Provenance vs SLIGHTLY higher grade 0

[Chicago Boy]

Which would you choose and why ?

[Bomber-Bob]

Too many other variables to consider for me to give an answer. If all things are equal, and I mean all things including pressing considerations, I would choose provenance.

[ThothAmon]

Fun question. Provenance where it’s a pedigree like the Mile High. Condition where it’s simply a ownership provenance like “collection of John Berk” or “Nick Cage”. The only exception might be where the non-provenance copy is the highest graded. 

[ender]

I would usually go provenance. Especially if it is a cool story. I have a pretty low grade Flash Comics 8 that has a library style piece of paper glued on the inside of the back cover and you can read the date that the owner checked it out to his friends and when they returned it. I really get a kick out of imagining the kid in the early 1940's running his lending library.

[Chicago Boy]

25 minutes ago, ThothAmon said:

Fun question. Provenance where it’s a pedigree like the Mile High. Condition where it’s simply a ownership provenance like “collection of John Berk” or “Nick Cage”. The only exception might be where the non-provenance copy is the highest graded. 

I like your train of thinking ......What if the provenance is a publisher file copy ? 

[telerites]

Both.

[adamstrange]

55 minutes ago, ender said:

I have a pretty low grade Flash Comics 8 that has a library style piece of paper glued on the inside of the back cover and you can read the date that the owner checked it out to his friends and when they returned it. I really get a kick out of imagining the kid in the early 1940's running his lending library.

This is very cool!

[Cat-Man_America]

1 hour ago, Chicago Boy said:

Which would you choose and why ?

It depends entirely on the provenance (pedigree) and the grade (high vs higher or ...in the "close but no cigar" category... not quite HG).

For instance, the difference between 8.0 and 8.5 can be substantial, perception-wise, but the difference between, say, a 9.0 & 9.2 or 9.4 is typically less pronounced.  

Provenance is a whole 'nother matter.  I like all pedigrees because of the great collector stories behind them, but the reality is that not all pedigree collections are perceived equally based on PQ, overall appearance, etc.  By way of example, who wouldn't prefer a Mile High/Church, Riley/San Francisco, Pennsylvania or Denver copy over a Crippen "D", Big Apple or Rockford? They're all pedigrees, but each is skewed differently and some are valued more highly than others.

Would I purchase a 9.0 Church copy over, say, a 9.4 non-pedigree? Given the overall legacy and OSG multiples realized for a Church copy over a non-pedigree, the obvious answer should be yes, ...unless of course the 9.4 is known to be the highest grade.  So, like I said, it depends.  Nevertheless, when it comes to comics, it's all good!  

[Bird]

I have zero interest in who owned a book before and cannot for the life of me understand why it matters to others.

2 hours ago, ender said:

I would usually go provenance. Especially if it is a cool story. I have a pretty low grade Flash Comics 8 that has a library style piece of paper glued on the inside of the back cover and you can read the date that the owner checked it out to his friends and when they returned it. I really get a kick out of imagining the kid in the early 1940's running his lending library.

This is very cool though. I have a date stamp on a Captain marvel Adventures to something like the Smith Pharmacy and written on the cover is a woman's (girl's?) name like Barbara Smith. I do like that as it is kind of neat. But I'd take the next grade up every time.

[batman_fan]

These questions are typically hard for me to answer because it really depends on the book and the eye appeal, defects, etc.  I have seen many 6.0 that look simply amazing while a 9.0 looks very poor.

[ThothAmon]

53 minutes ago, Bird said:

zero interest

I’m the opposite. Hearing the history of a comic or collection is what it’s all about to me. As for why it probably all goes back to romanticizing my own lifetime of efforts starting in the mid 70”s to collect comics. 

Edited December 29, 2018 by ThothAmon

[szav]

Mixed feelings...I like high grade books when I can afford them, and I don’t need additional reasons to pay even more for nice copies... so I tend to steer clear of the expensive pedigrees, if I can.

I also would prefer to have the books I own be the ‘szavisca copies’ not the ‘somebody else’s copy that szavisca is temporarily holding’ Copy... but whether a GA book has a named pedigree or not it will always have been someone else’s first anyway...so ... mixed feelings.

Edited December 30, 2018 by szavisca

[jimbo_7071]

I go for page quality first and grade second. I don't care much about provenance beyond the fact that some pedigrees have nice pages and are high grade. So many of the Mile Highs have glue and/or color touch that I'm not as big a fan of that pedigree as I used to be. Vancouver might be my favorite pedigree based on freshness, but I've never owned one, in part because there aren't that many Vancouver books that are in my wheelhouse.

[woowoo]

Provenance by itself is collection IMO

[newshane]

7 hours ago, ThothAmon said:

Fun question. Provenance where it’s a pedigree like the Mile High. Condition where it’s simply a ownership provenance like “collection of John Berk” or “Nick Cage”. The only exception might be where the non-provenance copy is the highest graded. 

Provenance and pedigrees are two separate things. 

[newshane]

...to answer the OPs question, it would depend on the book and the pedigree or provenance. 

I have an Okajima Planet that is the second highest graded. Would I trade "up" for an additional step on the grading scale? NO WAY. 

[ThothAmon]

7 hours ago, newshane said:

Provenance and pedigrees are two separate things. 

Where did I say it wasn’t?  All books have a provenance but only some are deigned to have a pedigree. Think my post clearly distinguishes between the two ideas. 

[newshane]

4 hours ago, ThothAmon said:

Where did I say it wasn’t?  All books have a provenance but only some are deigned to have a pedigree. Think my post clearly distinguishes between the two ideas. 

"Provenance where it’s a pedigree like the Mile High."

My apologies, but the grammatical structure of the sentence above makes it seem like you were saying they were the same thing. 

Deep down I knew that you knew better.

[ThothAmon]

17 minutes ago, newshane said:

"Provenance where it’s a pedigree like the Mile High."

My apologies, but the grammatical structure of the sentence above makes it seem like you were saying they were the same thing. 

Deep down I knew that you knew better.

Damn Kids!

[woowoo]

13 hours ago, newshane said:

Provenance and pedigrees are two separate things. 

I had 2 to many last night. I still cant tell the diff  I put some in my coffee see if that helps but