Today's Gold is Silver....

[tth2]

I actually meant did the top Silver age collector ever even think of evolvong into Goldenage? Tripps is the Top Silver age guy, right?

Tom Brulato.

 

Neither seem to have any interest in GA.

 

See post above about Tripps. He has stated he still likes the books but didn't have the funds to do both it and Marvels.

 

Newbs

Pre-code horror does not a GA collector make, just like Barks Ducks do not a GA collector make.

[adamstrange]

I actually meant did the top Silver age collector ever even think of evolvong into Goldenage? Tripps is the Top Silver age guy, right?

Tom Brulato.

 

Neither seem to have any interest in GA.

 

See post above about Tripps. He has stated he still likes the books but didn't have the funds to do both it and Marvels.

 

Newbs

Pre-code horror does not a GA collector make, just like Barks Ducks do not a GA collector make.

 

I would agree that they are Atomic Age books, a distinction from GA that not everyone makes -- which is why we post our horror books in this GA forum. The argument, at its core, was that these collectors don't go collect any further back than SA comics and I was pointing out that Doug was a VERY serious collector of PCH which were produced before he was born.

[skybolt]

AS far as collecting SA vs. GA (or vice-versa) is concerned, it all depends on what type of situation you find yourself in. For instance, I grew up reading mostly BA and CA Spider-Man and X-Men related books. So my first focus was to put together a nice run of these books in decent condition. During that time I did start to dabble in GA by picking up a few titles (Action, Timely, Superman, Sensation, Batman, etc.), but still considered myself primarily an SA/BA Marvel collector since I loved the characters so much. However, once I discovered good girl art books and hit full stride collecting these issues about 3 years ago, it really blew away any feelings I had towards my SA focus. In good conscience, at that time I had to call myself a GA collector, since I'd rather purchase 100 GGA related books before picking up any ASM's (which would have sounded crazy to me about 4 years ago). I truelly believe that you can't define yourself as a certian type of collector until you find your niche, and really start to enjoy what you're collecting. I'm sure someone like Paratrooper (Paratrooper run) and Norrin Radd (Joker covers) will tell you the same thing.

[action1kid]

I understand that as they both lived through the silverage.

Awesome amount of Registry points .Beating out every Goldenage guy.

Just think if Andersons collection was in the Registry? I say 20 million points in a breeze and im probably underestimating that.

Well sure, Anderson, Verzyl, Geppi and Kramer would all blow away all current Registry totals if they deigned to slab their collections. Look at where Comiclink sits in the Registry, based just on the Batman #1 (which I think really belongs to Kramer).

 

Yes it is Kramers book.

[lastyle7]

I don't think CGC helps matters much either when they preach anything below a 9.4 isn't investment grade.

 

Where does CGC preach that?

 

I spoke to the CGC's pedigree personel on Friday and they suggested that I have my books pre-graded, so that anything under investment grade 9.4 wouldn't be slabbed.

 

What era of books are you talking about? I highly doubt that anyone at CGC recommended that you only certify Gold or Silver Age that pre-grade at 9.4 or better.

 

Maybe you were talking about copper or modern?

 

no certain age was mentioned

 

If you mention the name of the person you talked to and it's Borock or Haspel or West and they confirm the full context of their remarks then I'll take the question seriously.

 

Mark was his name

[ciorac]

Why are we talking about silver age on the GA forums?

I imagine it's something to do with selling all of one's silver to buy more gold.

 

Or is that just me...?

 

I see Golden Age collectors as the ones who evolved. Honestly, how many GA collectors eventually take up collecting Silver? Usually it's the other way around. Folks started with what they might have been familiar with from their own childhood, then moved on to the wonders that preceeded them. There will always be more Silver collectors--think of it as a funnel.

 

Just my opinion, fwiw.

 

I think this is a very good observation. When you realize that SA Marvels, even in high grade, are fairly readily available, people who would like to make the hunt part of the equation start looking for GA or other hard to find books.

 

I do too. We have seen evidence of it here on the Boards. Several silver and bronze age addicts have crossed over to gold, for the "thrill of the hunt" if you will.

 

Lets put it to the test?

Has CaptainTripps evolved into Goldenage.?

 

I could care less about Tripps, or any of the "I have the best Silver Age collection on the planet" gang. They have always been around. It is more about the grade, and the showing off the size of their Johnson, than actually collecting the books.

 

For the record I don't even know who "Tripps" is, so my comment is about the Silver Age Marvel 9.4 and up guys that used to bore me at comic cons back when I was a dealer. Every week there was a new record price paid for AF 15 or something, between like four guys. Talk about market manipulation!

 

I grew up in the silver age, collected silver and bronze, but together complete runs of all the Marvels, then got bored with them. I still like them, but don't need to collect them anymore. The golden age keeps the juices flowing. Parker is the same way. When I first met him, ages ago, he was completing his Marvel runs. He did it, then Streak turned him on to a Timely book, and it was all over.

[ciorac]

Why are we talking about silver age on the GA forums?

I imagine it's something to do with selling all of one's silver to buy more gold.

 

Or is that just me...?

 

I see Golden Age collectors as the ones who evolved. Honestly, how many GA collectors eventually take up collecting Silver? Usually it's the other way around. Folks started with what they might have been familiar with from their own childhood, then moved on to the wonders that preceeded them. There will always be more Silver collectors--think of it as a funnel.

 

Just my opinion, fwiw.

 

I think this is a very good observation. When you realize that SA Marvels, even in high grade, are fairly readily available, people who would like to make the hunt part of the equation start looking for GA or other hard to find books.

 

I do too. We have seen evidence of it here on the Boards. Several silver and bronze age addicts have crossed over to gold, for the "thrill of the hunt" if you will.

 

Lets put it to the test?

Has CaptainTripps evolved into Goldenage.?

 

I could care less about Tripps, or any of the "I have the best Silver Age collection on the planet" gang. They have always been around. It is more about the grade, and the showing off the size of their Johnson, than actually collecting the books.

 

For the record I don't even know who "Tripps" is, so my comment is about the Silver Age Marvel 9.4 and up guys that used to bore me at comic cons back when I was a dealer. Every week there was a new record price paid for AF 15 or something, between like four guys. Talk about market manipulation!

 

I grew up in the silver age, collected silver and bronze, but together complete runs of all the Marvels, then got bored with them. I still like them, but don't need to collect them anymore. The golden age keeps the juices flowing. Parker is the same way. When I first met him, ages ago, he was completing his Marvel runs. He did it, then Streak turned him on to a Timely book, and it was all over.

 

Slight clarification, I do love Marvel Silver Age, so don't get me wrong about that. I just love it in FN.

[tth2]

Slight clarification, I do love Marvel Silver Age, so don't get me wrong about that. I just love it in FN.

Sorry Bill, but this GA snobbery drives me up a ing wall.

 

The fact is that if you've got decent income, collecting Marvel (or DC) Silver Age in FN would pose no challenge at all. I don't think it's fair to dismiss SA collectors who focus on condition as a bunch of show-offs who just want to brag about the size of their Johnson. They genuinely love their SA books and most of them can talk about their favorite SA stories and their memories of reading the books for hours. Certainly Tripps (Doug Schmell) can. I RARELY hear GA collectors talk about the stories. At most they talk about the art, the covers, or the thrill of the chase. There doesn't seem to be the same visceral emotional attachment that I hear from SA and BA collectors. So I HATE the implication that GA collectors are real collectors and SA collectors (particularly the high grade mavens) are not.

 

Besides loving the aesthetics of perfect books, the SA collectors focus on grade because, as I said above, it would otherwise be no challenge at all to complete their runs. Some eventually turn to GA to find a tougher challenge, but others genuinely have no interest in GA and therefore turn to higher grades among SA books to maintain the challenge in collecting (I count myself as one of the latter group).

 

And let's not act as if GA collectors aren't obsessed with grade either. See all the oohs and ahs when a particularly sharp-looking GA gets posted here. If GA collectors didn't care about grade, then no one would care about all those Churches and SFs and ATs, would they?

[ciorac]

Slight clarification, I do love Marvel Silver Age, so don't get me wrong about that. I just love it in FN.

Sorry Bill, but this GA snobbery drives me up a ing wall.

 

The fact is that if you've got decent income, collecting Marvel (or DC) Silver Age in FN would pose no challenge at all. I don't think it's fair to dismiss SA collectors who focus on condition as a bunch of show-offs who just want to brag about the size of their Johnson. They genuinely love their SA books and most of them can talk about their favorite SA stories and their memories of reading the books for hours. Certainly Tripps (Doug Schmell) can. I RARELY hear GA collectors talk about the stories. At most they talk about the art, the covers, or the thrill of the chase. There doesn't seem to be the same visceral emotional attachment that I hear from SA and BA collectors. So I HATE the implication that GA collectors are real collectors and SA collectors (particularly the high grade mavens) are not.

 

Besides loving the aesthetics of perfect books, the SA collectors focus on grade because, as I said above, it would otherwise be no challenge at all to complete their runs. Some eventually turn to GA to find a tougher challenge, but others genuinely have no interest in GA and therefore turn to higher grades among SA books to maintain the challenge in collecting (I count myself as one of the latter group).

 

And let's not act as if GA collectors aren't obsessed with grade either. See all the oohs and ahs when a particularly sharp-looking GA gets posted here. If GA collectors didn't care about grade, then no one would care about all those Churches and SFs and ATs, would they?

 

Fair enough.

 

My rant is not rooted in snobbery, but love of the books and the hobby. I wish you would have been behind my booth in the 90's and witnessed the Silver Age grade orgasm that elevated from show to show. I don't lump all silver age collectors into the category of show offs, the reference made by A1Kid was about the top couple of collectors in the Silver Age market. It is of those that I was referring to. I rarely generalize to the extreme you read my post in. Unless I am being overly simplisitc to exaggerate a point.

 

I think evidence that SA collectors chase the grade moreso than GA is abundant. Not many "cracking the slab" threads in SA.

 

I appreciate your passion, and applaud it. I'm glad my statements brought out such a reaction in you, as it demonstrates your true love of the genre. I get equally incensed when I hear that we are the last generation to collect GA. That is bunk, pure and simple. I've seen the migration from BA, to SA to GA too many times to buy into that horse-hooey.

 

Most of us (GA collectors) that ooh and ahh over high grade pictures of GA books, do so because they are so uncommon in those grades. We ooh and ahh as much in surprise as admiration.

 

And most here are well aware that I am a reader more than a cover guy. Remember I collect Famous Funnies with equal zeal as Pre-Robin Detectives. All my books get cracked, read, smelled, loved and re-read. Silver and Gold.

[The Black Hand ®]

There's nothing wrong with collecting silver at all. The reason I don't is because I bought them off the rack and it just doesn't feel unique or special to me to own them. GA, on the other hand, was something my dad read and even when I was a kid it was exciting to find one. I think the reason I ooh and ahh when someone post a high grade GA here, is that they show the book as it initially looked in it's dazzling splendor. I've had a lot of low grade and very few high grade, but on the occaion when I've had both and put them side by side, there were times when you couldn't even tell that they were the same book. Of course there's a lot of showing off here, but if I had stunning high grade copies of what I collect I'd be posting them too, I think that's at least one of the reasons we come here. My family and friends could care less about my GA war covers, they won't even give them a second glance or only show interest because of the value of a book. The most I get from them is a pat on the head and a "how cute" kind of response. Which is why I think a lot of people seek out a venue like this.

[showcase4]

I've seen the migration from BA, to SA to GA too many times to buy into that horse-hooey.

 

...and now in my case a migration from VA and PA ( victorian age / platinum age )

to GA

 

so the migration to GA includes roots of BA, SA, VA and PA

[adamstrange]

Slight clarification, I do love Marvel Silver Age, so don't get me wrong about that. I just love it in FN.

Sorry Bill, but this GA snobbery drives me up a ing wall.

 

The fact is that if you've got decent income, collecting Marvel (or DC) Silver Age in FN would pose no challenge at all. I don't think it's fair to dismiss SA collectors who focus on condition as a bunch of show-offs who just want to brag about the size of their Johnson. They genuinely love their SA books and most of them can talk about their favorite SA stories and their memories of reading the books for hours. Certainly Tripps (Doug Schmell) can. I RARELY hear GA collectors talk about the stories. At most they talk about the art, the covers, or the thrill of the chase. There doesn't seem to be the same visceral emotional attachment that I hear from SA and BA collectors. So I HATE the implication that GA collectors are real collectors and SA collectors (particularly the high grade mavens) are not.

 

Besides loving the aesthetics of perfect books, the SA collectors focus on grade because, as I said above, it would otherwise be no challenge at all to complete their runs. Some eventually turn to GA to find a tougher challenge, but others genuinely have no interest in GA and therefore turn to higher grades among SA books to maintain the challenge in collecting (I count myself as one of the latter group).

 

And let's not act as if GA collectors aren't obsessed with grade either. See all the oohs and ahs when a particularly sharp-looking GA gets posted here. If GA collectors didn't care about grade, then no one would care about all those Churches and SFs and ATs, would they?

 

I RARELY hear GA collectors talk about the stories. At most they talk about the art, the covers, or the thrill of the chase. There doesn't seem to be the same visceral emotional attachment that I hear from SA and BA collectors.

 

And how much interaction do you have with GA collectors outside of the boards? You've probably had a reasonable amount of interaction with Duck collectors -- is their passion for stories any less with them? Doubt it -- but at least I would have some level of confidence in your generalization with regards to that specific sub-group.

 

 

Sorry Bill, but this GA snobbery drives me up a

 

This is the GA Forum, of course we're allowed to be GA snobs here! Where else do you expect us to do it.

 

Honestly I would love to see Schmell's Marvels. Those are great copies of great runs and I'd be geeking out like a Marvel Zombie.

 

I don't think it's fair to dismiss SA collectors who focus on condition as a bunch of show-offs who just want to brag about the size of their Johnson.

 

There are a few of these out there and the intent of the registry is to encourage more of them. I've look at the registry only a couple times -- is there much going on with GA?

 

See all the oohs and ahs when a particularly sharp-looking GA gets posted here.

 

Ever go into the Show Me Your Beater Holy Grail thread? There's not much less oohing and ahhing on those books. With SA books it's relatively easy to find a 9.0 or better copy that reasonably represents what came off the newstand. Not so in GA, which is why I oohhd and aahhd over Fishler's Amazing Man simply because it's probably the only chance I'll get to see any copy remotely approaching it. There's actually a reasaonable amount of story discussion from AtlasT, Scrooge, Selegue, and other discussing Hank Fletcher, Frank Thomas, and who can forget Dickie and his magic whip? I'm sure you can cite counter examples but I would still suggest you've over-generalized.

[piper]

 

Slight clarification, I do love Marvel Silver Age, so don't get me wrong about that. I just love it in FN.

 

 

I agree with you. There are lots and lots of SA collectors who want a reader set of Title "X". (I'm one of them) Collecting GA seems to be a natural progression once one has completed their SA/BA focus.

[adamstrange]

I don't think CGC helps matters much either when they preach anything below a 9.4 isn't investment grade.

 

Where does CGC preach that?

 

I spoke to the CGC's pedigree personel on Friday and they suggested that I have my books pre-graded, so that anything under investment grade 9.4 wouldn't be slabbed.

 

What era of books are you talking about? I highly doubt that anyone at CGC recommended that you only certify Gold or Silver Age that pre-grade at 9.4 or better.

 

Maybe you were talking about copper or modern?

 

no certain age was mentioned

 

If you mention the name of the person you talked to and it's Borock or Haspel or West and they confirm the full context of their remarks then I'll take the question seriously.

 

Mark was his name

 

Last name? It's probably Haspel, but I've known him for 10 years and he wouldn't have said what you're quoting unless other qualifying words or remarks have been removed. As Mark Twain said, there's a difference between lightening and a lightening bug.

[The Black Hand ®]

My main focus with GA is to read the stories since I've already read most of the SA when they first came out. Of course GA cover collecting is very popular, but then some of the covers are just so incredible and when you add the WWII component and the GGA component they are really hard to beat. SA and GA are both very collectible, my focus just happens to be GA.

[Mad Dog]

I've seen the migration from BA, to SA to GA too many times to buy into that horse-hooey.

 

...and now in my case a migration from VA and PA ( victorian age / platinum age )

to GA

 

so the migration to GA includes roots of BA, SA, VA and PA

 

But I think you are quite unique in that category, most VA, PA collectors that i know of (and thats very few) seems less like "real" comic collectors and more like "art" collectors or "americana" collectors. I have a small collection of Steinbeck 1st editions, and the VA collectors remind me of the people i got in touch with on ABE and Alibris when i was actively seeking those out.

[bluechip]

[besides loving the aesthetics of perfect books, the SA collectors focus on grade because, as I said above, it would otherwise be no challenge at all to complete their runs.

 

I RARELY hear GA collectors talk about the stories. At most they talk about the art, the covers, or the thrill of the chase. There doesn't seem to be the same visceral emotional attachment that I hear from SA and BA collectors.

 

.

 

Actually I have heard GA collectors talk about the stories. But more so with SA. Fact is as time goes by there will be less people who can recount how they went to the corner drug store to buy a copy of Oaky Doaks. But with the Batman and Superman stories in endless reprints, there will always be people remembering when they first read or saw those early stories or covers.

 

I too love the SA books but when I see collectors obsessing over grade I can't help but remember I have seen MANY, MANY high grade copies of just about every sought after issue, and hardly any -- if any at all -- of most of the sought after GA issues. And long ago I knew of people sitting on piles of them releasing them just a bit at a time. I think it was the commonplace nature of so many SA keys that caused grading standards to tighten so much that people now obsess over flaws that are virtually mocroscopic between books that appear virtually identical. That, it seems to me, has been the only way to keep SA books from appearing to be plentiful in high grade.

 

Let alone Bronze age books and beyond, from which point on you almost wonder if a book should be worth more if it isn't in like-new condition because that means it is rare because it was actually read by someone

[october]

 

I do too. We have seen evidence of it here on the Boards. Several silver and bronze age addicts have crossed over to gold, for the "thrill of the hunt" if you will.

 

 

I get a much bigger "thrill" from owning a VG/F 40s or 50s horror book (with nice colors and presentation of course) than I do from owning a VF/NM SA Marvel. Both are cool, but one seems a lot more special. Just my opinion.

[Slacker]

My family and friends could care less about my GA war covers, they won't even give them a second glance or only show interest because of the value of a book. The most I get from them is a pat on the head and a "how cute" kind of response. Which is why I think a lot of people seek out a venue like this.

 

A statement many can relate to. Very well phrased.

[lou_fine]

I have a slightly different take, but it had more to do with the fact that as the GA collectors get older, there are fewer new collectors to take their place and the value/demand will drop. Whereas the kids who collected SA still are strong and present in the marketplace and the new collectors who go for back issues clearly desire SA Marvels more than any other title.

 

Although there is indeed some truth to this analysis of yours, I also feel that the funnel theory or the graduation of SA and BA collectors to GA certainly helps to offset this to a large extent.

 

Actually, with the way that SA pricing is going from an affordability point of view, aging of the population, and the fact that collectors/investors should be looking to the future, wouldn't it really be that tomorrow's Gold is Bronze.