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

[lou_fine]

On 2/6/2022 at 11:41 AM, sfcityduck said:

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.

As far as you are aware of, which ones have hit the market already besides raw books like New Funnies featuring Andy Panda and possibly some of the Four Color books?  

In terms of graded books, it looks like the top 5 highest graded books in the entire Chinatown Collection were all Four Color books from the mid-50's time period which indicates they were the ones collected by the daughter.  Doubt you would have much luck acquiring any of these copies though because they are all still the single highest graded copies in the census (save one of them in shared highest graded) after all these long years and all five of them with White Pages to boot.  

Edited February 9, 2022 by lou_fine

[sfcityduck]

On 2/8/2022 at 11:10 PM, lou_fine said:

As far as you are aware of, which ones have hit the market already besides raw books like New Funnies featuring Andy Panda and possibly some of the Four Color books?  

In terms of graded books, it looks like the top 5 highest graded books in the entire Chinatown Collection were all Four Color books from the mid-50's time period which indicates they were the ones collected by the daughter.  Doubt you would have much luck acquiring any of these copies though because they are all still the single highest graded copies in the census (save one of them in shared highest graded) after all these long years and all five of them with White Pages to boot.  

A Fiction House is on the market now.  Dealers eventually sell.  I expect that the slabbing signals we'll see some selling eventually.  And given that I have had the pleasure of acquiring a top of census FC (Uncle Scrooge #2 CGC 9.4 White) before, which I sent on to a good home with a great collector active since the 50s, I suspect that others could have the same luck with the owner of the predigree (my assumption is that relationships matter and I'm not not shopping for top of Census FCs right now).  My only point is that the story for the pedigree is interesting, even if the books aren't readily available now.  I think you and I might agree that its a weird world where "predigree" status is awarded by CGC for books that have never hit the market.  Market acceptance used to be the test.  Now it is upside down.

Edited February 9, 2022 by sfcityduck

[lou_fine]

On 2/8/2022 at 11:24 PM, sfcityduck said:

And given that I have had the pleasure of acquiring a top of census FC (Uncle Scrooge #2 CGC 9.4 White) before, which I sent on to a good home with a great collector active since the 50s, I suspect that others could have the same luck with the owner of the predigree

Is that a Chinatown copy of Four Color 456 or Uncle Scrooge 2 since I assume that must have been graded much later than the main group as the only Four Color Uncle Scrooge books that I have on my list are Uncle Scrooge 4 - 13.  

 

On 2/8/2022 at 11:24 PM, sfcityduck said:

I expect that the slabbing signals we'll see some selling eventually.

Well, I guess the key word here is eventually, since that signal has now been flashing for almost 15 years then.      

[sfcityduck]

On 2/8/2022 at 11:59 PM, lou_fine said:

Is that a Chinatown copy of Four Color 456 or Uncle Scrooge 2

No.  It was a non-Ped.  I have no in to the Chinatown ped.  Don't know the guy. Again, my only point was it had a cool back story..  

[lou_fine]

On 2/9/2022 at 7:40 AM, sfcityduck said:

On 2/8/2022 at 11:59 PM, lou_fine said:

Is that a Chinatown copy of Four Color 456 or Uncle Scrooge 2

No.  It was a non-Ped.  I have no in to the Chinatown ped.  Don't know the guy. Again, my only point was it had a cool back story..  

Yes, definitely a very cool back story on this Chinatown collection of pedigree books.  

As collectors, I guess we all tend to like the HG copies of these books, whether a ped or not.  I remember Fishler back in the day used to call them "killer" copies which I guess was his selling or marketing terminology for them.    

[Robot Man]

I remember David T Alexander, Terry Stroud and Carl Macek using the term “esoteric” for any weird slowing books they couldn’t get rid of.

Some of the best marketeers in the hobby. They coined so many terms we use today like “bondage”, “injury to the eye”, and the most famous “good girl art”.

Fisher had nothing on them. 

[PDGray]

I added a Bethlehem to my collection this past week.  Still waiting on a Crowley I purchased a few weeks ago - apparently stuck in Seattle since the 4th...

 

PDG

 

[Robot Man]

On 2/19/2022 at 3:50 PM, PDGray said:

I added a Bethlehem to my collection this past week.  Still waiting on a Crowley I purchased a few weeks ago - apparently stuck in Seattle since the 4th...

 

PDG

 

Nice! But ain’t official unless you add that back cover shot of the EJ Kerry “stamp”…

[tth2]

On 2/20/2022 at 7:50 AM, PDGray said:

I added a Bethlehem to my collection this past week.  Still waiting on a Crowley I purchased a few weeks ago - apparently stuck in Seattle since the 4th...

 

PDG

 

Nice!  Hadn't seen a Bethlehem Tarzan before! 

[Straw-Man]

On 2/19/2022 at 11:45 PM, tth2 said:

Nice!  Hadn't seen a Bethlehem Tarzan before! 

not mine, but for your viewing pleasure. 
 

 

[PDGray]

Will this pic suffice??  Honestly, after reading about the "fake" Bethlehem books it was one of the first things I checked.   

I am up to 16 Pedigree books from 14 Pedigrees/Collections.  I know there are more and better books out there, but I am kind of happy working on this little project.  I KNOW that some of you have single books worth more than my little pedigree collection, but maybe one day I can catch up!!!

 

PDG

 

[Straw-Man]

being a timely collector, this was the best bethlehem i came across. 
 

[lou_fine]

On 2/20/2022 at 6:32 AM, Straw-Man said:

not mine, but for your viewing pleasure. 
 

 

Unfortunately, I don't believe this would be quite up to @tth2's high standards as there's an even higher graded copy plus another equivalent graded CGC 9.4 copy already slabbed out there.    

[PDGray]

On 2/20/2022 at 3:35 PM, lou_fine said:

Unfortunately, I don't believe this would be quite up to @tth2's high standards as there's an even higher graded copy plus another equivalent graded CGC 9.4 copy already slabbed out there.    

 

It does appear that my "new to me" Tarzan 76 is one of three graded at 9.6 - none higher on the census.  I would be interested to know/see the others to know if they are pedigree or not.  I just couldn't pass on it as a 9.6 from 1955.  I am curious where that #90 is too.

 

PDG

Edited February 20, 2022 by PDGray

[tth2]

On 2/20/2022 at 10:32 PM, Straw-Man said:

On 2/20/2022 at 1:45 PM, tth2 said:

Nice!  Hadn't seen a Bethlehem Tarzan before! 

not mine, but for your viewing pleasure. 

Too late, the thrill is gone already. 

Edited February 21, 2022 by tth2

[PDGray]

My Crowley Copy was delivered today.  Apparently one of 3 graded copies - another 9.2 and a 6.5 - so low census count.  It's not a superhero book, but I am happy to have it.

 

PDG

 

[Moondog]

If the Windy City collection were discovered today, other than the Church collection, it would rival anything previously found.  There were 2 batches totaling nearly 2,500 first issues with the lowest grades in the 5.0-6.0 range all the way to 9.4 for the Marvel Comics 1.  Famous Funnies # 1 all the way to Marvel's Daredevil in 1964. Every major #1 except Action.  I understand why it doesn't have the cache of the others - I sold off individual issues quickly with no documentation as to where they went - but that shouldn't diminish the importance of the collection.  There are many collectors today with an undocumented WC in their collection who are very pleased to own them.

[Drgoldage]

Mile High/San Francisco/Larson/Allentown all great collections  and yes Windy City a great collection lots of the great first issues. Gary did sell off a lot of issues quickly I was one of the fortunate to buy nearly 40 I have never slabbed a single one but I still have them and I suspect most collectors know which of their  books are from the “Windy City “ collection . I hope with time most will be encapsulated so they will not be “ lost” anymore . A side story , Gary was leaving a major show and needed a hand carrying out a couple of boxes of Windy City comics , I tried to keep up with Gary but we got separated when he crossed the street and I wasn’t able  to. I lost sight of Gary for a minute and was sweating bullets that something might happen to the box I was carrying , but traffic cleared without mishap and I caught up with Gary who had patiently waited for me . It was a thrill of a lifetime to carry that full box with so many golden age treasures  the short distance I did and I want to thank Gary however belated for trusting me to do so . In any case put the “Windy City “ in the top five for me 

[lou_fine]

On 2/22/2022 at 6:05 PM, Moondog said:

I understand why it doesn't have the cache of the others - I sold off individual issues quickly with no documentation as to where they went - but that shouldn't diminish the importance of the collection. 

Hey Gary;

Love to hear these background stories on the pedigrees like your Windy City pedigree here.  

Big congrats to you on being able to acquire such an absolutely amazing find.  Was the Windy City collection made up entirely of only #1 first issues as I find it rather surprising that there were as many as 2,500 individual GA comic book titles out there.  If so, I guess it must have covered virtually enery single title out there at the time.  

Was you able to compile a list of the individual books that were in the collection and their possible grades at the time from your own professional point of view, or did most of them sold so quickly you never got a chance to do it?    

[Primetime]

Larson

Reilly-San Francisco

Mile High - Church 

Okajiima 

Allentown