lscomics

Is it going to be upside down every time though?

Yeah, and I've been to blame for my portion of it. I've retreated from some of the insanity. sigh. That's one of the things I really love about the hobby since the focus of my collection changed to foreign editions. Grades aren't nearly as important, just finding a copy, sometimes ANY copy, of a book brings a sense of satisfaction and appreciation. When you have to put, at the least, a little time and effort into getting a book it changes your perspective. The instant gratification that comes with getting online and doing a search for whatever you want really takes the fun out of it. I'm probably enjoying the hobby more now than at any time in the last 15 years. Add onto it that you never know when you'll discover the existence of a book you didn't know was out there and it just gets better. Here's a link to my Photobucket with scans of the stuff I've acquired in the last two years or so. link There's a few more in this folder. SS link

Perhaps if so many people weren't so fixated on grades and motivated by greed this wouldn't be as big of an issue as it is. Oh well.

Nice.

I continue to be surprised at the low percentage of graded books at most smallish to mid-sized shows. The thousands of slabs that are for sale on ebay any given week always give me the impression that the market for slabs is far larger. But I still routinely hear dealers explaining to prospective buyers terms like CGC, slabbing, resto checks, etc. So yeah, there is a big percentage of the hobby that has never got on the carousel. Look at the cost of getting a Bronze Age or earlier graded - $25 give or take after discount, including sh/ins, etc. I suspect the vast majority of books at most shows are worth $50 or less, so slabbing these books doesn't make financial sense. As such, I imagine the vast majority of books in this hobby are not affected by CGC, slabbing, or pressing. Likewise, I suspect the vast majority of money made by dealers and investors in this hobby is affected by CGC, slabbing, pressing, and this wonderful (d)evolution in our hobby. Follow the $$! You've brought up another point here. Not everyone is in it for the money. Sometimes people get books graded because it's something they just want a graded copy of in their collection. I collect foreign editions, most of which aren't very expensive, and in addition to that I'm a SS collector. I've always been into autographs and used to go to cons to get books signed long before CGC ever existed. I drifted into foreign comics because, as a whole, US editions are pretty much readily available. You can get on ebay just about anytime you want and find a copy of whatever you might be looking to buy. With foreign editions it's nowhere near that simple. It can take months and in some cases years to track down a copy of a book you want. So many comic collectors out there have forgotten how much fun you can get from having to actually spend time and effort hunting for a book. The thrill of the chase is what keeps the hobby fun for me. Add to that having a book that you've put that much time into tracking down signed and slabbed for the sole purpose of authentication of the signature creates an extremely scarce if not, in most cases, unique addition to one's collection. Do I care if I ever recover the money I put into my books? Nope. I'm perfectly satisfied knowing that I've assembled a collection that would be difficult at best and probably impossible to duplicate.

You have to figure it's the same with pressing. I'd venture to say that the majority of buyers out there that don't slab books probably aren't even aware of the practice.

I'm pretty much impartial on this whole thing. It's not a service that I myself would use and I sincerely doubt that it will affect grades in any way. In theory shouldn't the graders still be getting the books with nothing more that a UPC code to identify them? As long as that remains the case I don't see any conflict of interest. It's ridiculous that people here are suggesting that this is what will cause the downfall of the collectible comic market. Worldwide I'd bet that 75% or better of comic collectors aren't interested in graded books at all.

I think they should be spending more money on encapsulation equipment and hiring employees so they can get caught up to a reasonable turnaround time. A move like this is kind of a slap in the face to anyone who's still waiting on subs.

+1

Great stuff Andy.

Got a couple books in today.

Got a couple books in today.

Glad to see you got it my friend.

Great book, I've got one I'm hoping to get SS at some point.

A few more I acquired recently.

You know I'm always happy to help you spend your money. (thumbs u

I thought this was one of the books you got from Pedro not too long ago. If it turns out that you have an extra I'd be more than happy to take one off your hands.

Didn't you just get another copy of that not too long ago? Stop hoarding!

Story would much better with a picture.... WTTBs!!! +1 WTTB I'd be interested in seeing some pics too.

Here's this week's installment.

No, Kevin Boyd can help you with that though.

Don't tell anyone I know that high grade copies of some of them can be harder to find than high grade Silver Age. Eventually I think we'll see a price escalation on them.

I always liked that Ghost Manor #32 cover. I might need to pick one up sometime.

Yes. Can we please have more regulation of the Selling area? It is so much better than individuals handling the business themselves and voting with their wallets. I gotta disagree with that. It more has to do with operating in a business-like and professional manner. If a seller can't be bothered to use a calculator to work up your pricing, what else are they cutting corners on? To simply hope that the general populace will "vote with their wallet" sounds lazy. That's basically saying that no one's feelings should be hurt or no one should be put out of their way to conduct business around here - because it's a free market, and if you're an assclown, you won't get any business and you'll eventually go away. It's a simple rule to make, and requires very little of the seller to implement. We've wasted 10X more energy discussing it than if it were just enacted to simplify and streamline the selling process. No one's civil liberites are violated in asking them to use their brains to calcuate a 3% fee into their selling price. That's fine. Let's also legislate font size, word choice, ozone friendly farting policies, political correctness, proper hygiene, quality of books and level of snarkiness as well. Pretty soon the list of rules you have to read will be so long, the n00bs will say "Screw It." and we'll have this place all to our selves. Yes, Precious, all to ourselves. I think that just might be the idea.