Bomber-Bob

I don't like either one as a 9.8, especially the staple tear. The tear may have happened , post grading, from sliding around in the slab. The corner chip was probably there when graded. I realiize a 9.8 is not perfect but most expect them to look perfect. Obvious, visible flaws in a 9.8 is a deal breaker for me. Sorry.

Thanks !!!! I actually won the FF23 in a CLink auction last year. The other 3 came directly from John Hauser, all raw. Unfortumately for Hauser, he got the collection just before CGC came on the scene. He sold most of them raw, and as previously mentioned, most of them to Tom Brulato. Brulato started submitting to CGC early and got insane grades on these books. The Curator X-Men 1 got a 9.8 on the first submission.

Yes, I did get these directly from Hauser. I was a customer of Hauser and was even at his house a couple times. When I found out about this collection he got I was upset that he didn't contact me . Apparently Tom Brulato was taking just about all the Marvel Super Hero from him and there were only some non Super Hero stuff left. . He let me have fist shot at a short box of these non Super Hero Curators. I still have a few raws. They were mostly/all #1's, some cool esoteric stuff. I should have bought them all !!!!

In hand, Curators are indeed amazing, very fresh, very bright, nice colors. Here's a few that I own......

Put your request in the WTB thread. Maybe somebody will offer you something. However, keep in mind that the well known pedigrees will command multiples of guide. No bargains to be found.

Karl, I think your disappointments were the result of your inexperience and not so much CGC's grading. However, in hindsight, I think you made a mistake by submitting your books in the higher tiers. I suspect the higher tiers get graded by more senior people, who are probably more strict. I do think you should give your present day grading skills a little more credit as I think you learned a lot.

This has been my observation. The grading in the mid grade areas have been 'baffling'. Something must be going on. It just doesn't seem like the same people are grading or finalizing. I'm making this statement after seeing some results from the PGM thread. When CGC gives a grade higher than anybody on the Boards guessed, it makes you wonder.

Wow, I'm glad I saw this. I just called my LCS and they put one aside for me. Love this cover, love my LCS !

I believe if you send this in, no matter to regrade or reholder, it will be regraded because of the tape situation. In all probability that tape is holding the cover onto the book. CGC has changed their stance on tape and a regrade will probably result in a detached cover and a much lower grade. I would leave it alone. No arguments, no pleading, just listen to me and leave it alone.

Yes, the married wrap is a killer. No way to undo that.

I agree with you, VERY vague and useless. Their 'standards' seem to be a moving target anyway with new employees grading with new interpretations. The Please Grade My thread has some very disconcerting examples of loose grades of late. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of CGC and think they do a great job overall. However, lately it seems like the Quality Control, encapsualtion, and overall grading have been suffering. I suspect they simply have too much work and something has to suffer.

Hey Casey ! I know exactly who you are refering to. Did not know about the strikes though.

I always get a 10 X 15 box and it can hold about 50+ slabs, standing vertical. The cost averages about 125.00 a year, per box. That seems reasonable to me.

Yes, the big name Banks usually don't have much in the way of Safety Deposit Boxes. I suppose there is not a lot of money to be made. I have found the small community Banks will offer them.

I concur with this. There's been threads about insurance and the overwhelming consensus uses CIS CollectInsure . I would suggest a safety deposit box at a local bank. I have multiple boxes at different banks. CIS covers them at any bank location. The cost of CIS insurance is very reasonable.

That's a good thing. Comics need to off gas. Even the slabs themselves are not airtight.

That image still haunts me to this day. I still say there must have been something else going on, like somehow chemicals were introduced. That was not your ever so slowly migrating rust, it was an explosion.

Did not know this. I submitted my personal copy of X-Men #50 and it received 9.6 White. I moved the book, not realiizing what I had.

Here is a very old thread from CGC with a warning about Fire Proof safes. Original Locked Thread on Fireproof Safes and Comic Storage

I don't have any specific recommendations but I would avoid both Fire and Water Proof, not good for the comics. Air tight means high humidity and rusty staples. This has been discussed many times here. I don't know why you took umbrage with my comment to you ? 100 pounds is not protection, bolted or not. Not sure why you felt offended but so be it. I stand by my comment, not a good choice.

My microwave is bigger than that. A small safe is not really protection. A thief can simply carry it out.

The problem for me, with CGC being more lenient on some bindery flaws, is that it invites the manipulation of books. Say you have a hard, color breaking corner crease holding your book at 8.5. Remove it, rough it up to make it look like a MC, resubmit and you have a 9.0, maybe even a 9.2 . This exact scenario happened to me. I sold the 8.5 and the new owner got the 9.0 . Happened another time with a 9.0 to 9.2 situation. Technically no rules were broken here. The submitter did not make any claims that it was a MC but CGC assumed it was a MC. Years ago , CGC said they could not regard pressing as restoration because they could not confidently detect it. It would seem MC is in the same category. IMO, a flaw is a flaw no matter how it happened. There should be no grandfathering.

I once echoed a comment Greggy made in a Sales thread. It was along the lines of 'when is the good stuff coming' or 'is that all'. I only echoed Greggy's comment because I had already bought one book and was looking to pick up more. The seller PM'ed me very upset, basically saying it's okay with him for Greggy to comment but not me. So for those of you that advocated banter in a sales thread, please make note of my experience. Again, I am still confused.