What's the lowest grade you would buy for Silver age comics?

[tth2]

9.4 through 1964, 9.6 for later.

 

But I have an unhealthy obsession with owning the best copy.

 

What's so unhealthy about that?

Not a thing. You're clearly putting your money where your mouth is, if those just-concluded X-Men auctions are any indication!

[mar-vell]

i rarely buy anything graded less than 5.0

VG/FN sems to be the sweet spot for midgrades-especially certified books!

They generally command only reasonable prices but tend to be superior books when compared to 4.5 and under.

 

BTW if comics were worthless i would still collect for the enjoyment but being as they are worth big $$$ i am at least aware of the investment angle when i buy!

[SuperBird]

Is it correct to say that most collectors are looking for at least 8.0/8.5 or better on most silver age books (except the very expensive major keys)?

 

this statement could not be more incorrect. I would guess that 99% of collectors just want 'a' copy.

 

And that anything lower than 8.0, would be hard to sell for profit down the road.

 

this would be true, but you are describing an investors mentality, not a collectors

[Shadow]

Good point on investor vs. collector.

[Norrin_Radd]

After buying a lot of comics (from GA to BA), I've come to the realization that I don't really enjoy owning comics below Fine.

 

To me, there are two reasons for owning a comic: A) I enjoy reading the story or B) I like looking at the cover.

 

On the GA comics I've bought in low-grade, I've found that I don't enjoy looking at the cover because of structural defects AND I don't enjoy reading the story that much because of low page quality and the very delicate nature of the comic because it's in low grade.

 

So from here on out, I'm going after comics in Fine that satisfy at least one of the two criteria (or both).

[alecholland]

I have a $50 threshold.

If I can get a VF for $50 I won't settle for less.

This covers most non-key SA books after 1965.

 

On older, but still cheaper, SA books:

If I can get a Fine for $50 I won't settle for less.

 

On pricer SA books it's a $100 threshold and I try to get at least VG+/VGF.

 

On the big books that cost way over $100 in VG I do the best I can.

 

That's pretty much the way I do it too. It's not so much grade as it is price. $100 is my limit on a single book from any age. However, I have seen some very nice GA books on the boards that exceeded that limit and have considered changing my rule for GA books. I've done fairly well as far as grades are concerned, in that most (about 70%) of my SA & BA books are all VF or better. Although I only have a few books earlier than 1968, so I haven't started on the more expensive stuff yet.

[EastEnd]

On silver age, I generally don't go lower than VF/NM (except on very expensive key books where I might go as low as VF).