Opinion: What do you think are the top five of the Golden Age Pedigree collections? 3 3

[RareHighGrade]

On 2/3/2022 at 6:46 PM, Cat-Man_America said:

In the ring:

1- Church, the undisputed champ, an artist with style, grace and longevity

2- San Francisco/Reilly, the most intriguing old school contender, mysterious, classic style with high quality movement 

3- Promise Collection, the newcomer with unsurpassed hype and manager promotion; great back story looks like William Randolph Hearst wrote it.

4- Allentown, smaller scale fighter with some key bouts and grade performance

5- Larson, fan favorite, rags to riches story, well documented

 

It's hard to argue with this list, even though it wouldn't surprise me if folks re-ordered the last three.  In the end, I agree with Cat's rankings.  

[buttock]

On 2/5/2022 at 12:35 PM, RareHighGrade said:

It's hard to argue with this list, even though it wouldn't surprise me if folks re-ordered the last three.  In the end, I agree with Cat's rankings.  

I just got in another Promise book and the colors and gloss are exceptional, as has been the case on all of them.  I'd have to at least entertain it for top 5. 

Definitely Church, Larson, SF.

 

[Straw-Man]

gotta say i’m pretty surprised at the lack of support for the sherwood ped in this thread. 
 

 

[Terry JSA]

Church

Promise Collection

Larson

San Francisco

Okajima

[tth2]

On 2/5/2022 at 10:12 PM, MrBedrock said:

On 2/5/2022 at 3:59 PM, lou_fine said:

Well, very rare only because the purchaser who brought the collection from the OO has not yet released any of the books into the marketplace.  

That is, unless you are interested in purchasing some late Four Colors or funny animal books from the mid 50's time period which even he doesn't want.  

Then again, these were pretty much far and away the highest graded books in the Chinatown collection, out of the ones that were graded.  

Expand  

And your point is?

That SFCD keeps making it sound like the Chinatown books are on the market and available when they're not.

[lou_fine]

On 2/5/2022 at 12:24 PM, buttock said:

I just got in another Promise book and the colors and gloss are exceptional, as has been the case on all of them.  I'd have to at least entertain it for top 5. 

 

In complete agreement with this statement and the reason why I also feel that the Promise Collection is in contention with both the Pennsylvania and Hawkeye's as my pick for the 5th position.  

Although there are clearly some technical defects with some of the Promise Collection books vis-a-vis their assigned CGC grades, from the Heritage scans which I've seen save for dust shadows on some of the books, there is no doubt as to the freshness, gloss, and just how the colors seem to pop on the covers of the these books.  Especially when you look at some of the "lesser" and seldom seen titles like Internationl Comics, Crime Patrol, Moon Girl, etc.  

Although some of us here (including yours truly and guilty as charged ) tend to harp on the seeming overgrading on some of the Promise Collection books , my bet is that there are probably just as many undergraded books in the pedigree collection as there are overgraded books.  It's just that it's so much easier to spot overgraded books from just looking at a scan(s) and point them out, whereas you really cannot do the same thing by just looking at a scan(s) when it comes to a possibly undergraded book.  

Edited February 6, 2022 by lou_fine

[lou_fine]

On 2/5/2022 at 6:12 AM, MrBedrock said:

On 2/4/2022 at 11:59 PM, lou_fine said:

Well, very rare only because the purchaser who brought the collection from the OO has not yet released any of the books into the marketplace.  

 

And your point is?

Only that it's rare in the marketplace because it hasn't yet really been brought to market, but will be a whole lot less rare when it is eventually brought to market and actually available for purchase.    

And your point is?    

[lou_fine]

On 2/4/2022 at 6:54 AM, buttock said:

Surprised at all the love the Allentown collection is getting.  While it does have a handful of top tier keys, it's at least matched on that level by the Larson, Windy City, and Kansas City finds; and the Larson and Windy Citys had much deeper runs. 

Strange as it may seem, I actually feel that the rather limited size of the Allentown Collection at only 135 books tends to add a note of prestige and uniqueness to these books, as opposed to a much larger size pedigree with thousands of extant books.  In other words, collectors might feel that it is more desirable to own a copy of an Allentown book when there is only a total of 135 extant copies out there which hardly ever appears in the marketplace, as opposed to owning a copy of some other pedigree where there are 5,000 or possibly even 20,000 other extant copies out there and ones which tend to show up in auctions on a more regular basis. 

Especially when the overwhelming majority of the Allentown books slabbed to date have all graded into the 9's, as opposed to the ones which you have mentioned like the Larson, Windy City, and Kansas City probably averages out in grade to only somewhere in the 8's that tends to diminish their status as a pedigree.  In addition, although its that the larger size pedigree would certainly have deeper runs and more keys, the number of keys, semi-keys, or in-demand issues within the Allentown is a much higher proportion of the total collection as opposed to the other pedigrees which also has a lot more of the lesser name books that once again tends to diminish their status as a pedigree.  

A perfect case in point would be the long standing Larson pedigree which probably averages out to only somewhere in the low to mid 8's in terms of grading.  And yet the Larson copies of both Fantastic Comics 1 and Thrilling Comics 1 with their bright cover colors were just mind blowingly gorgeous and clearly still embedded in my memory when I saw them during the Diamond Galleries grand opening back in the mid-90's.  

Edited February 6, 2022 by lou_fine

[MrBedrock]

On 2/6/2022 at 12:24 AM, lou_fine said:

 

And your point is?    

That the sky is blue, until something happens and it is not blue, at which point it will be some other color.

 

[MrBedrock]

But just so I understand...the Chinatowns are rare because the guy who bought them and had them graded still has them all. But when he decides to sell some or all of them they wil lose their rarity. Is this the gist of what you are getting at?

[buttock]

On 2/5/2022 at 10:34 PM, tth2 said:

That SFCD keeps making it sound like the Chinatown books are on the market and available when they're not.

Schrodinger's pedigree

[Flex Mentallo]

On 2/6/2022 at 2:03 PM, buttock said:

Schrodinger's pedigree

We need a quantum computer for this one.

[Cat-Man_America]

On 2/6/2022 at 8:03 AM, buttock said:

Schrodinger's pedigree

>>>>>>>>>>> 

On 2/6/2022 at 9:37 AM, Flex Mentallo said:

We need a quantum computer for this one.

No, Cat's storage would be able to handle it! 

[143ksk]

Church

Reilly

Promise

Larson

Crippen

[telerites]

I need to start a thread of naming the top five Poor Person's Pedigrees.  I might have a few of those in my collection. 

Or I could just wait a little while since the pedigree book will soon be released and look at the rankings in it. 

 

[sfcityduck]

On 2/5/2022 at 9:34 PM, tth2 said:

That SFCD keeps making it sound like the Chinatown books are on the market and available when they're not.

Not sure what the quibble is with my statement that they are "presently very rare in the marketplace."  Aren't we in agreement on that?  More could come up for sale.  A very few have hit the market already.

Edited February 6, 2022 by sfcityduck

[sfcityduck]

On 2/6/2022 at 11:33 AM, telerites said:

I need to start a thread of naming the top five Poor Person's Pedigrees.  I might have a few of those in my collection. 

Or I could just wait a little while since the pedigree book will soon be released and look at the rankings in it. 

 

How about a list of the top 5 non-pedigree books?  

I'd think the Action 1 9.0 white would top that list.  The 9.4 All-Star 8 white and 9.4 Batman 1 white would also make the top 5.  Maybe the WW 1 9.0 white solicitation copy?  There are plenty of great non-peds that are better books than the same issues in most of the pens.

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by sfcityduck

[batman_fan]

On 2/5/2022 at 7:21 PM, Straw-Man said:

gotta say i’m pretty surprised at the lack of support for the sherwood ped in this thread. 
 

 

that book would look perfect in one of my comic boxes 

[Cat-Man_America]

On 2/6/2022 at 3:15 PM, batman_fan said:

that book would look perfect in one of my comic boxes 

It Sherwood.  

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

On 2/7/2022 at 12:35 AM, Cat-Man_America said:

It Sherwood.