White vs. Off-White Pt2

[Tnerb]

The 9.8 craving

 

As a collector I have always strived for the best possible (for the money), case in point, my Daredevil #1. At a 3.5, it was the best I could afford, but it's the 9.8 fallacy I strive for. 9.9 keys are financially stretching and Gem 10's are either non-existent or astronomically priced (recent modern books withstanding*). My whole collection of New Mutants are graded a 9.8 with white pages barring a few exceptions.

 

My #1is a 9.9 and for any new registry members, to show you what a great community this place is, it was thanks to fellow registry member Bagofleas who told me about the auction that I acquired the book. Of course it's still one tenth away from his Gem Mint copy. I have two 9.8's, issue #17 & #62, both with signatures , but they also have White to Off-White pages. The color stigma seems dentrimenal to the whole 9.8 acclaim. It's like the time my father told me I can get a pet, I was thinking dog, he was thinking goldfish.

 

I do my best to stay away from any 9.8 with anything less than white pages and although I do have some in my collection they were all(**) acquired through over zealous desires to own a 9.8 and not reading the full description. This is how I purchased my X-Men #201 sans the signatures. Of course page description is a preference much like newsstand vs. direct market editions, but pages are part if the comic and anything less than perfect white pages should hurt a books final numerical grade. If a modern age book had a page taped together in an otherwise perfect comic, wouldn't a dreaded purple label then be adorning a questionable 9.8 status.

 

The pages themselves must mean something since they are graded all the way down to brittle. The market dictates the prices of the books. GPAnalysis is a good source to find out the ballpark area of what a book is worth from a .5 to a 10, but they don't offer page distinction in their notes. I'm not going to change the way GPA marks their information or be able to talk CGC in never grading another 9.8 with anything other than white pages. I'll just stay stay away from those with Off-White to White pages. Of course if I become over anxious I just might find myself wining another one or I might have sent one in myself, but should 9.8's be labeled anything else other than "white pages"?

 

Thanks for Reading

 

Tnerb

 

...and now for something different...

 

http://ashotofcomics.blogspot.com/2013/01/are-statues-worth-it-roundabout-review.html

 

See more journals by Tnerb

[Jeffro.]

We all have our collecting preferences and your views about pages that are less than W are shared by a great many collectors here. However, the difference between W and W/OW is often negligible and not worth stressing over. Additionally, CGC has been very inconsistent on assigning page quality. Re-subs happen all the time where page quality changes.

 

I get it that many people prefer not to get books with cream or tan pages. Aesthetically, they aren't as nice. Just like miswraps aren't aesthetically as nice.

 

For me, age factors into preferences more than anything else. For instance, I have some 10 cent DC war comics that are in high grade. A couple of those would get a C/OW if submitted. However, high grade 10 cent DC war is scarce and I'm certainly not complaining that they have cream pages. The chances of upgrading these books, especially at reasonable cost, would be near impossible.

 

On the other hand, if I were buying copper or bronze, there is certainly an ample supply of most of that stuff where you can wait a little longer and be a bit more selective in waiting for that ideal copy to show up.

[surfer99]

Totally agree with Jeffro. While I prefer White pages for my Silver/Bronze books, I won't hesitate to buy W/OW...or even straight up OW if I like the book enough (as with my FF #48). What I won't do is purchase a book that has anything less than OW pages. That's just my personal preference and in any event I would not be a proponent of altering grades if the page quality was less than White.

 

On a completely different note...I see the ad for Arrow on one of the comics in your pic. Have you seen that show? My family and I started watching it a few weeks ago and are hooked. I may not be a DC fan, but that is a great show!

 

 

[Ronnylama]

Hello all, I will tend to pay more for a WP book than an OW to WP, however, if an SS is listed, and it is a book I want, then the paper does not matter as much. One thing I do look at is the binding. Is it centered? I will take an OW to W over a WP book that has the dreaded white border. BTW TNERB.....Harley Quinn is an excellent Villainess

[bagofleas]

I have seen 9.9's and a Gem Mint 10 with OW/W pages.

 

I used to wonder if CGC holds page quality as one of the prerequisites for final grade. In other words, if it is a Gem mint 10 but has OW/W pages in their view, does that cause them to grade it at a 9.9? Or do they really hold the condition completely separate from page quality?

 

Well, after seeing the 9.9's and 10 with OW/W, I had my answer.

 

So for me it comes down to the sheer age and availability of the comic. There are those rare golden age 9.8's that have white pages, but they usually come from world renowned, pedigree collections, and are extremely expensive. To me, anything prior to 1970 is acceptable with OW/W pages, but I will still offer a little less for it than if it had White Pages.

 

For example, most of my Harveys from the 60's, I am willing to take OW/W. I prefer White Pages but will not hesitate to go for the OW/W due to the fact that there are few enough of them even in 9.8, let alone with White Pages to boot.

 

But once you get into the 70's, I am highly reluctant to go after ANYTHING with less than White Pages.

 

Like everything else in this hobby, it comes down to personal preference.