Pedigree Collecting

[miraclemet]

Ok, I've been bitten by the pedigree bug.

 

I've figured out step 1 & 2 in Pedigree collecting

 

1. Prepare your wallet for a hurting

2. Read the comicbookpedigrees.com site and start sarcastically peppering in "gee it'd be great if someone wrote a pedigree book" into my daily conversations

 

What are some other things I need to know as I head down this path?

 

(if you give me good advice I promise not to go after a book you are gunning for... )

 

I already started watching the HA auctions I was interested in and have quickly learned that with pedigrees the market seems to matter less than any other book type (and I mean even for that specific book, just cause that exact ped book cost $1200 3 months ago, dont assume it's going for the same again)

 

teach me oh great ones!

[comicjack]

As we all know Edgar Church is about the best you can get if your wallet can afford it, . they look like the book was printed yesterday in most cases. Lots of members own them and the desire just to hold them in your hand is enough to make a collector faint.Good luck on your trip!

[Straw-Man]

you need to know that if you come across a westen penn book dated prior to 10/56, you must instantly pm me with the link.

[jimbo_707]

As we all know Edgar Church is about the best you can get if your wallet can afford it, . they look like the book was printed yesterday in most cases. Lots of members own them and the desire just to hold them in your hand is enough to make a collector faint.Good luck on your trip!

True for the most part. However, the books have been out of Edgar's basement for 36 years - longer than most of them were in his basement - and they haven't all been stored properly, so be careful.

 

You also have to worry about authenticity when collecting peds. Here's a quote from a different thread:

 

I'm seriously starting to doubt the authenticity of some Pedigree books, and how their designation could be manipulated.

 

With good reason. There have been several accounts that I am aware of where books were passed off as pedigrees when they weren't.

 

In some cases it was stupidity or at least it appeared to be. There was a guy set up in San Diego back around '95 that was selling Larson copies of books that were silver age...... They had an "L" on the cover. I of course told him they weren't Larsons and he told me to kiss off.

 

I am also aware of some more "reputable" members of the dealer/collector community who took the liberty of coding books themselves. Shameless isn't it?

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1348493&fpart=2

[Timely]

I think you will quickly learn not all Pedigree collections are created equal, both in value and quality. Some pedigrees have little to no dollar premium attached to them, such as Crowleys & Rockfords. Some pedigrees are superb in both condition and state of preservation, such as Mile Highs, San Francisco's, Central Valley. etc...

 

Also, if you are attempting to assemble a pedigree run, expect a long challenge. Most runs have been split apart for a long time, decades even. A lot of the pedigrees I bought were through networking with other pedigree collectors. There are many pedigree books that never hit the open market.

[miraclemet]

I think you will quickly learn not all Pedigree collections are created equal, both in value and quality. Some pedigrees have little to no dollar premium attached to them, such as Crowleys & Rockfords. Some pedigrees are superb in both condition and state of preservation, such as Mile Highs, San Francisco's, Central Valley. etc...

 

Also, if you are attempting to assemble a pedigree run, expect a long challenge. Most runs have been split apart for a long time, decades even. A lot of the pedigrees I bought were through networking with other pedigree collectors. There are many pedigree books that never hit the open market.

 

When you say "Pedigree runs" what do you mean?

 

Is that a collection of a single title, same pedigree (which dear god that would be amazing!)

 

or is it like Strawman's (and others Im sure) "One of each" pedigree collection?

[miraclemet]

you need to know that if you come across a westen penn book dated prior to 10/56, you must instantly pm me with the link.

 

Why?

[Straw-Man]

west means the whole run from the same ped.

[Straw-Man]

you need to know that if you come across a westen penn book dated prior to 10/56, you must instantly pm me with the link.

 

Why?

 

because i need one for the type-set---didn't even know that ped predated s'case 4, and one day tim posted a tarzan book from '54 or so. i was complete, or so i thought.

[miraclemet]

 

You also have to worry about authenticity when collecting peds. Here's a quote from a different thread:

 

I'm seriously starting to doubt the authenticity of some Pedigree books, and how their designation could be manipulated.

 

With good reason. There have been several accounts that I am aware of where books were passed off as pedigrees when they weren't.

 

In some cases it was stupidity or at least it appeared to be. There was a guy set up in San Diego back around '95 that was selling Larson copies of books that were silver age...... They had an "L" on the cover. I of course told him they weren't Larsons and he told me to kiss off.

 

I am also aware of some more "reputable" members of the dealer/collector community who took the liberty of coding books themselves. Shameless isn't it?

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1348493&fpart=2

 

Yikes, thats concerning, especially if the books are slabbed and pedigree tagged (hopefully your examples were "raw" books that were manipulated). Im not sure how you'd go about validating a ped if it was slabbed since you cant see anything beyond the cover/back cover. [obviously checking to be sure the book's publish date falls into the ped's span]

[Johnny545]

I think you will quickly learn not all Pedigree collections are created equal, both in value and quality. Some pedigrees have little to no dollar premium attached to them, such as Crowleys & Rockfords. Some pedigrees are superb in both condition and state of preservation, such as Mile Highs, San Francisco's, Central Valley. etc...

 

Also, if you are attempting to assemble a pedigree run, expect a long challenge. Most runs have been split apart for a long time, decades even. A lot of the pedigrees I bought were through networking with other pedigree collectors. There are many pedigree books that never hit the open market.

 

"Not all pedigrees are created equal" - truer words have never been spoken and obviously with many pedigree collections depending on the years and methods of storage the quality may result in sharp differences in quality within the collection itself (Big Apple, White Mountain even Crippen come to mind).

 

Trying to put together a run of any title in one pedigree is an impossibility at this point, putting together an all pedigree run of a title even if you don't discriminate on pedigree is a challenge only for those seeking decades of mental anguish.

 

Johnny

 

 

 

 

 

[Timely]

west means the whole run from the same ped.

 

Correct. For example. I was collecting the Mile High copies of Action Comics #1-102. When I sold my run, I had acquired 30 of them. Since then, only 4 others have been made available that I did not previously own. If I had kept the run and bought the 4 new ones that hit the market in the past 10 years, I'd be up to 34 MH copies. Quite far from my goal!

 

If your goal is to buy random pedigrees of books you'd like, it's a much easier task than building a run of a single title.

[Cat-Man_America]

I think you will quickly learn not all Pedigree collections are created equal, both in value and quality. Some pedigrees have little to no dollar premium attached to them, such as Crowleys & Rockfords. Some pedigrees are superb in both condition and state of preservation, such as Mile Highs, San Francisco's, Central Valley. etc...

 

Also, if you are attempting to assemble a pedigree run, expect a long challenge. Most runs have been split apart for a long time, decades even. A lot of the pedigrees I bought were through networking with other pedigree collectors. There are many pedigree books that never hit the open market.

 

[font:Times New Roman]Agree with everything you've said although it's reasonable to assume that all pedigrees should have some premium attached to them, at least in respect to uniqueness and desirability. While not all pedigrees are equal, there is merit to factoring in the provinance of an original owner collection when pulling the trigger on a purchase. Sometimes I feel that too much emphasis is placed on the legendary status of the Mile High/Church pedigree which is often sold at multiples of Guide for grade, but over time the market tends to sort out unsustainable pricing. [/font]

[Straw-Man]

i'm trying to complete a pedigree run of a short title--i have the d-copies of blackstone 1, 3 & 4. i'd love to buy the 2, but a couple tries on that feature h'tage has about sending offers out to the earlier buyer produced "owner declined, without counter" replies. oh, well.

[Johnny545]

i'm trying to complete a pedigree run of a short title--i have the d-copies of blackstone 1, 3 & 4. i'd love to buy the 2, but a couple tries on that feature h'tage has about sending offers out to the earlier buyer produced "owner declined, without counter" replies. oh, well.

 

Best of luck with that Straw-Man.

 

I have debated doing my Marvel Tales (1949) run as a pedigree compilation, so far I have 25% or so in pedigree raw or slabbed...long way to go, but so many pedigrees 'supposedly' had complete runs or near complete runs it is at least possible.

 

I will probably give myself brain damage doing it.

 

Johnny

[miraclemet]

[font:Times New Roman]Agree with everything you've said although it's reasonable to assume that all pedigrees should have some premium attached to them, at least in respect to uniqueness and desirability. While not all pedigrees are equal, there is merit to factoring in the provinance of an original owner collection when pulling the trigger on a purchase. Sometimes I feel that too much emphasis is placed on the legendary status of the Mile High/Church pedigree which is often sold at multiples of Guide for grade, but over time the market tends to sort out unsustainable pricing. [/font]

 

I think this is true for GA, but there definitely a few SA peds that done even get 100% equal market value.

[Cat-Man_America]

[font:Times New Roman]Agree with everything you've said although it's reasonable to assume that all pedigrees should have some premium attached to them, at least in respect to uniqueness and desirability. While not all pedigrees are equal, there is merit to factoring in the provinance of an original owner collection when pulling the trigger on a purchase. Sometimes I feel that too much emphasis is placed on the legendary status of the Mile High/Church pedigree which is often sold at multiples of Guide for grade, but over time the market tends to sort out unsustainable pricing. [/font]

 

I think this is true for GA, but there definitely a few SA peds that done even get 100% equal market value.

 

 

 

[font:Times New Roman]That may be true given the higher census numbers of some SA titles in grade.[/font]

[Vision75]

Dear Miraclemet,

 

The other posters, as always, have provided valuable tips. I would offer this additional advice when acquiring peds: Add some swagger to your collecting talk. "Yup, just bought Marvel Mystery XX, 9.2....Chicago Copy. Make sure to pause a bit after you say the CGC grade and then use a heavy dose of snootiness when you reveal the pedigree line.

 

-Vision75

[tth2]

you need to know that if you come across a westen penn book dated prior to 10/56, you must instantly pm me with the link.

 

Why?

 

because i need one for the type-set---didn't even know that ped predated s'case 4, and one day tim posted a tarzan book from '54 or so. i was complete, or so i thought.

Sorry, hadn`t meant to create all that existential angst for you.

 

I`ve got two, actually.

 

 

[miraclemet]

Dear Miraclemet,

 

The other posters, as always, have provided valuable tips. I would offer this additional advice when acquiring peds: Add some swagger to your collecting talk. "Yup, just bought Marvel Mystery XX, 9.2....Chicago Copy. Make sure to pause a bit after you say the CGC grade and then use a heavy dose of snootiness when you reveal the pedigree line.

 

-Vision75

 

(thumbs u

 

though my personal take is to pause before revelaing the grade too!

 

Just bought a Captain America #12..... in 9.4... the Chicago copy...