You know, I can see how collecting could be confusing...

[Shield]

For some reason I was thinking about this before I fell asleep last night. New people with ample amounts of money to spend in the comic book market (particularly pedigrees) could easily be confused by:

 

1. There is both a Windy City AND Chicago Pedigree.

2. There is both a Denver and Mile High (isn't Denver affectionately known as the Mile High City?) pedigree.

3. There are Western Penn, Pennsylvania, and Bethlehem pedigrees.

4. Larson and Carson City.

5. Toledo and Ohio copies.

6. Yakima and Okijama pedigrees.

5. Spokane, Green River, White Mountain, Aurora, Twighlight, Northland, Lost Valley, Mohawk Valley pedigrees. (Quick, can you name where all 8 originated from?

 

Unrestored books get blue labels. Restored get purple. Golden age grading is generally more lenient than silver/modern. Some golden age books can have a very slight amount of glue and/or color touch and still be in the blue holder. A book has been graded a 6.5 with brittle pages. Scotch tape isn't restoration, but archival-safe removable tape is. Action Comics #1 CGC 2.5, and Detective #36 grades.

 

Gentleman...this is why we exist here on these boards. To educate, and to collectively shrug our shoulders sometimes, and to not remember originations of pedigrees that aren't Mile High/San Fransisco/Rockford/Windy City/Denver. Maybe that's just me?

[garthgantu]

Interesting points... I wonder if pedigreed books are as sought after by new collectors and speculators as ultra high grade books? It would seem that to the 'outsider,' a CGC 9.4 non-pedigree and a CGC 9.4 from a pedigree, would appear more or less the same, except that (depending on the pedigree, of course), the pedigreed book might sell for 2x the non-ped.

 

Further to your point about pedigrees, it seems like this confusion, to the extent that it exists, will only get worse, as new pedigrees are discovered and blessed by the powers that be. Given, this is a fairly uncommon occurence, but we're only gonna see more pedigrees in future, not less.

[Aman619]

yeah but one of CGCs strongest influences has been that now a non-pedigree 9.4 sells for MORE than a Pedigree 9.2. Back in the day (what - - three years ago??) both comics were 'NM' but the Pedigree sold for 2 to 3 times guide and the non-pedigree for 1.5 to 2x. CGC has taken a lot of the cachet out of the supposedly unbeatably sweet Pedigree books. Now, with few exceptions (MH) the higher CGC grade is all that counts.

[lou_fine]

yeah but one of CGCs strongest influences has been that now a non-pedigree 9.4 sells for MORE than a Pedigree 9.2. Back in the day (what - - three years ago??) both comics were 'NM' but the Pedigree sold for 2 to 3 times guide and the non-pedigree for 1.5 to 2x. CGC has taken a lot of the cachet out of the supposedly unbeatably sweet Pedigree books. Now, with few exceptions (MH) the higher CGC grade is all that counts.

 

Aman;

 

In complete agreement with you here. I mentioned this to several collectors and dealer friends a few years ago when CGC first started. The named pedigrees, especially the minor ones will carry less and less of a premium as the major pedigree that's going to matter in the long run is the "CGC pedigree".

 

Perfect example over Christmas was when I was able to pick up a 9.2 MH GA classic cover book with white pages for $1,200 (OS NM guide $550) even though a non-pedigree 9.4 copy with cream to off white pages had sold in the Heritage auction back in the summer of 2002 for $2,200. Based upon appearance alone, the MH copy looked brighter and nicer except for a couple of stress lines around the bottom staple. Prior to CGC, the prices would most likely have been reversed.

 

Not sure if I am totally happy about this new trend since I was always intrigued by the stories behind some of these pedigrees and feel that they should carry some type of premium. Time to look for some deals like the one above since I am not willing to pay 83% more for a .2 grading difference and also lose the pedigree and page quality at the same time.

 

 

[rjpb]

 

lou_fine,

If you can now pick up NM Mile Highs with classic covers for only a little more than 2x guide, I would think that would be a trend you would applaud - unless of course you already own more than you're looking for. By the way, how about a post of the book?

[Aman619]

yeah but one of CGCs strongest influences has been that now a non-pedigree 9.4 sells for MORE than a Pedigree 9.2. Back in the day (what - - three years ago??) both comics were 'NM' but the Pedigree sold for 2 to 3 times guide and the non-pedigree for 1.5 to 2x. CGC has taken a lot of the cachet out of the supposedly unbeatably sweet Pedigree books. Now, with few exceptions (MH) the higher CGC grade is all that counts.

 

Aman;

 

In complete agreement with you here. I mentioned this to several collectors and dealer friends a few years ago when CGC first started. The named pedigrees, especially the minor ones will carry less and less of a premium as the major pedigree that's going to matter in the long run is the "CGC pedigree".

 

Perfect example over Christmas was when I was able to pick up a 9.2 MH GA classic cover book with white pages for $1,200 (OS NM guide $550) even though a non-pedigree 9.4 copy with cream to off white pages had sold in the Heritage auction back in the summer of 2002 for $2,200. Based upon appearance alone, the MH copy looked brighter and nicer except for a couple of stress lines around the bottom staple. Prior to CGC, the prices would most likely have been reversed.

 

Not sure if I am totally happy about this new trend since I was always intrigued by the stories behind some of these pedigrees and feel that they should carry some type of premium. Time to look for some deals like the one above since I am not willing to pay 83% more for a .2 grading difference and also lose the pedigree and page quality at the same time.

 

I was surprised this actually came to pass too. It was discussed that Pedigrees would lose status once no-name ('mutts') but higher-graded copies surfaced as a possible affect of CGC, but I refused to believe it, buying into the whole Pedigree thing. But lo and behold, today I would rather have the 9.4 'mutt copy' over the world-famous but 9.2 White Mountain.