Inflation and CGC - CGC 9.8 vs. 9.6

CGC Expert Greg Buls is again our guest columnist and today's topics are on Inflation and CGC and CGC 9.8 vs. 9.6. Greg Buls has been a dealer-collector for more than 20 years. He found the pedigree Circle 8 collection in 1991. Greg operates S&V Collectibles on Comiclink - some really nice stuff you gotta check out!

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Inflation and CGC - The commodity markets are driving inflation, and it seems to be seeping into everything. But the recent spike in collectible bronze and silver age CGC books can't be accounted for by looking at any other market. Almost across the board, consistently higher prices are being fetched for desirable items. This effect is most likely due to collectors viewing CGC books as a good store of value. As the dollar is devalued, quality CGC books look like a reasonable place to put those dollars, there's now an eight year established marketplace for these books, and with few exceptions, books fetch a decent percentage of market value unless presented very poorly. So sellers now have some confidence that they will be able to get a decent price on the quality CGC books they buy. Unless the stress on the credit and mortgage markets brings a lot of quality collections to market in a short period of time, I expect these price increases to continue.

9.8 vs 9.6 - One of my collecting interests is DC 100 page giants. I collect them in 9.6 only, oww pages or better. I only have a dozen or so, but hope to eventually have the entire set. I've passed on white page 9.8s that I've had graded because keeping them would have been too expensive - by selling the one 9.8 I could purchase 3 9.6s. This is my collecting philosophy on these because most in this grade fall into the $100-$400 price range, making them the targets of interest for most high grade collectors. Once you've seen thousands of 9.6s and 9.8s, the only really meaningful difference is scarcity. That doesn't mean that 9.8s and 9.6s are indistinguishable, but that they are close enough that the price spreads aren't as meaningful: though 9.8s will almost always sell for some significant percentage more than 9.6s, the number of collectors willing to pony up for them is more limited. Assuming a rocky economy in the future, the broadest base of collector support will likely be for the 9.6s.

Comiclink - If you're interested in vintage books, both raw and CGC, you can't find a better marketplace than Comiclink. Both their exchange and their auctions are full of amazing material. Comiclink acts as an agent between seller and buyer. Buyers pay CL, and sellers ship the books to CL. When the book and payment are both received, CL takes their flat 10% and completes the transaction. Considering listing, selling, and Paypal fees, it's probably a cheaper platform than Ebay, and yields more on the average book. I'm selling most of our premium material through CL now, so if anyone has a want list you'd like us to keep on file, please send it so we can intercept books for you before they go to CL.

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Thanks again Greg! Again remember to check out Greg on Comiclink.