Vent: Saw a guy wreck his collection at a con in Cleveland

I was at Great Lakes Comic Con in Cleveland last Saturday and watched this dude totally destroy a key issue he was flipping through. He wasn't even being careful, just flipping pages with greasy pizza fingers and bending the spine back hard on a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300. I tried to say something like 'hey man, maybe handle that a bit gentler' and he just shrugged and said it was just a book. The vendor looked sick to his stomach but didn't say anything because the guy was about to drop $400 on it. Has anyone else run into collectors who treat expensive books like they're reading a newspaper at Starbucks?

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan3162mo ago

Were you close enough to catch if that $400 was gonna clear his lunch budget for the month?

jake1912mo ago

Buddy of mine tried to cover lunch for three people with $400. Thought he was being generous. Realized after he forgot he had bills due that week.

robin_wright13d ago

...and that reminds me of this guy at a show in Columbus last year who was haggling over a raw copy of Batman 423. He kept flipping it back and forth like he was trying to fan himself, and the cover started to separate from the staples. I said something about maybe using a backing board and he just goes "it's gonna get graded anyway." The book ended up with a 5.0 at best, but he paid a solid 8.0 price for it. Some people just don't get that you're handling a time machine, not a taco wrapper.