Grading THEN cracking...anybody do this?

[KDUK]

Forget cracking them out of the slabs, I don't even slide them out of the mylars after I bag them.

 

Comics are not for reading, they're for collecting. You want to read, read it in trade paper back format.

 

 

 

[vaillant]

Comics are not for reading, they're for collecting. You want to read, read it in trade paper back format.

It‘s not about comics: I treat in this way each and every paper item which I care about, be it a book, an essay, a period magazine, a leaflet, a novel, a manuscript.

 

And paperbacks are often reprinted without the original colors (if in color), on unsuitable paper, maybe edited, and coated paper weights too much (yes, I know, moderns are 95% on coated paper, and I believe my apartment will cause the house to fall apart).

[Conan_Aficionado]

Comics are not for reading, they're for collecting. You want to read, read it in trade paper back format.

It‘s not about comics: I treat in this way each and every paper item which I care about, be it a book, an essay, a period magazine, a leaflet, a novel, a manuscript.

 

And paperbacks are often reprinted without the original colors (if in color), on unsuitable paper, maybe edited, and coated paper weights too much (yes, I know, moderns are 95% on coated paper, and I believe my apartment will cause the house to fall apart).

 

I'm just saying, I'd rather wait for the movie to come out, that's all.

[Jeffro.]

Paying to slab a comic and then deslabbing it is not_in_tune_with_social_norms crazy and a waste of money. You might as well be throwing your money away.

[Conan_Aficionado]

Comics are not for reading, they're for collecting. You want to read, read it in trade paper back format.

 

I really hope this is a joke.

 

It was meant as a joke, but you know there is a small crossection of collectors who do just that. And to some extent I do as well. I buy my books, get home and bag and box them. I actually read the stories in TPB format. It's really not that unusual.

[KDUK]

Comics are not for reading, they're for collecting. You want to read, read it in trade paper back format.

 

I really hope this is a joke.

 

It was meant as a joke, but you know there is a small crossection of collectors who do just that. And to some extent I do as well. I buy my books, get home and bag and box them. I actually read the stories in TPB format. It's really not that unusual.

 

It was a great post!

 

You do raise a fair point in regards to reading in TPB. If I am unboxing books from the post and I have a stack of 10 or so I always bag and board them before reading. If it's the odd one I'll always read.

 

I do eventually go and read the books, often I've read them already either in TPB or previous books in my collection.

[Soft-Serve]

Remember guys, he is NOT asking whether you buy a slab and then crack it out (as a lot of people d) but if you send one of your own raw books to CGC, and then immediately crack it out just to have the label and the grade certification.

 

To me, that's a huge waste of time and money, and I have cracked out slabs, but to each his own.

This is exactly what I'm asking. It seems that the field is pretty much divided into those who do and don't crack slabs (for various reasons), but it seems that of those that do, there might be a subset who don't throw away the label (since we all agree it is, in essence, worthless)...and if you don't throw away the label, then it must have value. I'm just asking, for those folks, if they would ever buy a label for a raw book.

 

I would. (from the CGC anyway, and not my buddy who's "really good a grading")

[entalmighty1]

Remember guys, he is NOT asking whether you buy a slab and then crack it out (as a lot of people d) but if you send one of your own raw books to CGC, and then immediately crack it out just to have the label and the grade certification.

 

To me, that's a huge waste of time and money, and I have cracked out slabs, but to each his own.

This is exactly what I'm asking. It seems that the field is pretty much divided into those who do and don't crack slabs (for various reasons), but it seems that of those that do, there might be a subset who don't throw away the label (since we all agree it is, in essence, worthless)...and if you don't throw away the label, then it must have value. I'm just asking, for those folks, if they would ever buy a label for a raw book.

 

I would. (from the CGC anyway, and not my buddy who's "really good a grading")

 

I wouldn't. If I go through the trouble of buying a book with a turtle shell around it, I'm not cracking it out unless it's to resubmit a book I think was undergraded. Typically, unless it's a big time book, I usually will get a raw book in addition to the slab if I want to feel the paper.

[Ditch Fahrenheit]

This is off-topic, but I thought I'd mention two things:

 

1) I've run across a LOT of collectors who can't stand slabbed comics, but would send their books to CGC for restoration screening in a heartbeat. This actually comes up all the time. The details are usually: a) a lower fee than slabbing, b) books sent back without encapsulation (obviously), c) some form of documentation, d) bonus points for documentation with scans.

 

2) I've only done this a few times, but every time I've ever sold a cracked out book on eBay, I've achieved the going market rate for a slabbed CGC book in the same grade/PQ. I always include the CGC label and feature it in the listing photos. Once or twice I've actually had the original slab scans so the buyer could cross-correlate, but found it wasn't necessary.

[GoldCap]

I just bought my 2nd slabbed book...ever. It's certainly easier to buy a book that's been professionally graded but I always want to read my books, so raw it is. The only books I've had graded were so I could sell them easier or if I had an under copy I could read.

I do get a bit nervous when reading higher grade books but I'm very careful...

I will be getting a GA Cap book signed in the next few weeks which is cool but if I want it authenticated I will have to have it slabbed...for all time...

 

So...to answer your question I think it is a waste of money.

[Silver Surfer]

Remember guys, he is NOT asking whether you buy a slab and then crack it out (as a lot of people d) but if you send one of your own raw books to CGC, and then immediately crack it out just to have the label and the grade certification.

 

To me, that's a huge waste of time and money, and I have cracked out slabs, but to each his own.

 

Since you only collect moderns I would tend to agree with you.

[JazzMan]

Remember guys, he is NOT asking whether you buy a slab and then crack it out (as a lot of people d) but if you send one of your own raw books to CGC, and then immediately crack it out just to have the label and the grade certification.

 

To me, that's a huge waste of time and money, and I have cracked out slabs, but to each his own.

 

Since you only collect moderns I would tend to agree with you.

 

No matter what you collect, it's still a monumental waste of money just to get the official CGC grade. Just buy the dang book you want in the grade you're looking for and crack it out. If you have a raw book that you want to keep, put it in a nice mylar and stow it away...heck, you give it the grade and be happy about it.

[VintageComics]

Yes.

 

Yes. Lots of people do. I do it.

[Silver Surfer]

How about if you want to make sure that your big dollar purchase is a legit blue label free of resto but plan to keep it in your long term collection? Slabs are a headache for certain eras, especially for GA books. I did it for this book.

[Soft-Serve]

How about if you want to make sure that your big dollar purchase is a legit blue label free of resto but plan to keep it in your long term collection? Slabs are a headache for certain eras, especially for GA books. I did it for this book.

 

By "you did it for this book" are you saying you sent it in to be graded, checked for resto, and then cracked it out of the slab when you got it back?

 

P.S. Killer book.

[Robot Man]

I only have maybe a dozen slabs. I bought them that way. For all of them, I bought them mainly for the covers. So it doesn't bother me to keep them slabbed because I probably wouldn't read them any way. I'm not a high grade collector and I don't buy real high dollar books so it works for me. I mostly buy mid grade GA books and can grade and spot most resto pretty well.

[Silver Surfer]

How about if you want to make sure that your big dollar purchase is a legit blue label free of resto but plan to keep it in your long term collection? Slabs are a headache for certain eras, especially for GA books. I did it for this book.

 

By "you did it for this book" are you saying you sent it in to be graded, checked for resto, and then cracked it out of the slab when you got it back?

 

P.S. Killer book.

 

Yup. I think it still only the 2nd CAD copy ever graded and that what 15 years now?

[jcjames]

I would never dream to keep a book slabbed, so I am exactly like you.

Although I tend to buy raw, if I buy a book graded and it's for my collection, here it goes deslabbed. Or if I decide to have a book graded, it’s just because it’s valuable and I have to sell it, and so the professional grade is reassuring for the buyer.

 

And I do not agree with jcjames: if you are buying from a complete stranger, maybe, but the label is still important: I know when I am buying a deslabbed book with its label, and buying it from a guy I know, that the book is almost surely in the same grade as it was when it was slabbed.

It even happened me to buy deslabbed books that look better than the stated grade, like the one below. I was "reassured" by the label, but in hand the book was even better.

 

Well I suppose if you KNOW the person you're buying the raw book and label from and you trust them, then I guess that's a different matter.

 

I was speaking more generally though that if you keep the label with the intent of reassuring a potential future unknown buyer, it would probably mean diddly to the unknown buyer.

 

And one thing you bring up is the dreaded "heavily-undergraded slab". If I got a book that looked MUCH better than the grade, I could see cracking it because there's no use in having really great-looking book with great eye-appeal sitting in a low-graded slab.

 

[Lazyboy]

Remember guys, he is NOT asking whether you buy a slab and then crack it out (as a lot of people d) but if you send one of your own raw books to CGC, and then immediately crack it out just to have the label and the grade certification.

 

To me, that's a huge waste of time and money, and I have cracked out slabs, but to each his own.

 

Yes, and that's not even mentioning the risk involved.

[loadstone]

I think the key difference for me is that he is talking about GA books and ones that are for his collection. I can see the value of buying a great presenting GA or SA book raw and getting it graded just for the personal validation of the grade and then cracking it out. I can't condone this for moderns but I am forced to buy graded 9.6 and 9.8 copies of htf moderns and crack them out because nearly all copies of the ones available for sale in those grades are graded.

 

if I upgrade my af15 in raw, I will likely do this at least for the resto check.

 

As for the value of the label, I can see it still having value. Actually, it would be neat if rival grading companies paid you for sending in the competitors label with your cracked out submission. $1 for modern labels, $5 for SA, $10 for GA labels, $15-20 if ts a 9.9 or 10.0.