RE: Those of you with non CGC high grade books

[Bullet123]

OK lets say it is 1 yr from now and cgc turnaround times are down to a reasonable 30 days. As a newbie and only CGC collector, I am curious as to what the reasoning would be to not have your books graded. I am only speaking of BA or older books with this question. Some, albeit not all stories can be purchased in some form of TPB or reprint at this point so why would you not want to continue to preserve your "babies" for the next generation and know for sure whether what you have is extremely valuable to all (blue label 9.0 or better, best copy in existence, etc. ) or merely valuable to you ( PLOD, but a sweet copy of a classic or favorite cover/story). Not looking to start a war, just curious as one collector to another.

[sfilosa]

Reasons not to slab:

 

1) Cost ($30). Could spend money on other books.

 

2) Possiblity of grading standards loosening over time. As stated before, I can not see that grading would get stricter as A) that would invalidate grades of all prior CGC books, B) eliminate resubmissions.

 

3) I love CGC (80% of the value of my collection is CGC books), but there is nothing like looking at a book without having to look through mylar, polybag or a CGC case.

[deathlok]

The biggest concern for me becomes space. Slabbed books take quite a bit more room than bagged books in a long box. So choosing which books to have slabbed becomes a bigger concern. While it's great to think you can complete a run of Fantastic Four in 9.0 or better. That's over 500 slabbed issues, without including Annuals, Giant Size, etc. That's a lot of space.

[Stronguy]

All good answers. I only slab books that I want to sell. If I buy a book or have a nice one I want to part with I will slab it. Other than that it stays in "readable" condition.

 

I might consider doing it on a really valuable book that I have another reader copy of.

[BassGMan]

Yeah, I'll agree with both guys above. Cost and space. For me, I plan on selling 90% of what I slab. The only books that I want to slab for myself are the ones that I want to hang on a wall or "show off" or let people pass around in an effort to see how these books really can be investments. Slabs certainly help these books look like legitimate investments to non-collectors. I'm not worried at all about preserving my keepers. I keep anything potentially valuable in mylars or fresh bags and no comic I have ever had has withered away or disintegrated, and we are talkin' collecting for 30 years. Maybe a little yellowing, but that's it. And that is only because I've just let some books sit in cheap bags through the years. Yeah, CGC is great, but for my personal collection I would rather keep most of my books raw and use the extra money to buy more books rather than keep what I already have in slabs.

 

However, for you high grade GA guys, or guys with any books worth thousands, I'd slab all those for sure. Anything worth a couple hundred or less and a keeper? Why bother? -------Sid

[Bullet123]

Reasons not to slab:

 

1) Cost ($30). Could spend money on other books.

 

2) Possiblity of grading standards loosening over time. As stated before, I can not see that grading would get stricter as A) that would invalidate grades of all prior CGC books, B) eliminate resubmissions.

 

3) I love CGC (80% of the value of my collection is CGC books), but there is nothing like looking at a book without having to look through mylar, polybag or a CGC case.

 

I can see cost being a factor if you are talking about books that have a realistic market value of less than $200 but I am talking about books valued at more than that. would not your costs be easily recouped if the book does indeed grade out what you expected? also, would it not be a good idea to at least submit a few candidates to see how yours/the dealers grading holds up to CGC?

[awe4one]

There is no reason to slab my collection. If one day I decide to sell it, maybe. But why pay even a nominal fee to slab something that doing just fine unslabbed in my collection?

 

Jim

[rob_react]

I can see cost being a factor if you are talking about books that have a realistic market value of less than $200 but I am talking about books valued at more than that. would not your costs be easily recouped if the book does indeed grade out what you expected?

 

You're talking about getting books graded to keep. How is one supposed to recoup grading costs without selling anything?

[Mushroom]

I also do not need to slab my books as I have no intention of selling them. I also don't want to run the risk of damaging or losing my babies in the post.

[eddly]

I also do not need to slab my books as I have no intention of selling them. I also don't want to run the risk of damaging or losing my babies in the post.

 

I agree... I do not own any cgc books as of yet... I do want to take advantage of the 3 for $99 express deal... but I really only have 1 comic really worth sending in... then I have about 10 marginal ones...

 

Also, I just moved a few months ago, and after unpacking I noticed someone had some "fun" with my printer and stole some essential pieces from it. So, I would have to borrow someone elses printer to print off the invoice, which would be easy to do, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

[Sharkey]

Another thing to consider is that once you've slabbed them, you make selling them reeeeeaaaallly easy, especially if they are rare issues, keys, and/or high grade. That can be good and bad. Let's say I have a book I think is NM 9.4, I send it in and it gets a NM 9.6 (thanks Steve ). Then I start thinking, well, if I sell the 9.6 I can buy another raw 9.4 and have money left over to buy other stuff! Cool! Sell sell sell. But now I am breaking up the run. Dangnabbit. What to do? Take the money and run, or keep that 9.6 and sit on it.

 

Also likely is you have something you bought as a 9.4 and it comes back lower. Or restored ( ). Sure it's nice to know what you have, but it can be disappointing too.

 

I've chosen to have a lot slabbed. I ended up selling a lot of them to buy original art, knowing I can always replace the books with low grade later because I love them for what they are and enjoy reading what I have.

 

In the end, it's a personal decision. Whether or not you want to sell them is definitely a key factor. Slabbed books bring higher dollar than unslabbed, and with high-grade keys/rarities the difference in $$ is crazy money.

[hobbes]

once you've slabbed them, you make selling them reeeeeaaaallly easy

 

This is very true.

[deathlok]

Ummm..not to get you capitalists off track, but the question was...What reasons are there for NOT slabbing your books.

[sckao]

Ummm..not to get you capitalists off track, but the question was...What reasons are there for NOT slabbing your books.

 

These are the ones that always come up:

 

Expense of Slabbing

Storage

Need special boxes

Damaged while inside the holder

Can't read the actual comic

Turnaround times

 

Here's mine:

It's also not as satisfying to rest a cup of Coke with ice on a slab vs on a raw comic book. I also enjoy ripping up comics these days. Just take a nice NM+ Spawn #1 and rip that sucker up!

 

It's therapeutic.

[FFB]

Keeping in mind that I own dozens of slabbed books, just slabbed a bunch more, and really like the folks at CGC, who I think are some of the nicest people in the hobby, and several of whom I consider dear friends, here are some reasons why I *might* choose not to slab a book that is otherwise slab worthy:

 

1) The inner well of the slab bashes into the overhang on comics and causes damage after the book is graded. That is the main thing that would keep me from slabbing books that would otherwise be slab worthy. Here is a visual example of what I'm talking about.

 

 

I have some other, less dramatic examples, such as the corner of this Daredevil #200, which is in a CGC 9.8 holder:

 

 

This book is no longer a 9.8. I also recently bought an X-Men #130 in CGC 9.6 that has a similar defect.

 

I believe that a holder without "hard" 90 degree inner well edges (such as a mylar sleeve, which does not have flat inner edges, but rather, has edges that taper together in a > shape) can be fashioned that would protect a book very well and would not result in edge damage like you see here.

 

2) I like to read my comics and if I am just going to get the book graded, I can grade it myself.

 

Obviously, checking for restoration is another story. I know how to check for restoration and trimming as well as most people, but there are plenty of people who are better at it than I am and I don't know of anyone in the hobby who is as good at it as Chris Friesen is. Having said that, on an ultra high grade book, is it worth it to me to risk having the book damaged in the slab, simply to get a restoration check done?

 

OK lets say it is 1 yr from now and cgc turnaround times are down to a reasonable 30 days. As a newbie and only CGC collector, I am curious as to what the reasoning would be to not have your books graded. I am only speaking of BA or older books with this question. Some, albeit not all stories can be purchased in some form of TPB or reprint at this point so why would you not want to continue to preserve your "babies" for the next generation and know for sure whether what you have is extremely valuable to all (blue label 9.0 or better, best copy in existence, etc. ) or merely valuable to you ( PLOD, but a sweet copy of a classic or favorite cover/story). Not looking to start a war, just curious as one collector to another.

[Sharkey]

great points. And excellent examples!

[Silver Surfer]

I recently sent in my first submission mainly because they were free. I love CGC and I would have eventually had these books graded eventually but I would hesitate to pay the economy fee of $30 because I don't like the idea of having to wait 2-3 months to get them back. Express submission is the only way to go but with $79 plus shipping your looking at over $100US and unless the book had a value of over $500 I'm not sure I would bother? If they can speed up the economy turnaround time I might consider it (keep in mind I'm just going off of what I read on these boards and I'm not sure what the turnaround times ave been like recently?).

 

I sent my best three raw books in because I may decide to sell them and having them slabbed is going to maximize their liquidity. Also, if I find out they are PLOD's they will be sent back to the large dealers where I purchased them through. I'd hate to find out three years later that they were PLOD's. Good luck getting a refund then.

[Aman619]

ouch!! that hurts just to look at!

[FFB]

ouch!! that hurts just to look at!

 

Imagine what it feels like when you own the book.

 

(For the record, I don't own the book pictured in the top photo of my prior post. But I have a few with similar damage, though not as severe as that. I do own the bottom book in the prior post, and several others with damage just like it.) Such as this CGC 9.6:

 

[deathlok]

ouch!! that hurts just to look at!

I agree FFB, that first pic is a cringe-worthy example. Ugh. That is proabably the most extreme case of inner well damage I have ever seen.