Highest Graded Copy / Mile High Copy: Acceptance in a new market

[Action_Collector-migration]

Now that CGC has seen market acceptance and created a new one in a lot of ways I was just curious as to everyones opinion on even this. With the people looking for the highest graded copy now where does that leave the now often lesser graded mile high and gaines #1 copies that once were once the top of their market. How much desirability will they still have in the market in comparison to that say stray crowley that got a .2 higher grade but lacks the same eye appeal?

[murph0]

They were sought out because of their eye quality not always because they were the best grade copies known to exist. I'd guess they're all still highly sought after..esp MH collection as it's probably the most storied collection in comicdom.

 

Brian

[Guest]

I've recently started bidding on Mile Highs that don't even get above 9.0 just to (somewhat afforadably) get my hands on pieces from that collection, so I would definitely say they were still desired books. The Gaines books are as well, although those generally are the nicest copies available.

[blowout]

pedigrees will always be sought out by collectors IMHO, as much for their historical impotrance as their quality.

it is nice for a golden age collector to own a book from the mile high collection, and for a silver age collector to own a book from the white mountain collection.

i don't really think the same kind of 'cache' can be attributed to cgc 9.6 etc.

[fantastic_four]

Condition now wins over pedigree more often than not.

 

If it's a Mile High with eye appeal that's 0.2 less than a non-pedigree and the non-pedigree book also has eye appeal, then the higher graded book wins more often than not, I bet. I'd love to see real stats on this for Golden age; this is sure what I see in Silver age books. Eye appeal factors that Overstreet and CGC don't downgrade much for matter a lot to me and many other high-grade guys. It's interesting you bring up the Gaines copies, because the majority of those I've seen have translucent covers; I really hate that quality. The White Mountains also suffer from that in the Silver age.

 

My favorite pedigrees are Mile High, Curator, and Western Penn. All three of those are mostly free of prominent date stamps/cover writing, white pages, little or no translucency, often very well centered. Absolutely beautiful!

[Action_Collector-migration]

I think they will always definatly have a market. But one thing I've noticed talking to dealers and watching collections of big time deep pocketed collectors is that often they have a deep run of mostly Mile High's (example: All Star run, Detective Comics mile highs that are all reported to be in one collection, Nick Cages Adventure run etc.) I wonder when the dust clears and everyone or almost everyone has graded their higher grade golden age books, if these players and a lot of people will shift toward putting a mutt collection together instead, seeking the highest graded copy. I wish I new more about the history of the coin market, that would be an interesting indicator.

[PovertyRow]

Well, we're looking at an incredibly small percentage of the market that can actually afford these books. And there are definite pedigree collectors out there as well who appreciate the provenance more than a few grade points. So I think things will even out.

[Crowzilla]

My favorite pedigrees are Mile High, Curator, and Western Penn. All three of those are mostly free of prominent date stamps/cover writing,

 

How can you possibly say that about Mile High's when that is one of the things that so sets them apart is the fact that most all of the books until the late 40s have not only arrival dates, but a small number representing the number of copies the newstand got of each issue (an important historical reference as to issue dates and the popularity of books)?

 

[cansecofan]

I think we will always see a few pedigree collections that bring big money. Mile High would be the top collection! This is unless the Mile High is only a CGC 6.5 and someone has a regular copy that is a CGC 9.4 or so. What if someone has a comic that is high grade and the Mile High is only .2 better. What is the regular copy worth???

 

-Adam

[lighthouse]

One of the reasons these comparisons are difficult is that many Mile High collectors have absolutely no interest in sending their comics to CGC. The desire to sell and the desire to upgrade are the only strong reasons for getting these books slabbed, and many HG Golden Age collectors are quite content with the books they have. Why should Dave Anderson slab the Mile High Action 1 if he has no intention of parting with it?

 

Most of the Mile Highs that have been graded at this point are books that were not in the possession of serious collectors. I would venture that even ten years from now, less than a third of the Mile High collection will have made the trip through Sarasota, probably much less than a third.

 

So the question of market acceptance is a tricky one. A sizable portion of the books in question are not currently in the market, and likely won't be for quite some time. And with a commodity as illiquid as high grade Golden Age, you can't really draw accurate conclusions based on the 1% of the market that changes hands...

 

Personally I think you will see a paradigm shift in ten to fifteen years, as collectors of raw Mile Highs die and copies are certified before being sold to the next wave of buyers, buyers who have no experience with raw Mile Highs, only certified ones....

[fantastic_four]

Are you arguing that the markings on the Mile Highs ARE prominent, or did you not notice that qualification in the phrase you quoted?

 

I often have to lean over and hunt for the markings on a scan from a Mile High, even when the scan is two or three times bigger than the book itself. Edgar Church's markings were very neat and unobtrusive on the books I've seen; his writing is smaller and harder to notice than most of the haphazardly-placed store and date stamps that storeowners slapped onto comics.

 

I don't buy any of the Silver pedigrees with markings, but like you said, with Golden Age, you pretty much have to live with it on scores and scores of issues if you're looking for the highest grades. Not that I collect Golden Age, but if I did, the Mile Highs would be MORE than acceptable. I'm still in amazement that they're so pristine and so white.

[aardvark88]

If u check out the Heritage/Nic Cage catalogs, there was some gold fr E Church slabbed at 8.0 or 8.5 side by side to pedigree Rockford of same issue in 9.2. The Church copy blew away the Rockford time & time again by having brighter cover color intensity & fresh interior paper, although grading out numerically less.

[greggy]

I agree. I remembered hearing John Verzyl from Comic Heaven talking about this in San Diego. He says that his buyers will always pay more for the Mile Highs if it is reasonably close in grade to another Pedigree book even if it grades lower. For some reason, he feels that CGC is harsher on the Mile Highs!

[Action_Collector-migration]

It makes me wonder when J Parrino has an inventory of mostly Mile High's. Are these really the better investment? It seems to me that they have quite a demand but I'd be curious if this is true with books that are mile high's but aren't the highest graded copy at the moment. I saw on heritage a mile high action 8.5 restored go for 2 1/2 times NM guide! Looks like demand isn't an issue. Anyway it's late and I'm ready to pass out so I don't know if I'm making complete sense. Happy Thanksgiving and good night everyone.