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I am confused! Why do people crack open their CGC graded comics?
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Started by botolo,

214 posts in this topic

Jeffro.

Jeffro.

Posted
Posted (edited)
12 hours ago, catman76 said:

I am confused as to why anyone would keep a comic sealed up in a slab, makes no sense to me at all. What's the point of owning it if you can't read it and touch it and look at it? This obsession with a made up grading scale number and never looking at a comic you buy is bizarre to me, I can't wrap my head around it at all. Do people that keep comics slabbed also have records they never play and shelves full of books they never read? I can understand buying a graded slabbed comic of it's expensive and rare to make sure you aren't being ripped off, but keeping it sealed up after owning it I will never understand. Sure you can look at the cover, but what the heck does anyone do with it beyond that? So it just sits in a box and will never be looked at? Why even have it? To each their own, it's just really strange to me.

While I get what you're saying here, even unslabbed comics tend to  "just sit in a box" most of the time anyway. I have plenty of comics that I haven't looked at in years. Unless I am going to disassemble the comic, frame each page and hang them on my wall in page order, most of the comics will remain in a box almost all of the time. 

  

Edited by Jerkfro
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theCapraAegagrus

theCapraAegagrus

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Jerkfro said:

You can do that with a mylar and an acid free board. There seems to be this bizarre idea that in order to preserve the history, you need to entomb the comic. 

It's safer in a hard plastic case, though. For a lot of people, it's not just a piece of history, but also an investment. I have 2 cats, so you can bet that there is no way I'm displaying any comics in just board and mylar at my place lol.

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Jeffro.

Jeffro.

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, TwoPiece said:

It's safer in a hard plastic case, though. For a lot of people, it's not just a piece of history, but also an investment. I have 2 cats, so you can bet that there is no way I'm displaying any comics in just board and mylar at my place lol.

Do you display them with any kind of UV protection?

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VintageComics

VintageComics

Posted
Posted
46 minutes ago, TwoPiece said:
53 minutes ago, Jerkfro said:

You can do that with a mylar and an acid free board. There seems to be this bizarre idea that in order to preserve the history, you need to entomb the comic. 

It's safer in a hard plastic case, though. For a lot of people, it's not just a piece of history, but also an investment. I have 2 cats, so you can bet that there is no way I'm displaying any comics in just board and mylar at my place lol.

If you have animals in the house they are not necessarily 'safer' in the open just because they are slabbed.

What if the cat knocks the book off a shelf and the book gets damaged on impact inside the slab? It happens...whereas it's less likely to get damaged in a good Mylite / Mylar / Fullback package the way I stored my personal collection.

My son stepped on one of my top books in my collection years ago. It was in a Mylite, Mylar and with a fullback behind it. Nothing happened to the book. If it was in a slab, it would have broken in half and likely damaged the book.

Comics are only as safe as their environment, regardless of how you package them.

The proof is that many ultra high grade pedigree finds have spanned decades without bags or boards.

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Jeffro.

Jeffro.

Posted
Posted
27 minutes ago, TwoPiece said:
33 minutes ago, LarryLargemouth said:

Yes, they made a documentary about these people, it's called "The 40 Year-Old Virgin".

This is a pretty crappy attempt of an insult from a n00b.

That's no noob lol 

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Jeffro.

Jeffro.

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, TwoPiece said:
11 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

If you have animals in the house they are not necessarily 'safer' in the open just because they are slabbed.

As opposed to just being bagged and boarded, they are...

Well no. Not really. I have two cats as well and have never had any issues

And you ignored the rest of his post

Edited by Jerkfro
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theCapraAegagrus

theCapraAegagrus

Posted
Posted
Just now, Jerkfro said:

Well no. Not really. I have two cats as well and have never had any issues

I'm not interested in arguing. If you're seriously going to sit there and say that a bagged and boarded comic is equally as safe as a CGC-graded comic, then we have no business having a conversation. Good day.

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Jeffro.

Jeffro.

Posted
Posted
Just now, TwoPiece said:
2 minutes ago, Jerkfro said:

Well no. Not really. I have two cats as well and have never had any issues

I'm not interested in arguing. If you're seriously going to sit there and say that a bagged and boarded comic is equally as safe as a CGC-graded comic, then we have no business having a conversation. Good day.

Whoa! Whoa! Settle down there Tex. We're just conversating here. 

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VintageComics

VintageComics

Posted
Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, Jerkfro said:

I have two cats as well and have never had any issues

Now that is funny. Do you see what you did there?

6 minutes ago, TwoPiece said:
7 minutes ago, Jerkfro said:

Well no. Not really. I have two cats as well and have never had any issues

I'm not interested in arguing. If you're seriously going to sit there and say that a bagged and boarded comic is equally as safe as a CGC-graded comic, then we have no business having a conversation. Good day.

Welcome to the internet.

I've been collecting since 1975 and I'm trying to bring a balanced discussion to the table.

The myth that comics are only safe in a certified holder is just that, a myth.

One problem with hard plastic holders is that when they reach a certain bending point, they snap.

A bag and board (or Mylar / Fullback as I always use) will just bend.

So depending on how far the book is trying to bend, a snapping plastic case can do far more damage than just bending a bag and board.

And that's why I contend that the environment is what matters most.
Translation: Relax, Francis.

Edited by VintageComics
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RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

Posted
Posted (edited)
11 minutes ago, TwoPiece said:
12 minutes ago, Jerkfro said:

Well no. Not really. I have two cats as well and have never had any issues

I'm not interested in arguing. If you're seriously going to sit there and say that a bagged and boarded comic is equally as safe as a CGC-graded comic, then we have no business having a conversation. Good day.

There's a psychological concept, and I, not being a psychologist, don't have the term handy, that describes the phenomenon of people engaging in riskier behavior because of a belief...legitimate or not...that they're somehow "safer" because of certain functions and features of the environment around them.

For example...in US pro football, with all the acres of padding, players have consistently been shown to hit far, far harder, believing that padding "protects" them, and the result has (apparently) been that there are far more traumatic and long term brain injuries, whereas, in rugby, where they wear no such protection, they're generally much gentler, and don't suffer the same results.

Same with people in "safe" cars driving faster and more recklessly.

Same with slabs.

I allow slabs to be put in positions I would NEVER, EVER put plain ol' bagged and boarded books in, because...well...it's slabbed, right?

I've had stacks of slabs fall onto a hard floor...thankfully, with no damage...but I have allowed myself to be lulled into a false sense of security with slabs that I would never imagine with raw books.

And do not think for a second that the "oh well, it's already graded; it doesn't matter what happens to the book NOW" doesn't cross your mind. Of course it does. You're lying to yourself otherwise.

Edited by RockMyAmadeus
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RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Jerkfro said:

While I get what you're saying here, even unslabbed comics tend to  "just sit in a box" most of the time anyway. I have plenty of comics that I haven't looked at in years. Unless I am going to disassemble the comic, frame each page and hang them on my wall in page order, most of the comics will remain in a box almost all of the time.

I have books I haven't seen in over a decade. :cloud9:

Just knowing I can go look at them whenever I want is the point of it all. 

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