OrangeCrush

Yes it will, but the difference between poly-bags and Mylar is SIGNIFICANT to say the least. First off, the poly-bags that most everyone sells are "blown" films, affording very low density and dimensional stability. Mylar is an extruded film that is simultaneously stretched in two directions to give it maximum strength. In fact, it resists penetration by gases, such as oxygen, 300 TIMES more than the poly-bags. As for strength and stability: its also several hundred times stronger and more stable. Here are some numbers taken directly from Gerber: Advantages of Mylar Type D over plastics like Polypropylene or most poly-bags: 1 - Resistance to diffusion of gases like oxygen, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, etc. is 350 times greater. This is especially important to people who live in places like Los Angeles Basin or California's Central Valley, places that basically have really high levels of atmospheric pollution. 77% of the population of California lives in counties with failing grades in regards to atmospheric pollution. So using Mylar over poly-bags will definitely make a big difference over the years for those people. 2 - Permanence. There is no noticeable change in storage after 100 years compared to 2 to 5 years for most poly-bags. Not having to worry about ever having to replace a bag or board is one of the best aspects to using Mylar and Gerber's Half-Back or Full-Back boards. 3 - Resistance to moisture, fungus, mold, mildew, acid, oils, grease, and solvents is "excellent" compared to "fair" for most poly-bags. This is especially important to people who live in places like Florida, places that have high levels of humidity. And this isn't something you have to wait 25+ years to see a difference from. Humidly can cause serious damage to things like comics, electronics, photo equipment, etc. in very short order. If I lived in a place that had frequently high humidity, I would absolutely be using Mylar as well as other things to help combat the humidity levels. 4 - Strength and creep resistance is 10 times that of polyethylene, one-third the strength of steel. - Mylar just offers VASTLY superior protection. 5 - Volatile Additions - Mylar contains no dangerous plasticizers, slip additives, surface coatings, antioxidants, acid-hydrolysis compared to other commonly used plastics. Personally, the main reason why I use Mylar over poly-bags for most of my comics isn't even any of the reasons just listed. The main reason why I use Mylar for most of my comics is the comics look VASTLY superior than they do when stored in poly-bags. When I go from looking at comics stored in Mylar to comics stored in poly-bags, its like looking through a dirty window. The artwork is one of my single favorite aspects of comics in general so at least for me, the CRYSTAL clear view that Mylar has compared to Poly-bags makes all the difference in the world to me. All of the advantages Mylar has over poly-bags is just a bonus in my book. As for the price, if you buy Gerber Mylites in bulk (1000 at a time to get the best price), it makes a significant difference. You can get Mylites2's for 16 cents apiece and Mylites4's for 29 cents apiece. Same is true for Half-Back and Full-Back boards. You can get Half-Back boards for 12-13 cents apiece and Full-Back boards for 15-16 cents apiece. So your basically talking about roughly 29 cents apiece for Mylites2's with Half-Back boards to roughly 45 cents apiece for Mylites4's with Full-Back Boards. I only use Mylites4's for a very small percentage of my comics so I am usually spending around 29 cents apiece to store my comics in Mylar. I can't speak for others, but I have no problem spending 30 cents on the bag and board for a comic that has a value of over $10.00. And of course you have the fact that you will never have to replace those bags and boards, which is not the case with poly-bags. I have already had to replace many of the poly-bags for comics I purchased over 10 years ago.

Yeah, I think there is some truth to this. Personally, I view collecting in 2 very distinct periods, the pre speculation era and the speculation era. The mid to late 70's to the early 1980's were largely the start of the speculation era. Baseball cards and comics were some of the first collecting markets to truly explode in value, and ultimately crash as well. Before the mid to late 70's and early 80's, people just didn't view items, especially those dealing with pop culture, in terms of investment and value. A LOT of people threw away comics after reading them, people actually stuck Wacky Packages to lockers, desks, Trapper Keepers, etc. Kids played with their Star Wars toys and parents wound up tossing them in the garbage after we stopped playing with them. That mind set slowly changed as we entered the 80's and people began to recognize the fact that many of those items had legitimate value. The advent of the internet and sites like eBay played a very large role in advancing the speculation era of collecting as people now had access to pretty much any market of collectibles they wanted. And this in turn caused the value of many markets to increase markedly. Even today it blows my mind going on eBay and looking at all of the different categories and markets there are now. Disneyaya, Tobacciana, Breweriana, Militaria, Stamps, Comics, Trading Cards, Artwork, Historical Memorabilia, Rocks, Fossils, Minerals, Stocks, Bonds, Scripophily, Coins, Paper Money, and the list just goes on and on and on and on. There will never be a time like the pre spectator era again as people now recognize the value items have as they age and people now protect their collectibles using methods that will preserve them for a VERY long time. You just will not see items getting rare naturally over time like you did with the pre spectator era. Rarity has to be made on purpose these days with limited editions. Anyways, that's my overall opinion on the various markets and collecting in general.

No thanks! I will definitely continue on with my insurance premiums. The money I would have lost with our house fire, just on contents alone, is more than enough to make me realize the importance of insurance. But by all means, you go on living uninsured. Hope that works out for you in the long run.

Love the Rulah comics. Really want to get my Rulah comics slabbed eventually. Also really want to buy the slipcase versions of those at BudsArtBooks. Currently has them on clearance for just $23.99 (reg $64.99) and their limited to just 125 copies. They also have a lot of Planet Comics and Sheena slipcased editions on clearance as well. Been meaning to jump on those for awhile now.

One of the keys is getting replacement cost over actual cash value. If you get an actual cash value policy the insurance company will depreciate your items over time. if you get replacement cost, they can't give you pennies on the dollar. If they agree that the item is covered, they have to give you the amount it would cost to replace it with something equal in value n today's market, thus your guaranteed to get the full value of the items insured. Denying your claim is one thing, but again if they agree the item is covered, they have to give you full value. You could literally sue them if they tried giving you pennies on the dollar for an item that was insured with replacement cost. This a 1000 times over. While I was working with my mother, it absolutely blew my mind how many people didn't know jack about thier policy. I would get these people trying to claim $10,000 in jewelry was stolen when it says right on their policy that there is a $500 limit on jewelry. And that is just one example of hundreds I came across over the years. It is absolutely the responsibility of the insured to understand their policy and if you run across something you don't understand on your policy, that is what your insurance agent is for. He or she will be able to explain any part of the policy you don't understand. Honestly, I don't know how some people sleep at night not knowing if they are fully insured or not. Maybe its because I have worked in the industry and have seen first hand just how screwed a lot of people can get with losses or because I have had a fire and know what its like to lose everything that I am more paranoid than most and just can't handle not being properly insured. One way or the other, in the end its ultimately the insured's responsibility to understand their policy and to make sure they have proper coverage.

I don't know if its true or not, but the assertion is pretty logical. At some point you have to expect a particular generation of collectors to cash out, at least a certain percentage of them, and now would seem like a pretty valid dropping off point for a lot of the boomers given that the average age of baby boomers now is roughly 65 years of age. That said, I don't think it would have a serious impact on silver age or golden age comics one way or the other since demand continues to be very strong for those comics.

You definitely should. State Farm is who I have been using over the years. Again, they have been fantastic. And most people haven't had losses so thier input regarding insurance companies is really limited. Its the people that have had losses that can really can give you insight into just how good an insurance company is. Whether they will put up a fight on claims amongst other things and try and weasel their way our of paying a loss due to vague coverages on the policy. My mother ran her own insurance company for over 30+ years (homeowners, contents & liability) and at one point was one of the largest private agents in the Metro Detroit Area. I worked for her on and off for a few years previous to my entering art school and off and on while I was going to school and I learned a lot about insurance during those years. I actually had to get my license and still have it to this day. I have to take a test and complete a couple home courses every couple years to keep it valid. Anyways, I have seen a LOT of horror stories over the years, many of them dealing with collector specific insurance. My mother was the one who ultimately got me to go the rider route as again, one of the benefits to riders is they are tailored specifically for what your collection contains. They are a bit more expensive, but again at least for me the piece of mind is worth the extra cost, especially given what I have been through. Its traumatic enough when you have a legitimate loss. The last thing people need is insurance companies screwing them over and believe me, its a lot more common than people think.

Agreed! Have been a big fan of Silke for a long time now. Just a great artist all the way around!

Picked up a few sketchbooks that have been high on my want list for some time!

Its a little more expensive than your separate collectors insurance, but given all of the horror stories I have heard over the years in regards to insurance, its absolutely worth the piece of mind. I also have had 2 losses in regards to photography equipment over the last 15 years (one while I was in Rome and one while I was in Costa Rica), both which were well over $20,000 losses and just like the fire, both claims were paid in whole in a timely manner. I couldn't possibly be happier in regards to how much I spend on insurance and the overall level of care I have gotten with my insurance company over the years. Again, the piece of mind it gives is worth every last penny in my book.

Personally, I just recommend going through your main homeowner policy and just get the appropriate riders to get the proper coverage amount. Thats what I did and I was made 100% whole when we had our house fire. I had 100% of my money in just under 45 days and it was a SIGNIFICANT loss value wise. The great thing about riders is they are specifically tailored to exactly what you own, thus its spelled out exactly what is covered.

Yeah, I hear you on that one. If it weren't for the ceiling, I would likely forget what color a lot of our walls are. I am paring down a bit as I have cut back on my modern comic purchasing by like 95% and plan on selling like 90% of my modern comics. That will free up quite of bit of space as your talking roughly 70-75 short boxes of comics. And I am pretty much done with camera's as I pretty much own all of the vintage/antique camera's that I am really interested in. Art books remain one of my biggest space suckers as there is just a constant stream of new art books being released that wind up piquing my interest and I absolutely love quality art books. I just can't get enough of Tachen's XL & XXL line of books.

I think becoming more selective is just a natural part of collecting. The longer one collects, the more knowledgeable one becomes and one's taste usually winds up becoming more selective as you learn what you really like and dislike as the years go by. I have definitely gotten much more selective over the years. My biggest problem is that I just have way too many collecting hobbies. I collect comics, art books, sketch books, art prints, original art, 1:4 & 1:3 statues and some smaller statue lines like Kotobukiya Bishoujo's, replica weapons (mostly sci-fi), vintage/antique camera's and lenses, Polaroid SX70's, vintage/antique Kodak memorabilia, antique glass plate negatives, playing cards (mostly limited edition), unopened original series Wacky Packages, various magazines (Vampirella, Heavy Metal, Wizard etc), coins/bullion, wildlife stamps & first day covers, video games & video game systems, NASA/space memorabilia, vintage Belstaff & Barbour jackets, etc. It seems like each year that passes I am adding something to the list. I am just a collecting junkie and have been since I was a kid. My love for collecting has really been one of the most consistent aspects of my entire life.

Very nice! Nice and clean! I see you have Sideshow's Modern Batman. I own that piece as well. Its one of my favorite pieces from Sideshow that last couple years running.

Just road tripping it. The west coast (Northern Cali & Oregon) is one of my favorite places in the US to take pictures. Cannon Beach was also in Point Break (the final scene of the movie where they are supposedly at Bells Beach, Australia) and the first Twilight movie. Its one of the most beautiful coast lines in America.

This is what I desperately need to do, just create my own bookshelves with my own dimensions. I am buying more and more oversized art books these days so buying regular bookshelves just doesn't make a lot of sense. We have 2 of those really cheap cube bins that you can get at places like Target. We got ours in one of the storage bin auction we won. Each one has 9 cubes and they are actually really good for storing smaller books. Their ugly as all h*ll, but they work really well for storage. We have them in our spare rooms so we really don't care what they look like. Our spare rooms are basically just big storage bins anyways. I actually used to have some pretty solid woodworking skills back in the day. I really do need to take a page out of your book and just get motivated and build my own. I would love to knock out one of the walls in our upstairs hallway and do a recessed bookshelf running all the way down. That would add a LOT of storage space for books and since it would be recessed, it wouldn't add any clutter to the upstairs. I feel like I am constantly trying to fit 20 gallons into a 10 gallon container, trying to squeeze as much storage space as possible out of every inch of our house. I literally have things going right to the ceiling in our spare rooms. And those blue storage lockers we won in our most recent storage bin auction win have been a great addition as their perfect for mid sized art books.

A few misc samples of my work. Painting the Ambassador Bridge, Detroit Air Force Academy, Colorado Guardian Building, Detroit WDTR, Detroit Detroit Institute of Arts Detail Church Interior, West Bloomfield The Fillmore, Detroit Detroit Auto Show Baby Snow Leopard Northwest Airlines Terminal Construction, Romulus MI Hispaniola, Las Vegas Cannon Beach, Oregon (The Goonies film location) Storm Chasing, Texas/Oklahoma Border Exotic Feline Rescue Center, Indiana

Yeah, but the price drops pretty significantly if you buy more than 1. Wal Mart sells them in 2 packs, 5 packs and full cases (10 pack). By the time your at the full case your basically paying 50% of the price of an individual box. Then again, just how many GwenPool boxes does one person need, lol. An individual box is $17.99, a 5 pack is 56.99 ($11.40 each), and a full case is $89.99 ($8.99 each).

Well, it looks like comic boxes with artwork are a lot more popular than I thought. I have no idea how I wasn't aware of these until last week. Wal-Mart has a whole bunch of different versions. Jay & Silent Bob Iron Man Spawn Spawn Monstress Flash Sex Criminals Transformers Zenescope Wolverine Harley Quinn Gwenpool Monsters Unleashed

The answer to your question (9th post down): https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/408892-im-opening-up-a-brick-and-mortar-this-year-and-want-some-advice/?page=32 When people ask me questions, I answer them. It never ceases to blow my mind how people bi*ch and moan about posts that they could VERY easily just skip right over, lol. And in the end posts like yours are the most worthless types of posts on forums in general as they offer absolutely nothing to the topic at all. You may not like my posts, but at least there was a point to my posts and they added something legitimate to the topic. What exactly did this post achieve, short of dragging on the very thing your bit*hing about to begin with?

Every year they have 65-75% off sale for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. They have had that sale going on 6-7 years in a row now. So you have a bit of waiting to do until the next sale, but the wait is definitely well worth it. It will give you plenty of time to browse all of the various prints they have from DC/Marvel/Zenescope etc and save up some money so you can make a really large purchase like I do. The price changes based on the paper used and the size of the print you buy. I always buy 13x19 prints and use thier Premium Archival Matte paper and the prints wind up costing around $5.75 apiece. If you scroll back a bit on this board and read some of my earlier posts on this topic, you will see I posted up a receipt from one of my orders showing the prices I got during the last Black Firday/Cyber Monday sale. The sale basically lasts the full week of Black Friday into Cyber Monday and each day they have different items discounted so you can pick up a lot more than just prints as well. Its one of the sales I look forward to the most each year. I even got lucky this year and had some copyrighted prints go through. Its really hit or miss if you try and get prints made from copyrighted artwork. Sometimes they will cancel an order and other times they will let it through. In my experience, they are usually so crazy busy during the holiday sales that you have a much better chance at sneaking some prints through. This year I got 4 prints from Bert Stern's Marilyn Monroe "Last Sitting" portfolio and a single Michael Turner print.

My pleasure! Just glad someone found the info useful.

Short of me ordering a couple hundred prints per year from the site, nope. I don't even sell my artwork on the site as all my limited editions are silver halide prints. Just trying to pass along what is EASILY one of the best deals you will ever find in the comic market. Again, I was just organizing the last 6 months of print purchases last night and figured I would post up some in hand pictures since the only pictures I showed when the topic was being discussed previously were images straight from Zazzle's website. I figured in hand pics would give people a better idea of the quality.

So Jealous!

Just received another couple shipments this morning.