Nancy by Olivia Jaimes for June 11, 2013

Some see the comics as bars of gold on the NYSE, as some “commodities”… the turning of pages and exposure to the elements as “depreciators”… But some see the content and art of the comics as the REAL reason they are priceless…

I heard a motivational speaker the other day who said that, by the time the average individual is 25, he or she has been standing on top of a fortune at least once – perhaps twice – and failed to realize the importance of what was right under his or her nose.

I can’t help but wonder what type of easy street I would be on if I still had my original No. 1 Lone Ranger or my No. 1 Wonder Woman comic. Instead, my mother tossed all of my comic collection out in the trash as soon as I left home for school!

Makes you wonder how many other people there are who are searching the world for the perfect diamond – while ignoring the acres of diamonds in their own back yards!

……..so, I wonder what Fritzi & Phil are up to these days?

Sometimes I wish I could have kept all the comics I bought as a kid. I loved both the British comics of the sixties and the more sophisticated and adventurous US comics.

Everybody immediately says “If only I (or Dad, or Grandpa, or whoever) had kept that comic, I’d be rich.” If everyone who had a copy kept it, they wouldn’t BE worth as much. The value is determined by scarcity vs. demand.

The more it’s desired and the fewer copies there are to go around, the more it’s worth. A simple formula that people forgot in the 90’s, when publishers were churning out alleged ‘collectibles’ in great number. Many of those ‘collectibles’ are now in 50 cent boxes at conventions. Oops!!

I bought my comics to read, and to keep. Handling them carefully preserves value. There’s nothing wrong with taking care of what you have so that they won’t be worthless later. (I have over 13,000 comics at the moment.)

I learned to read from Nancy, Lilttle Lulu, Dennis, Tom and Jerry, and the rest in the ’50s! Priceless indeed!

“I turned my comics over to my son years ago,”^And that’s where the REAL treasure can begin! When the next generation sees the creativity, etc. that came before him… to echo the card commercial, the gift of reading is PRICELESS…

I had a very poor condition “Combat #1” in my collection as a kid, until my mother threw my entire collection away! Years later, I put my sci-fi paperback book collection into my sister’s rummage sale only to discover that the ones that didn’t get sold were thrown out! I have heard the same kind of stories from other men as well.Why do women do this?

My mother-in-law collected “collectible” (Avon?) bottles.But so many people collected them – that they were worthless!

Forgot to add the reverse factor: Companies can make a public believe something is extremely valuable NOW (think “Beanie Babies”) so everyone is demanding, which would drive the “value price” up (which is how Avon, Franklin Mint, etc. make their money)… but once the fervor dies down, the demand goes down, along with the “value”… so, again, it’s tied into how much an item is wanted by the public, not necessarily the amount available for circulation…

Just for fun I recently bought a 1964 “Aquaman” comic from a website…The last time I had read it was when I was 9… 48 years ago.Still a good read after all those years..