People keep calling my collection 'just old books' and it's driving me nuts

I've been collecting comics for about 15 years, and my friends always say 'cool old books' when they see my long boxes. They don't get that a mint copy of 'Amazing Spider-Man #300' I bought in 2010 for $400 is a key issue, not just a random old comic. It matters because it shows a total misunderstanding of what we collect and why. I tried explaining the difference between a newsstand and direct edition once, and their eyes just glazed over. How do you get people outside the hobby to understand the value isn't just about age?

3 comments

3 Comments

nora_wells582mo ago

Tell me about it. My sister calls my graded slabs "plastic-wrapped garbage." People see old paper, not the history or the hunt.

robert2752mo ago

Tell your sister to try finding a decent 1934 Goudey card herself and then talk. Honestly, the hunt is half the fun, and that slab is the proof you finally caught it.

wyattbennett27d ago

Funny you say that because my buddy's wife once told him his whole card collection was just "expensive coloring books." He got SO mad he spent the next hour explaining the difference between a 1952 Topps Mantle and a 1989 Upper Deck Griffey like it was a college lecture. She just walked away halfway through. But honestly, some people will never get it. They see a piece of cardboard, we see a whole story about a rainy Saturday at a flea market or the one time we talked a guy down from fifty bucks because his dog was chewing on the corner.