William-James88

Well then perfect, glad I could help. And yeah, that's worthwhile for sure. I am doing the same with my collection (example Detective 880, Saga 1, Spider-man 361, Avengers Annual 10, Batman 655, Catwoman 51, Spider-man Annual 15, ect). Also sadly, the grade is not guaranteed for life. CGC has changed their grading standards since they started 20 years ago (for instance, more likely to give green labels than lower grade blue labels back in the day) and that can happen later too. So in the long term, it could be that there is a trend with grades given and particular eras and books of the same grade slabbed in one time period could be worth more or less than books slabbed in a different time period. Obviously the number on the slab wont change, but the value attributed to that number can change. It's like that Jim Jeffries joke about attributing grades to women's looks, a Michigan 8 is like an LA 6.

I just went to check and it seems for the same condition, a qualified ASM 14 sold for 30% the value of an unrestored copy of the exact same grade just a few months apart. While I get what you are hoping happens, I don't really understand why it would. If I understand correctly, you are planning on spending a more money to turn your qualified Spidey 14 into a qualified Spidey 14. They would be qualified for different reasons, but still qualified. I don't see why the market value of the book would change. Hence why everyone is advising you sell the book as is if your goal is to sell the book. Or else you may lose money. I get that you come from a toy background, but silver age isn't really a good comparison for fixing things up and selling at more than cost. Golden age is where this is a more common practice and where it is worthwhile.

Definitely not a guarantee or anything I would bet on. People are calling this whole CGC thing with the 9.8s a bubble. It can burst and by the time your son is an adult, they may be worth even less. It already happened in the speculation era. Comics that were selling for 40$ at shows can now be found in the dollar bin 30 years later because there is just so much more out there than there is a demand. Star Slayer comics are a great example of this, so is the first appearance of Tim Drake as Robin. Here is the only thing worthwhile with CGC at the moment. If you have a comic in perfect shape in your collection that sells between 100-200$ (great example would be Detective Comics 880 or Catwoman 51), then yeah, go grade it. It only costs 25$ to grade a modern comic. So you have a nice 100$ profit.Of course, the point in all this is to sell. But you don't seem to care about selling, and if that's the case then just put them in a mylar in a cool place away from the sun and the comics will be as nice as they are now 20 years later. They may be worth less though. Hence why if you want to have value for your son, your best bet is to do what I wrote above with the comics worth CGCing and then use the profit to buy an index fund for your son. You have better odds than betting on $100 comics.

Depends the era are rarity of the comic. For golden age, it's not at all a signal of death. A superman 1 with a slight colour touch will still get you loads of money But with Silver age, you enter a far greater abundance of books. So books with married pages, small colour touches, sealed tears are really seen apart from complete unrestored books and the difference between prices becomes much greater as well.

Sellers aren't dumb. They want to make the most from a sale with putting as little effort as necessary. If the seller thought it would be worthwhile to go to the trouble of completing the book (like if it was a Superman 1 or Batman 1, for instance), then they would have. So if you in turn want to be smart about this too and only care about selling it, then the best thing is to do what the seller did and just sell it raw. Best to have someone else think they are getting a deal and will go through the hassle of everything else you suggested.

Dude those books are awesome, thanks for your great work on them!

Depends entirely on if the centrefold was initially attached or not. Don't know how CGC would grade it but under the conventional grading guide, here is the outcome for the two scenarios: If the centrefold was manufactured as loose (so never attached) it will not lower the grade of your 3.5-4.5 book. If the centrefold was once attached and has since become detached (so ripped off) then your book would be a 2.0.

Depends the book. The PLOD isn't as lethal with keys when it comes to minor restoration like this. People have wisenned up. For instance this 4.0 purple label book sold for the 3.0 price, which is the grade it would be if the tear wasn't sealed. https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/superhero/mary-marvel-comics-1-fawcett-publications-1945-cgc-apparent-vg-40-slight-c-1-off-white-to-white-pages/a/122008-17359.s?ic2=mybidspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyBids-101116 So in the end, the sealed tear and the purple lable didn't change the initial value of the book in any way.

So, after really thinking about this, the only non keys which I can see selling for higher than a raw book+ cost of slabbing are some 9.8s. In any other case, and even with many keys, you are always better off selling it raw, you will make more money out of it. Let someone else think they can make money off it by spending more money to have it presses and graded. I've been buying a bunch of non key slabbed golden age books at a cheaper price than Harley Yee sells them raw. People have wasted a bunch of money getting those non key books slabbed. So the answer to your question is that in most cases, slabbing non keys adds nothing to the actual value. It might even lower it, because then the grade is cemented and people are less likely to pay more hoping to press/grade it. I love this example below, raw copies of Showcase 37 in 5.0 have sold for double the price of slabbed copies: Also, I do consider all early golden age appearances of the main DC trinity to be key here. A Detective Comics 35 might not have the first appearance of anyone but that is definitely a book where the fraction of a grade difference can spell a huge change in money, far outweighing the price of having it graded. Whether that's a key book to you or not is up to you.

Here is another Detective from my collection. Serious question, would you guys call this a Joker cover?

Speaking of which ... https://cosmicbook.news/marvel-taking-over-dc-comics?amp&fbclid=IwAR3x-2dcnUc2qt09Zg0NULy3plF-ZSJxFssIGewNxCaY6oMaAmf953U0O74

Pretty sure that's a unanimous feeling. Not a knock against him of course, he just really set himself apart when it came to covers.

That's the grade this was initially graded as, looking at the inscription behind the board, but I wanted to check. There are some big creases a press would be perfect for. Not sure how much that would increase the grade.

Here is my letter from Steve, if anyone is curious. I'll be honest, it's not a great letter, but hey it's a letter from Steve Ditko. In 2015 I thought to write to him to thank him for all the great work I love so much and I was wondering where he stood now that his work was at the forefront of pop culture, in the spotlight now more than ever. Obviously, he stood exactly where he always stood, far away from it. But he didn't mind telling me. Not really sure what he means with the complaining, I didn't feel like writing back for a better understanding, he seemed to want to be left alone. At least it's easier to read than the essays posted earlier.

Here's one from my personal collection, Detective Comics 109, with a proper Joker cover

The main defect is at the lower right corner.

I still find that book rather pricey for what it is, though I find the prices people ask for the other two black costume comics (like marvel team up) to be ridiculous. They also have the notion of "tie" for first black costume (you see that on e-bay listings), but that's false since 252 came out a week earlier. Just not a huge fan of those keys and while they are affordable, I don't see them as worth so much more in the future.

You think Azrael will get his day in the sun too? That book is taking a looooong time to get any traction.

Yes, this is a book worth grading.

I was curious to click that link as well, but alas I am at work right now ...

This one has a pretty awesome market value though.

Look those up on ebay with the "sold listings" filter to see if they are wirth anything. It really is the easiest way to assess anything these days.

Much less than that for many cases.

I always assumed the slabs really came into effect when they went beyond the price guide categories for high grade (so more than 9.2).