Kripsys99

On 1/3/2024 at 5:45 PM, Dark Knight said:

CGC has just made a new announcement. Anyways, here is a link to some books that were affected with the switcheroo. 

CGC announcement

As suspected, us DC collectors are in the clear! (Except whoever bought that 2004 Superman issue).

Speaking for myself, this latest CGC scandal hits different than previous ones (acetate gate, etc), and has really shaken my confidence in CGC as a brand (and I say that as someone who is enough of a fan of their products that I post on the company's own message boards).

If - as recent videos suggest - slabs can be opened, books switched out, then closed again seamlessly (to the point that even CGC cannot readily pick up on it), that's a game changer. It undercuts CGC'S entire business model, which to me at least is providing some guarantee to comic book buyers (primarily online) that they are in fact getting the book they paid for.

In the last few days, I came close to pulling the trigger on buying a number of books for my collection, but decided not to. The deciding factor in holding off? All CGC graded books are now suspect in my eyes, at least until I hear from CGC, and see how this latest scandal shakes out.

Frankly, I have more faith in Voldys at this point. I've never noticed a huge difference in the service provided by CGC vs Voldys, other than the difference in value the market imputes to the same books encapsulated by each company. And that difference in value makes me think that Voldys are less ripe fruit for fraudsters at present.

I hope CGC responds to this, and that they come up with a system to address the community's understandable concerns about the current integrity of their products. Until then, I'll be exercising extreme caution in purchasing CGC graded books, if I purchase them at all.

On 12/23/2023 at 4:42 PM, mephistopheles said:

On 12/23/2023 at 4:15 AM, agamoto said:

Alright, some Briva3/Zaneglor Silverage worthpoint info mining for y'all. (You're going to want to scroll down to the JIM 83, cuz, hoo boy...) 

A search of the terms "CGC" and the signature phrase "The $$$ and Hard work has already been done for you." results in 649 sales, all on ebay which span from a Batman 608 back in July, 2011 to a New Mutants 98 MJ 9.6 in Oct, 2023. 

Another signature phrase used is the following phrase, "All Serious bids will be considered. If you Have any Questions Please Email me..." That's verbatim. That brings up a total of 813 sales. A look at every single one of the pictures from all of these auctions makes it clear they are certainly from the same seller, but possibly using different seller names. 

Here are some of the standout silver age books. Do with it what you will. I'm not implying that these are suspect books, but uh, yeah, they might be. 

Amazing Spider-Man #1 7.5 Universal 0099339001 Sold for $12759 on Nov 10 2016

Amazing Spider-Man #1 7.0 Universal 0307239001 sold for $12601 Jan 31, 2017

Fantastic Four #12 8.0 Universal 1393412007 sold for $9500 on Mar 14, 2023

(See the FF4 #12 in the new case, with same cert below)

He sold a restored ASM #1 in Oct 6 2016  0297867001

An Avengers #1, can't read the cert. Sold Jun 9, 2012 for $6659

A Daredevil #1 CBCS! May 2016

Here's an intersting one... Same book, different cert, different slab, signature series!

JIM 83 6.5 Sig Series 1013080002 Sold Dec 30 2012.

Have a look at this one sold Mar 17 2013. 

Small pics, but look at the Stan Lee sig, the dust shadow in the top right. The stain under the J. It's the same book. How is that possible? Only CGC could crack a sig series, only they could have pressed it, and only they could have given it the higher grade. Someone with a little more time may want to scour the internets for pics restored/qualified and signed Jim 83's. Might be legit. Sure would be a lot of risk for a .5 bump. I'm more impressed with the ability to sell it Dec 30th, submit to CGC, have it pressed and regraded and returned to him in time to have it sold 3 months later. Good work CGC!!!

Avengers #4 Old Label, sold for $5998 Dec 30th, 2012

Another Avengers 4, that looks VERY much like the one above, except with a date stamp added. Sold for $5595 Jul 18, 2012

 

Here's another Fantastic Four #12, Also an 8.0 universal grade cert 1393412007 sold for $4750 May 8, 2023

Same book. 

This guy "sold" the same Avengers #4 multiple times.

Jan 19 2017, $3050

Jan 9 2017, $2600

Dec 30 2016, $2750

It's clear from seeing the same book "sell" over and over and over again, not just this one, but several issues. eBay was either dinging him for those fees, or he somehow managed to get away with quite the non-paying bidder record.

Another book that "sold" three times. 

Ugh... There's too many books and my eyes are tired.

 

Yet another benefit of collecting DC - they're not worth the effort of scammers to forge grades!

December 22, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CGC is aware of a situation involving a limited number of online auctions featuring suspicious slabbed comic books purportedly encapsulated and graded by CGC, and of the alleged links between these books and CGC's graded comic reholdering service. Please rest assured that CGC takes its position as the world’s leading third-party grading service for comic books seriously, and that we are in the process of gathering additional information regarding this unfortunate situation. In the meantime, additional measures, over and above our usual industry leading safeguards, have been put in place to ensure the integrity of our grading and encapsulation processes.

Note: This statement was drafted by Kripsys99 for consideration of use by CGC management, and in no way reflects the current position of CGC or its subsidiaries.

Another CGC scandal, another week without CGC weighing in! I'm sure we've seen this before :

Once again CGC, feel free to call me for advice on how to handle a crisis. You appear to need the help!

Alright, I know I said I was out...but:

To recap:

On 4/13/2023 at 9:22 PM, Microchip said:

Your 'ideology' is a top down agenda, mandated by certain interested parties via international lending requirements, or in the form of grants to universities coming with 'your' ideology.

On 4/13/2023 at 9:40 PM, Microchip said:

So to quickly ascertain your standpoint, what are your pronouns again?

On 4/13/2023 at 10:17 PM, Microchip said:

That diversity in all it's glorious forms, is trying to be inserted into the cultural mainstream like a fecal sandwich at a children's picnic.

I have to ask, @Microchip:

I don't agree with @sfcityduck.

But I sure as hell am not buying whatever @Microchip is selling.

God it's hard to have a nuanced conversation these days.

On 4/13/2023 at 11:29 AM, sfcityduck said:

Good point.  This has also gotten repetitive and increasingly vague. I’m done.

Rather than engage in dialectic, you proselytized in bad faith, failing to cede any of the reasonable counterpoints to your assertions, and flinging ad hominem attacks at individuals whose view points differed from your own. Then, when it became evident that a plurality of posters in this thread didn't agree with you, rather than show any sign of good faith engagement and self-reflection on areas of disagreement, you doubled down on your complete and utter intransigence, then took your ball and went home. All 'round good look.

All of that said, I'm done too! After all:

"The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him."

— Stanislaw Jerzy Lec