The-Collector

CGC 'guarantees' nothing other than your book was viewed by three people. They don't even guarantee that a book in a Universal label is unrestored. Just that it was viewed by three people. Semantics. They provide a risk mitigating service, whether by guaranty or inspection by professionals the effect is the same, increased disclosure/certainty/knowledge.

In an event I do not think the premium paid for Cgc books is only reflective of the actual grading cost I think it is an aggregate of the grading fees and risk costs. CGC identifies value by giving a guarantee as to quality. It has not changed the underlying quality of the goods it is simply identifying the true quality of them. Thus eliminating the risk cost in pricing the comic. Hence the premium commanded. This is not artificial it is simply a premium paid for a much higher degree of certainty in a field where that uncertainty is a large cost. Edit: This also helps you understand why the super high grades (HG) command such high premiums. As grade increases so to does the likelihood that it will have some defect that prevents it from receiving a 9.X+ grade. So with higher grades risk cost increases substantially and hence so does the premium paid for Cgc copies of these HG books. This is probably a bit off topics.. But not as off topic as the sports discussion.

You might be onto something. Artificial Value One day the powers to be sat around a room, and said how can we get people to spend to slab a bronze/copper/ modern comic book only really worth this in nm? Ah We will do away with NM grades and come up with the digital 9s label to make profit. Bronze,Copper, and Modern age comics that are only worth $1 in near mint at best,now they will go for much more when we slap the 9.4,9.6 and 9.8 level on it. Now they will pay for a book really only worth without the slab and thus than an empire was born The only thing I would change about your argument is I would substitute the term "manufactured value" for "artificial value", as has been pointed out, value is whatever someone is willing to pay at a specific time. I would guess 90% of the angst in this hobby stems from the ridiculous notion of grading paper down to tenths of a point. A system that would have left well enough alone by grading steps that went 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, 9.5, 10.0 would eliminate a very large portion of the "problems" which produce dozens of threads here. But to point out such reality makes you a heretic, and so it goes. There is a bit of a problem, however, with your $1 value transformed into $20 scenario. If an unslabbed modern is worth $1, and it cost $20 to slab it, and the book is now worth $20, is there really any "artificial" value, or is the book price simply reflecting the slabbing costs. If I put a $100 painting in a $100 frame, and ask $200 for it... I'm not really creating artificial value, but simply asking the value of the two combined products. I always thought, especially for less expensive books, that it was ludicrous that collectors won't spend any more on a slabbed $50 book, say in 6.0, than they would for the raw version... which is why, as Dale has also pointed out, it isn't cost-efficient for many dealers to slab much of their inventory. But apparently on cheap moderns, buyers are willing to include the cost of the slab into their valuations. I pretty much agree with your line of thinking. I will point out though that when you put that $100 painting in a $100 frame it`s a lot different then someone putting a comic book in a 9.8 slab because that $100 painting you put in the $100 frame only has one copy of itself, while most of these bronze,copper and modern comicbooks had print runs in the hundreds of thousands . Your painting was unique to itself,and not a manufactured collectible like the 9.4,9.6 or 9.8 comic books are. You are conflating two unrelated issue. The number of copies in existence has no effect on whether grading creates artificial value or is only reflective of the grading fee.

No idea. I just remember looking at a multiple cover 361. I think it was buy it now. I'm probably making stuff up.

I think I looked at buying it on eBay. Oh well you couldn't predict that outcome.

I just peed myself.........yes, of course!!!...on purpose! +1 Wanna sell?

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume and The Jewish State by Theodor Herzl Hume's writing is great he fits so much content in a single line. Herzl is interesting because I am largely ignorant of Jewish ideas/culture.

Me too! This made my draw drop. With the movie coming up this thing will be hot.

Collectors have short memories and long addictions, so there will be little if any actual fallout beyond this thread. +1 The apocalypse is not coming.

But then maybe I am just another willing pawn...

It makes sense to capture the money from pressing books, as so many of those submitted come via pressing services. Doing so does not have to involve duplicity. In fact for a company whose continued existence is built upon their integrity it would be economic suicide to offer automatic grade bumps for those who use their pressing service. So it is in their best interest to maintian their integrity. The same company could press books and grade them objectively if they institute some type of internal firewall between departments. I think this is just common sense commerce not some grand conspiracy to undermine their own business for $8 a pop.

That doesn't help with 9.8 but it gives you some indication of what is acceptable for <9.8

This was some advice that Etanick gave me a few weeks ago I don't think he will mind me reposting it: "Here are my quick "rules" for 9.2 to 9.6 books as far as spine ticks. if all else is flawless like razor sharp corners and edges. spine ticks measure in 1/16" or so in size and they all break colors. 2 is allowable for 9.6 4 is allowable for 9.4 6 is allowable for 9.2 since size matter, it there is just one 1/2" cb crease by the spine then 9.4 max. Yes, this is my own way to grade...no idea how CGC determines the grade. I applied the rule above whenever I sub 9.2 to 9.8 books and got great results. often when I am wrong, it is on the low side. For example, I have had 9.6 with 3 to 4 spine ticks so the rules I created for myself is actually conservative."

What are these? They look interesting. Iceberg Thanks dice. That helps heaps. Sometimes it is nice to have a conversation with other collectors about their interests rather than going off and googling everything.

What are these? They look interesting.

10 hour days.... Holy spoon. Don't try too hard you will burn out.

Holy Stromboli! Great Googly Moogly! Jumpin' Jehosaphat! Daaaaaammmmmmmnnnnn! +1000 Amazing amazing book. It has everything, classic cover, the grade, bondage, gaines copy and WHITE PAGES. I am in love.

Fast payment and super easy to deal with. Thanks for a pleasant transaction.

thanks for the great thread it was a pleasure to read. I have been meaning to post this quote from the classics incorporated website re pressing 9.8 books to 9.9s or 10's: "Even though the value of any 9.9 or 10.0 is much higher than 9.8, we feel that trying to achieve a 9.9 is not feasible. Because 9.9’s are given out so infrequently by CGC, there is no realistic way to predict when a book will grade 9.9, even with a pressing. Some have been lobbying CGC to open a 9.9 Pre-screen service, but this would require more manpower from CGC and a slight lowering of standards for 9.8 and 9.9. It could also have a detrimental effect on values if the market knew there was an assured way to achieve 9.9. During the month of 12/09, the ratio of graded 9.8’s to 9.9’s by CGC was roughly 1 to 64, while the ratio of 9.9’s to 10.0’s was almost 1 to 4. This ratio shows the difficulty of achieving a 9.9 in relation to 9.8 is 16 times greater than that of a 10.0 to 9.9. Given the logarithmic nature of the CGC census, the opposite should be true. There should be more 9.9’s coming out of CGC. "

I really love both these books. ASM 3 is my favorite spidey cover between 1-49 (with maybe the exception of 25).

Oh god, the suspense is killing me. Between this, the grading comp and my own submissions at Cgc the suspense is at an all time high.

Sorry I have been away from the office all week and had no computer. Only an iPad so I haven't been able to figure out upload of photos.

Love that cover it has all my favorite elements!! Wanna sell. Nope. Gonna keep this one for quite awhile. And with only 10 on census I think it is going to be quite a while until I find one.

Love that cover it has all my favorite elements!! Wanna sell.

Hey Dice Not sure if this has been asked already but what causes the soiling grey/black marks on the interior of comics, I have had them in many 80-90s marvel stuff and most recently in an ASM 129 they are often very uniform, contain repeating gemoetric paterns or lines, and most prominent on the first two pages . I have also noticed a lot of small perforations on the bottom of interior pages. I will post some pics tonight. Thanks in advance Jake