GOLD VS SILVER: THE PASSION!

[Timely]

I was just thinking about many of the reasons why we collect. Aside from all the obvious reasons of collecting I thought of a specific and seemingly obvious difference between Golden Age and Silver Age collectors...

 

Being primarily a Golden Age collector of high grade books I always shoot for the best copy I can find. However once it's off my list I rarely upgrade. Most GA collectors do not even get a chance to upgrade, but when they get that chance many times they do not. They would prefer to buy another book with that extra money rather than use it to upgrade and are satisfied with the copy they already own. To me, upgrading my Captain America #7 8.5 to a 9.0 seems unwarrented.

 

However, many Silver Age high grade collectors will buy a high grade copy and down the road they will upgrade when possible. They might buy a Fantastic Four #24 in 9.4 and when a 9.6 copy comes along they upgrade. Since Silver Age books are more plentiful in high grade it seems the drive is instilled to upgrade to the highest possible grade. Tom B. and Tripps are perfect examples.

 

The thrill of the hunt is different for them than it is for me. Have any other forum members/dealers on here noticed that?

 

Timely

[FFB]

It depends on the collector. I think you are probably right about guys like Tripps and Tom B. For them, it's relatively easy (compared to GA at least) to upgrade a 9.4 copy of a given key book. Plus, I think it tends to get expensive in the extreme to upgrade EVERY golden age book you have, once you start talking about trading up on an 8.5 for a 9.4. (Assuming there even is a 9.4 available). While Silver Age books are extremely expensive in those grades, golden age keys in those grades are several orders of magnitude higher. (Witness the recent Parrino auction for the Allentown Detective 38, which at >$130K, didn't hit reserve before getting pulled.)

 

But for someone like me who is just trying to put together an Amazing Spider-Man/AF#15 run in VF 8.0 or better (slabbed or not), I don't usually look at particular books and think of upgrading. (Sometimes I'll want to upgrade a mid- or low-grade issue I've had since I was a kid, but I won't usually look to upgrade from a 9.0 to a 9.4 or anything.) Like you say, I'd rather use the nutso money that I'd need to upgrade from a 9.0 to a 9.4 on another book or three to fill the run. Also, I am finding that I care less and less about books having minor professional restoration. It seems to me that if I can get the Bethlehem copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1 in CGC 9.4 (APP) condition for six grand, I don't mind so much that it has two tiny tear seals and was cleaned and pressed. The $80,000 I save is all the consolation that I need, and the resto isn't even apparent when you look at the book.

 

I think that guys like Tripps and Tom B. are the rare exception to the typical silver age collector. If you are only asking about the so-called "top of the food chain" collectors, then sure. I have no doubt that they love to upgrade that extra .2, especially if it means that they now have the nicest copy in the world. But I will bet you that there are more than one or two GA collectors who do the same thing. Maybe you're not one of them, but they are definitely out there.

 

I was just thinking about many of the reasons why we collect. Aside from all the obvious reasons of collecting I thought of a specific and seemingly obvious difference between Golden Age and Silver Age collectors...

 

Being primarily a Golden Age collector of high grade books I always shoot for the best copy I can find. However once it's off my list I rarely upgrade. Most GA collectors do not even get a chance to upgrade, but when they get that chance many times they do not. They would prefer to buy another book with that extra money rather than use it to upgrade and are satisfied with the copy they already own. To me, upgrading my Captain America #7 8.5 to a 9.0 seems unwarrented.

 

However, many Silver Age high grade collectors will buy a high grade copy and down the road they will upgrade when possible. They might buy a Fantastic Four #24 in 9.4 and when a 9.6 copy comes along they upgrade. Since Silver Age books are more plentiful in high grade it seems the drive is instilled to upgrade to the highest possible grade. Tom B. and Tripps are perfect examples.

 

The thrill of the hunt is different for them than it is for me. Have any other forum members/dealers on here noticed that?

 

Timely

[LucyBop]

Honey, I collect both Golden and Silver age Archies and I'll buy mutiple high grade copys....

 

I am submitting many of them.......

 

If I have a high grade Golden Age and I find a better one, I'll buy it...

 

Some of my Silver Age Archies I have a good 10 issues of the same book in raw high grade....

[PovertyRow]

However once it's off my list I rarely upgrade. Most GA collectors do not even get a chance to upgrade, but when they get that chance many times they do not.

 

For my main collecting area - precode horror - absolutely. If I have even a VG book I am happy with I would rather seek out the next one than upgrade that one. Has a lot to do with what is available. Now I DO have a couple of horror lesser grades - especially a Startling Terror Tales #11 and a Menace #11 - in Good and Good+/VG- I would like to upgrade but it is certainly NOT a pressing issue. Why? Because they have been grails for some time and I now have them. Many other books I KNOW are going to be difficult to find at the right price - Eerie #1 1947, Cap 75, etc. take precedence. Better the lesser you have than the empty slot.

[rjpb]

Unless you have big dollars to throw at the hobby, it's hard enough just finding alot of GA books, especially the more esoteric ones, in any condition. While I believe the 4.0 to 5.0 range to be an excellent balance between price, condition and availability - I often snag lower grade books when they come up and the price is right, and once they are in my collection, I usually stop looking for better copy. The exception being books I have in less than 2.0, but even here, the fact that I already have a copy makes me less likely to pay a premium just to upgrade.

 

I think the reason that many deep pocket SA collectors will upgrade, even just a .2 grade, is that unlike most GA, Silver runs are fairly easy to complete in higher grade, so once that is done the hunt moves on to finding the nicest copy. This may explain the insane multiples in price when jumping from 9.4 to 9.6 to 9.8 in SA, whereas High Grade GA books seem to have a more measured increase in price when climbing the scale.

 

I also wonder if nearly as many HG SA collectors worried that their NM copies weren't nice enough before there was CGC around to tell them that there were nicer (or at least higher graded) copies out there. I doubt it, as I recall the price jump between what many dealers' catalogs listed as a NM (9.4) and a NM/M (9.8) copy of the same book to be in the 50% range.

[tth2]

I don't know if it's a Gold vs Silver thing so much as a completist vs. qualit-ist thing.

 

There are lots of silver collectors who are completists first and foremost and will not upgrade until they have finished their run. TB and Tripps happen to be examples of guys who can afford to focus on completeness and quality simultaneously.

 

Based on some of the stories about Geppi and Anderson on these boards, it sounds like there are also at least a few GA collectors who look to upgrade their collections when possible.