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Crazy Canuck

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Journal Entries posted by Crazy Canuck

  1. Crazy Canuck
    When I began collecting....
    When I began collecting comics in the 80?s (11 yrs of age), life seemed so simple and fun. I remember fondly getting on my bike and riding to the local comic book store (Capital City Comics), and thumbing through long boxes in search of Fantastic Four and Transformer issues. Silver age FF issues were my favourite, it took me to a time period that I could not relate and that captivated me! The stories by Stan and art by Jack took me places within my own mind that were more enjoyable then many of those tiresome family vacations.
     
    Those days of collecting were really nostalgic and remind me of happier times in my life. When I turned 17 (1993), I revisited collecting comics. My taste in comics at that timed had changed and I was collecting a wider variety of titles. In the 90?s there seemed no shortage of titles during this time period and before I knew it I had amassed a collection of 5000 + issues of assorted titles. Much of the collection had been gathered from older adults whom were either married or been divorced and were trying desperately to get rid of their past hobbies. Needless to say the comics came cheap and had a book value of $25,000 USD (Recently sold out to a local dealer)!!
     
    Some might question my decision to sell my collection, but it was simple I became one of those married individuals with young children! The 20 long boxes were an eye sore for my wife, took up much needed space and were a liability for getting damage. I have also on a personal note have lost the interest in multi-title collecting and the costs endured in mass collecting. On a final note I have a renewed interest in Fantastic Four issues that are CGC graded and especially those issues with an attached pedigree.....
  2. Crazy Canuck
    Part II of Comic Book Nostalgia.
    As a continued thought from my last journal posting, I like to reiterate my passion for collecting CGC graded Fantastic Four issues. The thought of having all my favourite issues preserved with an attached grade and having a public medium such as the comic registry to share them with everyone is very exciting! Now in my early 30?s, I must state that I have Pedigree Fever! My passion for collecting CGC grade FF issues has progressed to include pedigrees. I have difficulty restraining myself from opening up my wallet and paying out what ever maybe the cost or asking price for such specimens.
     
    In short, I cannot help myself whenever I wander upon an available FF pedigree. In my opinion, a pedigree issue (no matter which pedigree) is the ultimate addition to my collection. To own an issue with historical identification and relevance is why I find pedigrees to be so unique. A pedigree issue has a traceable and documented historical past, meaning it has a story. Pedigrees are not just another unknown copy from some obscure newsstand or local comic book dealer; they were part of someone?s collection that cared so deeply about collecting that his or her comics are some of the best known and preserved copies in the world.
    Of the millions of each FF issue released over the years (silver to bronze age relatively speaking), there may only be up to 15 identified pedigrees for each FF issue. For instance, if I randomly chose FF issue #90 there may only be 1 to possibly 15 pedigree copies of this issue (I?m sure if you contacted CGC they would provide the specifics). What I?m getting at is that there may only be 15 pedigree copies of any given FF issue of the possible million published by Marvel of each issue over the years.
     
    No matter the grade of an issue, as far as I?m concerned, a pedigree issues value outweighs a standard copy within a similar grade. Meaning, I would take the 8.5 or 9.0 CGC pedigree copy over the 9.4 CGC copy with white pages at any given moment. I have deemed Fantastic Four CGC pedigrees as the gems of my small personal collection!
  3. Crazy Canuck
    Here is my List!
    HERE IS MY PERSONAL OPINION OF THE BEST SILVER AGE PEDIGREES THAT I HAVE SEEN:
    1.PACIFIC COAST- Hands down the best overall silver age pedigree. Great page quality, flat and glossy covers with minimal spine rolls. Badge of Honour, make them very enticing! *(FYI, some issues do not have badge of honour for some reason).
    2.WHITE MOUNTAIN- Very nice specimens, flat, good page quality and minimal spine rolls. Too bad for the cover dates. By far the most sought after of all the silver age pedigrees!
    3.NORTHLAND-Again, very nice specimens. Great cover gloss, good page quality (decreases with Bronze Age issues), and flat with minimal spine rolls. My personal favourite!
    4.BOSTON- Seen minimal copies, but very nice cover appeal with good page quality. Seem to be very difficult to obtain in key issues and titles!
    5.WESTERN PENN- Again seen few issues to judge, but page quality outstanding, high colour gloss, and flat with beautiful tight spines. Like to own a copy!
    6.OAKLAND- Own a copy and must say very nice eye appeal (FF 89). Seems to be a difficult pedigree to obtain!
    7.MASS COPY- Just purchased my first issue and very excited to judge first hand. Definitely a difficult pedigree to obtain and have a high demand!
    8.BETHLEHEM- Better known for its golden age issues, but the silver age specimens are outstanding. May have some of the best cover gloss of any pedigree with nice flat copies! *(Check out my FF 46).
    9.GREEN RIVER- Keep seeing that FF 45 copy floating around and seems to have great eye appeal and attracts much interest!
    10.BOWLING GREEN- Have two copies, have good colour gloss to covers, slight spine rolling is typical with these copies. Never see many available!
    HONOURABLE MENTION:
    OHIO
    WINNIPEG
    BIG APPLE
    *** Interested in outside opinions, please comment if you think differently!!!
  4. Crazy Canuck
    Here is some information on silver age pedigree gathered from multiple internet sources (Will continue to update)!!!
    Bethlehem Collection
    In 1990, Joe Rainone was approached by a man at a convention who said he had a huge collection of comics for sell if he could come up with $30,000. Joe talked it over with his partner Phil Weiss, who where both initially apprehensive until the man had explained he was an attorney helping liquidate the estate of one Stanley Pachon in Bethlehem, PA. An appointment was scheduled.
    The first meeting yielded 4000 comics for $11,000. Knowing there were many more comics to be bought, Joe and Phil were promised first shot. After a nail-biting month, the two were led to a hoard of 14,000 comics in Pachon's house (where the police outline of his body was still on the living room floor; Stanley had suffered a brain hemorrhage). For $20,000 more, the partners were now in full possession of what they would name the Bethlehem collection.
    The size of the Bethlehem collection is matched only by the Edgar Church/Mile High Collection, but the Bethlehems started late (1950) and stretched well into the Silver Age, with multiple copies of many issues. The famous E.J. Kery Kodak-Film-Magazine-Shop stamp on many of their back covers happens to be one the most recognized pedigree marks of all. Even though 700 Bethlehems have been graded by CGC, it's only a fraction of what's still out there.
    Bethlehems often do not get credit for the impact they made in the early 1990s. It was the the Bethlehems and White Mountains that eventually convinced collectors that a pedigree can contain Silver Age comics as well.
    Big Apple Collection
    The Big Apple pedigree is unique in a few ways; Its span is huge, starting in 1939 and continuing all the way to the end of the Silver Age. It was assembled by an African-American named James Hilton, and the breakdown of books and page quality reveals some very peculiar traits.
    Although Hilton died in 1968, it was not until 1993 that his nephew Ron visited the old family home in Brooklyn and discovered the first of many storage places where his uncle kept his huge comic collection. Afterwards, Ron ventured into Manhattan with a case full of his uncle's comics, and paid a visit to Christie's Auction House. At the time was Phil Weiss was assisting Joe and Nadia Mannarino as they prepared for the 1994 Christie's Comic Auction. Upon reviewing Ron's beautiful group of books, Phil quickly consigned them to the auction. A six year relationship was begun with the nephew, ending with the last Christie's auction in 2000. But only a fraction of Hilton's 5000+ comics were sold during this time.
    The most unique aspect of the Big Apple Collection is the vast difference between its Goldenand Silver Age copies. The Golden Age issues contain some of the highest graded comics exhibiting white pages, which ranks them in the top ten for 1940s collections. However, the '40s books had been stored in a trunk for decades while the rest of the books were stacked on open shelves after Hilton passed away. The separate storage resulted in the largest swing of page quality, landing the Silver Age portion of the collection dead last on list.
    Although there are Big Apples that go as far back as 1939, every significant Golden Age book in the collection comes from one year, 1946. Every other year during the '40s contains only a handful of issues, except for 1949. For some strange reason, not a single Big Apple has ever been located from 1949, which coincidentally is the year Ron was born in the same house his uncle resided.
    Don Rosa Collection
    Accumulated by world-renowned and Eisner award winning comic book artist, writer, and historian, Keno Don Rosa, this collection contained every comic book and magazine issued from every publisher from 1966 to the late 1980's. Rosa began collecting in earnest in 1962, as he purchased each comic from the newsstands, read them only once, and carefully tucked them away in optimum storage conditions, using archival boxes and a climate controlled "vault." Because they were stored in such an environment with no use of polybags, each book exhibits a brilliant sheen, deep ink reflectivity, sharp corners and a fresh newsstand appearance.
     
    Since the 1960's, Don Rosa has been recognized as one of the first comics history scholars of fandom. He has written and illustrated Question & Answer columns for the major fanzines of the 1970's, including such notable publications as Rocket's Blast Comiccollector, CBG (TBG), Comics Journal, and Amazing Heroes. During the 1980's Rosa gained fame as one of the world's most famous and recognized cartoonists as he worked on the Duck books for Disney and Gladstone.
    The Green River Collection
    by Brad Hamann
    Belying its serene-sounding title, the Green River Collection actually claims an indirect connection to one of the most horrific series of murders on record in American history.
     
    William J. Stevens II began assembling this collection of mainly Silver Age Marvels and DCs in the 1960s when he was a boy. Stevens? father operated a 1,200-square-foot pharmacy on a secondary road by Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, and Stevens and his adopted brother Robert would steal comics and boxes of trading cards from the store. Stevens meticulously cataloged and stored this quickly-growing collection.
     
    The collection first began to surface in the early 1990s when Stevens, now in his forties, began selling some of the books to Craig Barnett, a local dealer who ran a store in Spokane called The Comic Book Shop. Stevens would arrive at the store with stacks of comics packed in brown paper grocery sacks whenever he needed money. According to Barnett, Stevens was looking to raise money for a microwave receiving station to track police calls as part of his apparent fixation with law enforcement. Barnett has described Stevens as very personable, and ?a really nice guy, but an incredible con man.? These transactions went on for about a year and then stopped. Later, Barnett learned from Robert Stevens that William had died as a result of cancer. What Barnett did not know at the time of his purchases, was that William was not only a con man, but a convicted felon.
     
    Convicted of burglarizing a uniform store in 1979, Stevens had served a two-year stint in prison. Then, in January of 1981, he had simply walked out of a King County jail work-release program and dropped completely out of sight. Stevens traveled extensively under several aliases and resided in the Portland, Oregon area until May of 1985, when he returned to Spokane and enrolled at Gonzaga.
     
    Police discovered and arrested Stevens at his parents? home in January of 1989 after several phone tips resulting from the television program ?Manhunt Live: A Chance to End a Nightmare!? At the time, Stevens was in his last year at Gonzaga University School of Law and serving as the president of the Student Bar Association. He promptly issued a statement denying any wrongdoing. ?I am not the Green River killer. They have made me out to be a very bad person, and I am not,? he declared.
     
    After a search of his parents? home, where Stevens was then living, police found 29 firearms, and a box full of phony driver?s licenses and credit cards acquired under assumed names. Credit-card fraud and robbery were apparently a means by which Stevens had survived through the years. Also discovered were more than one hundred police badges, and a large collection of pornogra
  5. Crazy Canuck
    The great dilemma, buying raw comics vs CGC graded!
    If familiar with any of my previous journal entries, you may know that my interest is in Fantastic Four pedigree's. And I'm certain most comic collectors are aware that high grade CGC comics and especially pedigree CGC copies can be astronomical in price. This is where my dilemma has begun! Should I purchase raw graded pedigree comics and submit to CGC or purchase CGC graded pedigree copies off open market?
     
    The biggest problem that I have encountered when I began collecting CGC graded comics (3 yrs ago), was that the # of pedigree copies on the market were limited. Raw pedigree copies even more scarce then CGC graded copies. The appeal with raw copies is that they can be found at times to be 25-100% cheaper than there CGC graded companions. This can even be said for the raw pedigree copies. So why not just buy raw copies? Simple, the risk! Purchasing a CGC graded pedigree copy has zero risk. A CGC copy is either black or white! You know your grade, you know if it restored or not and it will have a pedigree identifying label if it is a pedigree. Raw copies have no guarantee that CGC will recognize it as the same grade, and for pedigree's you must have have a trackable history, certificate or identifiable markings on the copy, such as White Mountains, Ohio's or Bethlehem's etc.. In short, CGC no risk, but higher costs and raw copies +++ risk, but possibly huge $avings.
     
    My experience with raw graded pedigree copies is as such:
    *FF #7: (Average Outcome)purchased copy with an expected 7.0 grade at a 7.0 price tag. Received a 6.0 with Universal label and Big Apple pedigree.
    *FF #26: (Average Outcome) purchased with the understanding it was a White Mountaian "B" copywith a 6.0 grade from a well known and highly respected dealer. Got a Universal 6.0 with no pedigree status. Later sold for 7.0 grade price.
    *FF #44: (Poor Outcome) purchased copy with an expected 8.0 grade. Received 6.0 Universal grade with Big Apple pedigree. Later sold and broke even.
    *FF #87: (Excellent Outcome) purchased for vf-/nm price and received a Universal 9.2 with Ohio pedigree label.
    *Giant-Size FF #6: (Average outcome)purchased for nm- price and received Universal 8.5 grade with Don Rosa pedigree.
    As you can see, raw copies can be risky! But, I must say there is something fun about purchasing raw copies. It must be the waiting anxiously for the books to return from CGC in anticipation of that possible diamond in the rough.
  6. Crazy Canuck
    My dilemma of purchasing graded CGC copies vs. raw copies and then grading continues...
    I recently purchased 2 fantastic four pedigree copies from a well known dealer. The first Fantastic Four copy issue 22 was CGC graded and received a 9.0 with the Big Apple pedigree for $500.00. The second issue is Fantastic Four Big Apple copy and is not CGC graded. The advertised grade was VF/NM and I purchased for less than half the price of first issue at $225.00.
    There are obviously no guarantee on what grade I will receive and if it is recognized as a pedigree. I will keep you updated to let you know if I come out the winner on this deal. Check out my raw FF 29 image below and compare to the FF 22 in my Yancy Street Collection!

  7. Crazy Canuck
    The dilemma continues!
    If you read my last journal entry I was eagerly awaiting my graded copy of FF #29 from CGC. I have been at war with my inner self on deciding whether it is more worth while to buy risky ungraded Fantastic Four pedigrees or CGC graded copies that come up for auction or sale?
    I must say I am pleased with the outcome of this purchase and grading. I purchased FF # 29 copy for less than have the price of my FF #22 Big Apple copy 9.0 and FF #29 received an 8.0 with the Big Apple label to add to my collection of pedigrees. I guess the dilemma of CGC graded copies vs. raw ungraded copies will continue.
    Check out the CGC graded copy of my FF #29 Big Apple!

  8. Crazy Canuck
    Has anyone noticed?
    The scoring for my Fantastic Four #48 9.0 was alotted 756 points in the Fantastic Four set type. In the Silver Surfer set type it registers 1000 points. Is there some reason for the significant difference or has anyone even noticed?
  9. Crazy Canuck
    I just picked up the greatest Hulk vs Thing Issue!
    Fantastic Four #12 maybe one of the greatest silver age issues period. To top that, it is the greatest Hulk vs Thing battle and the first time they meet. I purchased this issue raw and I'm happy with the grade received. Cover is in spectacular shape with good gloss. Nice specimen from the Big Apple Collection.

  10. Crazy Canuck

    Dear Red

    By Crazy Canuck,

    Love your Greeny FF's!
    Red you have a very special collection full of beautiful Green River pedigree's. I myself, am mainly an FF collector, and I'm only familiar with the FF registry sets. Other than your Greenies Red, I think Captain Tripps and CGC World are your competitors for the most pedigree's of an individual type. Captain Tripps, well, we all know what his set is all about, but CGC World has a collection full of beautiful White Mountains. I'm a late comer into the world of pedigree's, but I am very proud of my 18 assorted pedigree's in my silver age Yancy Street Collection!
  12. Crazy Canuck
    The Yancy Street Collection is somewhat complete!
    For the past 4 years I have laboured hard attempting to collect the Lee/Kirby FF issues 1-102 and annuals 1 thru 7. I have also attempted to collect each of these issues with a pedigree designation without breaking the bank. As many of you may know FF pedigree issues do not come up for sale often and many can be well out of my own price range.
    I have amassed 32 or so FF pedigree books both raw and CGC copies through various sites. Although the collection is not complete by issue count, I feel the collection is complete for the various number of pedigree's it contains. I have every major silver age pedigree designation except maybe a curator copy. I personally have never seen a FF curator copy to this day.
    My most recent purchases have allowed me to achieve this sense of completeness for myself. These purchases were FF 38 White Mountain (thanks CGC-World), FF 44 Green River and FF 88 Northland!
  13. Crazy Canuck
    The list is based on desirability, rarity, page quality, grades, availability in no particular order and my own personal opinion!
    1. White Mountain
    2. Curator
    3. Pacific Coast
    4. Green River
    5. Mass. Copy
    6. Boston
    7. Northland
    8. Rocky Mountain
    9. Western Penn
    10. Winnipeg
    11. Bowling Green
    12. Oakland
    13. Bethlehem
    14. Ohio
    15. Mile High II
    16. Big Apple
    17. Circle 8
    18. Cosmic Aeroplane
    19. Mohawk Valley
    20. Don Rosa
    21. Salida- no superhereos
    **Input or opinions welcome!