Need HELP getting X-men Collection Graded

[Steve_HOCP]

I just finished my Uncanny X-men collection from #1 - #350. Most comics are in really good shape, purchased from reputable dealers, but I want to get them all CGC Graded.

 

The problem is, I live in Alaska and no one here can get them graded. So my question is this:

 

Do I join the CGC and pay $99.00, then ship the comics to them for grading? I am not sure how all this works becasue I am not a collector, I simply rebuilt my collection to give to my son ( and then to his and so on ).

 

I have sent 3 e-mail to CGC but all have went unanswered so I fiigured you guys would know if anyone did. THe biggest complaint I see here is turnaround time.

 

 

Steve

www.hypothermia.us

www.hardocp.com

[ericc123]

You can just go to www.heritagecomics.com and join their site. This will allow you to send your comics directly to CGC and you get a 20% discount to boot.

 

Eric

[rob_react]

You don't need to join the collector's society to get books graded, although using that $99 for three express submissions is great. all you need to do is submit through one of the many websites that offers web based CGC Submission forms. Heritagecomics.com, for one, has one that gives you a 20% discount on the submission costs. Go there, join up, fill out the form and then pack and ship your books down to Florida.

 

Grading the majority of the books post 143 will be nothing more than a waste of money, by the way.

[Steve_HOCP]

Anything over 143? Really?

 

 

What about the cool clamshell cases that the CGC graded comics come in, I don't supposed there is a place to buy those so that all the comics are kept in the same storage medium?

 

I have everything bagged & boarded right now, but those clamshells are tough stuff.

[ninanina]

 

Didn't we have a thread way back talking about what's worth grading and what's not worth grading?

 

Be a good one for you to read.

[ninanina]

Just not sure if the reason you want to get them graded is just for the slab is a good enough reason.

[towards2112]

For most everything after the 150 you will loose big financially on

getting them graded. Put your money into a trust for you kid,

or a noload mutual fund. If you're doing it, expecting it to pay

dividends 40 years down the road, you're fishing in the wrong

creek. If you want to save them for the joy of presenting your

kid a slab of plastic, well, I don't see the point, and I've been

piddling around in comics for 40 years. Spend the money on

some high grade Mylars/Milinex and HEAVY backing boards

from Cole or Gerber, buy the finest pair of short boxes you can,

line the boxes with a heavy 4 mil food grade POLYETHELENE

food grade trash bag, carefully place the mylars in the boxes,

fold the tops of the poly bag over, carefully staple a rolled top

kinda like you would an old paper lunch sack, put the lid on,

and stick it up high in your bedroom closet, and tell the wife

not to touch it or you'll pitch her out in the street in her underwear.

I have 4 boxes long term stashed, one almost 20 years in age,

and I check things every year or so and all is AOK.

Don't speculate unless you are prepared to loose big.

Buy the kids a noload mutual fund through your favorite broker.

By the time your kids get the full dividends they'll be able to

buy ANY book they want.

[Steve_HOCP]

ninanina,

 

I'm new to the board, so I missed the "what to have graded" thread. I did search the forums first, I must've missed the thread. My website has our own forums with 37,000+ members, I should know better ( www.hardforum.com )

 

I am not a collector so it may seem retarded to get the 150 & up graded "just for the slab" but, I am just trying to do a little forward thinking. If all of us here had used a little forward thinking as kids, we'd be RICH from all the first editions we bought, read, tore up and lost.

 

Towards2112,

 

Good advice, I have them all bagged and boarded with thick mylars and thick backboards ( not the cheapy stuff ).

 

I have my sons collect and financial future taken care of, I am passing these on because they meant something to me, my son ( age 9 ) is a huge fan so I want him to have my books. I am trying to think 40 years down the line when these comics will be 75 - 85 years old.

 

I just thought grading them would be the best idea.

 

How much would a lot of 150 comics cost to grade anyway? ( assuming I only had 1 - 150 done )

 

I really appreciate the help guys.

[rob_react]

Anything over 143? Really?

 

 

What about the cool clamshell cases that the CGC graded comics come in, I don't supposed there is a place to buy those so that all the comics are kept in the same storage medium?

 

I have everything bagged & boarded right now, but those clamshells are tough stuff.

 

Those books exist in such HUGE quantity in high grade that, while it's nice to have them, there is really no premium attached to CGC graded copies except in the highest, most extreme grades. If you want good storage paying $15 for CGC grading is NOT the way to go (especially since, in theory the CGC case needs to be changed every seven years). If you're not selling there are only two reasons I can see to pay for CGC grading- liquidity if you ever need to sell and if you can't grade and do resto basic detection yourself getting books graded is useful in order to know what you really have. Beyond that, buy top of the line mylars and the thickest, top of the line backing boards you can find; tinker with the environment as best you can in terms of temperature and humidity and then simply leave the books alone.

[Steve_HOCP]

good man, good man, that is exactly what I needed to know. I am currently keeping them bagged and boarded in a crappy old comic box.

 

http://www.hypothermia.us/crappy_comic_box.jpg

 

Most of my X-men #1 - #150 are in VF condition with maybe only 10 in better condition than that.

 

 

It costs $15 per comic to get them graded?

 

I apologize for all of these n00b questions, like I said, I pulled my collection out a month ago and tracked down all the missing issues I had and filled in the holes. That is the reason for the renewed interest and TOTAL lack of knowledge.

[sfilosa]

It costs $15 per comic to get them graded?

 

I apologize for all of these n00b questions, like I said, I pulled my collection out a month ago and tracked down all the missing issues I had and filled in the holes. That is the reason for the renewed interest and TOTAL lack of knowledge.

 

 

Different books will cost different prices. The more expensive the book, the fast service you MUST use, therefore a HIGHER PRICE you must pay.

 

Please spend some time reading CGC submission policy (they pretty much explain everything about pricing) and if you still don't understand something, I'm sure we (the forum) can clarify it for you.

 

But to answer one of your question (how much to have 1-150 graded), you are probably talking around $4,500 plus shipping / insurance cost (both ways).

[Timely]

I'd suggest having issues #1-50 graded first. See how the books come back. Your VF may be CGC's Fine. You can always send the rest in aother time.

 

Timely

[BachelorOfComix]

CGC recommends that their slabbed books are re-slabbed every 7 years.

[Clark Khaos-migration]

good man, good man, that is exactly what I needed to know. I am currently keeping them bagged and boarded in a crappy old comic box.

 

http://www.hypothermia.us/crappy_comic_box.jpg

 

Most of my X-men #1 - #150 are in VF condition with maybe only 10 in better condition than that.

 

 

It costs $15 per comic to get them graded?

 

I apologize for all of these n00b questions, like I said, I pulled my collection out a month ago and tracked down all the missing issues I had and filled in the holes. That is the reason for the renewed interest and TOTAL lack of knowledge.

 

Leave 'em in the Mylars, man. They're better protected and they look WAY better there. (Plus, the price just plain isn't worth it for your purposes.)

[sterlingcomics]

 

Didn't we have a thread way back talking about what's worth grading and what's not worth grading?

 

Be a good one for you to read.

 

He may have other reasons for wanting to CGC it. Believe it or not, sometimes its not about making a buck... Steve--do what you like--just keep in mind that in essence money will be less recoverable for the more modern issues/low demand.

[Steve_HOCP]

You guys have been a great help. I don't know why I didn't come here months ago...

 

CGC recommends that their slabbed books are re-slabbed every 7 years.

 

I saw someone else say that...what is up with that? I can see re-bagging and boarding your stuff every 7 - 10 years, but the cost of slabbing books every 7 years would be astronomical. UGH.

 

 

Leave 'em in the Mylars, man. They're better protected and they look WAY better there. (Plus, the price just plain isn't worth it for your purposes.)

 

They've made it this far, so you're probably right. My wife picked me up one of those snap-tite plastic tote boxes to put my comic boxes in. With a few minor adjustments, those could be made airtight, no problem.

 

He may have other reasons for wanting to CGC it. Believe it or not, sometimes its not about making a buck... Steve--do what you like--just keep in mind that in essence money will be less recoverable for the more modern issues/low demand.

 

You hit the nail on the head. I am doing this for my son. My father gave me X-men #1 thru #110, they never say any other hands but my dads and mine. He had the foresight to collect them for me, I am trying to do the same for my son. Heh...in 1965 who woulda thought of collecting comics?

 

I have a few old Camaros ( a 1970 SS and a 1971 Z-28 ) that were restored for myself and my son. The money put into the car exeeds the value of the car once restored. BUT my son will get the car eventually, so a quality restoration now means the car will be mint 30 - 40 years from now and he'll have a mint condition 80yr old car.

 

 

I didn't know about the whole "reslabbing every 7 years" thing, that just sucks. Unless of course you can buy the clamshells yourself and re-do all your books at home Heh...you know, the "CGC At Home Kit"!

 

Who makes those clamshells anyhow?

[deathlok]

I would suggest you join the Colelctors Society and get the three free submission. Submit 3 issues of your choice. Once you get these back if you are happy with the results, you can choose to submit the rest. Obviously the early issues will run you the most as far as grading fees. Books after 1975 will run you about $14-15 a book. If it's for your own collection to pass to your son, their is a big difference between holding a raw book and a slabbed book. The raw book is much nicer to look upon and know the history. The slabbed book might as well be a color scan of the book in question. Although you can always crack the slab to get the book out, but then that would defeat the purpose of you getting it graded.

 

Good luck !

[Steve_HOCP]

I want them graded, because they look good to me, but I don't know how to grade my comics. I think if I sent them in to be graded, they would at least have a professional rating instead of me saying "they look good".

 

I would say that 90% of my X-men #1 - #150 are in this condition:

 

 

 

 

Bigger pictures are here:

 

Front: http://www.hypothermia.us/what_grade1.jpg

 

Back: http://www.hypothermia.us/what_grade2.jpg

 

Inside: http://www.hypothermia.us/what_grade3.jpg

 

If you guys were to just give a ROUGH ESTIMATE ( guess-timate ) what would you grade that one?

 

I don't want to humiliate myself and send in a bunch of comics to be graded if they are not worth sending in.

[justiceleaguer]

Welcome to the boards Steve....will you please adopt me?

[ninanina]

I want them graded, because they look good to me, but I don't know how to grade my comics. I think if I sent them in to be graded, they would at least have a professional rating instead of me saying "they look good".

 

I would say that 90% of my X-men #1 - #150 are in this condition:

 

 

 

 

Bigger pictures are here:

 

Front: http://www.hypothermia.us/what_grade1.jpg

 

Back: http://www.hypothermia.us/what_grade2.jpg

 

Inside: http://www.hypothermia.us/what_grade3.jpg

 

If you guys were to just give a ROUGH ESTIMATE ( guess-timate ) what would you grade that one?

 

I don't want to humiliate myself and send in a bunch of comics to be graded if they are not worth sending in.

 

Steve,

 

If that's the condition of most of your X-Men, they are priceless. Better than VF. If the two dings along the spine are the only problem, this one could easily be a VF+. Maybe closing in on VF/NM from what I can see. But, ya' gotta be careful because a couple more dings, or a bent corner (that maybe I don't see) could easily bring a comic like this to a VF.

 

The only further advise I can give you on whether or not to slab is if you or your son ever want to sell these, and market conditions are similar to what they are now....slab them BEFORE you sell them as you would/should get more for them if they are sold professionaly graded. But only if they are VF/NM or better - kinda like the pictures I see.

 

Also, stick around to learn more about whatcha' got. From what I can see, it's pretty special. Especially if the early one's are as nice as the one's you've shown. Not to mention that 94 I know is in your collection.