from the suppliers point of view...

I could care less what people collect on their own dollar. If people, for whatever reason, want to collect issues of Youngblood #1, it's my duty to supply it. If you wanted to collect rocks, then I would have a bag full waiting for you.

The key is how much are you willing to spend. The reason why there are so many issues of Amazing Spider-Man #252 and #300 graded is because the people have decided that they are willing to spend real money on those issues. There are those who want the book already graded in the desired condition they are looking for, and therefore are willing to pay a liitle more for the CGC encapsulated book. CGC has taken the guess work out of the grading on that book, so you are paying for piece of mind. And there will be other people who will hunt for raw copys and enjoy the trill of searching for high grade books at reduced prices. Unfortunately, "comic book" shops have turned in to graphic novel shops and do not have ample back issues anymore of key books. So it's becoming harder and harder to find key issues raw at affordable prices in the actual grade you are looking for. Most people view shopping online as a gamble and it is, too many people get burned and unless the seller has high feedback ratings on description (I have 5.0/5.0), then can you really trust the item as being what it is supposed to be?

Also, as a dealer, i'm driven by profit margin. If I know an Amazing Spider-Man #300 in CGC 9.8 sells for $600-750, why am I going to sell a raw copy in similar grade for $200-300? Why not invest $17 more bucks to make potentially $433 more? If that is what people are willing to spend and the MARKET dictates those prices, then that's what i'm going to do. The truth behind it is yeah, you might have 5000+ already graded, but how many at the top tier? ASM#300 in CGC 9.8 is not easy to come by (about 5.68% of all universal grades are 9.8 or higher), and the MARKET knows this. So the MARKET has decided that this book in this grade = X amount of dollars. How ever the MARKET decides which books to chase, wheter it be because of popularity of character, artist, rarity, or the art, I don't care. Its my duty to supply the MARKET what the MARKET wants if the demand is great enough.

In addition, everyone who has a registry set is a completist. If they could, they would like to have every issue in that series or run. The year the book came out has nothing to do with how many should be graded. If enough people wanted to collect full sets or series of issues, then you would see more numbers of graded books overall. One person I read referred to this as a niche industry, and I agree. The common person would only get key appearances or significant books graded, not a whole run. So yeah, you are not gonna see large numbers of "filler" books graded, but just because there are lower numbers of bronze or copper age books doesn't mean it's harder to come by or should be more expensive. It just means not many people have bothered to get the book graded.

If more people demanded All-Star Western books, would you still feel the same way? If i decided to flood the market with All Star Western and tomorrow, you saw there were 5000+ graded copies of your favorite ASW book, would you still think it is more important or deserving of encapsulation than Ultimate Spider-Man books? Or would you think, now my book is worth because there are 5000+ graded? Honestly I don't think you would care. Because you decided at some point in time that ASW was special to you and you wanted to collect ASW. Same applys to the people who collect Ulitmate Spider-Man, New Mutants, Archie, Youngblood, Gen 13, and the pleathora of other titles. For whatever reason, its what they decided to collect and they don't care what you have to say about it. It's their money and they are going to spend it as they see fit.

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