Know your comfort zone and try not to leave it!
Remember Sesame Street had that great segment about things not belonging. There was a catchy song – “one of these things just don’t belong here, one of these things just has to go…” or something like that. I’m sure a lot of people’s comic collections remind them of this song.
We’re all constrained by our comic book collecting budget. This budget seems to be buying us less and less as collectible comics get more and more expensive. Since we can’t have it all many of us ‘focus’ our collections. We’ll try to limit the main part of our collection to our main interests, Broze Age Marvels, Golden Age Superman, key issues only, battle covers, all Howard the Duck appearances, sexual inuendo covers etc. etc. Yet despite our best efforts we somehow still end up with bunch of comics we don’t really like owning.
The trouble usually starts when we deviate from our collecting focus. I know a collector that is a Marvel nut. He has a great collection of Silver and Bronze Age Marvels with a focus on the team books like FF, Avengers, Defenders etc. He recently won a few auctions on the internet that will add to his collection nicely. Unfortunately for him there was a high grade Fawcett Movie Comic (early 1950s) in this same auction, it looked real cheap in relation to guide and the auction was tucked in just after all the Fantastic Four listings. Caught up in the moment he somehow won this book. Talk about one of these things just not belonging! Where do you fit a Jimmy Stewart Photo Cover? In between your nice copies of FF Annual #1 and Ghost Rider #1? He’s now looking to sell it and the book hasn’t even arrived by mail yet. Because he just won it on an internet auction his chances of actually profiting from this comic are slim. It’s different when you find a comic at a flea market or something and grab it with the sole intention of selling it for a profit but the above case does not apply here.
Collect what you understand and what you love! Sticking with this simple principle will stop that silly Sesame Street song from popping into your head every time you look at your stuff.
In next week’s Investing Tips we stay with Comfort Zones but switch the topic to grade!
Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton, Ontario.
