Streamline that collection of yours

I've been watching this new TV show called Collection Intervention. Basically this professional collectibles expert from Christie's (Elyse Luray) goes around and tries helping people whose collections have taken over their lives and are a detriment to their marriage/friendships etc. Interesting show, though most stories are the same. Anyway, I decided to get up on my soapbox and write what I do when I get a comic. My "system" (anal as it is) keeps my collection tidy, organized and my wife happy Also, if you want to insure your collection, the insurance company will need a digitized list of your comics and their value.

Tools/Materials used:

Computer w/ Excel and Photoshop (any version should suffice)

Scanner

CGC membership (of course!)

Mylar sleeves (optional)

CGC boxes

Gorilla shelving or similar

I first want to clarify that this workflow only relates to slabbed books.

Once I purchase a book, I enter it into my comicbook spreadsheet, and tint the title box a bright color to tell me "it's not in my possession yet". An example of my spreadsheet is below...as long as the image shows...won't know until I upload this entry. All the information about the comic that I am interested in is on the spreadsheet. I use Overstreet as a guide to value, just for a benchmark, and also include what I paid. I've been thinking about adding a GPA average too (since that is mainly what I use to buy comics) but haven't gotten around to it.

Once I get the book in my happy hands, I "check it in" to the spreadsheet by blanking out the color tint. Then I enter it into the CGC registry.

If it is worth more than $50 bucks or so, (or I really like the cover) I'll put it in a mylar sleeve. I love the mylar sleeves because they really show off the book, add better protection than the polybags (both physical and environmental) and I can scan right through them, which you don't want to do with a poly bag. But mylar sleeves aren't cheap...about .80 ea. shipped is the cheapest I've found for the 2ml thick. There are thinner bags that are cheaper, but if it's not in the budget, no big deal.

After bagging them, I scan using a Xerox scanner w/ fluorescent bulb. (Thanks to the friendly CGC members, I learned that most modern scanners use LED bulbs and can't focus on a slabbed book.) I've set the scanner to create a PDF at 100dpi and import into Photoshop. (PDFs are really small, and since I save all the scans, I want the file size to be as small as possible.) In Photoshop, I've created an action that crops/color corrects/adds some contrast/sharpens and resizes for appropriate uploading to the web. (If anyone wants to know the specific details of how to do this, just ask...thought it too much for what I'm doing here.) So with just one button the comic image is ready to upload onto CGC's site. I keep the "webified" file and the original PDF in case I need a hi-res someday...also, when I upgrade a particular book (which is a compulsive habit of mine) I already have a .jpg that I can upload on eBay when ready to sell.

Then I put the comic in its appropriate box safe and sound. I store my boxes in the closet of our spare bedroom (always store in a controlled environment). I have "gorilla" racks that the cgc boxes fit perfectly into. Someday I'll run out of closet space, in which case I'll set up some more racks in the spare bedroom itself. I've already cleared this with the better half

Each box is labelled appropriately so I can easily find where to put new slabs.

So that's it. phew.

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it really doesn't take much time once everything is in place.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.