What are the 5 top Comic Book Pedigrees?

[Straw-Man]

Pacific Coast blows White Mountain away for average preservation quality, page quality, and breadth of material. Pacific Coast is probably the only Silver collection directly comparable to the Church collection--it's massive, spanning Marvel, DC, and other publishers. White Mountain doesn't contain as much material, and the average preservation of each item is slightly lower than Pacific Coast.

 

Plus for the half of collectors who care, Pacific Coast lacks the cover writing found on White Mountains. I own one White Mountain book, and I only bought it because it lacks the cover writing, presumably because it's an annual so the original owner didn't write the year on the cover as he normally does because Marvel already had it printed on there--although I have seen other WM annuals that he did redundantly write the year on for whatever reason. I won't touch the handwritten White Mountains myself.

 

as opposed to g.a. collector's/peds, this is a very different way of thinking. open letter/question to all of you g.a.'ers out there: is there a SINGLE person who would rather an UNcoded mile high, or a larson with the name erased off or a reilly without the stamp on the back? i've never run across one, and am curious.

[rob_react]

Pacific Coast blows White Mountain away for average preservation quality, page quality, and breadth of material. Pacific Coast is probably the only Silver collection directly comparable to the Church collection--it's massive, spanning Marvel, DC, and other publishers. White Mountain doesn't contain as much material, and the average preservation of each item is slightly lower than Pacific Coast.

 

White Mountain runs from the 1950s through the 1970s. For example, there are White Mountain ECs. In the 1960s it includes many publishers beyond Marvel/DC. I don't have numbers handy, but my guess is that it's much larger overall than PC. It just came onto the market much earlier and has slowly trickled out since, so people forget the actual size of it. Jerry was still selling them in the 2000s (I remember a Tomb of Dracula run on eBay, I think)

 

 

[batman_fan]

Pacific Coast blows White Mountain away for average preservation quality, page quality, and breadth of material. Pacific Coast is probably the only Silver collection directly comparable to the Church collection--it's massive, spanning Marvel, DC, and other publishers. White Mountain doesn't contain as much material, and the average preservation of each item is slightly lower than Pacific Coast.

 

Plus for the half of collectors who care, Pacific Coast lacks the cover writing found on White Mountains. I own one White Mountain book, and I only bought it because it lacks the cover writing, presumably because it's an annual so the original owner didn't write the year on the cover as he normally does because Marvel already had it printed on there--although I have seen other WM annuals that he did redundantly write the year on for whatever reason. I won't touch the handwritten White Mountains myself.

 

as opposed to g.a. collector's/peds, this is a very different way of thinking. open letter/question to all of you g.a.'ers out there: is there a SINGLE person who would rather an UNcoded mile high, or a larson with the name erased off or a reilly without the stamp on the back? i've never run across one, and am curious.

 

I personally love the writing. A Larson with the name erased is a huge disappointment same with a Church with the code removed. I know this mindset goes into the Silver-Age as well. Just look at the Green River books, all have date stamps that the collectors love.

[Primetime]

Pacific Coast blows White Mountain away for average preservation quality, page quality, and breadth of material. Pacific Coast is probably the only Silver collection directly comparable to the Church collection--it's massive, spanning Marvel, DC, and other publishers. White Mountain doesn't contain as much material, and the average preservation of each item is slightly lower than Pacific Coast.

 

Plus for the half of collectors who care, Pacific Coast lacks the cover writing found on White Mountains. I own one White Mountain book, and I only bought it because it lacks the cover writing, presumably because it's an annual so the original owner didn't write the year on the cover as he normally does because Marvel already had it printed on there--although I have seen other WM annuals that he did redundantly write the year on for whatever reason. I won't touch the handwritten White Mountains myself.

 

as opposed to g.a. collector's/peds, this is a very different way of thinking. open letter/question to all of you g.a.'ers out there: is there a SINGLE person who would rather an UNcoded mile high, or a larson with the name erased off or a reilly without the stamp on the back? i've never run across one, and am curious.

 

I personally love the writing. A Larson with the name erased is a huge disappointment same with a Church with the code removed. I know this mindset goes into the Silver-Age as well. Just look at the Green River books, all have date stamps that the collectors love.

i like date stamps and unique markings too, so Church codes and Reilly rubber stamps, and Larson sigs add to the "history" of the book for me. That said, I don't own any White Mts, but I prefer the books with the "64" marking on the cover (thumbs u Markings on books seem to have more significance with GA collectors and collections.

[fantastic_four]

Pacific Coast blows White Mountain away for average preservation quality, page quality, and breadth of material. Pacific Coast is probably the only Silver collection directly comparable to the Church collection--it's massive, spanning Marvel, DC, and other publishers. White Mountain doesn't contain as much material, and the average preservation of each item is slightly lower than Pacific Coast.

 

White Mountain runs from the 1950s through the 1970s. For example, there are White Mountain ECs. In the 1960s it includes many publishers beyond Marvel/DC. I don't have numbers handy, but my guess is that it's much larger overall than PC. It just came onto the market much earlier and has slowly trickled out since, so people forget the actual size of it. Jerry was still selling them in the 2000s (I remember a Tomb of Dracula run on eBay, I think)

 

Didn't the White Mountain guy limit his publishers and titles though? I don't know at all which titles he bought other than the Marvels I've seen, but I thought it wasn't anywhere close to all of them like Church did or the Pacific Coast guy did. I've always heard Church bought virtually everything that hit the stands, and I've heard the Pacific Coast guy either did the same or came close to it.

 

Are there many White Mountain DCs?

[rob_react]

Pacific Coast blows White Mountain away for average preservation quality, page quality, and breadth of material. Pacific Coast is probably the only Silver collection directly comparable to the Church collection--it's massive, spanning Marvel, DC, and other publishers. White Mountain doesn't contain as much material, and the average preservation of each item is slightly lower than Pacific Coast.

 

White Mountain runs from the 1950s through the 1970s. For example, there are White Mountain ECs. In the 1960s it includes many publishers beyond Marvel/DC. I don't have numbers handy, but my guess is that it's much larger overall than PC. It just came onto the market much earlier and has slowly trickled out since, so people forget the actual size of it. Jerry was still selling them in the 2000s (I remember a Tomb of Dracula run on eBay, I think)

 

Didn't the White Mountain guy limit his publishers and titles though? I don't know at all which titles he bought other than the Marvels I've seen, but I thought it wasn't anywhere close to all of them like Church did or the Pacific Coast guy did. I've always heard Church bought virtually everything that hit the stands, and I've heard the Pacific Coast guy either did the same or came close to it.

 

Are there many White Mountain DCs?

 

There are all kinds of White Mountains.

 

From the first page of the Heritage "White Mountain" search

 

Action Comics #311 White Mountain pedigree (DC, 1964) CGC NM+ 9.6 Off-white to white pages

 

Uncle Scrooge #11 White Mountain pedigree (Dell, 1955) CGC VF+ 8.5 White pages

 

Jackie Gleason and the Honeymooners #4 White Mountain pedigree (DC, 1957) CGC FN/VF 7.0 White pages

 

The Flash #131 White Mountain pedigree (DC, 1962) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white pages

 

Bullwinkle Mother Moose Nursery Pomes #1 White Mountain pedigree (Dell, 1962) CGC NM 9.4 White pages....

 

Here's one from 1950 (that's how many years before Pacific Coast starts? 12?)

 

Adventures Into the Unknown #14 White Mountain pedigree (ACG, 1950) CGC NM- 9.2 Off-white pages.

 

Here are 26 White Mountains from 1951 just in the Heritage archive

 

Take a look at the early Sotheby's catalogs. They were basically seeded with White Mountains.

 

Pacific Coast books are amazing quality, which is why I rank it higher as a "silver age" pedigree, but White Mountain is a lot more than Silver Age. It stretches from pre-code to the bronze age and runs across publishers and genres.

[tth2]

My understanding is that the WM OO was not a completist like Edgar or the PC OO. His DC purchases, for instance, seemed to be mostly books that had a sci-fi theme. I`m pretty sure he was not a DC completist.

 

On the other hand, while I don`t know if he was a Marvel completist or not, there do seem to be more runs among the WM Marvels. I don`t know if this was because he was into the pre-hero sci-fi/monster titles and just continued buying them when they turned into hero books or what.

 

The one thing that will always tilt me in favor of the WM pedigree is the Marvel mega-keys. No other SA pedigree comes even close in terms of quality of the mega-keys. The PC pedigree comes up really short in this department except on X-Men 1.

[rob_react]

My understanding is that the WM OO was not a completist like Edgar or the PC OO. His DC purchases, for instance, seemed to be mostly books that had a sci-fi theme. I`m pretty sure he was not a DC completist.

 

Yeah, there are full runs of things like Strange Adventures, for example, but the rest of the books are more spotty. There are still quite a few WM Super Hero DCs. Just quickly thumbing through those early Sotheby's catalogs, there are probably 100+ Silver Age Super Hero DCs.

 

 

[rob_react]

Also, good call on the mega keys. The WM keys are sick, sick books.

[tth2]

My understanding is that the WM OO was not a completist like Edgar or the PC OO. His DC purchases, for instance, seemed to be mostly books that had a sci-fi theme. I`m pretty sure he was not a DC completist.

 

Yeah, there are full runs of things like Strange Adventures, for example, but the rest of the books are more spotty. There are still quite a few WM Super Hero DCs. Just quickly thumbing through those early Sotheby's catalogs, there are probably 100+ Silver Age Super Hero DCs.

 

A lot of those superhero books have some sort of sci-fi theme, though. For example, Flash 131 has Flash suspended in a beam from a flying saucer.

[rob_react]

My understanding is that the WM OO was not a completist like Edgar or the PC OO. His DC purchases, for instance, seemed to be mostly books that had a sci-fi theme. I`m pretty sure he was not a DC completist.

 

Yeah, there are full runs of things like Strange Adventures, for example, but the rest of the books are more spotty. There are still quite a few WM Super Hero DCs. Just quickly thumbing through those early Sotheby's catalogs, there are probably 100+ Silver Age Super Hero DCs.

 

A lot of those superhero books have some sort of sci-fi theme, though. For example, Flash 131 has Flash suspended in a beam from a flying saucer.

 

It'd be interesting to cross reference the content of the super hero books. Lot 245 from 1991 for example: Action 131, 138, 287, 299,300, and 311. Adventure 295, 302, 303, 306, 307, 308, 309, 311, 312, 313, 318, and 319.

 

Looking through the catalog, I'm adding some more wish list items on top of the Daredevils... I just noticed the WM Strange Adventures #180, Green Lantern 12, 13 and 21.

 

 

[adamstrange]

Pacific Coast blows White Mountain away for average preservation quality, page quality, and breadth of material.

PCs are probably the most carefully handled books of the SA yielding obscene quantities of 9.6s and 9.8s but for preservation / color / page quality I do not have the sense of any superiority over WMs. My impression is the exact opposite. Curators, on the other hand, are definitely better than PCs and probably WMs.

[rob_react]

Pacific Coast blows White Mountain away for average preservation quality, page quality, and breadth of material.

PCs are probably the most carefully handled books of the SA yielding obscene quantities of 9.6s and 9.8s but for preservation / color / page quality I do not have the sense of any superiority over WMs. My impression is the exact opposite. Curators, on the other hand, are definitely better than PCs and probably WMs.

 

I love the story of the White Mountain Amazing Fantasy making a popping sound when Jerry opened it up.

[tth2]

Pacific Coast blows White Mountain away for average preservation quality, page quality, and breadth of material.

PCs are probably the most carefully handled books of the SA yielding obscene quantities of 9.6s and 9.8s but for preservation / color / page quality I do not have the sense of any superiority over WMs. My impression is the exact opposite. Curators, on the other hand, are definitely better than PCs and probably WMs.

Of the raw SA pedigrees that I`ve handled, Western Penns had the most impressive lustre/reflectivity, which is one of the reasons I`ve got such a soft spot for them. They positively dripped. The raw PCs that I`ve handled (one of which graded out as a 9.8) were nice but did not seem to "shine" quite as much.

 

I`ve only seen Toths through a slab, but based on their amazing brightness even through the plastic, my guess is that held raw, they would rank very high on the freshness scale.

[fantastic_four]

Also, good call on the mega keys. The WM keys are sick, sick books.

 

What are those Pacific Coast grades? The ones I know are X-Men 1 two copies at 9.6 and 9.8, and then Amazing Fantasy 15 at CGC 6.5--or at least that's where it was at in 2001 and can't go up much due to unusually extensive chipping.

 

The White Mountain ones I know are AF15 CGC 9.4, Spidey 1 CGC 9.6, and FF 1 CGC 9.2.

[rob_react]

Also, good call on the mega keys. The WM keys are sick, sick books.

 

What are those Pacific Coast grades? The ones I know are X-Men 1 two copies at 9.6 and 9.8, and then Amazing Fantasy 15 at CGC 6.5--or at least that's where it was at in 2001 and can't go up much due to unusually extensive chipping.

 

The White Mountain ones I know are AF15 CGC 9.4, Spidey 1 CGC 9.6, and FF 1 CGC 9.2.

 

Others I know, off the top of my head:

 

TOS #39 9.6

Hulk #1 8.0

Avengers #4 9.2

 

 

The DD#1 is nice:

(seriously, someone sell me this book)

 

 

 

[fantastic_four]

Also, good call on the mega keys. The WM keys are sick, sick books.

 

What are those Pacific Coast grades? The ones I know are X-Men 1 two copies at 9.6 and 9.8, and then Amazing Fantasy 15 at CGC 6.5--or at least that's where it was at in 2001 and can't go up much due to unusually extensive chipping.

 

The White Mountain ones I know are AF15 CGC 9.4, Spidey 1 CGC 9.6, and FF 1 CGC 9.2.

 

Others I know, off the top of my head:

 

TOS #39 9.6

Hulk #1 8.0

Avengers #4 9.2

 

Those are White Mountain grades you mean? I presume so since the DD1 scan is clearly a White Mountain with that 64 inked on the cover. Where'd you get that scan, someone posted it here?

[rob_react]

yeah, those are the white mountain grades.

[rob_react]

Also, good call on the mega keys. The WM keys are sick, sick books.

 

What are those Pacific Coast grades? The ones I know are X-Men 1 two copies at 9.6 and 9.8, and then Amazing Fantasy 15 at CGC 6.5--or at least that's where it was at in 2001 and can't go up much due to unusually extensive chipping.

 

The White Mountain ones I know are AF15 CGC 9.4, Spidey 1 CGC 9.6, and FF 1 CGC 9.2.

 

Others I know, off the top of my head:

 

TOS #39 9.6

Hulk #1 8.0

Avengers #4 9.2

 

Those are White Mountain grades you mean? I presume so since the DD1 scan is clearly a White Mountain with that 64 inked on the cover. Where'd you get that scan, someone posted it here?

 

I scanned it from the sotheby's catalog where the Daredevil run was sold (As a group lot!

Which means someone has them all, except the one I have. )

[fantastic_four]

I scanned it from the sotheby's catalog where the Daredevil run was sold (As a group lot!

Which means someone has them all, except the one I have. )

 

Unless you know differently, yours is probably a duplicate, the collection somehow had a bunch of miscellaneous duplicates. Makes you wonder why the OO would buy dupes, and begs the question of how often dealers slip extra books into a pedigree to give them a sales boost--not that I have any specific reason to believe that happened with White Mountain or any other pedigree.