tth2

Someone could put the wheels in motion...

Here are scans of my five Mystery in Space comics from the Dallas Stephens collection:

huge fan of the PC books with the original sticker on the case...I only have two images saved of the three i own. My Bethlehem copy is from '66 and it just has a date stamp.

Pacific Coast

They're real, and they're magnificent! 

#91

I think it varies greatly depending on which era you're referring to. The Edgar Church collection I was discussing dated between roughly 1937 to 1957. As far as I know, the back issues he purchased were from those early days in his collecting. I wouldn't think there would be many places to acquire back issues in 1937, certainly not like there would be say from the 70s forward. Also, in regard to the Church collection, the back issues he bought looked to be very recent back issues, I'd guess within a year of them being on the newsstands. Those back issues were stored the same way as the comics he purchased new and over the decades that they were stored, their state of preservation was essentially the same as his new comics. In short, the fact that they were purchased second hand, likely only a few months after publication, doesn't seem to negatively impact their value much, unless significant defects are present. It's also worth mentioning that any secondhand comics he purchased were only a tiny fraction of his overall collection. 
 
When it comes to Silver Age on forward, I doubt there'd be any way to know if the original owner filled in any missed issues after the fact. If that detail is monumentally important to a skeptical collector, then maybe pedigree comics aren't their best option. I've known collectors who LOVE pedigrees and the back stories that go with them. I've known collectors who essentially balked at pedigrees, not caring at ALL who previously owned them or how they came to survive. Then there are people in the middle who just want high-grade comics and if it's a pedigree, that's fine with them, but they don't seek them out. There are SO many ways to collect ... 

Also so that people didn't know which rare issues you needed and hold you hostage, I suspect.

From all reports, it appears that Christine was a very nice and unassuming person.  I remember being disappointed by Ian Levine's frequent efforts in his board posts to denigrate Christine and her collection when he was on the verge of completing his own set.  I guess his competitiveness got the best of him.

Here’s the Scoop article linked above. There is no doubt she was very savvy in her collecting. As a collector all she deserves from us is 
 
      Search Exclusive: Collector Amasses Complete DC Collection A private collector in the northeastern United States has accomplished the astounding and unprecedented feat of assembling a complete collection of every comic book ever published by DC Comics.
For those of you who have trouble visualizing the enormity of the task, that’s over 30,000 individual comic books!
Amazingly, with the exception of a small handful of items toward the end of the quest, this collection was achieved the old-fashioned way with a lot of legwork and mileage, scouring comic shows and stores large and small from coast to coast. Almost no Internet usage was involved in assembling this amazing collection.
The collector, who has chosen to remain anonymous at this time, started on the road to this accomplishment in 1970, when it was decided on whim, to accumulate all the back issues of all the DC superhero comics. Subsequently at the San Diego ComiCon (as it was then known) in 1987, with the superhero titles virtually completed, the collector had reached a crossroads.
“What do I do once my primary collecting goal has been achieved?” was the basic gist of the discussion, a situation many collectors have faced.
At the urging of the staff of the now-defunct Sparkle City Comics, the collector chose to expand the parameters of the collection to include all of the comic books ever published by DC.
For 5 years, until its dissolution in 1992, Sparkle City served as the main conduit, funneling vintage DC Comics into the collector’s hands. With their heavy annual show schedule, the company was able to easily connect with other dealers and private collectors throughout the country in order acquire needed items.
A dedicated band of fellow collectors and other supportive dealers also actively participated in the hunt over the years. It was common practice at the beginning of a major convention for the hunters to congregate at the Sparkle City table for copies of the latest want list update, before fanning out into the dealers room.
In early 1992, Mike Wilbur of Diamond International Galleries and Alan Grobman (both then of Sparkle City) entered the ranks of the select few who have personally seen the collection. They spent three weeks that winter at the collector's house. Day after day, from morning until after midnight, they flipped through a seemingly endless succession of boxes, as they checked, verified and toke notes.
Complete runs of Action, Adventure, All Star, Batman, Detective, More Fun, Sensation, Superman, and other titles both well-known and obscure passed through their hands as the weeks progressed. From early rarities like Big Book of Fun Comics and New Fun Comics up through the Golden and Silver Ages to then-current titles, the main core of the DC collection was there. All that remained at that point was to finish filling in the fringes with the rest of the war, western, romance, mystery, and humor titles. Ongoing new releases were covered through a long-standing arrangement with a local comic shop.
“It was an almost surreal experience,” Wilbur said, “just box after box of books that most collectors can only dream of seeing.”
Among the more esoteric items in the collection is the two-volume set of Cancelled Comics Cavalcade, published by DC in 1978. With a print run of only 35 copies, these books contain stories left over following the infamous “DC Implosion.” Printed for copyright purposes, these were distributed internally to creators whose work it featured. The collector’s copy was acquired from The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide’s publisher Bob Overstreet. Included with the books is a cover letter to Overstreet from then-DC Editor Mike Gold, detailing the information for the Guide.
“I remember [the collector] spent a lot of time visiting when we were still down in Tennessee,” recalled Overstreet, “I sold [the collector] an Action Comics #1 and a few other things.”
The almost final book in the collection was the romance title Girls’ Love Stories #56, a nothing-in-particular issue of a nothing-special title that was simply frustratingly difficult to locate. Acquired in late 2002, this was thought to be the end of the long road, until the discovery of the obscure Golden Age DC comic, the Fat and Slat Joke Book. Once this additional piece became known, a copy was acquired within a couple of months, in early 2003.
Since the assembly of the collection was primarily a labor of love and not a search for glory, the collector had chosen to avoid the limelight. However, in light of the historical importance of the achievement, the collector did acknowledge to Scoop that “The First Complete DC Collection” was a reality.
The collector would like to extend personal thanks to Joe Vereneault of JHV Associates, Alan Grobman, Gene Carpenter of All-American Comics, fellow collector Mike D’Alessandro and Wilbur, with special mentions also going to Joe Mannarino, John Verzyl of Comic Heaven, Mike Goldman of Motor City Comics, Ron Pussell of Redbeard’s Book Den, Harley Yee, Richard Evans of Bedrock City Comics, Rob Ronin, Michelle Nolan, and Nostalgia Zone of Minnesota for their assistance, support, and encouragement.

I had posted the link earlier to the Scoop article on Chris's passing in my first posting.
It looks like Scoop did some expansions and corrections (like the Buzzy 70 comic and Joe V.'s JHV company).
Scoop also, in the updated article, links the original article they did back in 2007 when Chris completed the DC collection (see "Editor's Note" in the article)
Here is the updated Scoop article:
https://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1012?articleID=274513
 

The converse, though, was some dealers listing books in their catalogs merely as a pedigree with no grade, as if that should be all a potential buyer should need to know.  As I found out the hard way, just because a SA book was a "White Mountain" did not mean that it was a NM book.

There were some strong prices for the two Gulacy MOKF pages in the just-completed weekly auction, considering that Shang-Chi really doesn't feature on either page.  But both pages are beautiful, peak Gulacy.

Many of the Bethlehms from the 10 cent era are quite exceptional, and I'm pleased that I have as many as I do.  Part of the expansion of pedigrees was due to collectors like you who enjoy a backstory and commonality of a OO collection, but also due to sharp marketing on the part of dealers trying to extract more money for their wares.
The introduction of the Gold label makes it even more likely that SA and BA pedigrees continue to be sought after.  When there are 17 copies of a book in 9.6, only a few would be pedigrees that would have that classy, shiny new label to indicate how special they are.

They were released back into the wild for others to enjoy.

As described above, the pedigree term DID first widely become used in reference to the Edgar Church collection. It's uniformly (but not completely) high-grade state of preservation had collectors seeking out comics from that specific collection. An aspect of that pedigree not touched on in the above post is that the comics were purchased by the same person and ALMOST exclusively purchased new (Edgar DID fill in some second-hand back issues where he could). He seems to have frequented the same newsstands, as many of the early to mid 40s comics display an identical handwritten date code that has become an easy indicator in identifying a Church copy. This is an aspect of pedigree comics that add to their allure. Often times these pedigrees have identifying marks, codes, store stamps, etc... that make them interesting beyond their high-grade state of preservation. Seeing a stack of Bethlehem comics with that very distinctive E. J. KERY Kodak - Film - Magazine Shop stamp on the back cover is just plain COOL to most collectors that I know. SO, it's often not just being high-grade, but the fact that the comics were purchased by the same person or persons and any unifying markings tying them together as a collection that propel many of us to seek them out. As in every aspect of life, people should choose their own path. If you like pedigrees, buy them. If you like high-grade but couldn't give a rip about who bought 'em and where, that's cool too. 

A long-winded reply:
The pedigree designation came about because of the Church collection.  The Church copies were sold at multiples of Guide, with the justification that not only were they high grade, but that their state of preservation, in all aspects, was so far superior to the typical copies that survived.  A few other collections were found that were also noticeably superior in preservation.  However, over time, that pedigree standard was loosened and some interesting and high grade collections were given the pedigree designation without being superior.
When it comes to late SA and BA, it is hard to see that any pedigree is anywhere near as superior to the standard in the same way is true of Church and a few other of the premier pedigrees. 
For example, back in the 90s, A-1 Comics purchased an original owner late SA and BA collection that included every DC.  The gloss and pages for those was superb and yielded loads of highest graded copies.  When I slabbed 100 page giants they received a handful of 9.8s and more than 30 9.6s.  None of the pedigrees from this time period appear to me to better than what I've seen on those copies.  I believe there are many other collections out of there similar quality to pedigrees.
So, while there may be some "best of" copies from late SA/BA pedigrees, I personally don't think the ped designation, by itself, matters because I don't think they are that special.  YMMV.
 

My copies:


Neither is a pedigree to my knowledge.

Ian's is labeled the "The DC Universe Collection." So "The Earth Prime Collection" would be a cool related name.

That's a beauty! 

Pacific Coast is usually my go to pedigree for mid- to late-SA DCs that don't otherwise seem to exist in 9.6 or above.

I would like my winners prize to be a date with Terry, next Sunday please 

This lot is from 1953:
http://www.oldsundaycomics.com/pics9/S1430-0579.jpg

You can see the top left corner lamp to the far left of the second row down.
So it's 10-25-1953 @Garry Ghoul 

They do cross reference the CGC numbering/publishing date in the census