phoenix215 Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 I'm curious about how people on this board have decided what grades to target for their collection. I mean, it's taken me a long time to figure out where I want my 1-66 run to be. I started out just wanting one of every issue (generally raw). Then I wanted a complete collection of graded issues. Now my goals are #1 to #10 Fine or better #11 to #20 Fine/VF minimum, average of VF or better #21 to #66 VF minimum, average of 9.0 or better for the group For the near term, I won't be spending a lot for high-grade, single-digit issues. I'll save those for later. I've also been cautious about buying a lot of high-priced 9.4 and 9.6 issues. The money doesn't go very far buying the ultra-grades. For now, I think it's more fun to pick up a few 9.0 and 9.2 books every month with an occasional 9.4 or 9.6 when the right book (at the right price) comes along. I've found that setting these goals has really helped me to collect with more of a purpose. For example, when kc listed two 9.2 books this weekend, I knew that they were PERFECT for my collection. Exactly where I wanted those issues to be. Someday, when the run is more filled-in, I'm sure that I'll work on upgrading the lowest-grade issues. Anyway, thanks for reading this far. For those of you who have been at this for a while, I'm curious. Did you start out just trying to own one of every issue and then, in a series of steps, evolve your goals ever higher? Oh, and to finish off this message, here are two issues I bought back in November and hadn't gotten around to posting. I got a fairly good deal on them from lawyerboy on Ebay. CycleGirl I guess for me, I'm fairly similar along your line of thinking with a slight variation: #1-3 Fine, but willing to go for a VGood (though my #4 as you can see would barely make it into good, in my opinion) #4-30 Fine or VF- #30-66 VF as a minimum If one of those issues came along in the higher grades and at the right price then yes I'd consider them. But ultimately the goal has always been to own the complete run in nice condition...and that goal was determined back when the top price paid for a NM X-men #1 would have set you back no more than $3-4 K, now look at the prices I think the money will always be a factor but it could be worse i guess, i could be collecting early Tec's or Action. Most of my issues before #100 were bought pre-ebay era and from Harley Yee when he made the trip down under. And on a side note, nice X-men's. The #43 was the very first issue i ever had bought from the states back in the late 80's. It is still in Fine condition and only cost me $20 US at the time, thanks to a mate being on holiday there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldsbestcomics Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 I'm curious about how people on this board have decided what grades to target for their collection. For those of you who have been at this for a while, I'm curious. Did you start out just trying to own one of every issue and then, in a series of steps, evolve your goals ever higher? CycleGirl For me, I was always very picky about getting high-grade raw comics when they were new and carefully storing them. Then, when CGC came into existence, I made a list of the top 100 [mostly bronze] books that I wanted. I plan to get all of those books in 9.6/9.8 condition. I generally prefer the challenge of the uber-grades even though it means getting fewer books. But, I'm also working on a run of reader-grade Uncle Scrooges just for fun [and to read]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 For #1, it will probably be VG tops. 2, 3, 5, 6 are probably Fine or better. From there it's VF or better until the early 60's. If I ever get #94 or GS1, it would probably have to be a 8.5 or better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutantKeys Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I am consistently changing my list but here are my current goals. 1-66 Mid-grade to Highgrade (depending on cost) My current #1 is a 3.0 due to my finances but by the time I am Steve or Caseys old age I will like to have #1 in 9.0 -/+ . 67-93 I will like to have these from 9.0 - 9.8 94-99 9.4 or better 100-142 9.6 or better 143 9.8 144-300 9.8 Anything post 94 must have White Pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
october Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I am working on 1-20 right now. So far I have... 1: 3.0 3: 6.0 4: 7.0 11: 7.0 12: 8.0 13: 7.0 14: 8.0 15: 8.0 16: 9.2 17: 7.5 It's fun picking the up one by one every now and then. Golden age takes precendence, but these are cool too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingDonut Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I am working on 1-20 right now. So far I have... 1: 3.0 3: 6.0 4: 7.0 11: 7.0 12: 8.0 13: 7.0 14: 8.0 15: 8.0 16: 9.2 17: 7.5 It's fun picking the up one by one every now and then. Golden age takes precendence, but these are cool too. I must say, the 3 and 4 you have are just stunning copies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
october Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I am working on 1-20 right now. So far I have... 1: 3.0 3: 6.0 4: 7.0 11: 7.0 12: 8.0 13: 7.0 14: 8.0 15: 8.0 16: 9.2 17: 7.5 It's fun picking the up one by one every now and then. Golden age takes precendence, but these are cool too. I must say, the 3 and 4 you have are just stunning copies! Especially the 4. Time to add #5 to the pile? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingDonut Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Isn't your 12 from the Mrs. Donut collection? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
october Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Isn't your 12 from the Mrs. Donut collection? Yeah, and the 14 I think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fushi Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 my grade preferences are simply where i feel i get the most bang for the buck in terms of appearance vs $$ (usually vf+ range for me) started off collecting anything that looked decent without care of page quality (light tan ain't that bad right?) over time (although it seems to vary weekly), my preferences have become more strict to now it's something along these lines: #1 - #2 F+ to VF (at least ow) #3 - #40 - VF to NM- (at least ow) #40 - #66 VF+ to NM (at least ow/w) anyway, here are a few books i brought back w/ me from vacation which I haven't posted before: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CycleGirl Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 (edited) my grade preferences are simply where i feel i get the most bang for the buck in terms of appearance vs $$ (usually vf+ range for me) started off collecting anything that looked decent without care of page quality (light tan ain't that bad right?) over time (although it seems to vary weekly), my preferences have become more strict to now it's something along these lines: #1 - #2 F+ to VF (at least ow) #3 - #40 - VF to NM- (at least ow) #40 - #66 VF+ to NM (at least ow/w) anyway, here are a few books i brought back w/ me from vacation which I haven't posted before: Nice books! Especially that #3. I never noticed it before... Is Iceman throwing a snow airplane? Edited January 10, 2007 by CycleGirl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob_allan Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Well, I just got X-Men 14 for my birthday! I was going to post it here thinking, ha-ha! and then I saw that I'm posting right under a slabbed 9.0 . Well, I still LOVE my copy and since I scanned it, I'm posting it! So you guys can just see this cover TWICE! Yar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix215 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Well, I just got X-Men 14 for my birthday! I was going to post it here thinking, ha-ha! and then I saw that I'm posting right under a slabbed 9.0 . Well, I still LOVE my copy and since I scanned it, I'm posting it! So you guys can just see this cover TWICE! Yar! That still looks like a very nice copy, rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CycleGirl Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Thanks phoenix, shadow, worldsbestcomics, mutantkeys, october and beancurd for replying with your collecting goals. I was struck by how many of us had similar goals in terms of grades. That is, most of us demand higher grades as the issue numbers increase and accept lower grades on low-numbered issues. I suppose that we all normalize the cost curve to an extent. For the majority the run, most of us are trying to stay at VF or higher. Anyway, in light of this, I've been looking at the CGC census. I actually have entered it all into an Excel sheet. Why look at the census? Well, the grade and the census give us a measure of scarcity. And we all know the demand/scarcity = value. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to advocate collecting for the sake of investing. However, when I spend significant money on a book, I would like to have some confidence that I'm not buying too much into a "bubble" of unsupportable value. The value will remain as long as demand/scarcity remains high. Oops, I'm getting preachy. Let me just get some statistics. I'll post more if it's of interest. X-Men Issues #1 - 66 Total CGC Graded books = 11766 Average grade = 7.49 (1 - 66) Grade _ Avg # in Grade per Issue 9.8 __ 0.9 9.6 __ 6.8 9.4 __ 16.1 9.2 __ 17.6 9.0 __ 21.8 8.5 __ 17.9 8.0 __ 16.6 7.5 __ 13.8 7.0 __ 12.6 6.5 __ 9.2 6.0 __ 7.4 5.5 __ 4.9 5.0 __ 7.2 4.5 __ 5.9 4.0 __ 5.9 3.5 __ 3.2 3.0 __ 3.6 Just in case this isn't clear. There are an average of 17.9 books graded exactly 8.5 in each issue #1 - 66. I cut off the histogram at 4.0, there are a few books below that level. It won't surprise anyone to hear that the census looks quite different for issues 1-15. Obviously, these issues have many more mid-grade books in the CGC census. X-Men #1 - 15 CGC Graded books = 4462 Average Grade = 6.18 X-Men #16 - #66 CGC Graded books = 7304 Average Grade = 8.29 Do people find this of interest? Is this information compiled somewhere that I don't know about? I have some graphs that I could share too, but it's late and I have to work in the morning. CycleGirl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix215 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Thanks phoenix, shadow, worldsbestcomics, mutantkeys, october and beancurd for replying with your collecting goals. I was struck by how many of us had similar goals in terms of grades. That is, most of us demand higher grades as the issue numbers increase and accept lower grades on low-numbered issues. I suppose that we all normalize the cost curve to an extent. For the majority the run, most of us are trying to stay at VF or higher. Anyway, in light of this, I've been looking at the CGC census. I actually have entered it all into an Excel sheet. Why look at the census? Well, the grade and the census give us a measure of scarcity. And we all know the demand/scarcity = value. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to advocate collecting for the sake of investing. However, when I spend significant money on a book, I would like to have some confidence that I'm not buying too much into a "bubble" of unsupportable value. The value will remain as long as demand/scarcity remains high. Oops, I'm getting preachy. Let me just get some statistics. I'll post more if it's of interest. X-Men Issues #1 - 66 Total CGC Graded books = 11766 Average grade = 7.49 (1 - 66) Grade _ Avg # in Grade per Issue 9.8 __ 0.9 9.6 __ 6.8 9.4 __ 16.1 9.2 __ 17.6 9.0 __ 21.8 8.5 __ 17.9 8.0 __ 16.6 7.5 __ 13.8 7.0 __ 12.6 6.5 __ 9.2 6.0 __ 7.4 5.5 __ 4.9 5.0 __ 7.2 4.5 __ 5.9 4.0 __ 5.9 3.5 __ 3.2 3.0 __ 3.6 Just in case this isn't clear. There are an average of 17.9 books graded exactly 8.5 in each issue #1 - 66. I cut off the histogram at 4.0, there are a few books below that level. It won't surprise anyone to hear that the census looks quite different for issues 1-15. Obviously, these issues have many more mid-grade books in the CGC census. X-Men #1 - 15 CGC Graded books = 4462 Average Grade = 6.18 X-Men #16 - #66 CGC Graded books = 7304 Average Grade = 8.29 Do people find this of interest? Is this information compiled somewhere that I don't know about? I have some graphs that I could share too, but it's late and I have to work in the morning. CycleGirl It actually is a good thing to know because it gives you an idea of how long you may have to wait until a similar graded or higher graded copy of an issue arises. Of course though we cannot allow for all the raw copies that may be out there. Plus it is also interesting to see what sort of goals we all have for our collections and what standard we'd like to have. And I am also sure we keep an eye on overstreet guide on what prices our collection would be roughly going for. But I would say that I, like the rest of you, would find it hard to part with the collection except under the more umm dire of circumstances. I still dream of those wonderful Pacific Coast copies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Nice work compiling that data. I think you hit on a point about thresholds in terms of grades. My budget for back issues might be $750 a year or so. And, I can rarely convince myself to spend it all on 1 book. I've been tempted, but I always want to plug a couple of holes in the collection when I do go to the Motor City shows. Since I'm not in it to turn a profit or make any money, I'm happy with my "levels" I set. It's a hobby I enjoy and I still love the nostalgia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingOfRulers Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Are those straight averages, or medians? I think medians would give a better assesment of the information. Man, I really can't wait till I finish my X-men run. I just want to finish it!!!! I'm tired of not having a run finished. Early SA X-men books are crappy anyway I just want to concentrate on TOS as soon as possible because SA X-men is so bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutantKeys Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingOfRulers Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutantKeys Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 As long as you still love X-Men PS: Good luck getting a spot for the NYCC. Its gonna be nuts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
