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When is One a High Grade Collector?

Started by rob_allan,

162 posts in this topic

rob_allan

rob_allan

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Posted

Alright, I'm a fan of labels. I think labels are a sociological shorthand that gives equal parts fact and hyperbole, sometimes impossible to separate. Fun!

 

Anyway, after listening to the Bob Storms interview, I've been thinking. What makes someone a high grade collector? Is it simply monetary investment, the grade of books one goes after, or is there also a knowledge component?

 

I don't consider myself a high grade collector. I do have a major thing for 9.8 copper Spideys. And I'll be the first to admit I thumb my nose at 9.6 Spider-Man books from this era (roughly issue 200 and up.) But I always thought this was just a weird fetish aspect of my collection (no jokes please that's NOT what I mean) . When I listened to Bob's interview, though, I'm rethinking it.

 

I'm definitely aware of high-grade transactions and have many friends who are indeed high grade collectors (bigtime.) I think I have more knowledge by far than the average collector, though probably not quite as much as other boardies. And while I spend what is a comparatively small amount on comics compared to other boardies, it probably does come out more than the "average" collector.

 

So I don't know. When is someone a high grade collector? What does it mean? I think we can identify people in the extreme, but I think there's a huge grey area between the average joe collector and someone like myself. And then there's that upper crust tier too.

 

Thoughts?

 

-Rob-

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General Zod

General Zod

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Money doesn't make a book or collection high grade. It's the minimum condition per age (Golden, Silver, Bronze, Copper and Modern) that determines whether the collector is high grade. We have Modern Age high grade collectors and we have Golden Age collectors here. The amount of money spent per book is vastly different between those two hypothetical types, but they're all after the best books.

 

It's the minimum grade per age that's a point of contention. Some say 8.5 is the bottom of high grade. Some say it's 7.5. Some say it's 9.4. Some say it's 9.6. That's all relative to the age the book lies within and absolutely entirely subjective. Most people on this board have far higher standards than the average public collector, and yes, that's what sets this board apart, because many of us tend to chase the highest possible grades.

 

Knowledge doesn't really mean a collector is "high grade". Just knowledgable or well-versed in any given area of comics.

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trmoore54

trmoore54

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Anything 9.0 or above for Silver Age at least 'cause that's the first (or lowest if you will) grade with NM in the description...

 

Certainly 8.0 and above in GA I would think...

 

Higher in Bronze, Copper and Modern...

 

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rob_allan

rob_allan

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I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Put the beer down, wait an hour and try again.

 

You're just here because you do a search for "joe collector" all the time and are disappointed this thread isn't about you.

 

:foryou:

 

There's two threads for the Bob Storms interview. I'll link to them in a sec, making an extremely gratuitous 3rd thread which was not my intent, but will make this a better thread since apparently I'm making no sense tonight anyway. lol

 

-Rob-

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rob_allan

rob_allan

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Alright let's try this...

 

My wife owns 7 9.8 Anita Blake comics. The rest of her collection is mostly 9.0 or better moderns. Is she a high grade collector because she has 7 high grade books and she got 2 CGC certificates? I don't think so...

 

Then lets take cgcworld who collects White Mountains. I'd say he's clearly a high grade collector.

 

Those two are obvious. But the only real difference in the parameters of my wife and cgcworld is that he collects higher-dollar, older, pedigree books. But theoretically those books are in roughly the same shape as the relatively low-value (I won't say wortheless) books my wife owns.

 

So it's not just a question of what you collect, I don't think. I also don't think it's JUST a question of value.

 

So I think that there's a general concensus of what makes someone a HG collector, but I don't know what it is.

 

If this post makes no sense, I'm sorry. I'm not even drinking. Maybe I should start.

 

-Rob-

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JiveTurkeyMoFo

JiveTurkeyMoFo

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A high grade collector is someone who consistently buys the best grade book he can afford and is continually upgrading previously purchased books as he is seldom satisfied with what he has in his collection.

 

Unless he is a HG GA collector, and then buying an 8.5 or 9.0 leaves him more then content to pursue a different book since there isn't an endless supply of "potentialized" books to keep upgrading to. (thumbs u

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General Zod

General Zod

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Alright let's try this...

 

My wife owns 7 9.8 Anita Blake comics. The rest of her collection is mostly 9.0 or better moderns. Is she a high grade collector because she has 7 high grade books and she got 2 CGC certificates? I don't think so...

 

Then lets take cgcworld who collects White Mountains. I'd say he's clearly a high grade collector.

 

Those two are obvious. But the only real difference in the parameters of my wife and cgcworld is that he collects higher-dollar, older, pedigree books. But theoretically those books are in roughly the same shape as the relatively low-value (I won't say wortheless) books my wife owns.

 

So it's not just a question of what you collect, I don't think. I also don't think it's JUST a question of value.

 

So I think that there's a general concensus of what makes someone a HG collector, but I don't know what it is.

 

If this post makes no sense, I'm sorry. I'm not even drinking. Maybe I should start.

 

-Rob-

 

If you're going to make it more about value, then throw out the label of "high grade collector" and use something like "discerning high brow collector".

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Davenport

Davenport

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Alright, I'm a fan of labels. I think labels are a sociological shorthand that gives equal parts fact and hyperbole, sometimes impossible to separate. Fun!

 

Anyway, after listening to the Bob Storms interview, I've been thinking. What makes someone a high grade collector? Is it simply monetary investment, the grade of books one goes after, or is there also a knowledge component?

 

I don't consider myself a high grade collector. I do have a major thing for 9.8 copper Spideys. And I'll be the first to admit I thumb my nose at 9.6 Spider-Man books from this era (roughly issue 200 and up.) But I always thought this was just a weird fetish aspect of my collection (no jokes please that's NOT what I mean) . When I listened to Bob's interview, though, I'm rethinking it.

 

I'm definitely aware of high-grade transactions and have many friends who are indeed high grade collectors (bigtime.) I think I have more knowledge by far than the average collector, though probably not quite as much as other boardies. And while I spend what is a comparatively small amount on comics compared to other boardies, it probably does come out more than the "average" collector.

 

So I don't know. When is someone a high grade collector? What does it mean? I think we can identify people in the extreme, but I think there's a huge grey area between the average joe collector and someone like myself. And then there's that upper crust tier too.

 

Thoughts?

 

-Rob-

I thought the Bob Storms interview was very interesting and a great job all around. (thumbs u

 

One of Bob's comments on HG collectors was "big ego". That clicked with me, seemed like maybe the missing ingredient. I'm not sure how one has a "big ego" for comics. I just know I don't, and maybe that's the reason I could care less about the nano-minutiae that drives the upper grades. (shrug)

 

I think one way to identify the HG collector is if they can relate to what was posted in that CLink thread... 200 issues of Avengers for about a quarter of a million dollars. Not something I can relate to on any level. (It wouldn't be worth a quarter mill for Thor himself to show up and personally take me on a tour of Asgard, the Avenger mansion, and present me with Cap's sheild as a memento. Sorry. Someone else can go and I'll enjoy reading about it. :grin:)

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rob_allan

rob_allan

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Alright let's try this...

 

My wife owns 7 9.8 Anita Blake comics. The rest of her collection is mostly 9.0 or better moderns. Is she a high grade collector because she has 7 high grade books and she got 2 CGC certificates? I don't think so...

 

Then lets take cgcworld who collects White Mountains. I'd say he's clearly a high grade collector.

 

Those two are obvious. But the only real difference in the parameters of my wife and cgcworld is that he collects higher-dollar, older, pedigree books. But theoretically those books are in roughly the same shape as the relatively low-value (I won't say wortheless) books my wife owns.

 

So it's not just a question of what you collect, I don't think. I also don't think it's JUST a question of value.

 

So I think that there's a general concensus of what makes someone a HG collector, but I don't know what it is.

 

If this post makes no sense, I'm sorry. I'm not even drinking. Maybe I should start.

 

-Rob-

 

If you're going to make it more about value, then throw out the label of "high grade collector" and use something like "discerning high brow collector".

 

I wasn't trying to make it about value. But neither my wife, nor myself. considers ourselves high grade collectors. But taking value out of it would clearly make it so. And maybe it is. That's why I asked!

 

-Rob-

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General Zod

General Zod

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I wasn't trying to make it about value. But neither my wife, nor myself. considers ourselves high grade collectors. But taking value out of it would clearly make it so. And maybe it is. That's why I asked!

 

-Rob-

 

I don't think of myself as one either, but show a few of your best books to the average collector and you'll get accolades. Being on this board really skews perspective compared to the rest of the collecting world.

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