stephenlev

Second batch of comics just came through, pressed by CFP, and the grades aren't as good (not blaming CFP, these books might have been in worse shape). 

Not terrible grades (9.2 is the lowest) but nothing here is gonna make me anything if I sell, I think.

X-Men 213: 9.2

Captain America 332: 9.4

Incredible Hulk & Wolverine 1: 9.4

Devil Dinosaur 1: 9.2

Sandman #5: 9.6

X-men 124: 9.4

Batman 426: 9.4

Batman 427: 9.4

Batman 428: 9.6

In the end, it was super-fun revisiting my childhood collection. I may try to sell these if prices go up, or just list somewhere and see if I get nibbles, but I'm definitely done grading.

On 5/10/2023 at 12:58 AM, thehumantorch said:

he certainly has some good results to go with the less good

Yeah, I'm happy overall. And although I may not be able to tell the difference between a 9.4 and a 9.6, it seems I've learned what a 9.2+ book looks like. No huge disappointments here (maybe the Thor)

On 5/9/2023 at 4:49 PM, ExNihilo said:

Ah missed that.  Then yeah, a press likely isn't going to improve it anymore.

Yep, all these books were cleaned and pressed by Avery. I did another batch with CFP that is being graded now (the Batmen, and some others)

In hindsight, I wish I'd only sent in 10 books instead of 19. Otherwise no regrets. I'm definitely done getting anything slabbed, I don't buy new stuff, just wanted to preserve some of my childhood collection.

It is fun opening the box and seeing the grades (though it would have been less fun if the grades were much lower)

On 5/9/2023 at 4:03 PM, lou_fine said:

You should check the Graders Notes for your Thor 337 to see why it came in as only a CGC 8.5 graded copy.

Comic Description:
Thor 337 11/83 Marvel Comics Newsstand Edition

Grader Notes:
""Mark Jewelers"" insert.
small, multiple crease right bottom of front cover

On 5/9/2023 at 3:25 PM, thehumantorch said:

Overall I think you did ok and very well considering it was your first submission.

Great! All the credit goes to my 16 year old self who took such good care of his comics.

I'm a little bummed about the Thor, which looked good to me, but pretty happy with the rest.

OKAY, my first batch of comics came in!

Sandman #8: 9.6

Wolverine #1: 9.4

X-Men #221: 9.8 (yay!)

Wolverine LS #1: 9.2

Sandman #1: 9.8 (yay!)

Secret Wars #8: 8.0 (I knew that one wasn't gonna get a good grade)

Thor 337 Mark Jeweler insert: 8.5 (damn!)

Sandman #4: 9.6

Hulk 340: 9.6

On 5/9/2023 at 1:50 PM, lou_fine said:

you've basically left yourself with no meat on the bones,

Yeah, as in investment, this might have been a bum deal. On the other hand, there was value in cracking open my 35 year old collection for the first time, looking things up on eBay, revising my childhood books, posting on these boards, getting excited as the comics moved through the process, etc. It's been a hobby, and a fun one. I haven't bought any new books, and I'm not going to slab anymore after this. Hopefully these'll look nice on my shelf.

On 5/9/2023 at 1:21 PM, FantasticDan said:

s the nine month turnaround time due to the "cleaning" phase of the restorations? 

It's due to backlog. And they don't restore, just clean and press.

On 5/8/2023 at 7:50 PM, Cman429 said:

he better hope there’s a Beta Ray Bill

And that Thor is a Newsstand/Mark Jeweler copy! 

But I feel like my next big disappointment is the grade. They looked great to my untrained eye, but in the nine months since I submitted, I've learned a lot. But I did post on this forum beforehand, and I was warned not to submit all these books, so I have nobody to blame but myself. Again, since I paid cover price, it's not THAT much money down the drain. I might just sell my two long boxes, and some slabbed books to my local store, and keep a few covers I love for posterity, and I'd probably come out somewhat ahead.

On 5/8/2023 at 3:11 PM, zzutak said:

Nice timing. 

Whoops!

I guess the good news is that I only paid cover price for them, it's not like I bought them at the top of the market. And a lot of them are classics with nice covers, I won't mind having them around, giving them to my kids.

On 5/8/2023 at 2:26 PM, thehumantorch said:

Could you post a list of the books you sent in and perhaps update when you get the grade results?

On 5/8/2023 at 2:15 PM, DougC said:

A non-key issue of a modern comic isn't intrinsically valuable outside of a 9.8. Did you base your pricing off of ebay sold listings or just what was listed with BIN? In any case, we would need to know what issues and potential grades to know "value" but I don't see much change on GPA over the last twelve months some of the titles you posted.

I based my "value" off eBay sales. If they got more than $100 as a 9.6, I thought they might be worth sending in.

Nine months ago, I cracked open my childhood comic collection and sent the 20 comics getting the most money on eBay, that were in the best shape, to be pressed, cleaned and graded.

This week they're getting graded. But boy have values for these books (X-Men, Wolverine, Sandman, some Batman) plummeted in the nine months since I sent them away. If they don't come back with a really high grade, they are definitely not going to be worth the money I spent grading them.

My original plan was to keep 1-2 of my favs and sell the rest, but this looks like the worst climate for selling. 

My question is, I've waited 35+ years since I bought these comics at cover price, and am happy to just to hand them down to my kids. But do prices just bob up and down a lot, or was I checking prices in a bubble and totally misleading myself about what these books would ever be worth?

Modern/Slow

Received at Avery Comic Pressing: 9/1/22

Delivered to GCG: 4/10/23

Received: 4/26/23

G/E/I: 5/3/23'

(Incidentally, I sent 9 books to Avery and 9 to CFP a week apart, 9 months ago. They both arrived at CGC a week apart.)

On 4/26/2023 at 3:27 PM, revat said:

You can bribe yourself into being  patient.  If you wait to open, you can buy yourself a milkshake.  Or you can negatively reinforce yourself, guess the grades ahead of time, and do 100 pushups for every book you guess wrong (but only do this if you check the grades early).  

I am a refresh-my-browser-every-30-seconds kind of person.

I will bribe myself by telling myself that the grade will be lower if I check it on the site, and higher if I open it in the mail.

I submitted my first batch of books ever a week ago, and now they showed up in the tracker.

I noticed the tracker has a section for grades.

Does the grade show up as soon as it's graded? If so, do you (personally) like to read it there or do you prefer to wait to open your mail to see what grades you got?

Seems more fun to wait, if I have the patience. Which I'm sure I don't.

On 4/25/2023 at 10:32 AM, 850chris said:

It may take weeks for them to log it in when they get busy. A couple of months or so ago, it took about a full week. It really varies depending on how busy they are. During con season, it can take longer. And now with the upcoming price changes, folks are anticipating a backlog of submissions before the price increase…hang in there. You can try to contact them if anything…

Thanks - just checked again and they were entered in the system. Very suspenseful! 

On 4/17/2023 at 4:13 PM, seanlinc said:

My last few submissions took about 4 or 5 business days from package delivery to get into the system, Then about 20 days total from received to shipped. They have always charged my cc when the status went to scheduled for grading. I've had a few that I submitted under modern that graded high enough to put the value in the standard tier but they have never changed the tier.

My comics were received over a week ago - still not in the system...

Buy comics for fun. As for retirement, I highly recommend reading “The Simple Path to Wealth” by JL Collins and doing what he says. (You can also just read his blog)

On 4/18/2023 at 8:26 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Do you have familiarity with grading, or any expectations? Just asking because of the 10 (Gem Mint) comment, hoping you'll be happy regardless of the numbers that CGC assigns to your comics.

This is my first time sending anything in but honestly I’m prepared for disappointment - I’ve put a few issues up on the Spare a Grade forum so I get that my comics aren’t as pristine as I’d hoped. I opened up my childhood collection and probably got a bit over eager and probably sent too many in. On the other hand, I don’t own any comics I didn’t pay cover price or less for. We shall see!

On 4/17/2023 at 1:06 PM, DougC said:

I haven't submitted for regular grading in some time but I believe it is usually around a week from when the books are delivered to when you see them show up on your account.

Thanks. So suspenseful!!!

On 4/17/2023 at 12:33 PM, DougC said:

Once your books are checked in/scheduled for grading the average TAT begins.

Thanks - any guesses between the time of the package arrival and the time they're first checked in? 

Hey folks!

I am so excited! According to FedEx, today is the day a pack of my childhood (80's) comic collection will arrive at CGC to get graded! This is my first time ever doing this, and I have some questions:

1. how long between the package arrival at CGC and the status update shows up in the system? We talking days, weeks?

2. Let's assume my copy of Devil Dinosaur #1 gets a perfect 10.0 rating - at what point will CGC reach out to me to tell me they're bumping the cost up above the Modern grading tier I assumed when I submitted it?

3. I forget if CGC charged me when I originally send in the paperwork (before I had them cleaned and pressed a year ago) or they're gonna be charging me now.

Thanks!

Stephen

On 10/4/2022 at 4:44 PM, NoMan said:

I’d be interested in the Nixon ones  anymore info 

Would have been around 89-91, I think it was one where they were storming a castle? I may have a copy somewhere. My teacher's name was Scott Dixon, so he'd be listed as the writer.