{"id":273,"date":"2015-02-25T23:46:03","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T06:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/?p=273"},"modified":"2015-02-26T00:44:33","modified_gmt":"2015-02-26T07:44:33","slug":"the-beginning-of-the-comic-collecting-hobby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/?p=273","title":{"rendered":"The Beginning of the Comic Collecting Hobby"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Showcase4\"<\/a>It’s a pretty well known fact that comic collecting began sometime in the 1960’s. \u00a0Sure…there were people collecting before then, but it really got going in this time frame. \u00a0At least, that is what the anecdotes say. \u00a0But is there data to support this “fact”?<\/p>\n

I got curious about this question and decided to take a look at CGC data for several key books before during and after the mid 1960’s. \u00a0The data I chose is for key Silver and Bronze Age books. \u00a0As a baseline early Silver book: Showcase #4<\/a>\"\". \u00a0For the mid-Silver age, the quintessential Marvel key: Fantastic Four #1<\/a>\"\". \u00a0For the later Silver Age, there are not a lot of key books on par with FF#1 or Showcase #4 to choose from…but there are books that will work for this experiment, so I picked Fantastic Four #45<\/a>\"\", the first appearance of the Inhumans. \u00a0For the early 1970’s I picked House of Secrets #92<\/a>\"\". \u00a0And finally…the ultimate Bronze key, Incredible Hulk #181<\/a>\"\". \u00a0Let’s take a look and see what the CGC data for these books will tell us about the beginning of the comic collecting hobby.<\/p>\n

At only 222 Universally graded copies, Showcase #4 is clearly the rarest book of this bunch. \u00a0This fits into our theory, since this book was published in 1956, and very few if any\u00a0people were bagging and boarding comics from the drug store the moment after they were purchased. \u00a0The mean grade for this group is\u00a0about 4.2. \u00a0So…not a lot of copies around, and the ones that are around are not in very high grade.<\/p>\n

\"Evidence_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next up is FF#1. \u00a0The book is from 1961, so 5 years into the Silver Age, but still well before the advent of the hobby proper. \u00a0People are, on average, not actively collecting during this period. \u00a0And if they are, books are probably stored in conditions that would be considered primitive today. \u00a0Many more copies of FF#1 are out there…with 985 graded Universal copies. \u00a0The reason for more graded copies could be\u00a0due to the popularity of FF over the Flash…but in general, it’s probably not too far off base to suggest that more copies of FF1 remain\u00a0than Showcase 4. \u00a0Mean grade for this group is surprisingly a little lower than for Showcase 4, coming in at 3.7.<\/p>\n

For the mid Silver Age, we have FF#45. \u00a0Fewer copies have been graded of this book (it is, after all, not as “key” as FF1), but look at the mean grade. \u00a0A huge jump to a smidgen above 7.0 for all 610 books. \u00a0Fewer books graded, but clearly more in higher grade. \u00a0Hobbyists seem to be taking better care of their books from the get go by the mid-1960’s…does that trend continue (of course it does…and how!)<\/p>\n

\"Evidence_2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By the time 1970 roles around, the comic book publishing industry is suffering a bit, but that is not preventing our intrepid collecting community from stashing away a few books with key first appearances, great stories and fantastic art. \u00a0House of Secrets 92 is a little off the beaten trail compared to the other books…but it is a “new” book for a time when the comics code was altered and horror titles came back into print. \u00a0But our theory holds! \u00a0More books graded, and an average grade of a tiny bit below 7.0.<\/p>\n

To cap off our exploration, we go to 1974. \u00a0Do I need to comment here? \u00a0I don’t think so, the graph speaks for itself. \u00a0Tons of books graded and a mean grade of 7.2 for the Incredible Hulk #181. \u00a0As Stan the Man would say, “Nuff said!”<\/p>\n

\"Evidence_3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So what does all this mean? \u00a0Well…I collect comics because they are cool and I like to read them. \u00a0But, where I can, I want to buy books that will hold their value. \u00a0If I am picking a comic series to collect that I want to hold its value, then I would tend toward a series\u00a0that is pre 1965, and go for the highest grade books I can afford. \u00a0It’s an obvious conclusion…supported by this data.<\/p>\n

Until next time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a pretty well known fact that comic collecting began sometime in the 1960’s. \u00a0Sure…there were people collecting before then, but it really got going in this time frame. \u00a0At least, that is what the anecdotes say. \u00a0But is there … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,33,34],"tags":[40,45,35],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cgc","category-fantastic-four","category-incredible-hulk","category-showcase","tag-cgc","tag-fantastic-four","tag-showcase"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286,"href":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions\/286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundrycollectibles.net\/comics\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}