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Welcome to Comic Book Pedigrees, the first and only website dedicated to pedigreed comic books. Pedigrees represent some of the most beautifully preserved vintage comic book collections in the world!

For years these collections were stored in attics, closets, garages, storage units, even barns. Sometimes they were wrapped in paper, stored in cedar chests or file cabinets, or just sitting in piles on a shelf. They were usually amassed at the time by children, but a few were adults. Some bought only #1 issues, or they favored a particular genre, character or company. A couple of these collectors even worked in comic book publishing.

All of the owners had one thing in common; they were conscientious about the condition of their comic books. By luck or design, each of the collections featured here survived many tests of time; paper drives, puberty, and especially Mom, who never understood why her child would save such things. Some of the owners survived to see their collection become legendary, like Lamont Larson. Others never knew.

Pedigrees became a concept in fandom during '80s after the Edgar Church/Mile High collection surfaced in 1977, considered the greatest comic book collection of all time. Since then, the market has seen many other breathtaking collections come to light; today CGC recognizes 59 pedigrees in all. To find out how a comic collection qualifies for pedigree status, read here.

CGC recognizes Chinatown pedigree

8/20/2020
CGC just recognized its 60th pedigreed collection, named "Chinatown" for its origin in the Chinatown district of Vancouver, Canada. Discovered in 1999 by Patrick Shaughnessy of Golden Age Collectables, the collection contains many high grade, white paged copies of over 1,300 comics from the '40s and '50s.

The collection started in 1944 when Canada relaxed their restrictions on comic book imports. Those imports were restricted again in 1947, and once more relaxed in 1951; as such, this collection is a fascinating historical representation of American comic books available to Canadians during that period.

80% of the collection has been CGC graded, of which one-third are the highest graded or tied for the highest graded on CGC's census. 33 copies graded 9.8, with 95 more in 9.6 and 139 in 9.4. 42% of the graded copies received a white page quality designation, and 41% off-white to white.

The full story can be read here on CGC's website.

Windy City copy of Marvel Comics #1 auctions for $1.26 million

11/21/2019
The Windy City copy of Marvel Comics #1 just broke the million dollar mark! Ten pedigreed copies of Marvel's first issue are listed on our site, and this particular one is the highest CGC universal grade out of 63 copies.

CGC releases new Pedigree label and recognizes four Pedigrees

7/1/2019
CGC has released a new Pedigree Certification Label to differentiate pedigreed collections. This new gold label will display "CGC Universal Pedigree" in place of "CGC Universal Grade." Only pedigrees that qualify for a Universal grade will receive the new label.

These new labels will be applied to books submitted as a CGC recognized pedigree through the online submission form starting on July 12, 2019 and first available for show submissions at Comic-Con International: San Diego on July 17.

To read the backstories on these four newly recognized pedigrees, click their name on the list of recognized pedigrees on the left menu bar.

The Murphy Anderson Pedigree hits Heritage

7/1/2019
Heritage's first offerings of the new Murphy Anderson File Copy CGC pedigree will appear in their weekly auction dated July 28-August 4, along with some books from the Annie Gaines Collection.

In addition to the substantial Silver and Bronze Age original art from the Murphy Anderson Collection, this new pedigree consists of the famed DC artist's file copies spanning the 1950s-1980s, including such classics as Showcase #4 and incredible white page, high grade Silver and Bronze keys. Impressive selections can be found in all of Heritage's weekly online comic auctions following the initial offering.

Featured in Heritage's special format online monthly auction "The MAD Collection of Annie Gaines Ashton," the Annie Gaines Ashton Pedigree offerings include entire MAD and Panic runs of Gaines File copies. This new pedigree of high grade examples comes from the collection of Bill Gaines' estate, the greatest provenance for EC and MAD. The devoted auction runs from September 12-October 17.

Our Forthcoming Book On Pedigrees

After much delay, work has resumed on our book covering these amazing Pedigree collections. Check out our brand new sample chapter on the popular Okajima Pedigree collection here.