GlennSimpson

2 minutes ago, LDarkseid1 said:

9.2-9.4

Even with the "dollar-box" ink mess in the logo and along the top?

No issues with interior.

On 7/28/2020 at 8:49 AM, PleaseDontTouch said:

Anything you order should have the size dimensions clearly listed  Plus Mylar is available everywhere 

Although, FWIW, they can be off by a couple of 16ths of an inch, presumably from the general production process not being so exact.  I prefer to use bags that are 6 and 14/16" wide but I've bought them and had some of them be as much as 7" wide.  But that's really not a problem, just me being anal.

If would probably be a good idea to wear them when handling newer books with lots of black space.  I have several of the Marvel books with the black "RIP Stan Lee" cover with fingerprints.

I generally collect small boxes from work or things I order for home and use them to fill in the blank space in boxes that are not full.  Sometimes will put a backing board between the last comic and the first filler if the filler is smaller than a comic.

1 minute ago, The Lions Den said:

Those are pretty impossible questions to answer, since there are many factors to consider when grading a book. Finger dents and bends can also vary in size, depth and placement, as well as often being more (or less) visible due to the color of the cover.

And has been pointed out, they are often removed by proper pressing...something to consider.  

Well, here's the thing. The difference between 9.0 and 9.2 can mean the difference between $1 and $4.  Which when multiplied times thousands of comics can make a big difference in insurance value, but it's not like I can press thousands or comics or probably not bother to do it for a $3 difference.  But what is interesting to me is how nobody seems to talk about these dents - they are not mentioned in Overstreet descriptions or anything.

Assuming that crease is about 1/2" long, 9.0.

FWIW, given that Overstreet lists values for many books at 9.2 only (meaning 9.0 is a $1 or some such), the difference between 9.0 and 9.2 is actually a big deal.  

Not that this is such a hot book but just getting a feel for some grading procedures.  Arrows indicate dents even if the dent isn't clear in picture.  

So we just changed our flag here in Mississippi (we don't have a new one yet, but the old one is definitely gone).  So will my Mississippi flag edition of JLA #1 from 2013 go up in value?  lol.

Not that this is such a hot book but just getting a feel for some grading.  Arrows indicate dents even if the dent isn't clear in picture.  Anybody know a better way to get pics of dents?

So 1-2 still good for NM

How many before it drops to 9.2?

How many for 9.0?

How many for 8.0?

I'm trying to get a feel for how these small dents affect grade, like when 3-4 of them, or 8-10 of them, show up on an otherwise 9.4 book.

It's really hard to get a picture of them, but I have tried below.

What part of the standard Overstreet-type grade descriptions does this fall in to?

I don't do much with slabbed comics, but was just pondering - do people ever get autographs on the case of already-slabbed comics?

2 minutes ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

You may want to read up about storing comics in a safe.

 

  Hide contents

 

Thanks for sharing!

15 minutes ago, Aman619 said:

You’re practically done already!  I try to place the one shots like Avengers-JLA and JLA-Avengers in the same alphabetical order as Overstreet  does.  And with so many books, the cheap stuff like this doesn’t really matter too much if they are in the “wrong place.  Even knowing which box they are in it’s often too much trouble to dig em out and move them.  One book would be easy, but a whole title causes a cascade effect where you are bumping 12” of comics from box to box! 

someone once posted that he adds his comics in boxes as he acquires them, in that order, and notes every comic in each box in a database.  He looks up the comic and knows exactly where it is.  I thought that Was really cool and was a great time saver especially when buying  a lot of new books every week... but —- ocd requires me to store by title and alphabet! 
 

definitely pull out the valuable stuff though.  In a pinch you don’t need the rest. Yeah sucks later when you look through the runs and issues are missing... but it’s also pretty nice to look through the boxes of “keepers” too!

I solved the "box shift" problem, for the most part, but going ahead and allocating a lot of extra space for the collection as a whole, and then leaving space in various boxes (including sticking an empty comics box in here and there).  Use empty Amazon-type boxes in the back of un-full comics boxes to hold up the comics.

Interesting about pulling the valuable stuff.  I do have some stuff in a fire safe, may consider having a "not quite as hot as what is in the safe but hotter than the rest of the collection" box as well.

2 hours ago, marvelmaniac said:

To make it short and sweet (which cannot really be done with 42,000 books)...

Books need to be sorted by title (alphabetical) then placed in numerical order in whatever you use for comic storage with the boxes all being labeled as to what titles/numbers are in each box.

Once that is done make a quick list of what you have in titles, IE: Amazing Spider-Man 1 - 441 Annuals 1- 27, Avengers 1- 200, etc.

Once you are organized then you can start grading/valuing the key books, (without an estimated grade you cannot determine a value) you can place stickers on the back of the bags/mylites showing the grade/value for that book.

Me, I graded all 2000 of my books back in 2015, took pics of all of them with the grade and made a list of each individual book, its grade and any notes about the book, took me 6 month's, the pics/list is stored on my computer and two separate flashdrives in a 42 page PDF, however 2000 books is a far cry from 42,000...

Good Luck on whatever you choose to do.

Actually the part you reference above is a done deal, I think I was pondering more what order to put the series in themselves.

Just a few random examples:

For the JLA-Avengers crossover, technically 2 of the issues are titled "Avengers-JLA" and two are titles "JLA-Avengers" in the indicia.  File them separately or just all together under one or the other?

Generally the question of, put all of the Superman titles together (putting Action and Adventures of Superman in with the S's) or keep them filed strictly by title name?

New52 Futures End one-shots - file with each title or together with the main Future's End series?

Collecting for 40 years, no kids, lucky enough to have parents pay for college so no student debt, lol. 

There are obviously lots of ways to organize comics.  But here's a particular scenario I thought I'd see what other folks think.

I have a pretty big collection, like 42,000+ issues.  When my dad passed away, he had coin and stamp collections.  My sister spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what he had and what it was worth.  So the notion of having the collection organized in a manner that would make it easiest for someone to deal with if something were to happen to me is always in the back of my mind.  The idea is that they would have someone come in and look at the collection and make them an offer, something like that.

So something like "chronologically by cover date" just seems like not the way to go, as that would be really irritating for someone trying to figure out what was in the collection.

At the moment, I am sorta thinking about 2-3 options for rearranging them.  I should note that I have this sort of sickness in the head where I enjoy doing this every once in a while but it's gotten to the point where there are so many that I really shouldn't unless it is for a good reason.

One option would be what I would call "comics shop organizing" - so like all of the Spider-Man stuff in one place, all the Superman together, etc.

Another option would be to make sure it was all in the same order as the Overstreet guide, such that if someone was familiar with where things fall there they would expect to find it in the collection.

Another would be just an "alphabetical by title" normal thing where it might different from Overstreet guide in a few ways, like not having "Batman One-Shots" all grouped together but rather strictly organized by title.

Just wondering what other people might think on this subject.

So just to let people know, I checked with CollectInsure:

Them:

Thank you for your email. Our policies are based on market value. In the event of a loss our claims adjusters would ask you for your inventory lists along with values. As long as the claims adjusters can verify the values that you are placing on the items within reason, you would be paid accordingly.  

Me:

I’d like to take that one step further.  The Web site comicspriceguide.com would list a given cover-price $2.99 comic from 2 years ago at $3.00 in 9.4 condition, and maybe $2.75 in a 9.0 grade.  Overstreet’s Price Guide, on the other hand, might only give the $3.00 value for NM, indicating that a 9.0 is worth either $0 or some small amount, like $1. When you take into consideration that I have thousands of comics in the above situation (in a 9.0 or less condition), I believe it could make a significant difference.  So would your adjusters agree more with the comicspriceguide.com valuation or the Overstreet?

Them:

Glenn,

Our claims adjusters have a wealth of resources to pull values from for the very many different types of collections that we insure. Unfortunately, I am unable to tell you which resource the adjusters may use at the point in time of a loss as the values do vary. Since the policy is based on market value which is defined as the value of the item before the time of loss, you will receive fair market value in the event of a loss. Additionally, there is an appraisal clause in the attached policy, Page 12 of 25, Collectors Coverage Form, page 4 of 6, D. Conditions 2. Appraisals which help to resolve any disagreements on values should a loss occur.

2. Appraisal

If you and we fail to agree on the amount of loss, either may demand that the amount of loss be set by appraisal. In this event, each party will choose a competent, independent appraiser within 20 days after receiving a written request from the other. The two

appraisers will choose an umpire. If they cannot agree upon an umpire within 15 days, you or we may request that the choice be made by a judge of a court of record in the state of your residence. The appraisers will separately set the amount of loss.

If the appraisers submit a written report of an agreement to us, the amount agreed upon will be the amount of loss. If they fail to agree, they will submit their differences to the umpire. A decision agreed to by any two will set the amount of loss.

Each party will:

a. Pay its own appraiser; and

b. Bear the other expenses of the appraisal and umpire equally.

If there is an appraisal, we will still retain our right to deny the claim.

Each claim and each policy is reviewed on a case by case basis to afford the most coverage possible in the event of a loss.

--------------

So, I guess the lesson here is to err on side of lower-valuation, as I would not want to pay for $100,000 worth of protection but then submit a claim and be told that it only had a $30,000 value.  Thinking I will go with Overstreet, use their values when listed (including the $3.00 for NM), but not put a value on the rest (or put them at $1, will see where I am once I have done the items listed).

It occurs to me I should probably just ask collectinsure what they require, lol.  Although my original question of how Overstreet is supposed to work is still a point to ponder.

5 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

Overstreet is a resource to use as are some of the other recommendations made here. Each has their own caveats (Ebay for example, can have questionable results on sales where key books are concerned). It's best to make any decisions based on your full assessment and experience as a collector. Overstreet 7.0 is the median between 6.0 and 8.0. A particular issue that is in 9.0 condition, a key for example, will list for more than Overstreet's recommended value but "commons" can sell for less if there's little or no real significance. Keep in mind that the era of books will also come into play. A 9.0 common Silver Age book can sell for more than the recommended price. Important to look at the title and whether the issue has any significance "inside" the run. The artist and/or writer can also come into play and the era they worked on the book. One example are issues drawn by Neal Adams prior to reaching his peak era during 1970 - 1973. A project like yours can be an educational experience and fun at the same time.

Best,

John

I think the problem is that comics valuing is very "situational" - like if I decided to sell my copy of New Mutants #98, then I might spend a lot of time looking at Ebay and Overstreet and taking a lot of factors into consideration, and then make that sale, and then later if I had another copy and decided to sell it, then I would start all over again.  Which is fine, because the results don't affect anyone other than the buyer and the seller and then it's over.

When one is trying to valuate a whole collection for insurance, one needs to move fast and not dwell too long on any one issue.  At the same time, I expect the insurer wants some sort of relatively "solid" backing for what they were worth, if/when I were to make a claim.  

That is who I have them insured through.  My current system is within comicspriceguide.com I have a "box" for comics that are "not insured".  I put comics with a lower value there.  That said, the problem with comicspriceguide.com is that they keep everything NM as cover at least.  So some random $2.99 issue from the New52 is listed at $3.00, when it is probably a dollar-box book.  I was rather hoping that if Overstreet didn't have a value at a given grade, then it would be assumed to be a "dollar book", which would be a more realistic sort of thing.  But so far not able to find any documentation that that is what was intended by Overstreet.  All of this is rather moot unless something were to happen, but would want to be able to defend the valuation.

I am actually grading my entire 42,000 issue collection for insurance purposes. So not really a situation where I would want to do a lot of research for each issue. I have been using comicspriceguide.com but interested in using the more venerable Overstreet name, if I can figure out how to handle the grades it does not list.

Does anyone happen to know what Overstreet's intentions were here?  Like if you have a book in 9.0 and they are only listing a 9.2 price, was it their intention that you do some sort of math to work out the value?