I have been collecting regularly since the early 1990s, but have always enjoyed comics since I was a kid. For me, my best day ever was a weekend in May of 2017....and it was the weekend of my local subdivision's community garage sale. The time was about 11am/11:30am in the morning and many houses have been actively selling things since about 8am. I had been doing some errands that morning, so I really didn't get a chance to look around any earlier, but managed to get back into the neighborhood before people began closing down their own sales. I started hitting up the open sales along my street (about 8 houses down from my home) and stopped at one home and asked the lady and gent if they have any old comics. The guy said he did, but didn't know where they were, but then his wife jumped in and said, I do....and began to scurry off to fetch them from inside their house. The wife came out with a small box and handed it to the husband and he proceeded to tell me that these were his from when he was a kid. Of course, behind my sunglasses, my eyes just perked up in excitement.....knowing that it was a possibility of finding some dusty Silver Age gem just waiting to see the light of day again. As I started to flip through the books, I am noticing that many are visually graded at 2.0s or 3.0s....definitely have seen their day as readers....but for the most part many were pre-1970. I asked the gent on how much he wanted for them and he looked at me and said..."Well, as you can see, some are pretty beat up and well read. How does a quarter a book sound?" My eyes behind my sunglasses really lit up and I began to pull out books I thought would be a great investment return. As I was paging through many, namely a 1959 Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Almanac #1 - I noticed it was written in and had some hand coloring applied to the pages and proceeded to ask the gentleman, "Whom is Walter?" He sort of blushed and looked at me and said, "Well that would be me. Like I said, these are mine from when I was a kid." By now, my heart is racing a bit faster, with not only knowing I am looking at original one owner books, but early Silver Age books to boot. So here I am passing through 4-color Dell books with photo covers, early Marvel and DC comics, and then, I come across an Amazing Spider-Man #2. I thumb through the pages and notice the entire book is ripped throughout. Some being just a 1 inch rip...and others upto 3 inches, but it is complete and the cover is intact and stapled well. There was some moderate chipping to the edges, but overall, for a rare find.....I set it off into the pile of books I plan on buying. I even had to go back to it, just to verify with my own eyes again, that it was a #2 copy. It was and I kept my cool and continued through the remaining books. Well, even though I would have loved to have gotten them all - especially at a quarter apiece - I only had about $11.00 dollars on me, so I ended up buying 32 books from the lot......knowing very well the next person will buy up the remaining copies, and go away just as happy as I would be. Share of the wealth was my goal. I sold that book - in that condition of about 2.0/3.0 for $286.00 on eBay a few weeks later. Other books included - many I had also sold & many I still have in my collection: Green Lantern 40 & 41 The Atom #7 a couple of Herbie books a couple of Jerry Lewis comics Life with Archie #8 The Mickey Mouse Almanac #1 4-color Dell books (various) some early War books (Army, Marines) ....and some others as well. That day.....with a 17,000+% profit over a cost of $0.25 for the ASM #2 - had truly been my best comic find day ever! Thanks for letting me share! Tim (ZosoRocks)
@@MintHunterComics "SCOOOOORE!" That was the first word out of my mouth to my wife after I went home! 😁 "SCOOOORE!" While holding the ASM #2 book....showing it to her. She looked at me and said, "What is?" It took a few minutes to convince her that this book was a great find....but she didn't really believe me at the time....until I took it to my LCS to see what they would pay me for it....a measly $100 offer....*sighs*.....whereas I already had a $200.00 offer from a friend. So of course I declined it. Even my CGC grading guy said, when he saw it..."Ya know Tim, this is easily a $1000.00 book once graded." Since I didn't want to go through the process - getting a return of $286.00 on it....well...that actually blew my mind! Thanks for the like and comment MH! Until the next out of the blue find. FYI - I also collect rare and HTF/VHTF vinyl LPs.....if interested....this is one I bought for $0.37 at an estate sale and then sold it for $610.00. A 164,000+% profit. www.popsike.com/1970-sello-dicap-chile-pop-rock-blops-1st-ed-orig-monofonic-dcp4-nm-oop-vhtf/302718318603.html I guess I have one helluva lucky vibe! 😇😃😇 ....soooo...until the next big find! Be safe! Tim
Great story! The best deal I got was an entire bronze/copper collection of 12,000 books for $750 from Craigslist. About half the books were indies but so many great books in excellent condition including 4 ASM 300s. I kept looking for TMNT 1 but it wasn't there. There were 10 long boxes and the rest were in just regular boxes. It was incredible that they were in such great shape.
@@MintHunterComics LOL. There's a back story too. I had to meet the guy in a not so good part of Philly in the evening. His house was down a small back alley. I wasn't sure it was legit so I gave my wife the address and called her while I was walking to the guy's door. And had the phone in my pocket. Her instructions were to call the police if she heard anything go bad. Fortunately, everything was fine. We packed every square inch of my wife's van with boxes. I couldn't use the rear or passenger side mirrors. Which meant I could only make left turns bc I couldn't see to the right at all! Which made for a very interesting 1 hour drive home. But it was worth it.
Found a hulk 181 in the wild, complete! It was my sister in laws dad who had had it in storage, and wanted me to look through and see if there were any books worth anything. So while I did find the 181 I had to sell it for him. It was so cool finding such a big key in the wild like that.
That’s honestly the craziest one I’ve heard yet! Damn what a deal! 😮 I’ve been buying comics in random spurts through my life, but only within the last year or so started really collecting and I’ve yet to find a bargain like that, but still I have typically found the best bargains on eBay. Awesome video!
Best deal ever....found 2 copies of Hulk 635 granov variant...quite a rare issue for 7.50 a piece. I almost crapped myself. Well, I pressed them and got them graded...came out a 9.8 and 9.6 respectively. I was pretty stoked. Ha
My wife's coworker's brother was simply getting rid of his entire collection. No idea why. I had never collected comics before, but figured a box of comics would be fun to read. When my wife brought it home it was 9 long boxes completely full. Mostly first year New 52, older Superman, some Star Wars, then a few random spec books. Started reading what was in there. Now years later I go every Wednesday to my LCS.
My cousin had a friend that was getting rid of about 40 short boxes - I was able to take a look at some - nothing crazy but it's still wild to think of just giving all that away for free!
I went to the thrift store and I bought these collection of comic books most of them were X-Men and X-Force. Have signed a couple of them I got them for like 25 cents a piece perfect condition. It's amazing when you get something falls on your lap.
I have A LOT of stories of buying comics DIRT CHEAP! One that sticks out is the Venom: Lethal Protector #1 rare error BLACK cover in super high grade that I bought for only $50!
@@MintHunterComics SOLID 9.8 candidate. I have also bought Uncanny X-Men (1st full Gambit) for 50 cents 9.8, silver age books such as the full run of Dr. Strange (1st series) 169-183 for 60 cents each, Submariner #1, Captain Marvel #1, a bunch of Strange Tales, etc for only 60 cents each! They were easily high grade 8.0 or higher grades. I have many stories of getting books literally dirt cheap! I remember being given a ASM #300 for FREE!
Just got the Secret Wars series for 400 in AWESOME condition!!! With newsstand Secret Wars 8!!! Not a steal, but found them in the wild and it was our first big score!
5 years ago when I 1st got back into comics after a 30 year hiatus I went to 2 local indoor flea markets. Found AMS #129 for $3.50! The 2nd flea market I found a mint copy of Batman New 52 #1 & Batman Adventures #12 mint for $1 each. Best hunt I’ve ever had and haven’t come close since.
The craziest comic book deal I got was actually not too long ago. Someone on eBay was asking $60 for the ghost rider glow in the dark book and it was a first print and it was signed by the creator of the book. But then I received a 50% off deal from him and I ended up paying $37 for it. as soon as I saw the offer, I jumped on the deal immediately and I got the book and I received it in three days.
Wow, thanks! unfortunately I feel that this is the type of thing that could have only happened over 7 years ago - I'm not seeing too too many moments like these anymore
@@MintHunterComics yeah it's not common I did get lucky though I love Jess cruz the green lantern she's my favorite! I wanted to catch up on her back issues so I found a guy who was selling the complete series of the green lanterns with her and Simon. I got all of issues for 90 :) I was happy about that.
Back in 2015 I hit a yard sale with 500+ comic books spread out on the lawn. Comics hadn't hit that FOMO yet. One guy was treating the books like trash and bending the spines. I said please stop, he's like there's no book from the golden age so who cares. I said I do and he left. After going over them all, I pulled out Batman Adventures 12, Spiderman 300, A complete run of Miracle man, new mutants 87-100, and more. The seller was like 10 cents a book,.just take em all. I had no room for all 500+ books, so I grabbed about 80 more random books for 100 books total. Wanted $10. I gave him .ore, since I knew the books were good. I read them all btw after I got them!
I find bargains on eBay all the time. I got FF 375 foil cover for like 3 bucks. Thor 489 which went up in a combo bunch for 6 bucks. That book went up because it's their last great battle of the 90s comic crash. Now worth like 15 bucks.
Very nice and very worth spending on that. I remember that I found 14 comics (including a set of Jim Lee Infinite Crisis and Infinity Gauntlet, War and Crusade, all #1 and #1-4 of New Avengers Illuminati) and I believe I got them for approximately $12. This is why I love flea markets but right now, with the pandemic still ongoing, I miss hunting comics at flea markets at very low prices
Flea markets are great but it's always like a 1 in 100 chance of getting something good and usually beat up quality. I've had some extreme luck in the past though!
@@MintHunterComics That's the part that I love about it, a hit or miss but the adventuring part where you might find some rare comics for very low prices is the best of it.
That’s wild and better yet it was a huge Batman haul where it’s almost impossible to complete the entire Batman and Detective! It is sure nice to get a good chunk of it for a fraction of a cost! I wonder why it was unloaded for a cheap price.
I didn't even realize how hard it was to get entire runs since it was so easy for me! but now that I'm trying to collect Green Lantern I'm learning the hard way!
What awesome positive story. I would have seriously thought, “top bid is only that much for all of these Batman comics? This is a fake post.” 😂 Just goes to show, those hidden gem deals are out there.
They really are (or maybe they were.) You don't hear too many stories like this now but even just 5 years ago stuff like this still happened. The comic.market is tough now because there's more awareness than ever of book values
is the $66 price before you also had to pay shipping? cuz shipping all those short boxes (over 500 comics) must have been expensive... if you got shipping included, I don't know how the seller made any money at all...
Correct so I believe I had to pay tax but I honestly think it was free shipping. I had like no money back then so I barely could even afford the $66, so that's why I think it really was free shipping. If that really was the case this guy may have essentially given his collection away. I think about this all the time
One time I got an entire The Incredible Hulk comic book collection from issues 165-472 only missing some issues here and there for $40.00. I checked on ebay and other sites some of those books which were in good condition and some a guranteed 9.8 grading were like $20-$30 each. And I got them for less than like 50 cents a piece. That would be my crazy comic book find.
What a bargain! Nice one! I too have scored some major deals on ebay, bit nothing quite as amazing as yours! Hey, I like the look of that comic binder! It'd be great for travelling etc. Is it a special one for comics? If so, could you lemme know where I might lay hands on one, mate? Cheers.
That’s a great story……….I’ve gotten lucky a couple times this year. I bought a Marvel Spotlight 2 NM condition for $200.00 and a Marvel Spotlight 28 NM price variant in a Eternals #1 trade. I had nothing in that book……..so, yeah I’ve had a great year thus far…..very fortunate and will never complain 👍
The files and inserts you use for your book collection, is there a particular brand you use? I'm looking to sell a lot of my collection and just keep Batman and Superman related collections. I would like to file them like you have. I'm in the UK so probably won't be able to get exactly the same item's but you never know? I'm catching up with your videos, they're are instructive, interesting and really well made, cheers!
I need to organize my collection, been buying monthly comics for years, put them in a comic box, but not by series. So i have to go in and organize them by title now. Got about 10 years or so worth, lots of boxes! My big question -- i dont want to spend hours and hours and hours lookign up each comic, when most are probably not worth a ton. But Im sure there are a few that might be $20; (I think there is a Detective with bats making Jokers face that goes for like $50?). is there a good website to kind of browse price guide prices by title? not have to input individual title? If not, what website can you go to (besides ebay sold listings) to see prices for comics? But id love if there was a site where i could say I have Aquaman 1-60, and just see if there is a worth while issue in that run....
A great story. Great story videos are only as good as the storyteller and yours always pass the smell test, lol. I've had a few early morning and late night ebay wins. I only buy golden age off ebay so it's always been only single issues but there been some sweet ones.
I'm TERRIFIED of buying golden off eBay. My experiences I always overpay and the grade is lower than I hoped! Thanks so much for the kind words my man!
@@MintHunterComics that's weird because I find so many great deals on golden age on ebay. 85% of my GA has come from auctions, best offers and buy it nows. I've gotten many scarce books for under $80. The truck is to be the first to the listing or put your bid in at the 12 second mark.
What an awesome get man!! I'm sure someone below asked but... How much was shipping on this insane lot and was the title of the auction something weak like "Detective Comics BATMAN Marvel"? lol... How come it didn't attract more bidders? Even at a strange end time I was already sniping auctions left and right 7-8 years ago.
It must not have attracted bidders because the guy had such a low ebay point count, it was a shorter than recommended auction AND he had it set to end at 6 in the morning! Not only that but it was free shipping (lord knows what that cost) I'll never know for sure what happened on the other end but it was a perfect storm that greatly benefited me!
I almost clicked off a couple times, but I was able to walk away and listen to you in the background lol jk, I bet most people who bought over priced or unsatisfied collections recently are like "lucky bastard don't deserve that much Batman for no $60" lol, heck I was able to cope knowing that you bought that collection almost 10 years ago when nobody gave a shit about comics lol
Can you do a video on how to catalog and handle books so they don’t get damaged? I have 3 short boxes that I want to transfer to 4 boxes because I have 100 books to add.
@@MintHunterComics I Kno what you mean. Lol But I did luck up on a Spawn 249 and a 77 newsstand! Won't know bout 77 until I get it through the mail, but I don't think dude knew what he had because it was his only comic listing on eBay everything else was household.
@@MintHunterComics this entire bussines which now includes trading cards and VHS tapes and games ripping off fans their outrageous prices for they to slap two pieces of plastic over a comic is ridiculous. It's taking advantage of people like autographs for "celebrities". I've felt like it's taken advantage of fans since the beginning, I put a book out and had people tell me they sent it into CGC and I was like wwhhhhy.
This is an AMAZING story! I had to triple check the date of this video to make sure it wasn’t April 1st!! Maybe somebody’s highly aggrieved partner went nuclear and put them on eBay as sweet revenge!?!? 🤔