Unslabbing the masses
Well,
It has come down to this.
The collection I have lovingly put together, book by book has has slowly and unsuspectedly created a monster of it's very own, a demon spawn all comic collectors will have to face, the issue of long term storage.
Soon, need to have the boards and bags changed out, as we do with all raw books every 3 years.
Then there your CGC and PGX books;
The life of a CGC or PGX slabb has come up in the small circles I travel with.
CGC states that books should be "reholdered" every 7 years, to change out the deacid sheets,...the fee: $11.00. Yet one would have to add another $20.00 min to cover transit back and forth. Now, it's $30.00. Add to that the fees originally paid to have the book graded,...Yikes
So, lets look at the 7 year spann at a first time grading of a modern comic 1980 to now.
The basic fees with shipping add about $25.00 to $30.00 to the cost of a book, more if you are dealing with rare HG books. So, for the sake of math let's use the sum of $28.00, divide by 7 years that equals aprox $4.00 per year.
That is not too bad, yet the avg book is slipped into a basic board and bag costing about .20 each, and is swapped out every 3 years, at about .07 per year.
Yikes! that is a lot to think about,...
Yet, there is more.
Many collector's are going to be face to face with the slabb issue in the next few years. Some collector's have the majority of their collection in slabbs from either CGC or PGX. and at the "reholder" fee along with S/H 10 books would cost ya $300.00, 100 books $3000.00,...and so on.
In thinking of the future, what is going to happen to these "expired" slabbs? Yes, they will clutter the landfills and hopefull will be recycled before that happens.
But, what will happen to the books that are trapped in their plastic like coffins, rotting in their own acid gas?
Here is something to think about, your slabbed books will "expire" and like a skunky beer have to be, replaced, or tossed.
So, owners of these "expired" slabbs will need to sell them adding the burden to the new owner.
Yet, in the future, it has been whispered that these "expired" slabbs will be carefully opened, the old deacid sheets removed and replaced with new ones then the book will be gracefully, and tenderly put into a 2-4 mil Mylar® longterm storage sleeve with thick acid free backer board. The original slabb cert will be in with the book (The date of the books removal from the slabb should be noted on the cert) and these books after being liberaited from their "expired" slabb will be held in collections.
All of us know of the major companies who sell archival products for longterm storage. Their higher end storage products combined cost aprox $3.00 per book for the first 7 years.
After that you will need to then swap out the boards and deacid sheets for new ones at the cost of about $1.50 per book, at todays prices.
This form of long term storage comes from two major dealers, well all know of them and their fine products..
YET, this pardoned book will.......
Year later, when the time comes, more than likely many years after it's pardon, these books will be traded with the seller noting the third party grade, OR "reholdered" before they are sold, if the seller wishes to gain the highest value for their book.
TIME MARCHES ON,....and the time to sell comes;
The owner would send the book to a third party grader with the original cert, years from the expiration of the original 7 year life the slabb.
OR,....
they would rec the "expired" slabb with the book encased, years after the the expiration,...
How will either of these factors effect the regrading and "reholdering" og the book?
Third party grading fans (myself included) have to be quietly hopin' that their slabbed books will be safe in their plastic like holder and continue to sell at a % that will justify the costs of dealing with the soon to be here "expiration" date looming over their heads.
But, face it either way,...the need and costs of storage for your treasures is something that has to be faced and at the end paid for.
The need to sell or store will come into play with the future and the "expiration" date issue as the years go on. This may or may not have an effect on either the third party grading market or the companies who provide the services.
Yet, I have pondered not only these issues but the fact that this hobby is, or can be, an investment.
It will be interesting to see how collectors' will deal with this fate, and how the hobby reacts.
Hope I am around to see it.
T.
