Iconic1s

On 12/22/2023 at 9:35 AM, mephistopheles said:

Sticky Goose obviously has no clue what he is talking about. He just enjoys taking potshots at other influencers.

This guy sounds like CGC is paying him 

On 12/22/2023 at 7:04 AM, GDN said:

So this guy is also marrying books.

… and getting them past the world’s most trusted third party comic book grading company 

On 12/22/2023 at 8:29 AM, mephistopheles said:

Question: has anyone here ever submitted a slab for reholdering and received a grade drop? Guessing not unless it was an extreme case.

No, but I always worry about it!   Was trying to get all my books in new holders at one point but quit sending when QC got so bad!!  I have one 9.9 newsstand in particular that would look wonderful in a new holder, but it’s never leaving my sight after this!

On 12/22/2023 at 4:27 AM, RonS2112 said:

You can’t blame this scam for the census being .  Cracking, pressing and resubbing is a way of life for some speculators and that practice ruined the census a long time ago.

You are correct, but this is just ANOTHER reason why the census is worthless MOST of the time. I’m not saying I have a problem with CPR, even though we know we’re “supposed” to return the cracked label  many don’t.  This guy just made it so much worse though, if he in fact did keep making a 9.8 back into a 9.8, so he could fraudulently turn lower grade books into “9.8 holdered” books.  Purpose of CPR (I thought) was to bump, lets say, your 9.4-9.6 to a 9.8 and be done with it.  if the book’s previous label isn’t returned that’s a bummer but not as bad as this guy adding numerous 9.8’s using the same book.

You guys know as well as I do that we often times base asking/offering prices on census population… for anyone collecting the kind of books he targeted, that tool just became as worthless as a hammer without a head.

I still think this is all on CGC for providing this window of opportunity. I looked carefully at CGC’s description of their holder and label last night and if you look carefully it’s really all about “preservation” and “presentation.”  I don’t really read anything about guaranteeing the holder’s contents as authentic, more that the holder itself is authentic.  Very clever I think!

Pretty much every reholder submission the guy ever did is probably a lower grade book that had the inner well cracked out/swapped.  That list should be published at some point and current owners should get to resub them for free and be compensated for deficient grades (that is of course after a thorough investigation, criminal trial, and this guy is rotting somewhere in jail).

If he was resubbing the same 9.8 over and over to get a new 9.8 cert # to pull his scam then the census is also garbage for all of these issues, and will probably never be accurate.

Looks like this guy jacked up Keys for a while.  The actual blame for this rests 100% with CGC IMO though!  They know it is bad too, hence the silence!  Regardless of a scammers intent, it was CGC’s responsibility to engineer a product (and their services) in a way that this should have been a heck of a lot harder to do… maybe someone gets lucky and cracks 1:100 slabs in such a way to be able to get away with this, but for someone to be able to do so with this level of consistency and get away with it for this long is pretty ridiculous!

This actually “should” be the end of CGC but it won’t be.  Just like acetate gate and other scandals that damaged the brand it’ll be isolated to this forum and a few influencers.  CGC is now too big to fail.  They’ll issue some kind of statement (maybe) and people will move on and most will keep submitting (I will).  Such a bummer this has happened! 

On 12/21/2023 at 6:56 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Also getting that info now before theyre sold again will give you pics to compare them in the future. I saved those screenshots, but eBay listings will only show them for so long. Then it is woulda woulda shoulda when they sell next and someone is left holding the bag @GDN @Iconic1s and since you liked his post, I'm sure those who can afford those books would do it. Ha I'm busy as well though so 😂

No Sir, I wouldn’t buy the book… I was just “liking” the post/train of thought.

This does remind me of when I first got to these forums though.  I asked what I thought was an honest question about a book I was interested in.  It was a CGC 9.8 but did not look like a 9.8 at all from the scans.  I was instructed by a highly respected member of this community, to look at the number in the upper left corner of the slab as if I were stupid. Irony 

In that case, I did buy the book and my concerns ended up being caused by the seller’s scanner.

That definitely isn’t the case here though!  This is just another example of CGC cutting corners… pretty obvious that reholders aren’t seen/looked at closely by the graders… they go straight to the same people slabbing shards of plastic, hair, etc with our books, and shipping cracked holders back to us.  When it comes to reholders, this MJ annotation is probably just looked at as a clerical issue that is delegated to these same people… or graders are just too swamped to take a real serious look.  Plus, we already know QC is non-existent… based only on luck and ROI… it’s cheaper to push ‘em through and deal with the small % of books that get sent back, than to fix any ID’ed problem before they leave CGC.

This seller, and maybe others, have probably been doing this awhile because CGC has been more concerned with volume, than quality for a while now.  This just got attention because it was pulled on a very specific type of book that caught the attention of someone that was a true expert on that type of book. 

This incident is a super bummer but not really a surprise based on the way that company is being ran.  BTW - where is CGC on this?

On 12/20/2023 at 7:13 AM, wardevil0 said:

Second chance offers are still a thing on eBay, but I consider them a scam either way.  Imagine the item you were bidding on was about $105 when you put in your max bid of $150.  Then a shill bidder pushes it up to just above your max bid, then backs out of the sale.  The second chance offer is at your max bid, when you could have gotten the item for $106 without the shill bidder interference.  It seems like a scheme to get the bid price up, to me.

I've gotten a few of these but have always turned them down for this exact same reason.  Even if I was willing to pay the higher price in a fair auction, it always felt like I was now being taken advantage of a little bit with the way the second chance worked.

On 11/30/2023 at 7:14 PM, CGC Mike said:

Here is what I was told:

The reason we changed this is because the ebay seller refused to even respond to us, so in essence we are taking away the pedigree. This is different than changing one thing to another (like a printing). Usually people want the correct printing, variant, newsstand on their label and will return the book to us.

@CGC Mike as always you are awesome!  I appreciate you checking on this!  Honestly though, that's kind of a disappointing answer. In my case, I just didn’t want the data to be wrong… didn’t really care what the label said… I had the book in hand and was happy enough not to send it back as it was for my PC.  Was more concerned about future submitters labels being correct.  I just point this out as it’s another example of the “powers that be” making stuff up as they go.  Playing Devil’s Advocate here, from the perspective of the person that has that “Pedigree” book “in-hand” it’s actually pretty messed up for CGC to change that info when they (CGC) did in-fact already have it in their possession at one point and in their wisdom gave it the Pedigree designation.  Where does CGC “technically” get the right to do that, whether the owner replied or not without looking at it again?  I just wanted to fix some data (writer and artist) on a rather obscure ‘90’s book that very few people care about but I couldn’t do that without sending it back. Meanwhile, CGC is happy enough to remove a Pedigree designation from a book without even having it hand to take another look at it?

I’m just saying that when a customer can clearly show that data is wrong (such as when I could show 3 of 4 printings were correct) why not just make changes instead of making us send a book back to “verify.”  Seems the standard is… 1) if the mistake inconveniences the customer make them send it back to “verify”… 2) if it makes CGC look bad change it without the book in-hand. 

On 11/30/2023 at 12:54 PM, CGC Mike said:

I am going to have  to check with the team before giving you an answer.  

Thank you Sir!

On 11/9/2023 at 12:00 PM, wardevil0 said:

Not exactly... the physical paper didn't change, but it's no longer a pedigree.

 

@CGC Mike Hello!  Does this mean if I have an incorrect label that I can now get the label info corrected in the system without sending the book?

Example, I had sent in a third printing of a book to be graded. There were four printings total and all of the other three had correct label info (writer/artist).  I sent pics of all four printings and CS still insisted that CGC needed the book in their possession to “verify” before they could fix the data.  Seems like removing a Pedigree is a lot more serious than what I was asking and if that can be done without CGC possessing the book then perhaps exceptions can be made in cases such as I encountered. Appreciate your time!

On 11/22/2023 at 9:37 AM, RedKryptoniteSuperman said:

Yeah, I'm a sucker for their marketing.  Marking the 30th year of something that I was around for when it actually happend.  I'm not a fan of the price tag per book but no one said that collecting comics made sense. I'm buying variants raw and getting them CGC'd in my next shipment. Hoping for high scores but you never know, I've been getting a lot of 9.6's on books that I was sure would be 9.8's.  

Thanks for sharing the Link. 

 

-RKSM 

 

Yes, as @Brandon Shepherd said... good luck!  I've been going the opposite route, kinda hanging back and seeing what pops up already graded and what they are asking for a 9.8, and then deciding if I need it.  I also passed on a few of the Death of Superman 30th Anniversary books out of principle... for example, MY Doomsday doesn't have horns so it's easy for me to not go after any of those (although even then I ended up making one exception ).  I do have a few other recent books that had the Reign of the Supermen on the cover but I intentionally did not look too deep into the Return of Superman 30th Anniversary books just because it's so easy to get pulled in   I was not a fan of the 30th Anniversary story because I'm not a fan of Jon Kent, and honestly thought that fans deserved much more out of the 30th Anniversary/Commemoration, but then I got dragged in by the BTC Gold Foil book and then one thing lead to another!  As you said, marketing!

Hello!  I picked up some of the Death of Supes 30th Anniversary issues but am not “planning” on continuing down the rabbit hole with the Return 30th Anniversary issues… will see if anything pops up for sale already graded 9.8 that I can’t resist 😁

Check out the last few pages of my Custom Set’s Gallery to see a few if you want.  Link here:

https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/wcm/ComicCustomSetView.aspx?s=32372
 

Thanks for the tag @ADAMANTIUM!

On 11/20/2023 at 6:33 PM, Every Day A Story said:

Agreed 100%, I'm not happy that they are basically shipping out my books to Art rather than hosting him at their offices and extremely concerned on the grades that these are going to get because of the handling, etc. CGC continue to drop the ball on this one...

Am told the same about my Jurgens remarque (below, still “received at CCS”) and have also been told by another person that this happened with  his Scottie Young sub as well.  The CGC signature staff needs to spend less time making IG videos about how awesome they are and more time managing these subs. Sounds like they grossly oversold these signings and at this point it’s obvious they couldn’t care less about their word to their customers.  I stress out sending my books in (as I'm sure everyone does) and it isn’t great peace of mind knowing they are receiving all this extra shipping/handling.

On 10/20/2023 at 3:12 PM, Maboc said:

Likewise. Mine moved there a couple days ago. I would expect yours to next week.

Hah!  Mine JUST went there a couple mins ago!  Whew!  (Maybe I should post here more 🤣)

Jurgens is still hanging out though!

On 10/20/2023 at 2:45 PM, dbcn said:

Fwiw @Iconic1s my Gaiman book moved to ‘scheduled for grading’ just yesterday.

Thank you!  Appreciate the info!  Could be hope for mine still then!

On 9/8/2023 at 4:25 AM, melanrus said:

I've seen at least 10 slabs people have got back from this signing for sale or posted online already in the past near two weeks now. just signed, no remarques.  all dated 7/29.   a person above said they got their signed Adams  books back LAST MONTH, on the 25th of August.  

I assume Arthur did one day of signing books only and plans to come back for 1 or more day of doing remarques.  Hopefully this year we will get our remarqued books back.  

Still, it would be nice if CGC would know and post proper information about a signing so i'm not misinformed by them (see above posts) that my books will ship by perhaps mid-September when in reality, the signing for remarques hasnt even taken place and its going to be at least 6-8 weeks longer waiting to see them ship.

I am having the same experience with Dan Jurgens remarque.  Still don’t have mine back.  Still just “received at CCS.”  I have already purchased books other people have gotten back from this same signing.

First told the books were done…

Was then told “a few weren’t done.”

Then told plans had been made to get them done “in the next month.”  Didn’t happen.

Now am told the books were “sent to Dan” to finish… still no movement.

Remarques were limited and honestly CGC should not have oversold the signing if there wasn’t going to be enough time to get them all done.

Now I fear that my one Gaiman book (signature only) may have suffered the same fate as it has not moved an inch past received at CCS even after the signing “supposedly” was completed per IG.  Note, Gaiman did a video signing his own books so I sure hope he signed every paying customer’s first!

@CGC Mike here’s the info and I’d truly appreciate any help you can provide!  Thank you!

On 10/14/2023 at 9:42 PM, Number 6 said:

I got my submission for this year back this week.  

The Modern portion (5 books) showed up a few weeks ago. One slab had a very small piece of whatever that black stuff is that’s going into people’s slabs in the back of the slab.  Another slab had a slight scuff on the back of slab. To me that stuff is minor and not worth the risk of CGC really doing some damage on an ME fix. 

So I got the Vintage portion (6 books) this week. Three slabs had slight scuffs on the outside on the backs. But two of the slabs had that small crack on the side of the slab that looks like it’s on the inside of the slab. And when you look at the slab head-on it looks like there’s shatter cracking in the seam like when you try and crack a slab. 

 

I think the integrity of the slab is secure but it does have the appearance of someone trying to mess with the slab. Probably going to be a problem if/when I sell them. 
 
So only one submission in a year and only 11 books totally. Not a great ratio. 
 

And no indication on the invoice of which “quality excellence specialist” or whatever inspected this before being shipped out. Guess they gave up on that pretense. 

I think CGC will spin that small crack as it is so common now… similar to the invention of “Newton Rings”, this crack will henceforth be referred to as the…

”FRACTURE OF AUTHENTICITY”

…per CGC standard definitions.  Official update to terms coming soon!

On 10/4/2023 at 5:54 PM, Ron C. said:

Once again, I am late to the party on recognizing this error. After over a year of waiting on the new magazine slabs, I failed to notice that these two books have the issue numbers swapped. Does this mean that these books each have different grades or they are just incorrectly labeled?

Just had the same happen to a couple of mine!

On 9/23/2023 at 3:49 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

and does @wytshus not work here anymore? the tag doesn't work, and I'm not sure who is in charge now, I'm going to go eat. not soup but food  @Iconic1s

On 9/12/2023 at 10:07 AM, ADAMANTIUM said:

I know I have a couple but haven't looked at them since taking a pic to look at...

Is it just the new gen slab, and has it caused problems needing reholders with all of them?

I’d have to check if any of them are earlier generation holders… can’t remember for sure.

Do know for sure they are a problem with the current holder… worst are on black back covers.  I have not had a bend but the edges of the wedge tend to cut into the cover. I usually tap the book as far off the wedge as I can and then carefully store the book.  Drives me crazy. Don’t plan on sending in any reholders (like I used to) because I don’t trust they won't be damaged in another way. 

On 9/10/2023 at 11:46 PM, Timed said:

Would you guys send this back for a reholder or keep it as-is?

This book is 9.8, and it has a bit of an indentation on the back spine, likely due to the wedge. Not too big or noticeable, unless under direct light at an angle. 

It is an expensive book in a 9.8, and being potentially downgraded from a 9.8 to a 9.6 would be detrimental.

The top and bottom edges also have a very slight waviness. The book was perfectly flat before getting graded, so the inner well may be too tight.

 

I have several books with that wedge, and not one of them is better off for it.  Sorry your book got jacked up like this!

On 9/7/2023 at 6:04 PM, Schoon’s Comics said:

Anybody get in on these auction wins?

 

Not me… didn’t even see them 😩

@ChanceDuncan@wytshus

Recommend new set for the 30th Anniversary books.  Not additions to the existing DOS set.

Previous Admin and Users collaborated several years ago and decided the Superman (Doomsday! Funeral for a Friend Reign of the Supermen) set would be limited to the original books published from 1992-1993.  At that time other reprints were also removed such as the 2005 MOS 19 reprint, as well as the Platinum TPB. Set was also renamed at that time to reflect this.

@Brandon Shepherd
 

@ChanceDuncan@wytshus

Recommend new set for the 30th Anniversary books.  Not additions to the existing DOS set.

Previous Admin and Users collaborated several years ago and decided the Superman (Doomsday! Funeral for a Friend Reign of the Supermen) set would be limited to the original books published from 1992-1993.  At that time other reprints were also removed such as the 2005 MOS 19 reprint, as well as the Platinum TPB. Set was also renamed at that time to reflect this.

@Brandon Shepherd 

On 8/22/2023 at 8:16 PM, JollyComics said:

I really missed old CGC service.

And old CCS service before CGC bought Classics… I remember several times being advised personally by Matt not to press a Golden Age book (too fragile) or to just not press a book, period, because it wouldn’t benefit.

Back then you felt like you had sent your books to be pressed and graded by someone that loved them as much as you did… now I’m not even convinced my Moderns are pressed half the time.