Tony S

Recessed (or sometimes referred to as impacted) staples are a common printing defect. Books stapled with too much force. At it's worst the staple can cut right through the paper off cover. It can also be a defect caused by poor pressing CGC - for the most part - gives printing defects a pass. As Bomber-Bob notes, given the number of color breaking spine creases visible, it certainly appears as though the impacted top staple had no effect on the grade assigned.

No You can order UV blocking film. Slab-pro makes such already pre-cut for CGC slabs. https://slab-pro.myshopify.com/products/uv-clear-protectors It is worth noting that while UV wavelengths are the most destructive, all light is damaging over the long term to paper. If you display your slabs, for safety it should be in a room with no windows and the (LED) lights should be off except when you are actually in the room. I personally make color copies of covers I like and frame those. My comics - slabbed or raw - stay in boxes, in the dark.

The owner is badly misinformed. seriously paranoid - or doesn't want people looking to close.... Damage from exposure to light takes a great deal more time than a few minutes with a cell phone flashlight. More importantly, the light on one's phone (iPhone or Andriod) is from LED's. LED lights emit no UV wavelengths - the most destructive wavelengths of light. As Aszumilo observes, the fluorescent lights at most venues that host comic book shows are doing much more in the way of aging paper.

No - it is CRITICAL that only the flashlight on Android phones be used. Sorry More seriously, there is no fool proof tool that will make sure you catch restoration. Black Lights for instance are best used in a dark room and the wavelength of the light matters. There is a sticky on how to detect restoration on this forum. Like many discussions here it gets off topic and repeats itself, but it is worth reading

There is little point to pressing 9.8's to 9.8. Pressing takes time and costs money. Save your moderns until you have 25. Then submit them at a 9.8 prescreen. Any books slabbed will be 9.8's. Any rejects are returned to you raw. Look over the rejects closely. If you don't see any defects pressing can't fix then have them pressed and resubmitted for grading. To a lot of people it looks like the big dealers always have nothing but 9.8's with their moderns. Leading to suspicion that dealers that submit large volumes get better grades. This isn't what is going on. Large volume submitters prescreen their moderns at 9.8. Prescreen is a wonderful tool and more people should use it.

If they were my books, I would just leave them as is. Actually I'd have them graded and slabbed and leave as is. By your description, I would guess there is about a 3" split to the cover at the spine. Books with a 3" split spine grade lower so sell for less. But conserved books sell for less too. I doubt you are any $$ ahead. Probably losing money on the deal. Get them slabbed and they are well protected, spine split should not get any worse.

Spawn 1 newsstand is in fact selling at a premium - without any label notations or census. For the #1. Issue number 9 actually is noted by CGC when it is newsstand. On the comic and in the census. Because there is a slight variation with the cover and CGC has always noted it. This information gives collectors some information - imperfect perhaps but SOME information - as to the relative scarcity of the two different versions. CGC has graded 2049 direct editions and 95 newsstand editions. So less than 5% are newsstands. The information in a census of direct vs newsstand would be helpful to collectors now that a market has developed that pays more for the less common printing. I think if such information was available collectors would learn a lot. Like for instance it is the direct editions that are less common before the mid 1980's. And that some individual issues and titles continued to sell better on the newsstand than the overall production of all of a publishers comics indicates by year. And maybe since collectors are paying more it should be on the label for that reason alone - census or not. I truly do not personally care. I think it's mistake to pay more for newsstand over direct or the reverse. But even if I believe it is dumb money it's still real money, right? For me the real question remains - and you Bob have mentioned it too - is if this works for CGC. They have 18 years (and counting) of census data so starting to count newsstands now makes them look way more rare than they really are. And the other two companies that are noting newsstand on the label don't have a census.

I must be off today.... I mean isn't to please one's customers a good argument?

I didn't mention anyone in particular. I most certainly didn't say anyone was naive. I wasn't thinking it either. And I most certainly do not believe YOU are naive. What I was thinking is a few in answering were AVOIDING the implied question. Because the competition does note newstand/direct on the label. And that is the real question. Why doesn't CGC? Why Shouldn't CGC? When will - if ever - CGC do so?

Geez, you never know where a question or thread will go. As everyone and their dog is aware, many - and a growing number - of collectors are showing an interest in collecting newsstand editions of comics over direct - especially Newsstand editions published late 1980's on. The advantage of grading companies differentiating between the two versions would be their census. Another source of information on ratio between the two and relative scarcity. The problem for the oldest grading company is the census reflects 18 years of grading - and counting. Starting to note either direct or news stand and recording in the census wouldn't be of much value for like another 18 years. I personally have no interest in paying more for a comic book because it was direct or newsstand. Either is fine with me - it's the same book. But it's clear that a lot - and a growing number - of collectors are making a distinction and paying extra for the "scarce" version. CGC's product is marketed to collectors. So the original question isn't so odd as to be dismissed. The real questions - implied but not asked - are could CGC start doing so and would it be helpful at anytime in the near future. IMHO, the experienced boardies here understood the implied question.

Book looks 9.6 to me.

A lot of new comics are printed a little wavy. Some look like washboards. Like anything else, it is a matter of degree. And CGC tends to be forgiving of printing defects. Pick the most flat copy you can find. If it is otherwise perfect, you have a good chance at 9.8. As to why, I believe it is lightweight paper with a lot of ink. Everything is full bleed, edge to edge now with gloss paper interiors as well as covers. Too much ink, to thin paper. It dries wavy.

If the $8100 sale of a 9.2 is isn't "legitimate" - than it is a "normal" scam. Like in the seller is selling a book they do not own, they intend to grab the $$ and run. It is not a sale intended to inflate the value of the book. Two weeks earlier a Hulk 181 in CGC 9.2 sold for $8000. The last 9.4 sold for $9600. Even if the sale is a scam and the seller doesn't have the book and the sale is not completed, the sale represents what someone was willing to pay for the book. Hulk 181 is just on fire. Period.

Well - as Oak said, "this may have possibilities" I'll take a stab at attempting to offer reasonable advice. If anything I say seems harsh, my apologies in advance. Having gone through a divorce most likely it will get worse for the two of you than anything I say. I mean to be direct, but not rude. . First, if "we" includes you and your husband - like in building a successful business together - then it doesn't seem like you should need to ask how to value the inventory. Just sayin... Something you might keep in mind with any settlement. Were you an active partner? Or more a silent one? If you were an active partner including the purchase and selling, it might be simplest to just divide the inventory I pick, you pick, I pick, you pick. Then you have half the stuff and can sell it yourself however you please. In one lump to another dealer. On eBay a few items at a time. Your stuff. Your choice. OK - that aside.... The first and most obvious place to look at (valuation of inventory) is your federal tax returns. The "profit or loss" from the business should clearly list the beginning and ending balances of your inventory. If your taxes filed aren't close to accurate - or you didn't file taxes - then I'm not sure you have a "successful" business. You just have a bunch of collectibles and the two of you bought and sold some under the radar. If Federal tax returns don't apply then.... Standard business practice is to value inventory at either cost or market value. (This is also how the IRS approaches inventory) Most businesses use cost, as it's a lot easier to determine. Especially with collectibles, market value can vary greatly based on how quickly one needs to sell. If you have to sell collectibles quickly - like in a few weeks or months - they are worth much, much less than if you operate as a business with inventory with monthly sales and expenses. So simplest (not necessarily the most $$) would be to look at what your business has PAID for the inventory and look at one half of that as a settlement. It probably wont' t be as much money as market value. But then you aren't putting any work into your settlement and it should be far easier to arrive at a number. Last observation..... Extremely valuable collections/inventories in a divorce often end up looking for buyers. When Bob Overstreet got a divorce, his (ex) wife wanted half. The business and the collection was sold to Gemstone and Steve Geppi. I have no idea if your inventory is worth thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions. But if half is a number impossible for your soon to be ex you may need to go look for buyers instead. Good luck . Maybe you might post up here when the divorce is done letting us know if you were able to reach a mutually agreeable settlement.

Many creators and celebrities signing now have such sucky signatures it's hard to be certain who signed the book. So rather than guess - and since it isn't a verified signature - it's safer to just say "name written on cover". There aren't enough Steranko's and Grell's in the world, whose signature themselves look like art.

My own experience in looking at prices paid is that if the signature looks reasonably legit, books that are green label because of a signature will sell for about the same price as a blue label book of the same grade. Any premium is very unlikely, but if the signature is one collectors might otherwise want the price paid is close to blue label. A lot of collectors are now picking up CGC green labels with signatures and sending them to Voldy for their verified label.

Along the same lines of what Bomber-Bob has said..... Amateur color touch nearly always bleeds through. That is for all practical purposes the definition of amateur color touch. So you will end up with holes in the book with removal. CGC's definition of "small amount" covers way more area than most people would think. If the color touch is amateur, the best candidates for removal are those that say "very small amount..." It is probably worth having CCS take a look at it. But don't get your hopes up.

9.8's almost never have graders notes. Many 9.6's don't have graders notes. This is the norm

It doesn't take 2.5 months to press a book. But if the pressing service gets a lot of work it's very possible that there is 2.5 months worth of OTHER PEOPLE'S books ahead of yours when you submit. Paying more is one way of making one's book a higher priority. Or as they say in NASCAR - "Speed costs money. How fast can you afford to go?"

It's a CGC 6.5. The largest, oldest and best known grading company says it's a 6.5. It was assigned that grade knowing that the bottom staple was detached. Someone else will buy it.

If you value the 9.8 grade MORE than you value the signature - then Just don't. Do not crack your 9.8. Because there is a fairly decent chance of a grade drop and virtually no chance of grade improvement. Go buy a NM'ish looking raw copy just to get a signature. If you'd be fine with your unsigned CGC 9.8 turning into a signed 9.4/9.6 - then sure. Go for it. I believe that if CGC is at the show they will unslab your book for you. I don't know if there is a charge for such and I'm not 100% for certain they will unslab it for you. But I believe I have read before that they will.

There are not hard and fast rules collecting follows. Nor is collecting entirely logical. Collecting comic books actually seems entirely illogical if given much thought. It was not just recently discovered the Wolverine appears in one panel on the last page of Hulk 180. Fandom has known that since the beginning. Fandom has had 44 years to consider this. In fact in the Overstreet Price guide for a good number of years - I'd have to look it up to see when - Hulk 180 was noted as the first app of Wolverine and it was listed for more $$. So comic collectors have - over the decades - MOVED TO the opinion that Hulk 181 is the much more important appearance. For those of you absolutely, positively convinced that eventually fandom will see the light and (move back to) paying as much or even more Incredible for Hulk 180 as they do for 181, just go buy every copy of 180 you can. Why would you want to convince anyone that this is hugely overlooked and a gold mine just waiting until you have say 100 copies or so of 180? If you collect Wolverine, just aspire to own both.

People have asked about Jimmy Olsen 134 (1st Darkseid) and ASM 43 (1st MJW) - which are cameos - in terms of discussing how they get higher values than later, full appearances. When Incredible Hulk 180 has - as cameo's go - a pretty nice panel. But is worth much less than 181 and it's full appearance This is sorta sociology or social psychology. It's easy to observe what individuals and the masses are actually DOING. But WHY they are doing it is a lot harder to pin down. My observation would be this..... 1) When there is a long lead up to a cameo first appearance - like there was with MJW - then that first time we really get a look at the character becomes the most desirable. Readers had been teased with Aunt May trying to fix Peter up on a blind date with her next door neighbor's niece for a couple of years. Peter tried his best to get out of it. When Peter - and readers - finally get to meet Mary Jane she proves to be a bombshell. So this is the first appearance - even though a cameo - is more important to collectors. The OPG and grading companies do now note issue 44 as her first full appearance. But 43 remains the more desired copy. Because of the build up. And perhaps because "full" appearances of SUPPORTING characters aren't as big a deal as full appearances of a new super-hero or super-villain. MJW has in the past disappeared for years at a time. 2) When the introduction of a major character has more than one cameo - like Darkseid - before their first full appearance then it appears that first cameo often becomes the most desired and valuable. 3) Rarity can always play into it. It's very likely Forever People #1 (1st full Darkseid) sold much better - and had a lot more collectors saving it - then Jimmy Olsen 134. Rarity most certainly can affect values. In the past collectors would often ask whey X-Men 94 in 9.8 is worth more than GS X-Men 1 in 9.8 (the gap has closed recently) The reason is because there are 155 unrestored CGC 9.8's of GSX 1. Versus 34 CGC unrestored X-Men 94's

There is no "eventually". Hulk 180 IS RECOGNIZED as the first appearance of Wolverine. A cameo 1st appearance, on the last page in one panel. This appearance was a complete surprise. There was no build up to Wolverine's appearance. The story isn't about nor does it lead up to Wolverine's appearance. Hulk 181 is a done deal. It's the most desirable book. Wolverine's full appearance The entire story is about Wolverine, he's not just on the cover but he's on a iconic, classic & widely imitated cover. Hulk 180 continues to increase in value just like 181. But it is never, ever closing the gap and going to be worth the same or more. And there's no real reason to debate. Just buy both. If you can afford a 181 you can most certainly afford a 180.