Last night on American Pickers, Frank and Mike are sent by Danielle (to me, the hottest woman on the History Channel) to Pennsylvania where a pet shop owner is selling off parts of his many collections to help send his son to college. He has an extensive assortment of key Silver Age Marvels: Fantastic Four #1, Avengers #4, etc. But the boys graviate towards Amazing Fantasy #15. Do I have to remind any of you that it's the first appearance of Spider-Man? Mike mentally salivates over this treasure which its owner honestly grades it a 2 out of 10 in condition. They send pictures to a friend of theirs who specializes in comics. He grades it "Good". The owner wants $5,500 for it and Mike counters with $4,000. They compromise on $4,500 and Mike gets his "dreambook". Frank later comments that his childhood memories may have caused him to overspend but really, can anyone imagine the price of AF #15 decreasing over time?
Still I had some doubts about Mike's "knowledge". He claims that Spider-Man was his favorite comic book hero and that he collected comics as a kid, yet did not know that AF #15 was Spidey's first appearance. He ignored the other Marvel comics. He hypes Spider-foes Green Goblin, Sandman and Doctor Octopus; all are movie villains that they can use clips of. Not to mention, a caption said that Stan Lee became the youngest Marvel editor as a teenager in 1963!!
I've seen comics on Pawn Stars, Cagun Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, Collection Intervention and other similar shows, not forgetting the obvious Comic Book Men. They all reinforce the idea that you will NEVER get rich selling your comics to those who want to resell them!
But the guys from American Pickers are fairer than your typical dealer!
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