What to choose: Grade over page color or vice versa? 1 1

[pxpusher]

For the first time I’m looking for an older book - a classic Wonder Woman from the 70ies.

Now I found two offers and I’m not sure which one to pick. They are both in the same price range - only about 40 USD difference.

The first one is:
CGC 9.4
white to off-white pages

The other one is:
CGC 9.0
white pages

Now I’m not sure which book to go for. Are there any hard or soft reasons why to choose one over the other?

I tend to grab the one with white pages, but I don’t know why.

The scans of both books look very similar.

[csaag]

Standard answer is collect what you like.  Some collectors put priority on page color (they want the best overall quality) while its not as  important to others ( it's  not like you can open it to look at the page colors) .    Whats your criteria for judging books in your collection? Is it value, or sentiment or the cover etc.  

If its value, price guides like Gpa, goCollect don't factor page color in their numbers. But some people will put a premium on white pages (or newsstand copies) and just wait until someone who values those qualities sees the listing. 

Is it priced close to what guides/other sales have for a 9.4 or a 9.0?   If it were me and the price was closer to what most 9.4 were going for then I would favor that over the 9.0.  Of course it also depends on the pricey  diff between what you find those 2 grades going for.

[Jeffro.]

4 hours ago, pxpusher said:

The first one is:
CGC 9.4
white to off-white pages

The other one is:
CGC 9.0
white pages

Without seeing pictures of these it's impossible to decide. Eye appeal matters to me. I've seen some ugly 9.4s and some pristine looking 9.0s 

[Qalyar]

1 hour ago, Jeffro. said:

Without seeing pictures of these it's impossible to decide. Eye appeal matters to me. I've seen some ugly 9.4s and some pristine looking 9.0s 

A lot depends on what you want. Do you just want the prettiest book? Then... pick the book you think is prettiest. Grade numbers are a technical evaluation, which is not necessarily a indication of the book's visual appeal. On the other hand, are you considering this an investment, either in the short- or long-term? If so, you're probably better off with the 9.4; page quality is nice, and some people put a lot of stock in it, but generally speaking, it's that big black number that drives fair market value.

Either way, you should check established sales on this book to make sure that the prices being offered are reasonable and appropriate, of course.

[Deadpoolica]

7 hours ago, Qalyar said:

it's that big black number that drives fair market value.

[pxpusher]

Thanks a lot for all your answers. Everyone raised interesting points with good reasoning. This is super helpful (hopefully not only for me).
 

I didn’t add pictures or more details about the book that raised this question. I wanted a more general discussion. Which worked quite good. Thanks for that too.

In this particular case though I’m going with the 9.0 because the overall appearance of the book is way better than the 9.4 and the price is closer to the GoCollect estimate.