thewritestuff

Unfortunately the real collectors are stuck with the same crappy product as the flippers.

And this one...

I picked this one up recently...

It definitely sucks. A recent CLink buy had the rings. I know I could gripe about it, but what’s the good? The new slab probably won’t be any better, and there’s a risk in damage shipping it there, there’s more risk when they de-slab and re-slab it (I had a re-slabbed book come back with a nick on the bottom cover that definitely wasn’t there before), and again there’s a risk waiting for the return (not to mention the wait itself.) so why do I have to do all that BS, and spend my time and money for their mistakes? it really is infuriating.

An excellent example of the “superior optics” .

Just a quick follow up. I removed the micro chamber paper from most of the Mylites, although I kept the Mylites on the slabs. Everything else—temp, etc stayed the same. I rechecked the books and there’s no noticeable odor even on the books that smelled before. I’m guessing the mc paper was absorbing something from the plastic slab (not the comic within) although I guess the jury is still out whether leaving the paper in there is a good or bad thing?

Man, it would be awesome if the op could conduct a test on the plastic “ acid free” short boxes for graded and raw books. I have Gerber acid free short boxes for my raw books but people have been raving about the plastic boxes. I just don’t know if I trust them to be acid-free.

Ah, that makes sense

If money’s that tight that he can’t keep a $40 agreement, he probably shouldn’t be making offers anyway. it sucks, but you probably dodged a bullet on that transaction.

I’m not sure what you mean by that. I don’t consider cgc the enemy, but I do think it would be interesting to see if the inner sleeve can be manipulated to create Newton Rings without the presence of a book inside.

I wonder if there’s anyone here who cracks open slabs... I’d be curious to know if they could try and recreate the rings without the comic inside the sleeve

Nice one!

I have some recent purchases that were slabbed in the last 3-6 months. Some have the rings, some do not. Even "sometimes" is unacceptable. Customer loyalty is based on trust. No one wants a car that "sometimes" drives, a phone that "sometimes" makes calls, or an employee who "sometimes" does a good job. If there's something wrong with the old slabs, I'd like to know that information. If there's nothing wrong with them, then why change them at all? Why not go back to what worked? I understand that companies can make mistakes, but the best thing you can do to maintain your customer's trust is admit it, address it, and correct it.

I'd read somewhere that this problem was being resolved. Some people claimed CGC had tweaked their slabbing process in an effort to eliminate this issue, which IS clearly an issue, whether they wish to acknowledge it or not. Imagine having replacement windows put in your home with this sort of "oil spill" look on them. Now imagine this happened to hundreds, even thousands, of loyal customers. Can you imagine the company responding with the equivalent of: "Nope, no problem here. It's all a normal part of the process. I mean, look, you can still see through the windows, can't ya?" Anyway, I'm one of those loyal customers, and I recently received another Newton Ring Special, which was slabbed in May, 2019. I'd send it in for a re-slab, but what's the point? It'll likely come back with the same issue, and in the meantime I have to wait months and worry if my book will suffer some sort of damage in transit. I'll still buy graded books, but I refuse to spend my money on anymore submissions. I still love CGC, I just wish they'd get it together and not be deaf to the cries of those who have supported them all along.

I have central air, and it kicks on at a certain temp, so yes it runs most of the day in order to maintain the desired temp. The thermometer (which is nothing fancy) is right outside one of my boxes, and the boxes are all basically side by side. As mentioned above, some books smell a bit more than others. To make it clear, and I probably should've made this clear early on, I really have to stick my nose in the bag/on the mc paper to smell it; it is not as though the smell comes wafting out in a stinky cloud when I open the Mylite. Some of the books right next to these have no smell whatsoever, or very little. These were all purchased at different times, perhaps the different types of slabs have a different off-gas. As a side note, the slabs themselves do not seem to have any sort of smell, even the ones in which the mc paper smells... possibly the mc paper is sort of leeching the smell from the slab?

I am not 100% positive, although I only had two books stored without the mc paper and there was no detectable smell. Just for the heck of it, I replaced the Mylites on the ones where I detected a smell,. I also removed the mc paper from a few of them. The ones that have the mc paper still smell after 24 hrs. The ones without the mc paper do not. I guess that brings me back to the question of whether the mc paper is a good thing because "it's doing its job" as one person put it here.

I guess I was overthinking by adding the fan and dehumidifier. As a start, I will remove the fan from the equation and see if that changes anything. Thanks for the input!

I am not doubting this is possible, but in this case it's just a small oscillating fan about ten feet away from the books. Would the air really circulate that much into the sealed boxes (I have Fullbacks covering the handle holes, and the lids are very snug), penetrating through the Mylites that cover the slabs, through the slab, the inner well, and into the book?

Thanks for the replies so far. I keep my books in a temp controlled environment around 68-69 degrees year round, along with a dehumidifier and fan (to prevent micro-environments... I don't know, I read about that somewhere :). All my raw books have microchamber paper inserted and are stored with Gerber Fullbacks and Mylites, and kept in acid-free Gerber boxes. My graded books are stored in the legal-sized Gerber Mylites with microchamber paper and kept in the official Gerber CGC boxes. Additional micro paper was placed on the bottom inside the box and on top of the slabs. The windows are completely blocked so that my books are never exposed to sunlight. Just for the heck of it, I just took a whiff of a few raw books I've had for awhile in this environment and they just smell like regular comics. I've purchased raw books that had a slightly stronger odor than the norm, and found that after a few weeks the microchamber paper absorbed the smell, so I would then switch the original mc paper for a fresh one. A few observations: 1. The smell to which I was referring in my original post is definitely not the same smell as an old comic. In fact, some of the slabs contained Golden Age, some contained Bronze; some I've had for ten years or so (though not stored with the mc paper), some less than a year. 2. I just checked a few more slabs for a larger sample size. Recently purchased books stored in this manner had no smell or far less of a smell. I'm guessing the microchamber paper hasn't had a chance to absorb the odor yet...? 3. One slabbed book stored in a Mylite, but without microchamber paper, had no notable smell at all. I have had this book for about 6 months, stored right alongside the other books. 4. I only own 2 or 3 slabs from "the other guys", and those both presented a much stronger, yet similar, smell.

Hi, everyone. The short version: Has anyone ever noticed that their slabs have an odor? The long(er) version: After storing my slabs in Mylites for awhile (with microchamber inside the Mylite) I noticed a sharp odor inside the Mylite and on the microchamber paper itself. The very long version: In order to prevent my slabs from scratching each other, and to keep them clean of fingerprints, dust, etc., I keep all my slabs in large Gerber Mylites. A few months ago I purchased some microchamber paper for my raw books. I had some extra sheets left over, so I figured "what the heck?" and stuck a piece of microchamber paper in with each slab (between the Mylite and the slab). I thought this would help add an extra layer of protection in case there was any off-gassing from the case. That was probably 6 months ago. Well, I have gently handled my slabs from time to time since then and never noticed anything until yesterday. I was taking a book out of the Mylite to admire it, and I decided to take a whiff... and call me crazy, there did seem to be a brief smell on the microchamber paper. I smelled inside the Mylite with the book still inside, and there was a (brief) sharp plastic-y odor. A few minutes later I went back and smelled both the paper and the inside of the Mylite (with the slab still in it) and the smell seemed to dissipate. I pulled out a few more slabs from various years and various third party companies, and the ones with the microchamber paper all had the similar smell. A competitor's slab had a much stronger odor, and no I'm not trying to be cute here. I'd like to think I'm overly cautious in how I store my books, but who knows? I'm also wondering if: 1) Slabs are made of material that will off-gas? If so, is this harmful to the books inside? 2 ) Was it a bad idea to put microchamber in with the slab, or was it a good idea because it is capturing some of the off-gassing? Or... 3) Is it bad to keep slabs in sleeves, regardless of material. I know CGC and the major auction houses ship slabs in sleeves, but these sleeves are usually open at the top, or sort of loosely taped. Maybe long term storage of slabs in any kind of sleeve is just a bad idea? Thanks for reading this far. I look forward to hearing your advice...Perhaps someone else could try this and see if you have similar results?

Hmmm. I have a Blue Bolt 112 graded by CGC as an 8.0 with "A very small amount of color touch on cover". It still has the purple label..?

The non-owner was asking $2,000. The real owner was asking $999, which is what I paid to complete the run of Blue Bolts I wanted (although I’m still looking for a higher grade, preferably a slabbed 7.0 or better, from a legit seller, of course😉). I did not put the real owner’s name here because he is not a member, and I’m not comfortable doing so without his permission. I have done several transactions with him (the real owner) over the course of the past 2-3 years, and he’s a very nice guy. JJfversion1 has apologized, I got the book I wanted, and hopefully this will prevent others from similar practices in the future. Everyone makes mistakes, and I understand that there are a lot of Pump-and-dump flippers on here. For some, it is strictly business, and I’m okay with that as long as there’s no... er, funny business. There are so many cool discussions here, I’ve learned about countless titles and authors I would otherwise never know about, and it’s a great place to learn and network. I’d rather we both move past this. That’s my long winded way of saying I accept his apology.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I don’t want to drag this out further, and I’ve already received some private messages asking for Seller A’s name. His username here is jjfversion1, and he told me his name is John. I have screenshots of our conversation in which he claims he owns the book. I’m actually going to send him a message now to see how he responds to this thread...