sold a second copy of the historically significant issue on March 29. This time, the copy was graded 8.5 (Very Fine+) by Certified Guaranty Company (CGC). The firm acquired the book only a few days earlier.

ComicConnect.com co-owner and COO Vincent Zurzolo said, "This new record will be hard to break, because this particular Action Comics #1 is literally the single most valuable comic book on the planet."

In contrast to the two record-breaking sales in late February, where both the Action #1 and the Detective #27 were each CGC-graded 8.0 (Very Fine), there are no copies of Detective Comics #27 that are graded higher than 8.0.

This 8.5 copy of Action #1 was tucked inside a movie magazine for more than 50 years and surfaced in the late 1980s, when the magazines were sold at a antique auction in Pittsburgh.

ComicConnect.com Founder Stephen Fishler said, "Because it was tucked inside a magazine, it was well protected all those years. That's why it's in such remarkable condition."

Shortly after acquiring the book, the buyer brought it to a New York comics convention, where he waved it around, offering it to the highest bidder. Fishler, who was at the show, said, "One minute, no one knew it existed ... the next minute, everyone was dying to own it."

After moving from collection to collection for a while, the copy has been in the latest seller's collection for the last 17 years. After receiving numerous offers over the years, he sold it to Fishler and Zurzolo, who, in turn, resold it on ComicConnect.com.

Did those February sales have an effect on this sale? Fishler said he thinks so, "For two decades, the highest-graded copy of the world's most valuable comic book — the subject of countless speculation and the target of countless offers — remained out of reach. It would take a miracle to shake it loose. And that's exactly what happened. The recent, record-breaking string of million dollar comic sales was the catalyst. And once it entered the arena, there was no question it would become the most expensive comic book ever sold."

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Well that record didnt last long:

Is that one "slabbed"?

[ddilts399]

Yeah, it is the one Hack mentioned above.

[Dr Hackenbush]

You'll be happy to know, Mel, that the best known copy of Action 1 is raw (unslabbed) and will most likely always remain that way.  If the owner ever decided to sell it would easily beat the 1.5M sale, even as a raw copy. 

[Bruce]

Isn't there a Mile High Copy?

[Dr Hackenbush]

That would be the one 

[erik1925]

Not the same - in your first two examples your suggested actions would instantly ruin the item's value.  The third example is a good idea for a party!

You could buy a pair of gloves and peruse an expensive comic book and not damage it.

By the way, the National Archives are just a few blocks away from me.  They display the Consitution and Declaration of Independence - which are priceless - despite the small risk a determined miscreant could damage them.

But I get your point - ultimately it's an unresolvable theological dispute.  I'm a utilitarian/displayer and youse guys are pure accumulators.  

Your comment about using a pair of gloves to handle a comic book and NOT damage it, is incorrect. Sure, the gloves will protect the cover and pages from oils and dirt from ones hands, but every time the book is opened, it is weakened and made loose, by the very nature of paper and the staples holding it together. Any magaizine with a weak or slightly cracked spine, will be worth less than one in mint condition.

And your Declaration and Constitution comment proves the point of protecting valuable paper. They are both in a protective case, a "slab" of sorts, although they can be opened so that curators can insure their condition-- they arent simply tacked to the wall, where anyone can peruse and handle them, with a pair of gloves.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Your comment about using a pair of gloves to handle a comic book and NOT damage it, is incorrect. .

But Erik you're missing the point. Perhaps it would depreciate if - God forbid - someone actually touched it, read it, perused it, and enjoyed it.  But slabbing a comic just to prevent it from depreciating is like removing the ignition from an expensive Ferrari so that it won't accumulate mileage: you've fundamentally negated its purpose and function.  You don't own a comic, you own a large piece of plastic.  Of course, if you're buying it strictly for investment purposes, that's fine.  Otherwise, it's perfectly absurd.

[Dr Hackenbush]

Not really.  It gives the buyer peace of mind that the book is a) authentic and b) doesn't have restoration.  If that trimmed CASABLANCA poster you were eyeing had been authenticated, you would've known it was a repro.  Also, I know of many collectors that buy slabbed books, crack them out and read them - and I'm talking about four and five figure books.  It's all about knowing the book you paid your hard earned money for hasn't been misrepresented by the seller (and who ever heard of sellers do that  )

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Not really.  It gives the buyer peace of mind that the book is a) authentic and b) doesn't have restoration.  If that trimmed CASABLANCA poster you were eyeing had been authenticated, you would've known it was a repro.  Also, I know of many collectors that buy slabbed books, crack them out and read them - and I'm talking about four and five figure books.  It's all about knowing the book you paid your hard earned money for hasn't been misrepresented by the seller (and who ever heard of sellers do that   )

There's no direct equivalent to "slabbing" in movie poster collecting, so the Casablanca analogy doesn't work.  Also, I was assuming that slabbing is permanent.  If it's not permanent, you should unslab it, peruse it (carefully) and, when you want to sell it, resubmit it for grading.