DST

I have a few  but this is by far my favorite and rarest white pager I’ve been offered WAY above market value by several collectors for it, so I think it’s fair to say that it’s PQ influences it’s value.  

N(ever)FS 

4 hours ago, Math Teacher said:

Just out of curiosity, how did this project start? Was this grade and PQ in your plan from the get-go, or did you suddenly notice that you had 4 - 5 books in this grade and PQ, and then decide that you wanted ASM #1 - #20 to be alike?

Here is my long-winded answer if you’ll indulge me:

 I started collecting when I was 7 years old just before the summer of 1988 when ASM300 first came out.  Over the next 13 years I put any allowance, odd job savings and gift money into comics.  I built up a pretty decent collection for my age (especially thanks to yahoo auctions in the late 90s and early 00s) that amounted to a complete 4-400 ASM run as well as other misc Silver and Bronze Age keys.  In 2002 in my junior year of college I stopped collecting.  After a 13 year break from the hobby in 2015 I sold off my raw collection through eBay and my local LCS to buy an engagement ring (which my now wife of 4 years still happily wears).  I had a decent amount of money left over, and being around the hobby again even just to sell, rekindled my passion to collect.  The hobby had changed a lot with the rise of grading companies and so had my interest.  No longer looking to read all the stories I did as a kid, I was now drawn to the display aspect of books.  So in 2017 I started on my second chapter of collecting, this time exclusively slabs, which I found to be really cool.  To justify spending the big money these books were commanding, I wanted to collect books with the highest eye appeal and preservation possible.  So I sought books with great centering, straight wraps, bright colors, and also the highest designated interior page quality I could find.  I found that collecting books with a lower page quality left me with a deep level of dissatisfaction.  I still appreciated books with all different pages qualities but I only felt satisfied when I bought white page books.  I realized this feeling pretty earlier on so my OCD took over and I switched focus to collect exclusively white page books.  That’s pretty much where my OCD begins and ends.

With this 5.0 project, I have no attachment or deep rooted obsession with books in this grade.  Sure I’d love to be able to afford all high grade books, but mid grade books were simply more attainable and I could collect a lot more of them a lot faster at this price point and keep my collecting momentum and motivation going.  My keeper copy of ASM 1 was originally graded 4.5 and I had it pressed and it came back a 5.0.  Coincidentally it matched a couple of other 5.0 books I had in the 1-20 run (namely 4 and 14 at the time).  So to short answer your question now (too late ), I started this project because I had a handful of books in the same grade.  At this point I was fortunate enough to procure an AF15 4.0 WP, but it wasn’t  until I had an opportunity to upgrade to a 5.0 WP that this project really gained steam.  As you all know white page AF15s are few and far between, so it was a pure coincidence that I was able to upgrade to a 5.0 that matched my ASM1 and a couple of other key ASMs.  Some of the most unique and impressive collections I’ve seen have been built linearly in the same grade.  I appreciated the level of commitment and time it must’ve taken to find all these books in the same grade.  So I got the cool idea to try to collect all of the early ASM keys between issues 1-20 all in the same grade and take it a step further in the same page quality since that was something I was already doing thanks to my OCD.  I started going after the original Sinister Six first appearance issues first and then filled in the rest.  In November 2019 I achieved my goal and had collected issues AF15, annual 1, ASM 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 20 all in grade 5.0 with white pages.  I thought I was done at that point but after a couple of months my focus changed after getting priced out of bigger keys in other titles,.  I still enjoyed collecting and really enjoyed putting together those ASM keys so I decided to make it my collecting mission to fill in the gaps and finish off a complete run.  Now that I’m down to one book, and it’s been so hard to find, I’m pretty much willing to do whatever and pay whatever it takes to finish this project off.  From my perspective, and I could be wrong, but I don’t think there are too many collections out there like mine where people went the extra mile to try to match their books in not only the same grade but the same page quality as well.  I think it’s quite an accomplishment and one I’m quite proud of being on the cusp of completing.

Anyway, thanks to you all for letting me ramble

6 hours ago, MGsimba77 said:

Oh yeah I agree! I totally get it as I'm much the same way. There are circumstances where I can envision myself paying more for a certain book that's chronically miswraped if it was a lower grade but a great looking copy. 

I just found the desire for cgc to downgrade a bit unique. I don't think I ever heard of that. But anyway I can certainly relate to being bothered by details. It comes with the territory. 

When I’ve been searching for a book for over a year and have never actually seen the book I’m looking for in the grade with the page quality I’m looking for, yeah... I’m willing to take some outside the box chances.  Nothing to lose; if it doesn’t work out I just resell it.  And another thing, wanting a downgrade has nothing to do with OCD.  Collecting strictly white pages does for sure, but the linear 5.0 run I’m putting together is just a fun project it wasn’t born out of OCD.  When I’ve already come this far, maybe this picture will help you understand why I’d want to downgrade a 5.5 when I only need 1 more book to complete a full 1-20 run (plus AF15 and annual 1) in the same grade and page quality.

On another note, probably not the best idea to openly criticize the way someone chooses to collect.  Next time I’d keep those thoughts to yourself.  Or if you’re so baffled by the concept, PM me instead.  There’s plenty of remarks I could make about your books, even in high grade, but I instead choose to respect that people collect for different reasons and I appreciate when other people are proud of their books and want to show them off and that’s what a forum space like this is all about (or at least should be).

Here is some green (goblin) 17 on the 17th

1 hour ago, piper said:

Did you finish 1-20 yet?

Only ASM7 left to find.  Hopefully sooner rather than later 

Ill play 

In terms of historical significance X-men 1, no question.  It’s definitely the bigger key, and I’m a Spidey enthusiast.  It has everything going for it including the creation of probably the most popular Marvel team (at least of the 80s, 90s and early 00s), and all those first appearances most notably one of the most iconic villains in Magneto.  IMO it’s a top 3 Marvel SA key.

ASM1 is definitely a big key in its own right launching the most successful title in the Marvel franchise, but it’s not on X-men 1s level.  

That being said, I’d personally rather own ASM1, but only because Spidey is my favorite superhero.