Silver Age MegaKeys correlation between Blue and Purple labels 1 1

[Bradley Phillips]

Hello, I'm new on this forum but I'm a long-time collector of (primarily) Spider-man and X-men comics since the '90s. I have an extensive collection of bronze and copper age comics of these series' but only more recently have my interests started to seriously turn towards the Silver Age so I'm trying to learn as much about it as I can. I of course have been doing and plan on continuing to do my own research on this era of comics but I was curious what people's thoughts here are on collecting low-grade copies and possibly even low grade purple label copies of things like AF 15, ASM 1, or X-Men 1 which to me (and I know for many others) are kind of "grail" comics to own in most any condition.

Just looking at eBay prices and sold listings there is quite a bit of data for blue labels in all sorts of varying grades but I feel a bit confused when considering purple labels and how they're priced. I understand this varies greatly on what kind of restoration was done and how much, but just as an example, I see in sold listings for restored a-

7.0 Purple label Amazing Spider-man #1 with "Moderate B-3. color touch, pieces added, tear seals, cleaned, reinforced, re-glossed, top-edge of cover trimmed" which sold for just about $10,000.

A restored 5.0 with "Slight B-1. Small amount of color touch on cover, tear seals to cover and interior" sold for $9,000

And a restored 3.0 "Moderate C-3. colour touch, pieces added." sold for $6,000 which is the very lowest I can find in sold before getting into 0.5s with missing covers or pages and such.

Just to contrast, I see a 1.5 blue label with it's front cover re-attached with tape that sold for nearly $7,000, a 4.0 blue label with no noted problems went for $14,000 and a 7.0 blue label with no noted problems went for $30,000.

and just because I thought it interesting, a 1.8 blue label is currently at auction for $4,000 with 4 days left.

I suppose I'm trying to understand what the price correlation is for these megakeys between restored and unrestored are, and whether certain restoration notes are more acceptable than others. How much *should* one spend on a low-grade purple label vs a low-grade blue label? Like that 3.0 which went for 6k. Is that a decent price for such a copy? Would that then mean it's comparable to say, a 1.0 blue label? And as far as I'm able to tell, would it be correct to say that 6-7k seems to be the floor right now for a complete ASM #1?

Also, I'm a little surprised that 7.0 was graded a 7.0 with trimming as I would imagine that's far more destructive to the book than most anything else, or am I wrong? There does seem to be extensive restoration work on that book. I would imagine that the least amount of restoration would be better but perhaps the prices don't reflect that?

I personally am not bothered with purple labels for the most part when it comes to these sort of megakeys and for some of them, like AF 15, they might be the only real viable entry point to owning a copy for myself and others just now venturing into the Silver Age world.

I would appreciate any sort of help, clarification, advice, or even just commentary and opinions on this topic. It's been really fascinating to read and learn about all that goes into grading these highly sought-after comics. I hope to acquire at least one of these megakeys in the near-future and I'm just trying to learn as much as I can and be as informed as I can.

Thanks.

[ninanina]

All I know is if you do a professional restoration on a comic which would include pieces added, re-glossing et all, you would have a comic that although looks VF, you could expect to get VG overstreet guide (or if it's more current) whatever gocollect is currently saying a VG sells for. I've personally experienced this with a restored FF 1 I own, as I've been watching what similarly restored 1's go for. I'm thinking the best way to figure this out for yourself, is to simply watch what happens when an Amazing Spiderman 1 goes up for sale. Certainly there are other angles you need to consider, and maybe some other boarders can come up with their thoughts and experiences. 

[Pantodude]

I just want to address the seeming contradiction of a restored 7.0.   The book receives the apparent grade as it looks with the trimming.  In other words, if the books looks less worn or frayed, it gets the higher apparent grade.   There are, believe it or not, restored 9.4s, etc, out there.  But you're instinct is correct that, all things being equal, a restored book that was trimmed (instead of color touched) will generally go for less than if it were just color touched instead (and even also cleaned, sealed/reinforced,etc).    

Edited May 24, 2021 by Pantodude

[Vixom]

Basically whatever someone is willing to pay for it. What amount off a normal book could make you ok with some color touch, trimmed, or whatever. Generally purple goes for 30 40 50 percent less. But sometimes you get 2 people who know what they are doing bidding on the right book and it goes a lot higher.