When did bags and boards become a staple for collectors?

[The-Collector]

I think I had them in the late 70s.

 

I can't speak from personal experience as I wasn't alive. But I can tell you that a collector who's books I purchased said that he started getting his books in bags around 1975-1979 but no boards.

[Moondog]

I started selling comics part-time in 1975 and opened my first store in 1978. I would buy bags from guys who brought them to local shows and hand cut boards only for expensive books. This system became inefficient so I started manufacturing my own bags (ComiCovers) and boards (ComiCards) in 1981.

 

Mass produced acid-free (or buffered) boards gained popularity in the early 80s due to the proliferation of comic book stores and cons. Dealers needed more protection for their stock than bags alone. Boards provided this extra level of protection.

 

Collectors were then quick to embrace boards for their collections, and after seeing the efficiency of comic boxes, they then moved away from general-use boxes and adopted them too.

 

Polyethylene (PE) bags were the norm until the early 90s when polypropylene was introduced. PP was crystal clear and made the comic inside look really nice. It was crinklier though than PE and tape would often rip the flaps, but it ultimately became the plastic of choice (and still is) for most collectors and dealers for their run-of-the-mill comics.

 

Before selling my business to Diamond in 1995, I sold 500 million PE and 300 million PP bags. I sold 100 million boards...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Larryw7]

The first LCS I shopped at(Comic Investments in Philly) had boards on their expensive books, but the regular back issue stock only had bags.

[thehumantorch]

I kept my collection in brown grocery bags and beer crates right up into the early 1980's, the first books I remember bagging and boarding brand new was the first Wolverine miniseries, in 1982.

 

I bought several copies of each off the stands, bagged and boarded them, tucked them away, and eventually made some very nice money off my extra copies. But that was just about the earliest anyone saw backing boards here in mid-Michigan.

 

Beer crates? Buy another collection and then run out and buy more beer... just for the crates natch.

 

I remember storing my comics in plastic bread bags. First comic bag I saw was a Robert Bell bag advertised in comics.

[j_scott_o]

I collected comics from around '75 til about '83. I had all my comics in bags, but, no boards. I don't remember any boards back then. I don't recall any of my LCS I frequented having any either. But, I do remember seeing them by the mid 80s even though I was no longer collecting. I just picked up collecting again about 10 months ago. Had to pull apart all those bags so carefully. The tape had pretty much melted away. Now, all are rebagged and boarded.

[catrick339]

I kept my collection in brown grocery bags and beer crates right up into the early 1980's, the first books I remember bagging and boarding brand new was the first Wolverine miniseries, in 1982.

 

I bought several copies of each off the stands, bagged and boarded them, tucked them away, and eventually made some very nice money off my extra copies. But that was just about the earliest anyone saw backing boards here in mid-Michigan.

 

Beer crates? Buy another collection and then run out and buy more beer... just for the crates natch.

 

I remember storing my comics in plastic bread bags. First comic bag I saw was a Robert Bell bag advertised in comics.

 

Heh heh, it's been a few years now since I found a "beer crate" collection to buy.

 

A 24 count long neck case would nicely store two stacks of about 100 comics each. And the 60's beer crates were plenty sturdy, the breweries used them (and the bottles for that matter) over and over

[Duffman_Comics]

I got my first "Robert Bell" bags in the early 70's - 1972 from memory.

 

Bought quite a few back then and still find the odd book in the collection that's still in one of them.

 

Two styles (to my knowledge). These are scans of the "flap", just imagine the rest of the bag. The "original" -

 

 

 

 

and the revised version a year or two later:

 

 

 

Boards didn't get imported till the 80's, expensive then and even moreso now. Occasionally we'd just use whatever was at hand and cut it down.

 

 

[catrick339]

The 1974 Overstreet has a few ads for bags, but no mention of boards. That's the oldest edition I have so I don't know if bags were offered through mail order previously.

 

(Pulls out O'street #2)

 

Ayep, there's Mr. Bell advertising 100 Marvel Comic Bags for three bucks in full color on the back cover.

 

"Larger bags for Golden Age comics also available at the same price"

 

"If it's worth collecting, it's worth bagging."

[mrmyst]

Is ol' Robt Bell still with us, I wonder....

[ComicConnoisseur]

For once, my inclination for record keeping comes in handy.

 

When I started collecting I kept track of everything I bought. According to my records, the first notation for bags was in December 1978. The notation simply says "$2 worth of bags". The first mention of backing boards was in January 1984. The notation reads "100 boards for $3.50".

 

Oh, and for those who are curious, my very first notation is from May 1977. I bought Thor # 261, Spider-Man # 170, Ironman #100, and Star Wars # 2, each for 30 cents.

The question is did those bags do the job and protect Thor # 261, Spider-Man # 170, Ironman #100, and Star Wars # 2 or would they have still been in the same shape without them? Most of the times when you look on EBay you find that the bags and boards themselves are worth more than the comic books they were meant to protect.

[mrmyst]

I have looked over a lot of 60s and 70s collections that were stored in various ways. IMO, if the books had been bagged, many 9.0s would be 9.4s. For a lot of these books, it's quite a bit of price difference these days....

[dgarthwaite-migration]

I know I was using Mylites by 1982 and they were expensive for a recent high school graduate.

 

DG

[rjpb]

I remember at cons in the early 70s most of the inventory was not bagged. For many collectors, paying 3¢ a bag for a 20¢ comic seemed extravagant. Interesting that bags barely run more than that now. If they kept abreast of comic prices, they'd be around $50 a hundred, and if that were the case, I imagine there would be a lot more unbagged comics sitting in boxes today.

[Unca Ben]

In the late sixties my Mom would wonder what happened to her GLAD food storage bags. Ten books to a bag.

 

If not for spinner racks a lot of my older books would be in pretty darn good condition.

[zosocane]

My first comic collecting life was from '77 to '86, basically 4th grade to 12th grade. The back cover of the '78 OPG -- the first OPG I used -- has a full Bill Cole ad for bags, but no mention of boards. I vividly remember the first boards around 1980 or 1981 -- I still have several. My LCS guy said I needed to give them a try, and because they were relatively expensive (a quarter each), I used them on my best books only. I still have them to this day -- they are incredibly thick and non-bending; one side white, the other side grey. See photo below, which shows the thickness of these first boards. Then around '82 or so, I remember seeing the thinner, much cheaper, all-white "flimsy" boards that we see today. Thanks for reading, kids.

 

[WebSlinger]

When I buy old collections I see

Some bags in the late 70"s stuff, boards I start seeing in early to mid 80's collections

[JazzMan]

So it looks like bags started being infused into the hobby by enthusiasts around 1972-1973 that was popularized by Robert Bell's ad in OSP 2 in 1974. Looks like Moondog's boards started the mass produced board in 1981 and anything prior to that was homemade.

 

Pretty nifty.

[mrlatko]

So it looks like bags started being infused into the hobby by enthusiasts around 1972-1973 that was popularized by Robert Bell's ad in OSP 2 in 1974. Looks like Moondog's boards started the mass produced board in 1981 and anything prior to that was homemade.

 

Pretty nifty.

 

As in Gary Moondog from these boards, or someone else?

[thehumantorch]

So it looks like bags started being infused into the hobby by enthusiasts around 1972-1973 that was popularized by Robert Bell's ad in OSP 2 in 1974. Looks like Moondog's boards started the mass produced board in 1981 and anything prior to that was homemade.

 

Pretty nifty.

 

As in Gary Moondog from these boards, or someone else?

 

Same person