Some ebay sales figures for first issues of UK comics

[Pensky]

I'm enjoying this thread, so I thought I'd contribute a few recent eBay final sales that caught my eye:

Nutty No.1 complete with free gift (Space Dust) sold for £145.99 (28/11/11)

And although not first issues, some of the following sale values were interesting:

Tornado No.3 complete with free gift (Spud Gun) sold for £94.00 (28/11/11)

Cor!! from October 1973 complete with free gift (Jumping Skeleton) sold for £58.57 (28/11/11)

2000AD Prog 265 complete with free gift (Bubble Gum) sold for £56.00 (26/11/11)

[Raven]

Again, not a first issue, but I was surprised to see a 1975 Buster Holiday Special go for £25 a couple of nights ago.

[big bad bri]

I'm enjoying this thread, so I thought I'd contribute a few recent eBay final sales that caught my eye:

Nutty No.1 complete with free gift (Space Dust) sold for £145.99 (28/11/11)

some people have more money than they know what to do with,i
I got a complete run of nutty for £20 from ebay.Is it really worth it or an out of date pack of space dust,i also got some dandys still with the chew bars stuck to the front and they had seeped put of rge wrapper right through the whole comic,they were imediately put in the bin.
In 30 years time will people be bidding that much for the current beanos & dandys with the plastic tat that ggoes in to a bag or to my neice.

[stevezodiac]

I saw two issues of Solo on ebay yesterday with a starting price of £49.99 each and they both had a bid on them. I'd love to have a full set of Solos - a very elusive title but I would never pay £50 an issue apart from no. 1.

[Phoenix]

I saw two issues of Solo on ebay yesterday with a starting price of £49.99 each and they both had a bid on them. I'd love to have a full set of Solos - a very elusive title but I would never pay £50 an issue apart from no. 1.

Judging by the starting prices, I suspect that these were lots in the current auction being run by phil-comics. People do seem to be seduced by auctions like that one, and, of course, the Compal equivalent, and end up paying out mind-boggling sums to acquire items that would almost certainly not command anywhere near those figures if it were not for the existence of a stated minimum bid. I tracked some 4-page flyers whose phil-comics auctions ended in the last day or so. The results are staggering. The one advertising the first issue of Bunty in 1958 went for £21, the one advertising the 1956 Funny Fizzogs free gift in The Hotspur reached £33, and the one advertising the Ink Blot and Black Beetle free gifts in an envelope, given with The Wizard in 1954 went for £51. Credit crunch? Someone's having a laugh!

[blaing]

In regards to Phil-Comics.

I haven't bought anything off him for quite a few months (I think sometime before July this year, and according to my PayPal Record, I last bought something off him back in March (21/3/11))

In the last auction, he had a few issues of Sparky that I didn't have, but as I'm trying to save up for my holidays in February, I had to give it a miss this time.

[Phoenix]

I last bought something off him back in March (21/3/11)) In the last auction, he had a few issues of Sparky that I didn't have, but as I'm trying to save up for my holidays in February, I had to give it a miss this time.

I think the major issue raised by Steve was that of individual unit costs. As far as your comic interests are concerned, Bruce, the real question is whether you would bid for an issue of Sparky that you don't already own if the starting bid price was set at £49.99. Every comic has a value to potential buyers, but the value to any specific buyer could be wildly different from the value to a different buyer. For example, the one who still needs twenty issues to complete his 1977 collection might value any one of them at say £3.50, but the one who needs that very issue to complete a full run of the comic from beginning to end is more likely than not to be prepared to borrow money from his bank to nail it. In my opinion, the sellers who use phil-comics and/or Compal as a conduit know this and insist on a high starting price in the hope that such a collector as they dream of is out there mulling over a bid, preferably two of them. In the frenzy of competition, common sense goes out of the window and the sky's the limit.

[blaing]

That's for sure

[matrix]

Some members seem surprised at the prices being achieved at recent sales of some comics.
Judging by the comments, several factors help in determining the price, for example rarity, condition, content, etc. There then seem to be other not so straight forward factors.
Phoenix mentioned that the likes of Phils-Comics, and Compal Comics,with their method of selling help increase the prices.I understand it does put a floor under the price, but at least they provide a service that takes a lot of stress out of the buying decision, eg is the seller reliable.So part of the price would be for the service provided.

Credit crunch, and Recession have been mentioned, which could be part of the reason some comic prices are on the way up? Certain bodies around the world are devaluing their FIAT currencies, which in turn is possibly driving some people to speculate into undervalued? Items like British comics.
Do any members here know anyone that is buying Comics at these prices if so their reasons? Genuine collectors?Speculators?
I would like to purchase some of the comics that have sold recently but like other members cannot afford at these prices.

So in conclusion are these genuine collectors prices? Or are we seeing the start of a bubble in British comics?

[colcool007]

I think it is highly unlikely that there could be a profit "bubble" in UK comics as very few comics command serious/silly prices. Most of us accept that it is just a comic, no matter how much we like them.

First issues are obvious exceptions such as the No 1 issue of Commando that finished yesterday at a very healthy £535 after starting at 99p. However, another seller has listed about 10 to 15 early Commandos (inlcuding issue 1) for £1,850 and no-one is bidding on it.

The only other comic that I can think of that would command a silly price is issue 37 of Action as that comic continues to climb in value and I would not be surprised to see it break the £2,000 barrier at some point very soon.

[-MikeD-]

The only other comic that I can think of that would command a silly price is issue 37 of Action as that comic continues to climb in value and I would not be surprised to see it break the £2,000 barrier at some point very soon.

I'm still looking for a copy of Action - The Story of a Violent Comic, so I'd be a very happy comics fan if somebody finds a copy for less than 30 quid and lets me know...

[Phoenix]

I think it is highly unlikely that there could be a profit "bubble" in UK comics as very few comics command serious/silly prices.

Broadly speaking I would agree with Colin if it were just a question of a handful of highly sought-after comics, but we must bear in mind that if matrix's speculators are out there, they will obviously be well-heeled, and they will presumably be buying pretty well anything they think will increase significantly in value over the next decade or so. If they choose to include comics in their portfolios, they will be looking at very early issues of The Dandy and The Beano in Fine or Near Fine condition, sometimes described rather bizarrely as ex-shop stock, as if issues in Good or Very Good condition had never even seen the inside of a shop. They will also be looking to get hold of annuals in a similar condition. We should get some idea of the kind of prices they may already be paying when we see the results of the Compal auction that ended last night. The items to look for specifically, in my opinion, are these:-

a. Lot 215, Frankie Stein Monster Award, which is a one-off bust, measuring 4''x4''x2'' deep, made by Ken Reid for a Wham readers' competition that apparently never took place. The estimate is £300-£350.
b. Lot 138, Tiger 1 with free gift of a Space Gun and three of the six flying saucers to fire from it. The estimate is £250-£300.
c. Lots 41-46, all of which are Magic-Beano Books covering the period 1945 to 1950, all in really nice condition. The estimates for the 1945 and 1947 books are £800-£950, the 1946 is £700-£800, the remainder are between £250 and £450.

My money is riding on a full year of loose issues of The Champion for 1949 and a bound volume of the full run of The Ruby, The Amalgamated Press's girls' paper that they brought out in 1923 to combat The Blue Bird from DC Thomson, and which I have done some research from in the branch of the British Library up at Colindale. With my luck though, and my penny pinching, I don't suppose I'll have won either!!

[matrix]

I think that any speculators will be selective, but as the no1s etc dry up that will filter down to other comics. My guess as to who will be buying and paying the big money, are Baby Boomers retiring, looking to diversify, especially as shares do nothing for years,and the Americans.

In respect to the recent Auction i would not be suprised to see Lot 215 Ken Reid Bust,go for over 700 pounds.
Lot 138 Tiger 1, maybe 1000 pounds.
Beano books well reach for the moon!
I was interested in Lot 224 which included Action 1,2 3,Vulcan 1,2,3,Monster fun 2, plus others, twelve in total all with free gifts, at one stage the bidding was over 400 pounds so i was out very early!

[colcool007]

The only other comic that I can think of that would command a silly price is issue 37 of Action as that comic continues to climb in value and I would not be surprised to see it break the £2,000 barrier at some point very soon.

I'm still looking for a copy of Action - The Story of a Violent Comic, so I'd be a very happy comics fan if somebody finds a copy for less than 30 quid and lets me know...

Mike, you are going to hate me but I got my copy for less than £30 and that was five years ago. Every copy I saw at the time was going for £50 plus, but I had set a ceiling (at the time) of no more than £30 and while it took over two years, I did eventually buy my copy at my target price.

In much the same way, I got the Wilson Red Lion Library for less than £20. At that time, I would have gone up to £50 as it was worth that much in my estimation, but at the time I saw it for sale at a price I could afford, all I could afford was £20 and I got it for less than that.

[philcom55]

I'm pretty sure I got my copy of the Action book when it was remaindered for about a pound. That was a few years ago though.

Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned that...!

- Phil R.