White pages vs Off-white...Is it that big of a deal? 2 2

[KCode98]

Given equal grading and cover appeal. How big of a deal breaker is off-white pages to collectors? (I also saw other page color ratings)

[namisgr]

On 1/26/2022 at 7:52 PM, KCode98 said:

Given equal grading and cover appeal. How big of a deal breaker is off-white pages to collectors? (I also saw other page color ratings)

For bronze age comics, I'd want a significantly better price to buy an off-white copy, all other aspects being equal.

[Bird]

On 1/26/2022 at 7:52 PM, KCode98 said:

(I also saw other page color ratings

did you see the pink ones yet?

if they have diff page quality the grades are not "equal" in my opinion...one would always take W over OW/W

 

[KCode98]

The comic is encapsulated into a protective case and cannot be opened, you cannot read it, yet the color of the pages you cannot see matter.

I get it, I know. But I think that is a little funny

[Jesse-Lee]

It somewhat comes down to personal preference and what your objective is. It's like the 9.8 vs lower grades thing. Are you looking to invest? Some buyers prefer white pages, some don't care; so if you're buying to resell, you may consider going after white page copies to broaden your sales base. Are you keeping it in your personal collection? Then it comes down to what you value. If I saw two identical books for the exact same price but one was W and one was OW/W, I'd buy the white pages. If the OW/W was significantly cheaper, I might buy that one. If they were the same book, but the W page one had a miswrap where the cover was off-center and the OW/W one was perfectly centered, I'd take the centered copy over the higher page quality.

A lot of people go by the "buy the book, not the grade" mantra, and for many, that extends into the page color/quality variable as well.

Edited January 27, 2022 by Jesse-Lee

[Jaydogrules]

No.

-J.

[Rip]

On a bronze age I would look at centering first. Then how white the back cover looks. But its always bonus points to get white pages.

It counts a bit higher on certain late Silver and early Bronze DC's. Also some magazines with tough to get white pages.

[Brian48]

I generally never go lower than ow/w for early, pre-75 BA books.just my preference.   Anything SA or GA, I’m open. Depends on the book.  

[comicginger1789]

There are people who love their page quality to be white or off-white to white at worst. I am one, although on an older book I would be fine with cream to off-white.

In term of cost, if a 9.4 book with off-white to white pages is cheaper than a 9.4 white pager, I will take the cheaper book. It is not a huge to do for me. Plus I have seen it enough times where a white pager gets reslabbed and comes back as off-white/white....vice versa too. So to me it's all the same and like grading itself, subjective to a degree. 

[KCOComics]

On 1/26/2022 at 8:06 PM, KCode98 said:

The comic is encapsulated into a protective case and cannot be opened, you cannot read it, yet the color of the pages you cannot see matter.

I get it, I know. But I think that is a little funny

My one word of advice is to stay away from Brittle pages. You don't see many bronze age books with brittle pages, but they are out there. 

Many collectors won't touch a book with brittle pages unless it's a rare GA book. So at an minimum it will hurt your resale opportunity. 

[amatta]

it's a bit silly, seeing often times a OW or OWW book pressed & resubbed will come back with White pages... but generally speaking a W designation is a bit better regarded. I get the sense that there are many collectors severely discount for non-W pages, more who discriminate for Cream or C/OW pages, even more who do so for Light Tan and a big bunch (majority?) who will avoid brittle pages (which means it's falling apart). Myself, I discount a bit at cream and avoid Light Tan or below... 

[THE_BEYONDER]

All the books I currently collect are fairly plentiful in supply, so I barely even consider anything less than white pages.  
 

That said, I am considering a 9.6 OW/W at the moment because the QP & structural grade look outstanding.

[namisgr]

On 1/27/2022 at 9:23 AM, amatta said:

it's a bit silly, seeing often times a OW or OWW book pressed & resubbed will come back with White pages.. a 9.6 label replacing the 9.2 one.

Sure, there's some wobble in the CGC page quality designations, but not as much as there is in the CGC numerical grades.  Offentimes, it happens with comics without any cleaning and pressing being involved.  

An early lesson learned: I bought the ASM 14 shown below in a 9.0 original label slab and cracked it out, as I did for the first 30 or 40 slabbed comics I bought shortly after CGC started up.  A couple years later I started re-slabbing a few books that looked strictly graded to me, without any cleaning, pressing, or any other manipulation involved,.  The ASM 14 came back a 9.4.  There's a lot of wobble in the numerical grading, so much so that I find it surprising when the wobble in the page quality grading invariably comes up in these types of discussions.  So many collectors won't give a second thought to paying a much higher price for an ultra high numerical graded comic over a comparable looking copy with a slightly lower assigned structural grade.  Why not pay a tiny bit more for one carrying the white pages designation, especially since more often than not a re-grading would confirm the white page designation, at least from my experience with re-graded books.

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by namisgr
spelling

[Mystafo]

On 1/27/2022 at 7:58 AM, KCOComics said:

My one word of advice is to stay away from Brittle pages. You don't see many bronze age books with brittle pages, but they are out there. 

Many collectors won't touch a book with brittle pages unless it's a rare GA book. So at an minimum it will hurt your resale opportunity. 

This but I'd personally add "tan" only because you can't check suppleness for yourself and it may be verging on "brittle."

[rjpb]

Just as with the assigned grade, once a book has been encapsulated, the listed page quality becomes a factor in assessing desirability, even if it isn't consistent from book to book. Unlike with assigned grade, where we can evaluate the known flaws or make our own judgment on eye-appeal as a consideration apart from grade, we can't judge the comparative page quality without cracking the slab. Still, we can assume that barring environmental impact post slabbing, that pages that are listed as off white or better are going to be superior to those that are listed as cream or darker. 

While White Pages is a plus for books in nearly any grade, and might help in selling it, I suspect it only becomes a consideration vs. off-white when purchasing books generally available in very high grade but still commanding a big premium with each incremental grade improvement. If one is willing to pay multiples for a 9.8 over a 9.6, then they probably prefer premium page quality as well. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 1/26/2022 at 7:52 PM, KCode98 said:

Given equal grading and cover appeal. How big of a deal breaker is off-white pages to collectors? (I also saw other page color ratings)

How about just eliminating the PQ designation 

 

[Rip]

One other thing with page quality, I almost never buy C/OW on books past 1965. I think I own maybe one. I also usually avoid OW on post 1970 books, although I know I have at least 3 or 4 of those.

I also tend to avoid the Savannah Pedigree due to its cream and sometimes tan backs.

[TheBook]

Depends on the collector, but for me PQ is a big deal.

Especially silver age books in general and bronze age grails.

But I agree for GA and some extremely rare books any PQ is fine except brittle.

 

[jcjames]

On 1/26/2022 at 6:06 PM, KCode98 said:

The comic is encapsulated into a protective case and cannot be opened, you cannot read it, yet the color of the pages you cannot see matter.

I get it, I know. But I think that is a little funny

Pretty clear that PQ matters more to some collectors than to others, and varies a lot even from book to book. Not all "WP" have the same look to the page quality. 

As far as discounting the importance of internal features to a book that's encapsulated, consider this - would you care if a book had scribbles on the inside pages, or if it was missing a MVS, or if there was a smooshed bug in the centerfold? You can't see any of that from outside the slab - but they all do have a big influence on desirability don't they? 

Besides, some folks buy a slabbed book and immediately remove it from the slab to enjoy it. They may only buy the slabbed book to ensure it's graded fairly and without restoration. 

 

[D2]

White Pages Only. 
 

Let the others buy their cream