Frisco Larson

Wings to Wings

FH pulp for Spring '48 to FH comic Spring '48

Yellow to yellow.

Seaweed to Miracle Weed

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 ...

Groot to a possible cousin?

Jr. flying towards Sivana to Sr. flying by the Empire State Building

Hooded baddies to hooded baddies.

I'm by no means an expert on that collection, but I do remember hearing that the stamp stops at a certain point in the collection and that the collection goes beyond that stoppage. Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable about this collection will chime in and provide more details about when that store stamp stops.

Oh no, such sad news. I never met her but had heard about from fellow collectors, one of which was on the same path of building a complete DC library. RIP dear lady.

Two Hooded Baddies in black to one hooded baddie in black with a "Pilgrim friend" enjoying some light reading?!?!

Lone hooded baddie to lone hooded baddie.

I'd agree that the backstory played a role in a pedigree designation, but in the early days I think it was mostly seeing the fresh, clean comics that sent collectors searching out copies from that same source, not having been used to seeing pristine examples with blazing colors, white pages and that tight, bouncy feel of an uncirculated comic.

My low grade La Prensa copy for comparison.

I thought you'd always root for Groot?

Contender for lowest, my first ever copy, which I was lucky to get back a few years ago.

Almost twins.

I was just looking thru the upcoming auction and wondered if maybe some of those comics were yours. There are some VERY high-grade PHM books starting tonight!

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.

Well that just makes if even BETTER!!! Keeps it in our little thread family!

What lurks behind the Beehive? to "The Man in the Beehive!"

I also had no copy of this one, so this lil copy fits the bill, and does it pretty inexpensively!

This is an upgrade, but I don't really want to let go of the under copy because it's just so dang cool!!!

A few new additions on the way! I had no American copy of this one, only a low grade La Prensa copy.