Silver Pedigree Hierarchy?

[ChicksCosmiComics]

I had a Western Penn Nick Fury #1 9.4 colors popped and have a Suscha news Doc 169 9.2.

 

I also have the Cicchetti Pedigree 1500 OO Marvel, DC, Charlton, Dells ect books all collected by my Uncles Silver to Bronze ranging mostly in VG think CGC might recognize this as a Pedigree

[Killgrave]

This is as good a place to ask as any - I've always been wondering, what exactly are the Curators?

 

The Curator pedigree is arguably the first or second best collections in existence when concerning Silver Age books. The books are among the highest and even some of the absolute highest graded books around. Its breadth includes some pre-hero books from the early 1950’s (the early books are not of top tier quality) to the 1980’s. The books were not exceptionally well preserved by the owner until November of 1962. The collection is well known for its high grade Silver Age runs of Marvel and DC books.

 

The Curator collection bears the highest known existing copy of X-men #1 (CGC graded at a 9.8) and Tales of Suspense #47 (CGC graded at a 9.9). A great deal of the collection is unaccounted for as it has largely been split up. The current whereabouts of many of the Curators is unknown either for books being unaccounted for, or the current owner not wanting to be revealed to the public.

 

The collection was owned by a man who was not ignorant to the potential value of comics, and knew that their condition was a great influence to their value. This knowledge of comics led to a very strange method of storage which was unheard of for its time. The books were stored in a walk-in vault of a museum in what is called, “bricks”. A “brick” is a group of five comics packed together as tightly as possible in a bag. This tight packing is what gives the Curators their amazing spine and crispness.

 

Source: http://www.comicpressing.com/blog/curator-pedigree

[rob_react]

The Savannah collection had 40,000 books. That's pretty impressive to me. It also has lots of cool early DC's in 9.0-9.6 condition. I can deal with Cream to O/W.

 

The Marvels were, shall we say, disappointing.

 

the Twin Cities books were being offered at the same time. Collectors had their pick of the litter for sure.

 

I grabbed a few 7.0 early Savannah Avengers. they were pretty beat up. A lesson hard learned in comic storage conditions.

 

I have one, Strange Adventures 184 9.6. It's dull. Sharp book structurally. Just dull.

[Sal]

The Savannah collection had 40,000 books. That's pretty impressive to me. It also has lots of cool early DC's in 9.0-9.6 condition. I can deal with Cream to O/W.

 

The Marvels were, shall we say, disappointing.

 

Yeah, but Marvels are eeeevvverryywheerrre. Late 50s - early 60s DCs in high grade are not. Oftentimes, collectors have to get them via pedigree collections, and there are some really nice, hard to find in grade Savannahs

[rob_react]

The Savannah collection had 40,000 books. That's pretty impressive to me. It also has lots of cool early DC's in 9.0-9.6 condition. I can deal with Cream to O/W.

 

The Marvels were, shall we say, disappointing.

 

Yeah, but Marvels are eeeevvverryywheerrre. Late 50s - early 60s DCs in high grade are not. Oftentimes, collectors have to get them via pedigree collections, and there are some really nice, hard to find in grade Savannahs

 

This reminds me, I need to redo this list:

 

http://itsalljustcomics.com/existence-and-grades-of-silver-age-key-books-from-the-major-pedigree-collections/

 

Savannah shows well there.

 

[oakman29]

Western Penn peds have some white as white can be pages.

[jimjum12]

The Savannah collection had 40,000 books. That's pretty impressive to me. It also has lots of cool early DC's in 9.0-9.6 condition. I can deal with Cream to O/W.

 

The Marvels were, shall we say, disappointing.

 

Yeah, but Marvels are eeeevvverryywheerrre. Late 50s - early 60s DCs in high grade are not. Oftentimes, collectors have to get them via pedigree collections, and there are some really nice, hard to find in grade Savannahs

 

.....while not an official pedigree, the Toronto books had some real decent DC material from the mid to late 50's..... GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[tth2]

Is there any general consensus on the hierarchy of the various silver age pedigrees?

It really depends what criteria you`re basing your decision on. The top ones have various strengths and weaknesses. In no particular order:

 

Curator--Book for book, this collection has the highest grades, whitest pages and generally freshest appearance. Downsides are it`s still unclear how much breadth or depth this collection has, and what keys are in it. The Curator FF run that came on Heritage (which the Boards were actually instrumental in identifying as being the Curators) were a revelation in that they clearly established that the collection goes earlier than the mythical 1963 cut-off and those pre-1963 books are spectacular--I almost fell off my chair when the scan of FF 5 was posted. Without doubt the nicest, freshest copy I have ever seen.

 

Pacific Coast--The top "all around" SA pedigree because it has fantastic breadth and depth, fantastic average grades, very fresh appearance, and uniformly the best QP of any collection. The main downside is that the pre-1963 books are generally not high grade.

 

White Mountain--The top pedigree when it comes to the mega-keys. Several of the best known copies of the Marvel mega-keys are from this collection, and even the issues that aren`t the best rank right up there. Downside is average quality isn`t up there with Curator or Pacific Coast, and in my opinion the books generally don`t pop in the same way.

 

Western Penn--Super sharp books with lots of pop, and the collection clearly goes pre-1963 in very high grade. Main downside is that although it`s reputed to be huge and have massive breadth and depth, no one seems to know where all these books are! One of the problems is that the books weren`t initially marketed as a collection and got recognized as a pedigree in retrospect, and the collection really doesn`t have any identifying marks, so many books from the collection might very well be sitting in various scattered collections but not identified as Western Penns.

[tth2]

.....while not an official pedigree, the Toronto books had some real decent DC material from the mid to late 50's..... GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

Very possibly the finest late 1950s collection in existence. I never acquired any of the books because I was no longer in an acquisition mode when the books surfaced, but from what I`ve heard from collectors whose opinions I respect, they are spectacular.

[HarveySwick]

Western Penn peds have some white as white can be pages.

Show your GSX1 for an example!

[Sal]

The Savannah collection had 40,000 books. That's pretty impressive to me. It also has lots of cool early DC's in 9.0-9.6 condition. I can deal with Cream to O/W.

 

The Marvels were, shall we say, disappointing.

 

Yeah, but Marvels are eeeevvverryywheerrre. Late 50s - early 60s DCs in high grade are not. Oftentimes, collectors have to get them via pedigree collections, and there are some really nice, hard to find in grade Savannahs

 

This reminds me, I need to redo this list:

 

http://itsalljustcomics.com/existence-and-grades-of-silver-age-key-books-from-the-major-pedigree-collections/

 

Savannah shows well there.

 

Great list there, Rob. Your main table overlaps your right-column divs in Chrome, btw

[Jeffro.]

The Savannah collection had 40,000 books. That's pretty impressive to me. It also has lots of cool early DC's in 9.0-9.6 condition. I can deal with Cream to O/W.

 

Too bad they weren't stored better. We could be looking at one of the top peds out there.

[rob_react]

The Savannah collection had 40,000 books. That's pretty impressive to me. It also has lots of cool early DC's in 9.0-9.6 condition. I can deal with Cream to O/W.

 

The Marvels were, shall we say, disappointing.

 

Yeah, but Marvels are eeeevvverryywheerrre. Late 50s - early 60s DCs in high grade are not. Oftentimes, collectors have to get them via pedigree collections, and there are some really nice, hard to find in grade Savannahs

 

This reminds me, I need to redo this list:

 

http://itsalljustcomics.com/existence-and-grades-of-silver-age-key-books-from-the-major-pedigree-collections/

 

Savannah shows well there.

 

Great list there, Rob. Your main table overlaps your right-column divs in Chrome, btw

 

In everything. I never redid it for the new site.

[ChasingKingKirby]

The Savannah collection had 40,000 books. That's pretty impressive to me. It also has lots of cool early DC's in 9.0-9.6 condition. I can deal with Cream to O/W.

 

Too bad they weren't stored better. We could be looking at one of the top peds out there.

 

Well, Savannah is hot and humid... Just imagine if it was the "Alberta" collection.

[Silver Surfer]

Check out the Vancouver collection, pristine pages.

[ChasingKingKirby]

Check out the Vancouver collection, pristine pages.

 

No doubt. Too bad there weren't more comic collectors in the Klondike in the 40s.

[Azkaban]

White Mountain is my favorite but that's only because I got some from Joe Dungen back in the early 90's the Bowling Green's aren't bad either but I'm partial to those because I work here in Bowling Green.

[Icculus308win]

Is there any general consensus on the hierarchy of the various silver age pedigrees?

It really depends what criteria you`re basing your decision on. The top ones have various strengths and weaknesses. In no particular order:

 

Curator--Book for book, this collection has the highest grades, whitest pages and generally freshest appearance. Downsides are it`s still unclear how much breadth or depth this collection has, and what keys are in it. The Curator FF run that came on Heritage (which the Boards were actually instrumental in identifying as being the Curators) were a revelation in that they clearly established that the collection goes earlier than the mythical 1963 cut-off and those pre-1963 books are spectacular--I almost fell off my chair when the scan of FF 5 was posted. Without doubt the nicest, freshest copy I have ever seen.

 

Pacific Coast--The top "all around" SA pedigree because it has fantastic breadth and depth, fantastic average grades, very fresh appearance, and uniformly the best QP of any collection. The main downside is that the pre-1963 books are generally not high grade.

 

White Mountain--The top pedigree when it comes to the mega-keys. Several of the best known copies of the Marvel mega-keys are from this collection, and even the issues that aren`t the best rank right up there. Downside is average quality isn`t up there with Curator or Pacific Coast, and in my opinion the books generally don`t pop in the same way.

 

Western Penn--Super sharp books with lots of pop, and the collection clearly goes pre-1963 in very high grade. Main downside is that although it`s reputed to be huge and have massive breadth and depth, no one seems to know where all these books are! One of the problems is that the books weren`t initially marketed as a collection and got recognized as a pedigree in retrospect, and the collection really doesn`t have any identifying marks, so many books from the collection might very well be sitting in various scattered collections but not identified as Western Penns.

 

These would be my top 4.

Order wise:

 

1) Pacfic Coast

2) Curator

3) Western Penn

4) White Mountain

 

I'm a HUGE fan of the Twin Cities books, held quite a few.

I would dare say I put them at #5 possibly!

Lacking I'm in depth and spread I know and it being one of the "new" Peds .....but appearance with gloss, vivid color strike, tight corners and awesome PQ.

[rob_react]

Yeah, I own a bunch of Twin Cities books and they're uniformly great looking.

 

This thread makes me want to pull out all my pedigree books and compare.

[MagnetoWasRight]

I have a few Captain America Boston Peds, any opinions on those? I'm not too up on the ped's to be quite honest.