X-tra!, X-tra! Who needs X-Men?
I loves me the auctions! Now that I’m “semi-retired” at the shop, I get the chance to attend more of them; and, naturally, I check out those that list comics.
Usually, there isn’t too much interesting, but it’s still fun to go – time consuming, though. On Tuesday, however, I made a pretty big score – a collection of X-Men from #2 (a cgc graded low end copy) through 240 with only 19 issues missing – plus 59 dups! It was offered as one lot. Now, it didn’t come cheap, in fact, when the hammer came down and I was the winner, the crowd actually applauded! It was the most paid for any one lot that night.
In addition to this long box full of X-Men, there was a complete set of Marvel Team-up 1 – 150 plus annuals, a box of roughly 300 Superman comics (25 – 12 centers but rough), 35 additional miscellaneous long boxes, and 5 long boxes of nothing but #1 issues.
The auction for these seemed a little unusual to me. They offered the first 11 boxes of the miscellaneous (there were short runs of issues, but a title would be found in several boxes) as “choice” to the high bidder. That means the person may take one, two or all 11 at the high bid per box. You did not have to buy all of them. High bid was only$35 and that person took only 2, leaving 9 behind. They didn’t put the rest back up for bid (at least not by the time I left). Later, they came back to the comics and offered boxes 12-19 at the same deal. This time the high bidder took only one box for the price of $35 and left the rest. Later (they picked things from all over the auction house – no way you could tell when what you had your eye on would come up for bids – so use the bathroom before you go!), the final group of 20-35 was put up and someone took ONE box from that group for just $25.
Prior to the X-Men lot being offered, they put up the Marvel Team-Up lot. It went for $225. Another wait and the X-Men came up. I’m not going to tell you how much I paid for the lot. Another retailer that I had seen at other auctions started it off at $500. I jumped right in, but it rose real quick, as several of us were in the hunt. At one point, I dropped out, but then threw my hand up, thinking to myself, “This is it, no further”. I got it, and as I said before, the crowd appreciated the heavy bidding and clapped. – my first! The only comic offered individually, was a lower grade, cgc slabbed, Fantastic Four # 2 . Yep, I bought that one, too! I passed on the Superman set as there wasn’t anything really special, and I had already gone over my original budget. Remember, folks, if you attend an auction in another state, not only do you pay an additonal “buyer’s fee” (this auction charged 13%), but you also have to pay sales tax; so figure on roughly 20% on top of your bid!
There were also lots of old pulps (great covers!) going back to the ’20s to ’50s, but I don’t know enough about them to bid. Also, there were a fair amount of horror mags, such as Famous Monsters, Creepy, Vampirella, and many more. They were being sold “by the piece”, which means if they hold up 6 issues, you are bdding on one, but MUST buy all 6 at that price! I passed on those. The boxes of all # 1′s? I left before they ever got around to them. Another interesting lot was a box of about 27 loose “Mego” figures. It was offered as a “buyer’s choice” and the guy sitting next to me won it at $15 per Mego. I watched as he only picked out 4 of them – a couple of Planet of the Apes and a Falcon. He didn’t want the Hulk, Thor, Batman, Superman, Ridder, Lizard, etc, that I saw in there. Again, those that weren’t picked were not put back up!
Anyway, here’s the deal: As readers of this blog, you know FIRST about this buy, and can expect to find them in the store on Thursday, 2/18. The good news is that most of the early ones are affordable copies. Completeing an X-Men set can be very expensive, but here’s your chance to fill in a lot of numbers without mortgaging the house! Does it have a #94 in it? Yes, and it’s in decent shape BUT…the cover is sun-bleached!! – mostly just the blue colors left. I remember a small shop that opened up on Rt 202 by the 926 intersection toward West Chester. This was years ago. They put some of their better books in the windows for display. That’s right…in the windows!! I distinctly remember seeing an X-Men 94 in one of those windows that had already been sun-bleached. Could this be the same book?
So, if you are in the market for older X-Men, we got’em! Check the showcases for the key issues and the bins directly across from the register for the rest, First come-first served. We can do lay-a-ways!
Hey, what kind of blog would I be making without a mention of my favorite original rock band – CUBANE? Catch them Saturday, Feb 27th, right next door at the East End Cafe!
I had the first Fantastic Four on this page but I left it in storage and was gone for about 2 years before I went to collect my things and guess what? They were gone as well as my collection of of coins and stamps. WTF….