Should I slab these?

[Jenna]

This is my first post here. Hi everyone, nice to meet you all, I'm Jak.

 

I just picked up a few books for selling\trading purposes and I'm wondering if they would be better off slabbed then left alone. Never having sent any books off to CGC myself this will be a first. So... are these slab worthy, and what would you grade them based off the scans?

 

Click the thumbnails for large size scans... (the two number 43s are different books)

 

Thanks for any input on these, I really appreciate it, and I hope to become a welcome member of this forum.

 

Jak

[Mr. Zipper]

Hi Jak!

 

IMHO

 

39 - No

40 - Maybe

43 - with the staples on FC - probably not

43 - centered staples - yes

44 - no

 

All nice books that I would be happy to have, but the "Nos", are a bit too soft cornered to make a CGC slabbing worthwhile.

 

[ArAich]

Welcome aboard Jak....

 

IMO...if you're selling I would slab the #40 and the second #43...

[PUNYHUMAN]

HI JAK ! Welcome to the boards. Slab' em they look great. See what CGC will send them back as.

[joe_collector]

I'd say:

 

Slab the 40 and both 43's, since CGC does not downgrade for production flaws.

 

 

[fantastic_four]

43 - with the staples on FC - probably not

43 - centered staples - yes

 

I don't believe staple centering affects CGC's grades under 9.8 unless they're badly offset; I can say I've seen several CGC 9.6s with staples offset by up to 1/4", which is about what that first X-Men 43 is offset by.

[Jenna]

Thanks for the warm welcome and comments from everyone.

 

Regarding the offest staples, I have indeed seen some high 9s with staples like that recently, so I also believe that they for some reason are not taken highly into account. The do bother me a bit but apparently not too much for CGC.

 

Jak

[uluru]

I'd say:

 

Slab the 40 and both 43's

 

I agree whith Joe.

[Jenna]

Any thoughts on what grade range I should expect with the 40 and 43s? Being my first subs I don't want to be too disappointed. Also, it's hard to see in the scans but the corners of them are all for the most part quite sharp. The way the scanner picked up on them they look a bit rounded.

 

Jak

[jduran1]

Are these restored in any way. The white covers look cleaned. Just checking and welcome to the forum.

[Jenna]

Are these restored in any way. The white covers look cleaned. Just checking and welcome to the forum.

No restoration as far as I can determine. I bought one of the 43s (the second one shown) at a shop nearby simply because it was so white, brilliantly beautiful in the lights of the shop. On close examination it does have a bit of dirtiness buildup here and there, and doesn't appear to have been cleaned at all. The other 43 I got from a recent eBay auction and it was even brighter than the first. Same results with a close examination as well.

[fantastic_four]

Very low risk of restoration on these since the time/labor cost is probably greater than the profit yield from the work...but still a longshot possibility. You never know when you're gonna end up with a book somebody used to practice restoration on before they graduated to the bigger books.

[sfilosa]

The second #43 looks like it could maybe get a NM (9.4) so that would be worth slabbing.

 

Make sure that it doesn't have any non-color breaking creases which are hard to see in the scans, but can be seen from an angle.The slight dirt shouldn't downgrade the book (I have several NM books with dirt on the back cover).

 

It is my opinion that unless you really think that the book is a NM (9.4) you probably will get almost as much selling the book unslabbed, once you factor in the grading fees and shipping to and from CGC. Plus, you have to wait 2 months to get the cheapest grading fees.

 

I see lots of these X-Men books in CGC VF/NM or NM- book sell for $60-80. Realize that a CGC graded Silver-Age book that sells for $60, cost the seller a minimum of $30 (discounted grading fee plus shipping) to get graded. With a big scan, you probably could sell the book for over $30 unslabbed.

 

PLUS, AND THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!!

 

If the page quality is NOT AT LEAST OFF-WHITE, don't submit to CGC. If you think the pages might get Cream to Off-White, forget about it. This is the biggest mistake people make when sending books into CGC. If the book is Golden-Age or early Silver-Age, then Cream to Off-White is more acceptable. But for most mid Silver-Age and up, unless the book is a sure NM or better, just sell it unslabbed.

[garthgantu]

Good call, SF. And I agree with previous assessments; the 40 and the two 43s seems like reasonably good candidates for slabbing but only the nicer of the 43s is likely to garner a NM-/NM 9.2/9.4.

[RushComics]

 

(I hope this doesn't offend anybody, I know there are some people who work for CGC here..) I have a number of similar books (I agree with the others here on which ones to slab, BTW) I'm actually thinking of CGGing them.

 

My theory is, they're too good *not* to slab (a nonslabbed grade simply won't draw the dollars like a slabbed one will--whether slabbed by CGC or CGG) but they're just too cheap to be worth the $29.00 for economy service, when you can get CGG service for $14.00, and have them back in two weeks instead of several months.

 

I figure that way on cheaper Silver Age books (more expensive Silver Age I'd tend to CGC instead of CGG, even if they fit in the holder), and then, back to CGC when it comes to Modern Age books worth slabbing (since CGC's Modern Age pricing is a more reasonable $15) especially from 1975-1979 (where CGC calls them "Modern" and CGG calls them "Standard." So it's practically the same price to CGC those books.)

 

Charlie

[sfilosa]

Is there any REAL VALUE ADDED by CGG a book?

 

Yes, there grading service is less expensive, but most books will sell for more if CGC than not. Of course depending on the book and grade, any Value Added still might not cover CGC's grading fee.

 

I have stated this many times, but I honestly believe that a third to a half of the books CGC'd, never should have been (from a financial point of view).

 

Since the seller was looking to slab two copies of X-Men #43, let's take a look at the census for that book.

 

X-men #43

 

There are 38 Universal copies in 9.0 or better. Since a 9.0 would sell for around $65 or higher, it makes sense to CGC.

 

There are 19 Universal copies in 8.0-8.5. Since these would sell for between $45-55, they are questionable regarding CGCing. In other words, once you factor in a minimum of $30 to slab, the seller is getting between $15-25 actual book value. Can you sell these books unslabbed for those prices, most likely.

 

There are 11 Universal copies in 7.5 or lower. These definitely SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN CGC'd.

 

And of course there are 4 Qualified or Restored copies which will not sell for the amount that the grading fee cost.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

[garthgantu]

Is there any REAL VALUE ADDED by CGG a book?

Well, certainly from a protection/preservation standpoint, I'd say yes. But I gather you're asking this question with regard to resale...in that sense, I'd still say 'maybe.' See the second part of this post...

 

 

There are 38 Universal copies in 9.0 or better. Since a 9.0 would sell for around $65 or higher, it makes sense to CGC.

 

See, I'm not sure this part of the formula holds up. If a 9.0 is going to sell for $65 or so, the seller might be better of selling it raw. Much would depend on the reputation of the seller on eBay, but with a good rep, they might command 65-70% of the slabbed price on a book like this (~50% of guide). Getting $40 for the book raw is better than getting $65 for it slabbed, no?

[sfilosa]

 

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Is there any REAL VALUE ADDED by CGG a book?

 

 

 

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Well, certainly from a protection/preservation standpoint, I'd say yes. But I gather you're asking this question with regard to resale...in that sense, I'd still say 'maybe.' See the second part of this post...

 

 

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There are 38 Universal copies in 9.0 or better. Since a 9.0 would sell for around $65 or higher, it makes sense to CGC.

 

 

 

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See, I'm not sure this part of the formula holds up. If a 9.0 is going to sell for $65 or so, the seller might be better of selling it raw. Much would depend on the reputation of the seller on eBay, but with a good rep, they might command 65-70% of the slabbed price on a book like this (~50% of guide). Getting $40 for the book raw is better than getting $65 for it slabbed, no?

 

 

You are actually helping me prove my original point. There a tons of CGC'd books that should never have been CGC'd from a financial point of view.

 

 

[garthgantu]

Happy to be of help - I agree with that assessment. It's one thing to 'take a flyer' on a book in the hopes that it comes back at a higher grade, it's another to just submit mid-grade non-keys for the sake of having them in a pretty plastic case. Many of these mid-grade submissions must be from newbies or truly poor graders, I'm guessing.