I have some questions about how to determine what these comic books I have are worth before I try to sell them. I would really appreciate any info anyone can provide about how to determine these are priced. I know they are not worth all that much, but I want to sell them anyway. I got them as a gift, but I do not collect comics, so I would like to give them a new home
They are all in heavy clear plastic dust sleeves
They are all in mint condition
They are all autographed/ numbered with certificates of authenticity from Dynamic Forces
Excalibur #71 (with hologram on cover) number 220/7500, signed by artists Joe Madureira & Darick Robertson.
X-Force #25 (with hologram on cover) number 2760/7500, signed by artist Greg Capullo.
X-Men #304 (with hologram on cover) number 5116/7500, signed by artist Dan Panosian.
X-Men 2099 #1 (with blue foil cover) number 8889/10000, signed by artists Ron Lim & Adam Kubert.
Your best bet these days is to try to find those issues on eBay and see if they’re selling or not. Keep in mind that issues with fancy-schmancy covers are likely to be kept in mind condition by everyone who owns them, and thus the resale value may be minimal at best.
Collectables have to be the junk of yesteryear, that people bought for their kids and the kids promptly destroyed, leaving only a few mint-condition samples. Modern comics get bought by twentysomethings and tucked away immediately. Rarity is almost never a factor. I recommend giving them to some kid who will promptly shred them or spill food on them, sending them eventually to a landfiull and reducing the world’s clutter.
Comics aren’t like gold; there is no place that’s obligated to give you market value for your old comic books, and the vast majority of used comics (post 1980) are unsellable at any price. You could track down a copy of the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, but that tells you what dealers charge for back issues; they’re only marginally useful for telling you what to expect to sell them to anybody for.
The comics you cite all lack “hot” artists, and the autographs, holograms, foil and plastic bags in no way enhance their value. A really popular artist or writer can buouy the price of an old comic up (If memory serves, you’re out of luck on both counts) and the presence of a popular character like Wolverine or the Punisher can do the same (Wolverine might be in one of them), but those characters are so overexposed, it’s hard to say.
There might be collectors out there who need one or two of those comics to complete a set, but none of those comics is intrinsically worth more than its cover price. Sorry.
I only collect minerals and other nerdy scientific stuff, so I know nothing about the value of comics and the like. I said up front that I don’t expect them to be worth big money or any money at all. I was just asking if there was a way to determine value, if any. I recieved them as a gift from a clueless friend so I am out nothing even if I just throw them away. I just want to be rid of them. I don’t know anything about comics or the artists who illustrate them so I don’t know who is hot or not. I’ll probably put them out a my garage sale fore a buck or two. Thanks for the info anyway.
Well, eBay’s gonna be your best bet for getting value from them; unless perhaps you have a comic book store nearby that will buy them from you.
There are comic book price guides, but those guidelines are very loose - If you like, I can look up those issues for you in my most recent guides, see if there’re any that’re over-the-top valuable (in theory.)
Thanks! I doubt they will be worth much, but if you would look them up for me that would be helpful. I will look on eBay for them I don’t know why I didn’t think of that
How about some old comics from the 50’s my dad gave me?
They aren’t in the greatest condition but have have titles like “True Crime, Wonderwoman, Hopalong Cassidy, Mickey Mouse”
I looked in a comic pricing guide at the local bookstore and it values them around $3K but I doubt I can ever get anything close to that amount.
Is EBAY really the best way to sell these? Will I get low-balled to death cause everyone on ebay is looking to buy something for nothing?
Is EBAY the best gauge to tell what they’re really worth?
I say this because I also have some 1948 baseball cards I want to sell and watch comparable ones sell on e-bay. Card pricing guides list Bowman’s 1948 Stan Musial card at $900. But the ones posted on e-bay rarely fetch bids over $250.
There are dealers who specialize in “Golden Age” comics. While none of them is likely to give you the full Overstreet value, they’ll probably make you an offer that’s worth your while. I think the $3K figure is for those comics in Mint condition; you can probably walk out of the comics shop with a few hundred bucks or at least the phone number of a local collector who specializes in those titles.
Or, you can invest in a copy of Overstreet (It costs about $17, but you’re looking at a windfall of a couple hundred) and figure out their condition and approximate dealer value, go on eBay asking for about half that, and see if the bidding commences (Check the indicia; if Dell published it, the Mickey Mouse book might actually be a title called “Four Color.” Not a big deal, but it’s tricky to find the correct listing for some books).
These books, unlike those published after about 1980, are both scarce and in demand. And “True Crime” might have someone notable drawing it, like Jack Cole or Johnny Craig. You just might be onto something.
Collectibles are worth what you can get someone to pay for them. The price guides are based on expert’s analysis, given what other items have gone for recently that are similar, et cetera. eBay allows one to reach a much broader audience than is typical - increasing one’s chance of finding someone who really really wants a particular item.
Ok, I don’t know much about collecting comic books, but I have a modest collection of comic books. They date mostly from around the late 70’s/early 80’s. A few years ago I got ambitious and made an Excel database and recorded all of them and any price or ancillary information I could get from some out of date comic collector’s guides. My collection in an easily refrenced database is here.
Does anybody know if any are seriously undervalued by my estimation or if there are any specific gems or particularly rare ones that I have? I really wouldn’t know.
