Page Quality - How much does it matter?

[sfilosa]

Just wanted to get other board member opinions on Page Quality, and how much affect does it have on your decision to buy a book (and the price you are willing to pay).

 

Several questions:

 

1) Is there a minimum page quality a book has to have for you to even buy it?

 

2) Do you accept lower page quality on older or rarer books?

 

3) Would you pay a premium for a book with White pages as opposed to one with Off-White to White pages and if so, how much more?

 

4) If you buy unslabbed books sight unseen, do you make an effort to determine page quality?

 

I will answer the questions myself to start this off.

 

1) I tend to buy Spuer-Hero Silver-Age books and newer only with Off-White to White Pages.

 

2) I will buy books early than this, (i.e. Pre-Hero Marvel, 50's Horror, GA) with page quality of Cream to Off-White. If the book was very hard to find, I might even accept a Light Tan to Cream page quality.

 

3) Probably wouldn't pay more than 10% extra for White pages. I'm more concerned with the Whiteness of the covers.

 

4) I have no idea of the page quality of most unslabbed books I buy. This actually concerns me because I do believe that certain books (such as Bronze-Age) are not worth nearly as much if they have Cream to Off-White pages. On the other hand, most of the unslabbed books I buy, I don't have any intention of slabbing.

 

 

Any thoughts? Five stars to all who answer seriously (i.e. a graemlin doens't count, greggy).

[Dave_Hennen]

I'm a silver age and bronze age buyer for the most part. I usually don't mind if a book has off-white to tan pages but when the paper is brittle and crumbly it turns me off to a book. That's especially true if I'm buying a book for myself, occasionally I'll speculate on books I think are value priced and then I'll be a little more picky if the page quality is a noticeable problem

 

dave h

[SilverAgeGuy]

OK...

 

1) Yes, for silver age books I wont go below Off White page quality. Most important to me however, is the color brightness and freshness of the cover. Then comes paper quality and QP.

 

2) No. If I were collecting Golden age... maybe.

 

3) Yes. Maybe 5 or 10%

 

4) No. These would be non-key bronze or modern, which I don't buy slabbed or plan to slab.

[drbanner]

I'm much more concerned with the cover color quality than the page quality, especially on golden and silver age books. A book with off-white/cream pages but a shiny, bright cover is fine by me. I have one Golden Age book with "slightly brittle pages", but the cover has great color and white whites!

 

I try not to pick up bronze with cream or lower pages. And yes, I'll pay a little more (10-15%) for a book with white pages. Most sellers of raw books don't mention page quality in their ebay listings at all (plug - I do!), and I don't typically inquire unless it's an expensive book.

[Zanarkand]

Ok, my 2 cents...

 

1) Is there a minimum page quality a book has to have for you to even buy it?

 

Yes. Brittle is right out unless it's a major key major cheap. Even then, only to flip.

 

2) Do you accept lower page quality on older or rarer books?

 

Gerber 9s and 10s where there just plain ain't any.

 

3) Would you pay a premium for a book with White pages as opposed to one with Off-White to White pages and if so, how much more?

 

Nope. According to the OWL card, pages that appear to be pretty clearly tan to me are called "off-white". So everything I own has a higher official PQ than I think it does anyway.

 

4) If you buy unslabbed books sight unseen, do you make an effort to determne page quality?

 

Yes, for books older than about 1960 I'd be concerned about brittleness.

[osborn_fr]

>1) Is there a minimum page quality a book has to have for you to even buy it?

 

Yes, Off-white pages.

 

>2) Do you accept lower page quality on older or rarer books?

 

Yes.

 

>3) Would you pay a premium for a book with White pages as opposed to one with Off-White to White pages and if so, how much more?

 

Not a premium, but surely 25% more.

 

>4) If you buy unslabbed books sight unseen, do you make an effort to determine page quality?

 

to buy unslabbed books ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harveyfan323]

For slabbed books, page quality means nothing to me...absolutely nothing, except maybe a consideration as to resale value. For loose books, it means little unless the pages were really yellowed and brittle.

[sfilosa]

So far, lots of good answers and five stars to all (of course I had already given five stars to some of you).

 

What I can extract so far is

 

1) For those who really care about page quality, Off-White is the limit.

2) Many have said that the whiteness of the cover is more important than the whiteness of the pages.

 

Amazingly enough, I agree with both of these points.

 

Any more thoughts from high-grade, big spending collectors / flippers.

 

 

 

 

[uluru]

3) Would you pay a premium for a book with White pages as opposed to one with Off-White to White pages and if so, how much more?

 

Yes,i would pay more for a comic graded whith white pages;for example,if a comic is graded 9.4 whith off white pages,i would grade it myself like a 9.3 comic.

[sfilosa]

Yes,i would pay more for a comic graded whith white pages;for example,if a comic is graded 9.4 whith off white pages,i would grade it myself like a 9.3 comic.

 

 

Makes some sense.

 

Which actually leads to another question.

 

Would it matter as much if a book was a CGC VF with Cream to Off-White Pages compared to being a CGC NM with Cream to Off-White Pages?

 

In other words;

 

There is a premium attached to NM books, so it would tend to make sense that if you are paying a premium to have a book with very little defects, you would also want very high page quality. And therefore if you are willing to accept a CGC VF, a book with a few more defects, than you might be willing to accept slightly lower page quality.

 

Anyone agree with this?

 

 

 

 

[localshop]

In answer to the questions:

 

1) Is there a minimum page quality a book has to have for you to even buy it?

Off-white.

 

2) Do you accept lower page quality on older or rarer books?

I don't collect them, so I don't really give this much thought. However, I am planning to get into reader copies of EC books, so I might consider the issue then.

 

3) Would you pay a premium for a book with White pages as opposed to one with Off-White to White pages and if so, how much more?

That distinction doesn't bother me, so 0%

 

4) If you buy unslabbed books sight unseen, do you make an effort to determine page quality?

Yes, via e-mail to the seller.

 

[musicmeta]

 

1) Is there a minimum page quality a book has to have for you to even buy it?

Yes, I'm kind of a PQ freak so off-white is about the lowest I will go.

 

2) Do you accept lower page quality on older or rarer books?

 

If I have too, but would prefer to wait and hope another copy comes up with better PQ

 

3) Would you pay a premium for a book with White pages as opposed to one with Off-White to White pages and if so, how much more?

 

Oh Yes, about 10-30% more depending how hard it is to get the book with that grade and PQ

 

4) If you buy unslabbed books sight unseen, do you make an effort to determine page quality?

I do my best but it's hard even with an owl card.

 

[uclapeterg]

1) off-white pages (although like you, if it's been difficult to find a book, i will go to crm to O/W as was the case with Fantastic Four 18 I bought)

 

2) Theoretical yes, I guess, but I don't buy anthing prior to Silver Age

 

3) Probably 10-15%, but like you, I care about the cover's brightness. I also ask for scans of the back cover (which are usually white) to get some indication of the page quality (especially on lower PQ books)

 

4) If it's a book that's more than say $50 and people don't mention PQ in their description, I will most certainly ask.

[Rip]

1) Is there a minimum page quality a book has to have for you to even buy it?

 

Yes, but I'm more forgiving on older books and a good price. Watch out for brittle books.

Or fire damage

 

2) Do you accept lower page quality on older or rarer books?

 

Yes but same as number 1

 

3) Would you pay a premium for a book with White pages as opposed to one with Off-White to White pages and if so, how much more?

 

Yes but the funny thing is I'll pay an even higher premium many times on a non slabbed book.

CGC many times has problems with their page grading. If I can see it for myself I'll be more willing to pay that extra 10% or so.

 

 

4) If you buy unslabbed books sight unseen, do you make an effort to determine page quality?

 

Sometimes...

 

[Aces]

1) Is there a minimum page quality a book has to have for you to even buy it?

 

Yes if it is a bigger $$$ book that will be in my collection for years to come.

Cream to off-white is generaly the lowest I'd go. But if I could get a great deal on a fully creamed copy I'd consider it. -I collect early Silver Marvels btw-

 

2) Do you accept lower page quality on older or rarer books?

 

Umm... I think I answered that.

 

3) Would you pay a premium for a book with White pages as opposed to one with Off-White to White pages and if so, how much more?

 

Yes. Depends on how high on my want list the book is.

*Got an FF 12 in GVG you are looking to sell?*

 

4) If you buy unslabbed books sight unseen, do you make an effort to determine page quality?

 

Yes. Insides always matter. I buy stuff to read mostly.

 

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

Put it this way......

 

There was a X-MEN 108 CGC 9.4 that was just listed on Ebay.

There was a BIN of $90 .

The book had COW pages.....

 

I'm a HUGE Byrne fan and the QP looked good....

 

I WAS NOT THE ONE THAT BOUGHT THAT BOOK

 

Nuff said....

[DiceX]

Put it this way......

 

There was a X-MEN 108 CGC 9.4 that was just listed on Ebay.

There was a BIN of $90 .

The book had COW pages.....

 

I'm a HUGE Byrne fan and the QP looked good....

 

I WAS NOT THE ONE THAT BOUGHT THAT BOOK

 

Nuff said....

 

COW hater!

[greggy]

Just wanted to get other board member opinions on Page Quality, and how much affect does it have on your decision to buy a book (and the price you are willing to pay).

 

Several questions:

 

1) Is there a minimum page quality a book has to have for you to even buy it?

 

2) Do you accept lower page quality on older or rarer books?

 

3) Would you pay a premium for a book with White pages as opposed to one with Off-White to White pages and if so, how much more?

 

4) If you buy unslabbed books sight unseen, do you make an effort to determine page quality?

 

I will answer the questions myself to start this off.

 

1) I tend to buy Spuer-Hero Silver-Age books and newer only with Off-White to White Pages.

 

2) I will buy books early than this, (i.e. Pre-Hero Marvel, 50's Horror, GA) with page quality of Cream to Off-White. If the book was very hard to find, I might even accept a Light Tan to Cream page quality.

 

3) Probably wouldn't pay more than 10% extra for White pages. I'm more concerned with the Whiteness of the covers.

 

4) I have no idea of the page quality of most unslabbed books I buy. This actually concerns me because I do believe that certain books (such as Bronze-Age) are not worth nearly as much if they have Cream to Off-White pages. On the other hand, most of the unslabbed books I buy, I don't have any intention of slabbing.

 

 

Any thoughts? Five stars to all who answer seriously (i.e. a graemlin doens't count, greggy).

 

1) For CGC books, I have bought one COW book but it was a harder to find book in high grade. With raw books, I have bought books that turned out to have tanning on them! Since I mainly buy bronze DCs, it's unlikely to find them with tanning. So...for CGC books for my real personal collection, OW is the lowest usually.

 

2) Yes, I will accept lower grade quality.

 

3) I would pay a premium subject to the structural nature of the book. PQ is not the only consideration. I have sold books with higher PQ and kept ones with lowere PQ because the structure on the lower PQ one was much better. However, all things equal, I would pay some premium depending on the book.

 

4) Never really bought any books sight unseened since my pre-eBay days. No, wasn't really a concern at that time. I still don't really ask!

[PovertyRow]

1) Is there a minimum page quality a book has to have for you to even buy it?

Cream to OW is the USUSAL minimum.

 

2) Do you accept lower page quality on older or rarer books?

Yes, some books are the exception to the rule.

 

3) Would you pay a premium for a book with White pages as opposed to one with Off-White to White pages and if so, how much more?

I never really considered the concept of paying a specific premium for white. All I can say here is, that when I look through the precode horror books, page quality is as much a factor as cover quality. White pages would definitely persuade me to pay more - but how much more depnds on the book and also the state of the cover. [/i]

 

4) If you buy unslabbed books sight unseen, do you make an effort to determine page quality?

Without question, and if the reply is not to my satisfaction (waffling, explanations etc I will not buy.)

 

 

[sfilosa]

Very good answers. I gave five stars to everyone.