I came across an article by Eric Spitznagel which I thought was quite interesting. In it he discusses the probability that those who are collecting comics as investments will never see any real financial gain.   Comic properties today are hot, hot hot...and I can honestly say that many of the patrons I encounter at the shows I attend are, in fact, in it for the money.  Perhaps the following article may have them think twice about buying comic books for investment. Comic Book Collection Case Studies Spitznagel introduces us to Barry Smith, a 44 year old man who collected comic books his entire life. And although he bought comics for fun, he also believed that these books were an investment that would one day pay for college tuition or a down payment on a house.  Smith recalls thinking. “I would lay them all out in my parents’ living room, sorting them, cataloging them, writing down entries on graph paper while cross-referencing them against the Overstreet Price Guide.” Landing a tech job in Silicon Valley following college, he held on to all 1,200 of his comic books, including several hundred early issues of Marvel’s popular X-Men series. Having researched the books on a regular basis, he did believe his collection had indeed grown in value. For twenty years his prized comics remained in a storage unit, carefully bagged and boarded. When Smith was let go from his job a few years later, he decided it was time to cash in on his investment. The whole collection sold for around $500. “I’m not too proud to admit, I cried a bit,” Smith says. Another collector, Kevin Maroney, 47, of Yonkers, N.Y., finally decided to sell approximately 10,000 comic books, almost a third of his collection, through consignment with a few comic book stores in New York City.  After several months, only 300 had sold for around $800. Maroney sort of knew there would be a lack of interest in his books. “A lot of people my age, who grew up collecting comics, are trying to sell their … [Read more...]