mschmidt

I would have charged more these days 

Beautiful page!

I like these - they're cheap and work well:

https://collectormount.com/

The inner well of a CGC slab is made from an archival-safe, inert material, so, from a preservation point of view, it's no different than storing the book in a mylar (which is also inert & archival-safe) bag. 

1 hour ago, WoWitHurts said:

There is no such thing as a 9.9/10. Yes, CGC has put some on labels but those same books removed an resubbed to CGC they would not get that grade IMO.

Nonsense. I've cracked blue label 9.9's and had them come back as yellow label 9.9s.

Print out a new form to send in the books. You don't actually get charged anything till CGC receives the books, so you can just ignore the old submission.

23 hours ago, Jasten said:

Finishing my preparations for nycc. I have about 25 books window bagged and ready :-) I have a few questions:

-do i have to lug around all the signed books all day or can i drop them off in batches as i finish the signings?

-one of the signings I'm aiming for is right at open 10am Kieron Gillen at the Boom! Studios booth. I assume i should run to cgc booth first to request a witness then go lineup at Boom! booth?

-is there anything i need to do in advanced to save time, paperwork etc.? I did setup an account. All my submissions will be for sig series. 

-i have a few books for the cgc private signings but i plan to get a few sigs on then from artist alley first. Do i just bring the witnessed books back to cgc and notify that they are also for private signings as well?

thanks!

1) You can submit books as they're being done, but you'll be charged separate invoice & shipping fees for each invoice you close out. I'd suggest holding on to everything till the end of the show and combine your books into as few invoices as possible.

2) Yes

3) You won't be assigned a witness unless you have your paperwork started - unfortunately, you can't do the SS forms online, so you'll have to go to the CGC booth, grab an invoice and fill it out before you ask for a witness. Make sure you know your account number, so you won't have to waste time looking it up on the ipads at the booth.

4) Exactly

On 9/20/2019 at 10:57 AM, Krismusic said:

interesting thought.

I wonder what the process is that you have to go through to become a CGC witness. also is it for just that show or will you always be a witness then? If your a witness all the time can shady stuff happen then?

CGC witnesses are on a pr. show basis. I, for instance, will be a witness at NYCC, but this doesn't mean I can go witness books being signed at random Store X the following week.

Nope - the private signings at NYCC are solely for people who are actually attending the show. You can, however, mail your books to a CGC facilitator and have them submit the books at the show on your behalf.

On 9/7/2019 at 3:29 PM, feder241 said:

Any one know how to hear about Frank Miller signings otherwise? I've been trying to get my Dark Knight Gallery Edition signed for forever and he was in Artist's Alley last year signing but you needed to have some kind of number. Does anyone know how those were given out?

Check with comicsketchart.com - they rep Frank Miller (which means they're set up at every show he's at and any artist alley signings with him happens through them).

On 9/6/2019 at 3:55 PM, Jasten said:

Great info, I'm sure I wont get to half of what I bring (or less) but this will be a fun learning experience. What about panels? I see Bendis is doing a panel on the day I am going. Do panel guests usually sign after them and if so are you pretty much out of luck for witness in that case?

Some guests will sign after a panel, but there's pretty much no chance you'd be able to get a CGC witness for something like that.

Also, in regards to Frank Miller, even though it hasn't been announced yet, CGC will most likely have a private signing with him during the show. They did that at SDCC this year and the price was $100 pr. signature.

On 9/4/2019 at 12:28 AM, Jasten said:

Thanks for the detailed info, its super helpful. I still am not clear on how many times I will need to wait in line at CGC booth. Is it once per artist each time to get a witness or dependent on the artist lines. I assume if there are a few artists with small or no lines, I can get those all done at once? Also, will i be filling out forms for each signature or will they keep a pile for me until i'm done so I can have it all sent as one order?

CGC will have 2 booths at NYCC (as usual) - one in the artist alley, one on the main floor. Depending on where the artist is located, you should go to whichever booth is closest & and they will set you up with a witness.

Expect to wait a bit before a witness becomes available, but you can use that time to get your paperwork ready (it needs to be started before you leave the booth) and get your books prepped. You will need at least a free account if you want to submit books (which you can set up at the booth), but, like MarkMoon said, if you're doing a bunch of books you should sign up for a paid membership before the show and just make sure you have your account number handy.

Once you've been assigned a witness, that witness will walk with you to any creators that are available & signing - if a creator has a giant line, the witness will not be able to wait with you & will hook you up with a phone number you can text/call when you're getting close.

You can submit up to 25 SS books pr. invoice, so you can easily add new books throughout the weekend as they're getting signed. There's a new SS system in place where books are no longer held at the CGC booth during the show - they now get put into tamper-proof bags which makes it very easy for you to just hold on to everything and them submit when everything's done. 

Does it look like the corner was impacted from hitting the top left corner of the inner well? If you gently tap the side of the slab, does the comic move?

It's hard to tell from your photos, but it looks like a simple bindery tear - they're fairly prominent on all copies of Sandman #1 and won't stop a book from being a 9.8.

On 9/3/2019 at 1:19 AM, comicquant said:

There are paper preservation/conservation sites out there who say the MicroChamber paper becomes inert after 7+ years (depending on the type of paper) and that it should be replaced.  Regardless of the state of the inner well I would want the paper protected if it needs it.  I wonder if this is where cgc (or whoever it was) came up with 7 years.

I've never seen the 7 years mentioned anywhere other than the CGC site - I actually used the "Ask a Librarian"-feature on the Library of Congress website at one point to ask about this and the reply that I got back was that as far as they were concerned there was no rule-of-thumb in regards to when MCP becomes inert.

CGC's recommendation never made any sense to me - even if the MCP does become inert, it's not like it's harmful to the book; it's just no longer absorbing any potential off-gassing. Which would be an issue if the CGC slabs are air-tight, but they aren't. 

On 8/30/2019 at 3:52 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

My book was graded 11/04, so I’ll bet I’ve got the magic creep engine case. Thank you very much for taking the time to help me

 

 

•  

You don't. The "creep engine" case is the one that Mystafo showed in his pic - it was the first iteration of the 3rd generation CGC case that contained no inner well which caused books to scrunch up over time. Your book is sitting in a 2nd generation case with an inner well.

With that said, it does look like the inner well is too tight for the size of your book. I'd send a couple of photos to CGC and ask them to reholder it in the thicker case.

On 8/30/2019 at 4:53 PM, comicquant said:

Your book was definitely reholdered at some point between 2006 and Q1 2016 and is in a 2nd gen holder.  Since it was graded in 11/04 it originally had the "old label" 1st gen holder.  There are several factors which can cause the gentle wave but is most likely caused by the case.  CGC recommends having books reholdered every 7 years.  I imagine this has to do with the life expectancy of the micro-chamber and possibly the structural integrity of the case/inner well.  If this were my book I would have it reholdered.  Actually, it looks undergraded so I'd have it regraded!    Beautiful copy BTW!!!

CGC hasn't actually recommended this for a long time - and even when they did it was due to misconceptions about the life expectancy of micro-chamber paper, it never had anything to do with the case or inner well.

3 hours ago, websurfergee said:

Hi,

I’m new here.  I bought a few comics in my youth and purchased The Walking Dead compendiums, but have only started collecting in earnest recently.  I’m a fan of the Blade Runner films, and when I saw a new comic (Blade Runner 2019) was coming out, I thought I’d give comics another try.  I want to take care of the new books I’ve purchased, so I’ve been doing my research and - long story, short - found this informative thread started by mschmidt 10 years ago (thanks to him & all who have contributed).  From reading this thread/seeing the pictures, I’ve decided to put my books in to the E. Gerber Standard 725M2’s with 700FB’s, but I do have a couple of follow-up questions:  Would placing a modern comic using the 725M2/700FB setup with the flap at the bottom and then placing that into a 775R Silver/Golden Archive (which would then fold the flap up & back) eliminate the need for tape/painter’s tape/3M flags/Velcro dots?  Would you then still need a  750FB or 750HB inside the 775R?  Would there be enough room?  Or are two bags with two boards overkill that would further lead to the need for a larger box because of the 7 and 3/4” width, as well as the additional height from the 7/8” Archive flap that cannot be folded?  Any comic experts, who have been doing this a while, think a Mylites2 with a full-back and some kind of way to close the flap is plenty and I’m just getting carried away?  Thanks for your time and attention.  I just want to show my books the love.

Gavin

Whether you tape the inner bag or not is really up to you - I like having a HB inside the Archive, just to provide a bit more rigidity. This is the method I use to store pricey modern books.

On 8/11/2019 at 7:42 AM, Gaard said:

I think CGC used to recommend reslabbing every 7(?) years. They've since reversed that recommendation. I've wondered a few times if the comics they slabbed during that first phase needed to be reslabbed.

It wasn't because of the case - their recommendation was based on the belief that the micro-chamber paper they placed inside the book would reach max capacity after 7 years and would need to be replaced to continue it's acid-absorption process.

They removed this recommendation because:

a) Even if the MCP has become inert, it does nothing to harm the book - it's simply just not doing its thing anymore.

b) There's no evidence that MCP actually becomes inert after 7 years.

On 8/26/2019 at 7:07 PM, deadleg said:

Less than 10 if I had to guess. 

That seems unlikely - I have 3 copies of the #1 (no, icefires - they are still not for sale; sorry), I'm assuming icefires has a couple, there's no chance him & I account for half of all existing copies.

In general, print runs are always larger & more copies remain in circulation than people think.

It'll come back with a notation about the coupon cutout no matter what - this is exactly the kind of info that should always be on the CGC label.

If the book is high grade, you'll get a green, Qualified label slab.

If it's low grade, you'll get a blue, Universal label slab.

I use the Hotflips flip-n-stick CGC bags - they look nice and aren't that expensive:
https://hotflips.com/product/graded-comic-book-bags-flip-n-stick-1-pack-of-50-sleeves/

And, unlike BCW, Hotflips doesn't lie about their polypropylene bags being archival-safe.

Christ, that's a terrible guest line-up for what's supposed to be Wizard's flagship show.

Wonder how many window remodeling companies will have booths this year?

They make magazine-size mylar bags - the 900M2 Mylites2 from E Gerber fits the early TMNT books perfectly.

13 hours ago, Xatari said:

Saga 1 Retailer Incentive - 9.8 SS (both Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples)

One of the most important keys of the modern era, this is the book that started it all. Rumored to be less than 500 printed and only 256 on the Census with 73 signed, many of which had only a single signature. 

$3000

Lovely book! You might want to contact CGC and get the label fixed