Becoming a Slab collector....What is slab worthy?

[Shootydog]

Im a huge Mike Grell fan and in particular of The Warlord. Having been a raw book collector for so long I am thinking of focusing my activities on creating a HG slab run of the Warlord.

 

How does one go about hunting down the HG copies. Is it truly just hitting the boxes and getting lucky? Ebay?

 

Any tips as I dive into this would be appreciated.

 

Furthermore, what is slab worthy? How do you determine the slab-ness of a particular book? Is it a monetary thing? Is it a key thing? Particular love?

 

I have the intention of slabbing the entire Warlord run but I have other books that I might slab too. How do I decide?

[Bosco685]

Im a huge Mike Grell fan and in particular of The Warlord. Having been a raw book collector for so long I am thinking of focusing my activities on creating a HG slab run of the Warlord.

 

How does one go about hunting down the HG copies. Is it truly just hitting the boxes and getting lucky? Ebay?

 

Any tips as I dive into this would be appreciated.

I held off for a little bit after just getting back into comics a few years ago. Once you get the bug on books you have always wanted preserved, you'll be hooked.

 

And just to show I get your focus:

 

 

BTW, Jduran1 had a raw copy for the longest time that when we talked about it he mentioned "it may do okay if I submit it to CGC." Well, he finally submitted a few months ago, and it came back a CGC 9.8 White Pages.

 

Let's just say it turned into a bidding war amongst some top Bronze Age collectors since there are only 4 out of 115 in the census at this grade.

[Shark]

Im a huge Mike Grell fan and in particular of The Warlord. Having been a raw book collector for so long I am thinking of focusing my activities on creating a HG slab run of the Warlord.

 

How does one go about hunting down the HG copies. Is it truly just hitting the boxes and getting lucky? Ebay?

 

Any tips as I dive into this would be appreciated.

 

Furthermore, what is slab worthy? How do you determine the slab-ness of a particular book? Is it a monetary thing? Is it a key thing? Particular love?

 

I have the intention of slabbing the entire Warlord run but I have other books that I might slab too. How do I decide?

 

There's a number of ways to do this:

 

1) Check out the CGC Registry and see which members have the best Warlord slabs (although they may not want to sell)

 

2) eBay

 

3) Check out ComicLink or Heritage Auctions on a regular basis to see if anything new has posted in their auctions.

 

4) Post a Wanted to Buy thread here on the boards.

 

The best way to determine if something is slab worthy financially is to subscribe to GPA (unless you already do) and check out each particular issue and see what it has sold for in that particular grade. Compare it's value to what it would cost to slab it (shipping there, slabbing cost and return shipping) and you can usually quickly say yea or nay to getting something slabbed. Unless you slab it just because you want to slab it no matter what!

[Shootydog]

Im a huge Mike Grell fan and in particular of The Warlord. Having been a raw book collector for so long I am thinking of focusing my activities on creating a HG slab run of the Warlord.

 

How does one go about hunting down the HG copies. Is it truly just hitting the boxes and getting lucky? Ebay?

 

Any tips as I dive into this would be appreciated.

I held off for a little bit after just getting back into comics a few years ago. Once you get the bug on books you have always wanted preserved, you'll be hooked.

 

And just to show I get your focus:

 

 

BTW, Jduran1 had a raw copy for the longest time that when we talked about it he mentioned "it may do okay if I submit it to CGC." Well, he finally submitted a few months ago, and it came back a CGC 9.8 White Pages.

 

Let's just say it turned into a bidding war amongst some top Bronze Age collectors since there are only 4 out of 115 in the census at this grade.

 

Nice. I would love one of those #8s. Mine is only about 8.0 and raw. This might be fun

 

Is a CGC membership really necessary? I suppose it pays for itself with the freebies?

[Bosco685]

Nice. I would love one of those #8s. Mine is only about 8.0 and raw. This might be fun

 

Is a CGC membership really necessary? I suppose it pays for itself with the freebies?

The census is still free to view what is out there, but to circle back to one of your key questions, I don't collect based on value or number graded at a certain high level.

 

My focus is favorite story arcs or issues, and within 9.2 or better condition. Shark gave some great advice as well on buying and where to look.

 

As far as what to submit, you have to determine your comfort level where you are going to set the bar, condition and page quality wise. Once you do that, you'll know what you want encased since I am assuming you are doing this to collect, and not to sell.

[Reno McCoy]

I've been this close to starting down the Warlord road so many times. I keep holding off for some reason. I have about 90% of the raw issues, but I loved them as a kid and have always wanted my favorite issues slabbed. Unfortunately, I didn't get into it as a kid until the later issues and most of those aren't slabbed yet (and probably not considered "worthy" in the first place). And with me having no luck finding HG raw copies, it may never happen.

 

Here's my favorite all time Warlord cover.

 

[Shootydog]

Right. Thanks for the advice. Off to the races!!

 

I already own every Warlord comic there is and then some so Ill start going through them and picking out teh slab worthy books and go from there. Its probably going to take a while as it seems finding truly HG copies may be fairly difficult.

 

 

[Bosco685]

Right. Thanks for the advice. Off to the races!!

 

I already own every Warlord comic there is and then some so Ill start going through them and picking out teh slab worthy books and go from there. Its probably going to take a while as it seems finding truly HG copies may be fairly difficult.

Good luck!

 

You'll get the grading down as you submit more books what CGC is looking for in order to achieve some of your goals. Just don't get frustrated as CGC does the right thing and looks at the total book from front cover all the way through.

 

Don't be shocked if you just do quick cover reviews if some books come back as surprises. Inside pages that are torn or written on can get you in the end if you are not thoroughly going through an entire book.

[apollobuzz]

I slab for two reasons basically. First, I want to protect (both grade and dollar investment) my high grade and/or high dollar keys (see my signature below). Second, I like the cover and story (on cheap books even) and I want them slabbed for protection/preservation as well. Although with the recent price hike, I'm less likely to slab the cheapos (ex: Logan's Run #2 from my WTB list) since I thought it was worth it at about $15, but not so much so at about $30. This is why I want to buy this one already slabbed.

 

[seank]

If you're buying raw with the intention of slabbing for a HG CGC run, the sellers here are a good bet. I bought several HG raw bronze Batmans here last year that were advertised as 9.2 and 9.4. They all came back from CGC at 9.2 and 9.4.

 

Warlord might be tricky since many issues can be had from bargain bins. Look for dealers advertising high grade collections and let them know you're looking for high grade Warlords. They may set them aside for you instead of jamming them into dollar boxes.

 

Now I want to go read Warlord. Where are those dollar boxes?

[CKB]

Right. Thanks for the advice. Off to the races!!

 

I already own every Warlord comic there is and then some so Ill start going through them and picking out teh slab worthy books and go from there. Its probably going to take a while as it seems finding truly HG copies may be fairly difficult.

Good luck!

 

You'll get the grading down as you submit more books what CGC is looking for in order to achieve some of your goals. Just don't get frustrated as CGC does the right thing and looks at the total book from front cover all the way through.

 

Don't be shocked if you just do quick cover reviews if some books come back as surprises. Inside pages that are torn or written on can get you in the end if you are not thoroughly going through an entire book.

 

You really should plan on gathering up 60 books at a time and doing pre-screens. Anything else is throwing money away - unless you really don't care about the grade and won't bother upgrading that 9.0 you get back.

 

Also, you really have to plan on buying lots of raw copies of each issue to get a CGC grade acceptable to you. For example, I've purchased maybe 50 copies of Solar 4, screened them myself, had CGC screen them, and have never gotten back a 9.8. I just bought one already slabbed this week.

 

 

[slym2none]

See, if I had the chance to pick up Warlord instead of Arion back in the day, I might be a DC fan instead of a guy with an X-logo tattooed on his shoulder.

 

That comic looks like it rocks!

 

 

 

-slym

[Shootydog]

Right. Thanks for the advice. Off to the races!!

 

I already own every Warlord comic there is and then some so Ill start going through them and picking out teh slab worthy books and go from there. Its probably going to take a while as it seems finding truly HG copies may be fairly difficult.

Good luck!

 

You'll get the grading down as you submit more books what CGC is looking for in order to achieve some of your goals. Just don't get frustrated as CGC does the right thing and looks at the total book from front cover all the way through.

 

Don't be shocked if you just do quick cover reviews if some books come back as surprises. Inside pages that are torn or written on can get you in the end if you are not thoroughly going through an entire book.

 

You really should plan on gathering up 60 books at a time and doing pre-screens. Anything else is throwing money away - unless you really don't care about the grade and won't bother upgrading that 9.0 you get back.

 

Also, you really have to plan on buying lots of raw copies of each issue to get a CGC grade acceptable to you. For example, I've purchased maybe 50 copies of Solar 4, screened them myself, had CGC screen them, and have never gotten back a 9.8. I just bought one already slabbed this week.

 

 

Ok so how does the prescreening work? I send in 60 books with my desired grades and they send back what doesnt qualify? I suppose there arent any guarantees on the remaining books? This seems the likey path for me outside of just buying already slabbed books.

[CKB]

Right. Thanks for the advice. Off to the races!!

 

I already own every Warlord comic there is and then some so Ill start going through them and picking out teh slab worthy books and go from there. Its probably going to take a while as it seems finding truly HG copies may be fairly difficult.

Good luck!

 

You'll get the grading down as you submit more books what CGC is looking for in order to achieve some of your goals. Just don't get frustrated as CGC does the right thing and looks at the total book from front cover all the way through.

 

Don't be shocked if you just do quick cover reviews if some books come back as surprises. Inside pages that are torn or written on can get you in the end if you are not thoroughly going through an entire book.

 

You really should plan on gathering up 60 books at a time and doing pre-screens. Anything else is throwing money away - unless you really don't care about the grade and won't bother upgrading that 9.0 you get back.

 

Also, you really have to plan on buying lots of raw copies of each issue to get a CGC grade acceptable to you. For example, I've purchased maybe 50 copies of Solar 4, screened them myself, had CGC screen them, and have never gotten back a 9.8. I just bought one already slabbed this week.

 

 

Ok so how does the prescreening work? I send in 60 books with my desired grades and they send back what doesnt qualify? I suppose there arent any guarantees on the remaining books? This seems the likey path for me outside of just buying already slabbed books.

 

One desired grade per invoice. I wish they would do it per book.

 

Rest is correct.

 

[Bosco685]

For example, I've purchased maybe 50 copies of Solar 4, screened them myself, had CGC screen them, and have never gotten back a 9.8. I just bought one already slabbed this week.

Solar

 

Is #4 that tough an issue to find in 9.8? I didn't realize that.

[slym2none]

For example, I've purchased maybe 50 copies of Solar 4, screened them myself, had CGC screen them, and have never gotten back a 9.8. I just bought one already slabbed this week.

Solar

 

Is #4 that tough an issue to find in 9.8? I didn't realize that.

 

About as difficult as Rai #5.

 

 

 

 

-slym

[Bosco685]

For example, I've purchased maybe 50 copies of Solar 4, screened them myself, had CGC screen them, and have never gotten back a 9.8. I just bought one already slabbed this week.

Solar

 

Is #4 that tough an issue to find in 9.8? I didn't realize that.

 

About as difficult as Rai #5.

 

 

-slym

Good to know. I was just overjoyed to have a Solar 1 CGC 9.8 come back that I expected to be one grade less. Would be amazing to have all of the first 10 in 9.6/9.8.

[Beau]

See, if I had the chance to pick up Warlord instead of Arion back in the day, I might be a DC fan instead of a guy with an X-logo tattooed on his shoulder.

 

That comic looks like it rocks!

 

-slym

 

Pics!

[dekeuk]

 

If it is for a personal collection and numerical grade matters to you, send all your raw books to be pro-screened by Matt Nelson.

 

For $3 he will tell you what he thinks the numeric grade is, and if it can be improved with pressing.

 

He will save you money by having you avoid sending books to CGC that should never have been sent in the first place. Because CGC will charge for pre-screening your books if most of the books fail the pre-screen test.

 

 

[Dale Roberts]

It is a relatively easy math........It simply doesn't make any sense to slab a book unless it raises the value of the book at least as much as it costs to slab it and have it shipped back to you.