fifties

On 10/24/2023 at 3:44 PM, lou_fine said:

Definitely not my intention as I thought we were all tired of talking about it by now, but are you referring to the Promise Collection here?  

Nope, just in general.  I have no dog in this race.

On 10/24/2023 at 12:36 AM, lou_fine said:

 

Well, my take on this matter here is that since CGC requires you, the submittor and not them, to value the book first (i.e. based upon condition and restoration status of course), you should simply place a valuation on the book based upon your lowest estimated grade and also assume the book has been restored because it just might have been. 

With whatever valuation that you have come up with, you should then divide that figure by two, because you have done half the work for CGC with their requirement for YOU to come up with an estimated grade and restoration determination on the book prior to submission.    

If the submitter has a hand in grading, it's no longer a purely objective determination.

I have one o' dem, and at 14 x 10 inches, couldn't hardly be mistaken for an original.

On 10/19/2023 at 11:13 PM, lou_fine said:

Crack, press, and resubmit.  

As a result, pressing and cleaning is virtually part and parcel of the whole certification process now with submittors afraid that their raw books will be hit hard if they don't take care of those near invisible defects that you can see only with a loupe while the book is sitting on a light table.  Of course, if its a slabbed book that you've just brought for resale purspose, you would also then be strongly encourage to crack press, and resubmit it becasue you don't know if its potential has already been maximized yet or not.  

Of course the CCG ownership motto is: Why make money on the exact same book only once when you can make money on it multiple times, especially when your customers are gladly lining up for months on end just so they can send their books into you, even as you are raisng prices for these very services.  

From just a pure business point of view, is this not the perfect business model that all corporations dream of having.  

 

Thx very much for the enlightenment.  As a collector for reading, keeping, and enjoying cover art, the slabbing business is foreign to me.  And yes, CGC appears to be making out like bandits.  Not to disparage them, but the activity seems similar to drug dealers, whose customers keep returning for more.

On 10/19/2023 at 10:16 PM, lou_fine said:

 

 

Isn't this the whole premise behind the CPR game and for submittors to pay multiple times to get the exact same book graded and slabbed?  

Umm, what exactly is "the CPR game"?

On 10/19/2023 at 7:14 AM, lou_fine said:

Boy, you really are dating yourself here with this 3% of FMV to grade and slab a so-called "expensive" book.  

 

Seriously though, luckily for all of us here the cost for now is only 4% of FMV for their Unlimited Value Tier (i.e. anything above a mere $1,000) with a minimum charge of $150.  This basically means that if you have a book valued at $1,001 the cost to have it graded and slabbed is only a mere $150.

 

  Of course, with grading standards now subtlety adjusted to target shall we say "additional revenue generating" defects, a large majority of submittors will now also send their books into CCS in order to "prep" them for grading in fear they get punished when it crosses the Grader's table.  So, if you go for this additional and almost required service   

 

I thought CGC only charged 25 bucks for grading and slabbing.  Now you say the minimal charge is $150.

AFA "grading standards now subtlety adjusted", I have noticed a decrease in the qualification of books now given grades that were previously assigned for books in better condition.

"Prepping a book for grading"?  I dunno, seems kinda like cheating, but whatever.

Not torture, but it IS a wheel.  And the GGA doesn't hurt.

On 10/17/2023 at 7:54 AM, Robot Man said:

I don’t believe I have ever bought a Conserved book. For the right book at the right price and the right time, I might buy one. Heck, I probably have at least one kind of every defect in my collection…

The only acception I would make is if it were a Pedigree book. It simply turns my stomach to know someone would do anything to one. I just wouldn’t enjoy owning it. 

Pedigree shmedigree; just an excuse to up the price IMNSHO.  The copies were all "born" equal.  Tagging on a cutesy label is like putting lipstick on a pig.

On 10/17/2023 at 7:03 AM, Marty Mann said:

Nice score, Marty, that seems to be a rare one.

To answer the title question, before the OP distilled it down to labels and such, yes, given that I buy to read, and slabs only last as long here as until I crack them open.  Brittle pages and trimming are the only deterrents for me.

On 10/13/2023 at 2:45 PM, MrBedrock said:

That issue is the best read of the short run.

On 10/11/2023 at 12:47 PM, Krydel4 said:

@Robot Man

For Comparison...I lean towards trimmed as the top is also missing some bits too. Tough to tell 100% from the pics. Need to have it in hand for a proper look. Feel free to send it to me. And if it is trimmed I'll make sure to dispose of it properly as you wouldn't want a trimmed book back right?🤔😁

I have to disagree with you AFA the top; your comparison book displays a slightly lower text position at the top, but at the bottom his book cuts off slightly lower, displaying just a bit more illustration.  IOW, the registration of the covers is just slightly off between them. 

On 10/11/2023 at 8:10 AM, Robot Man said:

Thanks. So do you think it would come back purple from CGC? 

IMO that book hasn't been altered.  Opened up, the left side pages fan, and the upper and lower right corners of the FC are rounded.  No reason CGC would then give it a PLOD, I would think.

I've never turned my nose up at a PCH or crime book regardless of condition, except for trimming or brittle pages.  In that way I managed to collect damn near all the horror and crime books I've wanted, 24 boxes worth, since I got on the net in 1998.  Before that I just had two handfuls of books from mail order dealers and monthly meets at the Shrine Auditorium annex in downtown "AL EH".

I learned early on that I did not like to see a pile of crumbles below the stand I had the book on while reading.

On 10/7/2023 at 5:29 PM, ttecwaf said:

Batman #49.  From Heritage.  As soon as I took it out of the bag it was obviously trimmed.  Still waiting a week later to get authorization to return the book.  Top to bottom does not even measure 10 inches (see ruler).  The trimming was not mentioned in the description.  Need to be careful with raw books even from the big auction houses.  Placed it next to an untrimmed Batman #44 for comparison.  

There are several ways that trimming can be detected. 

If you have possession of the book, lay it flat on it's back, opened to the centerfold.  If the pages on the left (FC side) of the book fan, then they likely have not been trimmed.  OTOH, if they fall straight down evenly, that's a sign of trimming. 

Also as you noted, comparing with maybe two others from the same publishing house AFA size would be a good indicator with one caveat; around 1951 or so, with heavy inflation at the time, many titles not only dropped their page count from 52 (including the covers) to 36, but also their width.  This was ESP prevalent with EC.  The takeaway here then is to compare with books from the same close time period, for example an Aug-Sept and Dec-Jan against the Oct-Nov Batman above.

If the book is shown on the net at HA, eBay, a dealers site, ETC., go to one of the sites that displays the same issue to make a comparison.  Remember that in publishing FC registration was not exact from one book to the next, so the cover illustration might be slightly higher or lower or more left or right than the next copy.   In the Batman 49 above, when compared to another 49, the bottom of the second 49 should be longer, since the top of the first 49 is shorter.  The same with side to side, although usually that's not as loose.