Pacific Coast
The Pacific
Coast pedigree is
arguably the single greatest Silver Age collection ever found. The breadth of
the collection spans from 1962 into the 1970’s, and include near full runs from
that time period of Marvel, DC, Gold Key, Warren Magazines and Mad Magazines—totaling
more then 7,000 books. The collection is famed for its ultra high grade
structural quality with many of the books grading in the 9.4 (NM) to 9.8
(NM/MT) range, including the keys. The page quality tends to be “off-white to
white” for the earlier books (as those books were at the bottom of the stacks),
and “off-white” for the later books (as they were at the top of the stacks).
Some examples from this collection include what is touted as the greatest run of
Tales of Suspense in the world, with the #39 graded by CGC at a 9.6 (NM+).
Others included two copies of X-men #1 (CGC graded at a 9.6 and 9.8), X-men #2
(CGC graded at a 9.8), X-men #3 (CGC graded at a 9.8), Amazing Spider-man #1
(CGC graded at an 8.5), Amazing Spider-man #2 (CGC graded at a 9.2), Amazing
Spider-man #3 (CGC graded at a 9.4), Amazing Spider-man #4 (CGC graded at a
9.4), Amazing Spider-man #5 (CGC graded at a 9.6), Amazing Spider-man #6 (CGC
graded at a 9.8), Amazing Spider-man #8 (CGC graded at a 9.8), Avengers #1-5
(all CGC grade at a 9.6), Avengers #6 (CGC graded at a 9.8) and Star Trek #1
(CGC graded at a 9.6). Most of the Marvel runs are considered to be the best in
known existence, with some issues being second only behind the Curator pedigree
copies.
The Pacific
Coast collection first
surfaced in 1999, when it was founded by Robert Roter of Pacific Comics
Exchange. Before this however some of the books were sold by the original owner
through eBay. The books from this collection were kept in such pristine
condition due to the way in which they were stored by the owner—just as with
the Mile High books, books from this collection were stored in 6-foot stacks.
This is what gives the Pacific
Coast books the amazing
structure they have, but also giving them oil transfer stains and not always
“white” page quality.
