Absolute V-band magnitudes of putatively quiescent progenitors of merger candidates vs. absolute V band magnitudes of brightest pre-outburst detection (top-right), blue peak (bottom-left) and red peak (bottom-right). The absolute magnitudes of the progenitor and the light-curve red peak of V4332 Sgr are indicated as lower limits, as only a lower limit is known for its distance (Table 3).