Without a doubt, Strange Tales #110 is a major key issue of the Silver Age. Packed with five first appearances, including, most importantly, the first appearances of Doctor Strange, the Ancient One, and Wong, Strange Tales #110 made GoCollect's cut and was included in GoCollect's Silver Age Collectible Price Index (CPI).
Although the values of many Silver Age keys included in the CPI still exceed their pre-comic boom values, there are several issues, including Strange Tales #110, that have dropped below their 2019 values. In my opinion, when established Silver Age key issues drop below their 2019 values, it's a signal that they may have overcorrected and it could be a good time to buy. When the comic book market bubble popped in 2022, it led to steep declines for many key issues that still continue today. At this point, when you factor in inflation, I think some of those keys are now attractively priced after years of declines. And while it's possible that this issue continues to drop in value in the months ahead -- i.e., you could end up catching a falling knife -- I do think this is attractively priced currently.
Let's take a closer look at the market value of Strange Tales #110 today by examining aggregate sales of the most common grade on the CGC Census which is a CGC 4.0 (227 universal blue label copies):
As you can see from the ticker above, this book's value has been dropping like a rock over the past four years. After reaching an all-time high of $6,600 in January 2022, a 4.0 most recently sold for only $1,440. And just about a week before that sale, this 4.0 sold for just $1,375:
You have to go all the way back to February 2019 to find a GCG 4.0 that sold for below $1,400, a sale that occurred well before the pandemic-fueled collectibles boom began. The surge in collectible prices didn't begin until spring of 2020. In my mind, $1,400 could be the floor for a 4.0 copy of Strange Tales #110.
Part of this dramatic drop in value could be explained by the increased supply of CGC graded copies of Strange Tales #110. Back in December 2019, just prior to the beginning of the comic boom, there were only 147 universal blue 4.0s on the CGC Census; however, today, nearly six years later, there are now 227 blue label 4.0s on the Census. This represents a nearly 50% increase in the supply of 4.0s. And, with this increase in supply, it doesn't appear as though there was enough demand to meet this new supply resulting in loss in value.
I also sometimes wonder if the cover of Strange Tales #110 has affected its value. Instead of having Dr. Strange on its cover, it has characters like the Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete on it. Now, if this issue had the same cover as Dr. Strange #169 (formerly Strange Tales), you can't help but think that this issue would be worth much more.
