Would Captain Tripps' collection be more impressive if he didn't use pedigrees?

[ericc123]

Let me start by saying I am not knocking Captain Tripps' collection...I think anyone who sees his Registry sets has to be impressed with what he has. Thing is I was looking at some of his books and I noticed that almost everyone was either from the Pacific Coast pedigree with a couple Curators thrown in. Again I'm not saying his collection isn't the best but it just seems to me like he bought the best pedigree out there and thats mostly why he has the best books out there. Is it less impressive than if he had put all of these books together piecemeal?

 

Eric

[fantastic_four]

not in the slightest...I'm not even sure where you're coming from on this. He wasn't the original purchaser of EVERY Pacific Coast, and he didn't originally purchase any of the Curators, so why do you think he didn't have to piece it all together? Not that it really matters...had he bought them all as one big run like Brulato did with the Curators, it might be even more impressive in its consistency.

[ericc123]

Yikes I am way off base on this one. I just assumed since he owned practically all of the PC books that he was in on the purchasing of the books. This is my own ignorance showing here. If he bought the books peacmeal and he just has a lot of PC books because they are the best then his accomplishment is as amazing as it seems.

 

Eric

[fantastic_four]

Yikes I am way off base on this one. I just assumed since he owned practically all of the PC books that he was in on the purchasing of the books.

 

I seem to recall him saying he did get a lot of them, but I don't think it was all of them...he may have gotten the majority. Maybe he'll tell us!

[Murph]

I think it's cool that he has a lot of the pedigree books. It's cool to see runs of pedigree books back together again.

 

Brian

[Aman619]

i dont think it matters HOW he amassed his runs. We're talking about the quality of his collection. Thats it. The quality is the same regardless of whether he found th eruns, bought them as first buyer from the dealers who found them as a run, or one by one. WHY SHOULD IT?

 

..and while were talking about his incredible books, let me just add that I really HATE him!!!

[acesilver]

Yikes I am way off base on this one. I just assumed since he owned practically all of the PC books that he was in on the purchasing of the books.

 

I seem to recall him saying he did get a lot of them, but I don't think it was all of them...he may have gotten the majority. Maybe he'll tell us!

 

He posted before that he bought raw and traded to get where he's at. I recall he stated that he traded Spideys (PC?) for FF (PC?) and that it was one of the best moves he ever made. I give him & Brulato a lot of credit. What they've been able to amass is extraordinary! Doesn't matter how they got there IMO. Finding HG collections can be just as difficult, you could even make a case more so, than putting together nice books piecemeal. The nice part for them is they have reps and $ that assure them of getting an opportunity from dealers who might find a nice set.

[drdonaldblake]

capt tripps didnt have a lot of the PC runs originally- he did A LOT of savvy trading/ wheeling dealing/ walkign talking/ hard work to amass the PC runs

 

anyone who has dealt with capt tripps will know he is one SAVVY collector and "will do anything to get a book he wants out of your hands"

 

hi doug!

[Captain Tripps]

 

Just for the record, I did originally buy a lot of pedigrees (Northlands, Bostons, some White Mountains) and on horror books, Spokanes, River City's, Gaines File copies, because I just loved the idea of getting books from an original owner, single source where all (most) came from the same newsstand, stationary store, etc. On the Marvels, I had boxes of runs of the Northlands, Bostons, Slobodians (not recognized by CGC) but didn't get any Pacific Coasts until after CGC started.

 

I remember Roter advertising this new original owner collection (later to be called PC's) and I didn't buy one book because he had a no return policy and I always thought he overgraded. Obviously, that was a huge mistake. I should have done what another collector did and flew out to Calif. to see his FF original owner books. As it turns out, I was later in contact with the collector who bought the X-Men 1-20, Avengers 1-15, DD 2-15 & ASM 2-14 (except 9) from Roter, and started doing all these different trades with this collector. It started off with me giving him a higher grade key for his lower grade copy (JIM 83 9.4 for his 9.2) and with that monetary difference upgraded all my early books (DD 2 9.4, 3 9.6, Avengers 3 9.4, 6 9.4, etc, etc) for his one grade higher Pacific Coast.

 

We did about 4 big trades in total, and I walked away (ran, actually) with all his Pacific Coasts, plus his AF 15 (cost me a Hulk 1 9.2, which I bought back from him last year). I did about 4 separate trades with the FF guy alluded to above and traded a bunch of ASM's for all his PC FF's (22 FFs in total ranging from 9 to 54, mostly in the 20s & 30s, none less than 9.4).

 

After this, I was hooked on the Pacific Coasts and then bought a whole buch directly from Roter (Strange Tales 101 up, DD 30 up, Thor 151 up, Avengers 31 up, ASMs 61 up, etc.). I've subsequently sold a lot of the doubles in the higher numbers, but have many early issues.

 

Believe me, this was hard work and networking and a lot of effort (not to mention some expense), but I just couldn't believe the condition on these books and wanted to get as many issues of as many runs as I could.

 

That's the true story. If I don't have a PC on a particular book, I probably have the Northland or Boston or White Mountain or Winnipeg (Bronze mostly) copy.

 

Hey, I just love pedigrees!!

[Aman619]

Thats really cool to hear the story behind the collection.

I wish 1) I had been aware and offerred the runs...

and 2) hope I would have been psyched enough by the quality of the books (cause I also cant resist HG runs!!!) to get me to write the checks they must have cost and not just laughed em off and walked away "relieved" to have escaped only to regret it later on!!

 

Well done. I salute you, sir!!

[tth2]

Doug, what about the Western Penns? Do you have many (or does Tom have all the goods ones locked away), and what's your impression of the Marvel copies? I've been fortunate enough to get access to some of the DCs, and they're absolutely stellar.

[Timely]

Do any of you remember the "Daniel Erwine" copies originally sold between 1988-1991? They were amongst the first Pedigree Silver Age books. The Amazing Spider-man run was most impressive, as was the JLA run. Most were in the 9.4 to 9.6 range with OW/W pages. Most are identified by the stamp on the bottom of the 1st splash page.

 

Timely

[tth2]

Do any of you remember the "Daniel Erwine" copies originally sold between 1988-1991? They were amongst the first Pedigree Silver Age books. The Amazing Spider-man run was most impressive, as was the JLA run. Most were in the 9.4 to 9.6 range with OW/W pages. Most are identified by the stamp on the bottom of the 1st splash page.

 

Timely

 

I've never even heard that name before.

[blazingbob]

Daniel Erwine books were very nice, I always love seeing that name stamp

[tth2]

Daniel Erwine books were very nice, I always love seeing that name stamp

 

Is it his name that's stamped?

[blazingbob]

yes it is

[Captain Tripps]

tth2,

 

What's up, buddy? I'm glad you asked about the Western Penns. Unfortunately, I only have a few, but they are killer!!! Brulato has most of the TTA and Strange Tales runs, and they are better than any other pedigree for these early issues (mostly 9.6s with some 9.4s). It's ridiculous. The TTA 35 (9.6) & up are mostly 9.6 and the Strange Tales 101 (9.6) & up are also mostly 9.6. I used to own the S.T. 110 Western PA (it was originally a 9.4) but traded it to Brulato as part of the deal that got me the X-Men 1 9.6.

 

I also have the Western Penn TOS 40 (9.6) and I believe the 39 is ungraded but is absolutely killer. I had the TOS 46 (9.6) but Brulato has that now as well (that guy kills me). Plus, I have a few Sgt. Fury's which are all killer (4 9.4, 5 9.2, 7 9.4, 8 9.4 & 12 9.6) Overall, the Western Penns are super high grade books but I don't know of any of the other early runs, such as Avengers, ASM, FF, DD (I have the 20 & it's a 9.8) or X-Men. Anyone out there have info. on these runs???

 

But from what I've seen of this collection, its right up there with the best Silver Age collections, but below the Pac Coasts & Curators (unless more runs come out or are identified).

[Captain Tripps]

 

I actually had a bunch of Daniel Erwine books. This really should be a recognized pedigree. I had some early ASMs (I believe 6 & 10 which I bought from Vern Stephens), the TOS 39 (which probably would grade a 9.0 or 9.2) and I know the TOS 40 is a 9.4 (I once owned it slabbed). I can't seem to recall what other Erwine books I had, but it will come back to me eventually.

 

I remember Bechara had the Erwine FF 1, but I passed on it. It was really nice, I recall, at least 8.5 or so.

 

FYI, the original owner, Daniel Erwine, would stamp his name on the very bottom of the splash page, nice and neat.

 

Brings back some memories. Thanks for the post. This pedigree talk really floats my boat!!

[Captain Tripps]

aman,

 

Thanks for the props. It's funny, it wasn't as much as an expense to get the Pacific Coasts as you would think because I already had high grade copies of the issues I used to trade to get the usually one grade higher PC issue.

 

It was more the insanity of doing the trades, which took up a lot of urging, effort, time, etc, etc to get done. It was only when I bought them directly from Roter, and he was apparently trying to make up for what he perceived as selling these original owner books too cheap in the first place (he's right, of course) did it become an expense.

 

BTW, I also have a bunch of high grade Gold Keys from the PC collection. I got the Doctor Solar 1 (9.6) from Comiclink, but all the rest from Roter. I also got the Star Trek 1 (9.6) from Robert and then found 2-8 (2 & 3 are both 9.8 and the rest are 9.6 with 2 9.4s). I also have Girl From UNCLE and the Man From UNCLE run (9.6s) These are awesome books. God, these Gold Key photo covers are so overlooked & undervalued!!

 

This is when it really became an expense, buying them slabbed from Roter. He's a great guy, but he's not cheap.

[Red Hook]

Hey, Cap,

 

Really enjoying the backstory on how you put some of your runs together. Love hearing how you did it! You earned all the accolades you've gotten. Doesn't sound like it was a walk in the park.

 

Red