How much more are you willing to pay for nice colours on your vintage comic cover? 2 2

[Math Teacher]

I haven't thought about the OP's question, but I would avoid a faded copy at all costs. If I remember correctly, there was a discussion about an IH #181 with a high grade that was terribly faded. If I had a choice between a nice 6.0 with decent colors versus a 9.0 with very faded colors, I would choose the 6.0 all day long.

[Black Bat]

I will gladly take a book that's low grade but with great color and no pieces missing over the same book with duller color but a higher grade because of its better "structure" any day.  I have many books where my higher grade "investment" copies, are not my "keepers", because my lower grade books are so much more beautiful.  It's not a checklist for me, its purely visual.  Plus I appreciate a nice veneer of loving wear (I skip the tear part though).

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by Black Bat

[William-James88]

On 1/11/2022 at 4:12 PM, Black Bat said:

I will gladly take a book that's low grade but with great color and no pieces missing over the same book with duller color but a higher grade because of its better "structure" any day.

 

This is in a situation where both are the same price?

Edited January 11, 2022 by William-James88

[William-James88]

On 1/11/2022 at 2:57 PM, Math Teacher said:

I haven't thought about the OP's question, but I would avoid a faded copy at all costs. If I remember correctly, there was a discussion about an IH #181 with a high grade that was terribly faded. If I had a choice between a nice 6.0 with decent colors versus a 9.0 with very faded colors, I would choose the 6.0 all day long.

Even if the 6.0 and the 9.0 are the same price due to the premium you'd be paying on the fresher looking 6.0 and the discount on the lackluster 9.0?

Because this is what this question is about, what premium are you ok paying for a better looking book when it's not about the grade?

[Math Teacher]

On 1/11/2022 at 4:13 PM, William-James88 said:

Even if the 6.0 and the 9.0 are the same price due to the premium you'd be paying on the fresher looking 6.0 and the discount on the lackluster 9.0?

Because this is what this question is about, what premium are you ok paying for a better looking book when it's not about the grade?

I think that it's an awful big assumption to think that a nice-looking 6.0 and the faded 9.0 would be the same price. As we all know, there are plenty of collectors that only look at the number in the right-hand corner.

[Black Bat]

On 1/11/2022 at 2:10 PM, William-James88 said:

This is in a situation where both are the same price?

Possibly... depends.  ha ha.  Lets just say I'm not going to pay market price for a higher grade book if I don't like the colors. I just love comics as beautiful objects, and ultimately grade isn't really the issue.  I'm a golden age guy though, so sometimes you risk never seeing a book again if you're too picky...

[William-James88]

On 1/11/2022 at 6:27 PM, Black Bat said:

 I'm a golden age guy though, so sometimes you risk never seeing a book again if you're too picky...

man that sounds like me and page quality for GA

[William-James88]

On 1/11/2022 at 6:19 PM, Math Teacher said:

I think that it's an awful big assumption to think that a nice-looking 6.0 and the faded 9.0 would be the same price. As we all know, there are plenty of collectors that only look at the number in the right-hand corner.

I agree, hence my question. You said you'd rather have a lower grade book if it looked better but that's not the question at hand. Would you be ready to pay a premium (substantially higher than market value) for a better looking copy of a book when another less attractive copy can be obtained for less?

Edited January 11, 2022 by William-James88

[Black Bat]

On 1/11/2022 at 3:40 PM, William-James88 said:

man that sounds like me and page quality for GA

Yeah that’s an issue for me too- keeps me from buying everything I see. Ha ha. Self imposed limitations 

Its kind of a catch 22 because cream paged books often have very rich saturated colors.  I think there's something in the oxidization process that intensifies the pigments.  Kinda like firing a piece or ceramic that you glazed... maybe we should bake all our books a bit...

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Black Bat

[Math Teacher]

I probably would, but I wouldn't pay much more than 10% - 15% above FMV. And I would be less likely to spend more if the book was $2,000 or higher. The key question that seems to be missing is this: How much better does the better looking copy look compared to the less attractive copy? And people's views of better looking are quite varied. What I think is attractive copy is probably entirely different than what someone else thinks is an attractive copy. It's all relative to the viewer.

[rjpb]

On 1/11/2022 at 9:33 AM, october said:

If it's between a copy with nice colors and a copy with mediocre colors, the converation in my head is less about a premium for the former and more about whether I want the inferior copy at all. The answer is usually no. That said, I would go 20-40% more for a truly exceptional looking copy. The Fiction House example above is a good one. Strong colors on a lot of those mid-run FH books should garner significant premiums, even though they often don't.

I would also expect to pay over guide for a nice looking WF 90. That's one of the more in-demand issues from that title, at least for the era. 

Some FH books are harder to find with nice color than others, and when I find those I've typically sold them for a 50-100% premium over the same grade with so-so colors, but then again with FH there tends to be a wider range than usual in selling prices even without color consideration. 

[mstrange]

Nice vibrant colors are always #1 for me.  I would go for a lower grade book with great color and gloss vs a higher grade with fading color.

 

[D84]

In person, definitely. From scans, no.

[William-James88]

Wow, looks like people were willing to pay quite the premium for the colours on this FH book:

That is 5 times (500%) guide while FH books of the same grade are currently selling for about 50% over guide.

[William-James88]

On 1/11/2022 at 6:19 PM, Math Teacher said:

I think that it's an awful big assumption to think that a nice-looking 6.0 and the faded 9.0 would be the same price. As we all know, there are plenty of collectors that only look at the number in the right-hand corner.

Turns out, yes, a 6.0 with nice colours sold for the guide price of a 9.0. It was not a big assumption, it's the current reality of how much people are willing to pay as premium for nice colours. The previous 6.0, in lesser colours, sold for less than 6.0 guide, at $100.

And the 6.0 Wolrd's Finest 90 with nice colours I posted sold for more than the recent 7.5s that were sold. So yeah, these premiums for colour are real. It's easy to say someone would rather have a nice looking 6.0 than an ok 7.5, but does that mean you'd be willing to pay more than what a 7.5 for that 6.0? Because that's where we are at. And that 7.5 wasn't that bad in terms of colours.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2022 by William-James88

[Number 6]

On 2/5/2022 at 12:15 PM, William-James88 said:

Turns out, yes, a 6.0 with nice colours sold for the guide price of a 9.0. It was not a big assumption, it's the current reality of how much people are willing to pay as premium for nice colours. The previous 6.0, in lesser colours, sold for less than 6.0 guide, at $100.

And the 6.0 Wolrd's Finest 90 with nice colours I posted sold for more than the recent 7.5s that were sold. So yeah, these premiums for colour are real. It's easy to say someone would rather have a nice looking 6.0 than an ok 7.5, but does that mean you'd be willing to pay more than what a 7.5 for that 6.0? Because that's where we are at. And that 7.5 wasn't that bad in terms of colours.

 

 

Take a look at how dark the CGC label is on the 6.0 compared to the label on the 7.5.  It’s possible that the “difference” in colors in this case could be attributed to scanner settings. 
 

While I won’t discount the possibility that variance in depth of color could play a part in price realized, I think in the case of the World’s Finest it might be jumping to conclusions.  Either that, or somebody is going to be in for an unpleasant surprise. 
 

[William-James88]

On 2/5/2022 at 3:34 PM, Number 6 said:

While I won’t discount the possibility that variance in depth of color could play a part in price realized, I think in the case of the World’s Finest it might be jumping to conclusions.  Either that, or somebody is going to be in for an unpleasant surprise. 
 

That's fair. So it could simply be that someone really wanted a Wolrd's Finest 6.0 at that moment, no matter the cost.

[Number 6]

On 2/5/2022 at 12:41 PM, William-James88 said:

That's fair. So it could simply be that someone really wanted a Wolrd's Finest 6.0 at that moment, no matter the cost.

Could be several factors. 
 

Neither picture posted above are great for discerning detail, but it does look like the 7.5 has a tear or something on the bottom edge near the spine. Maybe a couple of bidders felt that the 6.0 had better presentation with other aspects beside color preservation. 
 

Or could be that bidders decided that the Clink auction was time to go for that issue and got in a bidding war with each other.  In this market, it’s hard to tell. 
 

As someone else said, if I was going to pay a premium for color strike/preservation I’d want to see the book in person or at the very least make sure the scan is an accurate representation of what the book actually looks like. 

[William-James88]

On 1/12/2022 at 2:57 AM, mstrange said:

Nice vibrant colors are always #1 for me.  I would go for a lower grade book with great color and gloss vs a higher grade with fading color.

 

Even if the lower grade book with the great colours was selling for the same price as the higher graded book? That's the question here. Will you pay multiple times guide price for nice colours, as is the case with the fiction house books mentioned in this thread? 

Anyways, I found myself a worlds finest 90 with phenomenal colours and wanted to share (sorry about the glare but that gorgeous blue was captured well)

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by William-James88