A Pokemon card takes a year to get graded.įor NPR News, I'm Abe Aboraya in Sarasota, Fla.Ĭopyright © 2022 NPR. And I think by the end of the year, we could have 600 or 700 employees.ĪBORAYA: So now, what before the pandemic was a two-month turnaround for comic books, is more than five months. MAX SPIEGEL: At the start of the pandemic, we had 300 employees around the world. CCG President Max Spiegel says his company can't hire fast enough and is offering $2,500 hiring bonuses. This whole operation - grading, authenticating, slabbing - takes hundreds of people. (SOUNDBITE OF PLASTIC CLATTERING, HIGH-PITCHED RINGING)ĪBORAYA: It's a hard plastic clamshell to prevent comics from being altered in ways that could affect their value. OLIVA: And it's still a very valuable book, but instead of a half a million, now this might be - oh, gosh - probably something more in the $10-, $15,000 range.ĪBORAYA: Once he's done, comic books are then slabbed in carbonite - kind of.
1.ĪBORAYA: It looks pristine, but Oliva's super senses can tell that missing pieces of the cover have been repaired, the spine reinforced and the cover soaked and cleaned. VINCE OLIVA: This is a Fantastic Four No. Here, comics and collectibles are authenticated and given a grade by specialists like Vince Oliva. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Comics? Let's take a look, then.ĪBORAYA: High fences, security guards, video cameras everywhere - CCG is the Fort Knox of comics, complete with an actual vault overflowing with pallets of comic books. There's pride of ownership.ĪBORAYA: If you're proud of your comic investment, you'll probably send it to Certified Collectibles Group in sunny Sarasota, Fla., for authentication. GILLOCK: And in some cases, extreme, extreme returns. But also, more people are seeing comics as a financial asset with a pretty good return on investment. The younger generation is now collecting comic books fueled by the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The pandemic that put millions of Americans out of work hasn't caused them to have to liquidate their comic book collections and drive prices down, says Douglas Gillock with online auction site ComicLink.ĭOUGLAS GILLOCK: In hobbies, we talk about, you know, death, divorce and debt as the three D's of why people sell.ĪBORAYA: That's still true, but the average price of a comic book sold in April more than doubled from a year ago. During three days at auction, a record $22.5 million was spent on rare comic books, shattering the previous record that was set in April. Batman's first comic book appearance sold for $1.1 million, more than twice as much as Superman's first appearance. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: The biggie of biggies as far as this session is concerned - the first appearance of Batman - Detective Comics 27.ĪBORAYA: Here is where Batman beats Superman.
1.ĪBORAYA: At Heritage Auctions, bidding for the first appearance of Superman starts at $400,000. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: The greatest comic in the hobby - Action Comics No. What are you doing here?ĪBORAYA: But this time, the Dark Knight versus the Man of Steel doesn't happen on the big screen it happens on an auction block in Dallas, Texas. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE") Abe Aboraya of member station WMFE has this encore report.ĪBE ABORAYA: It's the battle of the century - Batman versus Superman. Another product has also seen prices more than double in the last year - comic books. We've reported a lot on the COVID-related supply glitches that have driven up the cost of things like cars, gas and building materials.
0 kommentar(er)
