WHAT ARE PEDIGREED COMICS, AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

Pedigree comics come from large accumulations or collections that are of unusually high quality, and many times represent the highest graded copy in existence. These collections have to meet certain criteria to be "pedigreed." First, the collection had to be assembled during the time period they were printed. In other words, they must have been bought directly off of the newsstands by the original owner. Second, the size of the collection has to be substantial, or at least contain some of the most significant books in fandom. Third, and most important, the majority of the books must be high grade.

And what is the allure of pedigreed comics? Part of it stems from obsession, a common characteristic of comic collectors. The quest to achieve perfection…the perfect books, and the best collection. Several things attract a person to comic collecting, such as the memories of childhood. Sometimes the aesthetics of comics draws us in; the feel of the comic in our hands (especially those heavy Golden Age), the colors, even the smell. And of course money is a motivation. Many people invest in comics as they would stocks, particularly the high grade comics that yield the highest return each year. And this is where pedigreed comics come into the picture. These books are considered the best of the best, blue chip items that represent the pinnacle of collecting. They also bring prominence to the owners. Some people are well known simply because they own the best pedigreed comics. For many collectors, these books perfectly blend the strive for perfection and the motivation to make money.

The concept of pedigreed comics did not materialize until the 1980's, long after several key collections had surfaced. The Edgar Church/Mile High collection was the one that established the concept, as well as the term and concept of "multiple guide."

The condition of Edgar Church's collection was, and still is unparalleled. The most seasoned veterans of the hobby, having "seen it all" by the late '70s, were shocked by the condition of these books. At once, the concept of "like new" was redefined, and grading standards took their next evolutionary step. To illustrate this incredible transformation, well-heeled collectors were amazed to discover that orange and light green colors on many covers were in fact deep red and dark emerald. A handful of amazing collections that surfaced prior to the Mile Highs exhibited similar qualities, but there was something special about this one. They just felt new. Like they did when they came off the newsstand.

But phenomenal aesthetics alone wasn't enough to pull off such a complete overhaul of grading standards. The sheer size of the collection, nearly 20,000 books, almost all of them in superior grade, was just too big to ignore. Here was enough comics to satisfy every major collector at that time; indeed, too much. Chuck Rozanski, the man who purchased and disbursed the collection, decided to hold back large chunks of Mile Highs and sell them off slowly over time. This tactic affected their impact on the market in several ways: 1) it assured that the collection would be spread out, instead of selling all at once to one or two individuals; 2) it allowed the gradual acceptance of Chuck's initially "insane" idea of asking 2x guide for "mint" books; 3) a glut was avoided, which would have certainly caused the opposite affect; a literally instant devaluation of practically every other high grade comic out there. If Mile Highs sold for guide, why would an inferior copy be worth anything but less than guide?

In hindsight, it's hard to believe that it took so long for people to fully realize and accept the unparalleled condition and value of these books. But for collectors who truly understood the power of the collection, it was clear that the cloud of ignorance and price resistance was in their best interest. The less everyone knew about these books, the more opportunities there were to buy. So Chuck's Rozanski's find remained one of the best kept secrets of the early '80s.

By the time the general public became fully aware of these gorgeous books, they were long gone. Chuck used a unique system of selling the Mile Highs by offering a select portion of the collection to a small, privileged line of buyers each year. As a result, few if any of the books ever reached the hands of the collecting community at large. Mile Highs passed into the mythos of the hobby, with nothing but hushed whispers and occasional reports of trading among the magic circle of owners to proliferate its legend. By the '90s, with most major sales taking place behind closed doors, these fabled books developed a demand of 5x-10x guide. This only fanned the cinders of interest, already smoldering from the subsequent discovery of other significant collections. Eventually fandom would be engulfed in the flames of pedigree mania.

Of the fifty collections covered in this book, five were discovered during the 1970's, nine in the 1980's, and the rest from the '90s to now. Some anecdotes can be drawn from these numbers, particularly the fact that the majority of them have been discovered in the last ten years. If one were to assume that the reason behind this was due to collectors' insatiable appetite for the next "big collection," all the rage during the past decade, it raises an interesting question of how many potential pedigrees were passed over in the '80s, and to a much greater degree in the '70s. It's a fact that discoveries of virgin collections is a diminishing phenomenon in relation to the finite number of existing comics dating 1933-1955. Probability dictates that the chances of finding a large high grade run of comics from that period were substantially higher during the '70s than now. And yet the number of pedigrees discovered each decade seems to rise exponentially. It makes one wonder how many more collections would have received the pedigree status had this concept been in place since fandom's inception.

THE ROLE OF THIRD PARTY GRADING

This brings us to the advent of third party grading, a pivotal point in the market. The introduction of CGC brought a new dimension to pedigree comics. Prior to independent grading, Pedigree values were determined more by conceptual multiples of guide based on general assumptions of each collection's attributes. Aesthetics played a stronger role; factors such as page quality, ink reflectivity and suppleness more determined the appeal. Besides obvious exceptions, individual grades were largely ignored. This method of valuation was prevalent due to a lack of agreeance on universal grading standards among everyone at the time; the minutia between grades such as VF/NM and NM- was lost on all but the most seasoned collectors. Also, large groups of pedigrees were usually sold or traded at once, rather than as individual issues. This was particularly true for Mile Highs.

To illustrate this point, it was not unusual to see something like the following reported during the '80s: "All-Winners #1-12 (Mile High) sold for $12,453." Notice that no grades are listed. Group sales were commonplace because individual books were still relatively inexpensive, and there was something very attractive about owning a full run of one title from a single pedigree. In fact, the analogous quality of pedigreed comics, having aged together over their lifespan, is the fundamental allure of pedigrees.

Collectors and dealers have always loved to bicker over the grades they give comics. But pedigreed comics always seemed to be immune to these squabbles. The fact that a book was deemed a Cosmic Aeroplane copy or a Larson usually excused it from normal grading standards, regardless of physical defects. Usually overall grades were given to pedigrees, especially when sold or traded in groups. In some cases, the legends of NM were true. In others, they were fabrications, spread about the hobby for financial gain, when in fact the books had little reason to be considered special. These lesser collections are indeed the reason why many collectors view the concept of pedigrees with great skepticism.

When CGC opened for business, their establishment of a universal set of grading standards brought focus to the condition of each individual pedigreed book. To put it simply, a CGC NM+ 9.6 is worth more than a NM 9.4, which is more valuable than a VF/NM 9.0, and so on. This system fit the dynamic of the general market perfectly, but shook up the pedigrees considerably because their value was based more on aesthetics and large groupings, rather than a book by book basis.

So what happens when a particular run of pedigrees is broken up and graded? The logistics of general pedigreed values (ex: Mile Highs worth 5x guide) goes right out the window. If one particular copy of a Mile High run grades a 7.0, no one will pay 5x NM guide, especially if 9.4's of the same book fetch 2x-3x guide. On the other hand, someone may very likely pay 10x guide for particular copies, maybe because they grade 9.8, or have a special cover, or feature a popular character. The bottom line is pedigreed comics are gaining (or losing) value based on each book's individual qualities, an important development in the market as large groupings are broken up and sold to the general collecting community.

CGC is, in some ways the ultimate litmus test for the worth of a particular pedigree collection. Many of these collections have been around for decades, and their legend had been absorbed into the hobby as gospel. Some are worth their hype, and others fall short. The ability to see each collection broken down by independent grading will eventually give us a clear vision of how truly amazing they are, and how they compare to one another.