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Nic Cage Collection

Started by slackjawcomics,

132 posts in this topic

The Black Hand ®

The Black Hand ®

Posted
Posted

No value to me whatsoever, in fact I found the whole Nic Cage designation to be somewhat cheezy. It doesn't resonate in any kind of a historical sense, it's a greed/ marketing ploy. Now if it came from the Charlie Chaplin collection or the Errol Flynn collection or the Humphry Bogart collection or the Fatty Arbuckle collection or the John Barrymore collection....perhaps it might have some more significance, but not from a current celebrity...no reflection on his skill, talent or popularity.

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Aman619

Aman619

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Posted

oh please.... Id feel the same if it were the Spielberg Collection or the Cage collection. Interesting but not worth a premium. But its not the comparitive value of the celebrity that matters.... its the comic or the original source. The OO is responsible for the excellent condition of the book, not the colletor who bought it years later as a collectible neatly preserved in a mylar or slab for years never to breathe air again in the same way that it did when Lamont or Egdar was stockpiling them.

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action1kid

action1kid

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I agreed with the statement[ no premium for celebrity ownership].No matter who the celeb I might ad.I am only interested in the original owner.

For example the Mile High Action 1. The owner history in order is Edgar Church, Chuck Rozanski and Dave Anderson. Only Mr CHURCH [The original owner matters even though chuck would say Chuck is a celebrity.

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joker-fish

joker-fish

Posted
Posted
No value to me whatsoever, in fact I found the whole Nic Cage designation to be somewhat cheezy. It doesn't resonate in any kind of a historical sense, it's a greed/ marketing ploy. Now if it came from the Charlie Chaplin collection or the Errol Flynn collection or the Humphry Bogart collection or the Fatty Arbuckle collection or the John Barrymore collection....perhaps it might have some more significance, but not from a current celebrity...no reflection on his skill, talent or popularity.

 

WHAT ABOUT THE "DALLAS STEVENS" COLLECTION??

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Leescomics

Leescomics

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Hi.

 

I have been reading the CGC forums with great interest lately. I didn’t realize that there was so much of interest for me to read here. I am especially interested in Pedigree collections.

 

A few years ago I had the good fortune to discover a high-grade atomic age collection and submitted it to the then new CGC as “The Palo Alto Collection.” I have seen some discussion and some scans of this collection here. Up until finding the Palo Alto books, I didn’t much believe in Pedigrees when it comes to comics. I was struck however by the color, gloss and page quality of these books. Some of them looked brand new. Opening the Batman #62, for example, it made that telltale muted “ripping” sound, in my experience a sign that the book had never before been opened. My recollection is that this copy was graded 9.2. A look at the Census reveals that there has since been a 9.4 discovered making the Palo Alto copy the Penultimate one. (Unless the Palo Alto got Re-Submitted. Unlikely I would think.)

 

The same year I purchased the Palo Alto collection of Comics, I was fortunate enough to find a portion (about 100 total) of a high grade, glossy, white paper Pulps including many examples of the Shadow Magazine and many Weird Menace titles. The grading was Very Fine to Near Mint by my comic grading standards. This collection of pulps has since gained fame as the Yakima collection. A quick internet scan of “Yakima Pulps” uncovered the Archangels site, which calls the collection the “Mile High” of pulps.

 

http://www.archangels.com/home.php

 

I also found a high grade Big Little Book Collection that year. There’s no name for it that one that I’m aware of. The year was 2000, as I recall. That was a good year for me!

 

Unfortunately I don’t have any of these high-grade books for sale. They are long gone. I’m not trying to sell anything here. This is strictly for the interests of discussion.

 

Finding these books led me to the following conclusions.

All these high-grade Pedigree collections had several things in common.

I’m going to focus first on the Palo Alto books because I have more familiarity with them, but I will look at the Yakima and Big Little Books too.

 

I believe that Oxygen is the #1 enemy of paper. If exposed to air, the paper will brown over time. The Palo Alto Collection was initially stored in air-tight metal foot lockers for 20 years. After that, they were placed in large plastic bags and sealed in air-tight cardboard boxes with lids.

 

They were kept in an environment where the weather was cool. There were no radical climate changes, hot or cold. They were kept away from pests. They were bought off the shelves new, and many of them never seem to have been read. They were kept away from direct sunlight. When moved, they were moved carefully, as not to jostle them.

 

Since all these conditions were met, the grades of these comics was astounding, and almost unique. As memory serves, I submitted 66 books to the CGC from the Palo Alto Collection. A year later 50 of them were still the top grade for that book on the Census. There were a number of EC books in the collection and due to the William Gaines Collection, the Palo Alto ECs are not always the top. Some of them still were! You’ll note that Gaines sealed a group of each issue in paper and left them at the bottom of his closet for years. The Gaines copies are great and unique because they were sealed from oxygen and kept in a climate stable environment, away from pests and light and moisture.

 

I don’t know how the Palo Alto books stand now in the census. I have not checked them in some years, but I imagine that many of them are still at or near the top.

 

The Mile High Collection was sealed by dint of being surrounded by other books, and of course kept in a cool environment. I imagine the books on the outside edges of the piles are not quite as nice as the ones “sealed” inside by the other stacks of books. Many of the Palo Alto books were superior to the Mile High copies. I don’t mean to compare other than to point out grading. The Palo Alto Collection had very few key issues, and, naturally has but a tiny fraction of the value of the Mile High Collection.

 

The Yakima collection of Pulps? They were sealed in a trunk. We had to but off an old lock to get at them! There were newspapers on top with the date of 1947, as I recall. I believe that the trunk was sealed at that time, and there was nothing newer than that date. Again, I’m at home now and am working off recollections.

 

So Pedigrees are worth lots of money because it is extremely rare for all the archival conditions to be met for their ideal preservation. Many brand new comics aren’t even in mint. It’s almost perverse by the standards of the day to salt away perfect copies of Comic Books in the home and to keep them that way for 50-70 years. Not many people thought to keep perfect copies for the ages let alone giving thought about the paper preservation in those days. I count the existence of high grade golden age pedigrees to bad, almost weird housekeeping. It’s this irritation, however that causes the Peril of high grade and Pedigree Gold that fascinates so many of us.

 

If everyone had saved those Golden Age comics in top condition, they would be worth a lot less. It would be nice to be easily put together a high grade golden age run, but because of the increasingly obvious extreme scarcity, this is the provenance of a very few well heeled and well motivated collectors.

 

Lee Hester

Lee’s Comics

Mountain View, San Mateo

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Moondog

Moondog

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Posted

Interesting post, Lee. You are correct, of course, about the environment being a key factor in preservation. The Windy City pedigree, while as great as it is, would have been exponentially superior (consider for a moment - nearly every major key first issue except Action and Green Lantern in unread condition) to almost every other pedigree collection had the condition of the paper been better. But they were not stored in cool, dark, dry conditions and the paper suffered for it. In fact, the conditions they were stored in caused much of the problems that are commonly associated with WC copies: browning, staining and chipping.

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greggy

greggy

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I would buy a Nic Cage book just because it belonged to him as he is my favorite actor and I think he is a hottie!!

 

Greggy...is that you?

sumo.gif
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ciorac

ciorac

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Posted
Hi.

 

I have been reading the CGC forums with great interest lately. I didn’t realize that there was so much of interest for me to read here. I am especially interested in Pedigree collections.

 

A few years ago I had the good fortune to discover a high-grade atomic age collection and submitted it to the then new CGC as “The Palo Alto Collection.” I have seen some discussion and some scans of this collection here. Up until finding the Palo Alto books, I didn’t much believe in Pedigrees when it comes to comics. I was struck however by the color, gloss and page quality of these books. Some of them looked brand new. Opening the Batman #62, for example, it made that telltale muted “ripping” sound, in my experience a sign that the book had never before been opened. My recollection is that this copy was graded 9.2. A look at the Census reveals that there has since been a 9.4 discovered making the Palo Alto copy the Penultimate one. (Unless the Palo Alto got Re-Submitted. Unlikely I would think.)

 

The same year I purchased the Palo Alto collection of Comics, I was fortunate enough to find a portion (about 100 total) of a high grade, glossy, white paper Pulps including many examples of the Shadow Magazine and many Weird Menace titles. The grading was Very Fine to Near Mint by my comic grading standards. This collection of pulps has since gained fame as the Yakima collection. A quick internet scan of “Yakima Pulps” uncovered the Archangels site, which calls the collection the “Mile High” of pulps.

 

http://www.archangels.com/home.php

 

I also found a high grade Big Little Book Collection that year. There’s no name for it that one that I’m aware of. The year was 2000, as I recall. That was a good year for me!

 

Unfortunately I don’t have any of these high-grade books for sale. They are long gone. I’m not trying to sell anything here. This is strictly for the interests of discussion.

 

Finding these books led me to the following conclusions.

All these high-grade Pedigree collections had several things in common.

I’m going to focus first on the Palo Alto books because I have more familiarity with them, but I will look at the Yakima and Big Little Books too.

 

I believe that Oxygen is the #1 enemy of paper. If exposed to air, the paper will brown over time. The Palo Alto Collection was initially stored in air-tight metal foot lockers for 20 years. After that, they were placed in large plastic bags and sealed in air-tight cardboard boxes with lids.

 

They were kept in an environment where the weather was cool. There were no radical climate changes, hot or cold. They were kept away from pests. They were bought off the shelves new, and many of them never seem to have been read. They were kept away from direct sunlight. When moved, they were moved carefully, as not to jostle them.

 

Since all these conditions were met, the grades of these comics was astounding, and almost unique. As memory serves, I submitted 66 books to the CGC from the Palo Alto Collection. A year later 50 of them were still the top grade for that book on the Census. There were a number of EC books in the collection and due to the William Gaines Collection, the Palo Alto ECs are not always the top. Some of them still were! You’ll note that Gaines sealed a group of each issue in paper and left them at the bottom of his closet for years. The Gaines copies are great and unique because they were sealed from oxygen and kept in a climate stable environment, away from pests and light and moisture.

 

I don’t know how the Palo Alto books stand now in the census. I have not checked them in some years, but I imagine that many of them are still at or near the top.

 

The Mile High Collection was sealed by dint of being surrounded by other books, and of course kept in a cool environment. I imagine the books on the outside edges of the piles are not quite as nice as the ones “sealed” inside by the other stacks of books. Many of the Palo Alto books were superior to the Mile High copies. I don’t mean to compare other than to point out grading. The Palo Alto Collection had very few key issues, and, naturally has but a tiny fraction of the value of the Mile High Collection.

 

The Yakima collection of Pulps? They were sealed in a trunk. We had to but off an old lock to get at them! There were newspapers on top with the date of 1947, as I recall. I believe that the trunk was sealed at that time, and there was nothing newer than that date. Again, I’m at home now and am working off recollections.

 

So Pedigrees are worth lots of money because it is extremely rare for all the archival conditions to be met for their ideal preservation. Many brand new comics aren’t even in mint. It’s almost perverse by the standards of the day to salt away perfect copies of Comic Books in the home and to keep them that way for 50-70 years. Not many people thought to keep perfect copies for the ages let alone giving thought about the paper preservation in those days. I count the existence of high grade golden age pedigrees to bad, almost weird housekeeping. It’s this irritation, however that causes the Peril of high grade and Pedigree Gold that fascinates so many of us.

 

If everyone had saved those Golden Age comics in top condition, they would be worth a lot less. It would be nice to be easily put together a high grade golden age run, but because of the increasingly obvious extreme scarcity, this is the provenance of a very few well heeled and well motivated collectors.

 

Lee Hester

Lee’s Comics

Mountain View, San Mateo

 

Thanks for the background information on those collections you found Lee. I bought some of the Yakima pulps and they are truly amazing.

 

I visited your store on the way back from Wonder Con ten years or so ago. Great store! I don't remember what I bought, but it was golden age.

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tth2

tth2

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No value to me whatsoever, in fact I found the whole Nic Cage designation to be somewhat cheezy. It doesn't resonate in any kind of a historical sense, it's a greed/ marketing ploy. Now if it came from the Charlie Chaplin collection or the Errol Flynn collection or the Humphry Bogart collection or the Fatty Arbuckle collection or the John Barrymore collection....perhaps it might have some more significance, but not from a current celebrity...no reflection on his skill, talent or popularity.

You guys need to get rid of the tunnel vision. Yeah the Cage designation doesn't mean much to core comic collectors, but the amount of publicity that was brought to our little hobby through the Cage connection was massive. Everyone here is always fretting about the imminent death of comic collecting because there are less and less new collectors, and yet when an event happens that might help to attract a few new collectors, everyone is critical. I would have no problem with CGC giving "collection" designations to any other major celebrities' collections in the future, if it would bring in the same amount of publicity and help expand the gene pool a bit.

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The Black Hand ®

The Black Hand ®

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Posted
No value to me whatsoever, in fact I found the whole Nic Cage designation to be somewhat cheezy. It doesn't resonate in any kind of a historical sense, it's a greed/ marketing ploy. Now if it came from the Charlie Chaplin collection or the Errol Flynn collection or the Humphry Bogart collection or the Fatty Arbuckle collection or the John Barrymore collection....perhaps it might have some more significance, but not from a current celebrity...no reflection on his skill, talent or popularity.

You guys need to get rid of the tunnel vision. Yeah the Cage designation doesn't mean much to core comic collectors, but the amount of publicity that was brought to our little hobby through the Cage connection was massive. Everyone here is always fretting about the imminent death of comic collecting because there are less and less new collectors, and yet when an event happens that might help to attract a few new collectors, everyone is critical. I would have no problem with CGC giving "collection" designations to any other major celebrities' collections in the future, if it would bring in the same amount of publicity and help expand the gene pool a bit.

 

I guess that's one way to look at it, but still not the way I see it. One might call the way I see it as "Tunnel Vision", but they'd be wrong. It's just my pesonal view on the whole "Investor/greed/marketing" angle, and it is an "angle". I'm sure "you guys" know what an angle is.

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awe4one

awe4one

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Posted
I would have no problem with CGC giving "collection" designations to any other major celebrities' collections in the future, if it would bring in the same amount of publicity and help expand the gene pool a bit.

 

I agree...the problem is, other than the Cage collection, none of these other "collections" have any meaning to anyone other than the regular comics collecting crowd...

 

Jim

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