To Slab or Not to Slab!

[skybolt]

Do you have a selective criteria on which books to send in for slabbing?

 

After about 2 years of CGC submissions, I've finally settled into a niche on which books to have graded.

 

Golden Age:

Any book that I feel will receive a 6.5 grade and higher will probably be submitted for CGC grading. These books can range from early Timely, Batman, Superman to good girl art or war covers. Since I don't collect any Dell comics, the books I have graded are usually worth more than $100 each. Another reason for submitting these books is due to the restoration check. I generally don't put much consideration into slabbing fees or the resell value of GA books since I'll probably be keeping them for a long time.

 

I will submit the occassional 5.0, 4.0 or even 2.0 GA book if it's a cover I like, has nice eye appeal or if the surrounding issues have all been CGC graded. Plus, the book has to be worth at least $150 to $200 in that condition.

 

Silver Age:

Unless the book is a key, my cut-off point is at 8.0. Since Marvel SA has always been my favorite I will submit certain books even if the guide value is less than $100. For instance, I recently got back several Iron Man #2 to 16 that were in 8.0 and 8.5 conditions. I wasn't disappointed even though these books are only worth about $40 or $50 a piece in the OS guide.

 

Early on I did submit a few SA ASM books that came back between 5.5 and 6.5 (#42, #100, etc), but I'm never doing that again. I'd much rather have the raw version in a mylite instead. Plus, for raw non-key SA books, it's really not worth spending $25 on the restoration check for a $40 book.

 

Modern Age:

For now, I've decided to stop slabbing modern books since I already own the few MA comics that I wanted slabbed in 9.4 to 9.8 condition (ASM #300, #238, etc.). I still have my original collection of ASM and X-Men that would grade around 9.4 or 9.6, but I'd much rather keep them in their raw form to look at issues 200 to 250 without switching back and forth between slabs and mylites.

 

In general (for GA and SA titles), since I've had a few accidents with my raw collection, I've decided to slab the more expensive issues. For instance, sometimes I'd take out several boarded books from a box, and after moving it, they'd all lean on each other and bend the books up front. Plus, since I'm fairly clumsy, a lot of times I've mishandled and dropped my books on the ground, or had tape pulls, etc.

 

Another reason why I have some books slabbed is due to their liquidity. If God forbid an emergency occurs where I have to sell my collection quickly, or if I'm getting married and buying a house, then CGC is the way to go. Otherwise, raw books in mylite look just as nice to me as the slabbed ones.

 

What are other people's criteria for slabbing or not slabbing their collections, and why?

[shrunkenhead]

Here's my slab criteria for books that I plan to permanently store in a slab...

 

GA---8.0 or better

 

SA--9.0 or better

 

BA--9.4 or better

 

MA--don't go there!

 

I will make exceptions and slab lower grade gold and silver if they are classic covers, key books, etc....but generally speaking this is the rule of thumb. I also submit lower grade gold if I want to do a resto check, but on some of the lower grade stuff I will crack it open once it comes back, provided it didn't get the PLOD (in which case I'll probly sell it slabbed)

[nearmint]

All of my Golden Age are slabbed, regardless of grade, except for 5 Nedors that I acquired a few months ago. They'll be on their way to Sarasota in the near future.

 

For me it's all about the resto check.

[samurai007]

I have not slabbed any of my books, and I have no intention of doing so at the moment. I buy the books to read and enjoy, and I simply don't enjoy a slab of plastic the same way as I do a comic book I can look at. Because of my collecting philosophy, grade is not as important to me as it is to some others... if I can get a book in VG or FN for half the guide price instead of paying insane multiples of guide for a high grade book, I do so. (If I can find a high grade book for under guide, I'll do that too, and I have many NM books). Some of my friends salivate at some of the books in my collection, and tell me I could make quite a bit of money by slabbing and flipping some of them, and maybe someday I will, but not right now.

[goldust40]

Generally my motto is slab to sell, as I prefer to store items in Mylars. However, when I'm selling:

 

GA: if it's a Timely or war cover DC, 6.0 / 6.5 seems about right. If it's an early key, even 2.5 / 3.0 is worth it, but it does depend on the book. GA is a tough era to generalize about.

 

Atom Age: with pre-code books, if it's a major icon book (Weird Mysteries 5, Horrific 3, Lawbreakers 11 etc.) then 3.5 and above is worth encapsulation.

 

Early Silver: 8.0 and above.

 

Late Silver: 9.2 and above - from '66 onwards, Marvels (and most DCs) in 9.0 become quite common. There are exceptions, like Detective 359.

 

Bronze: 9.4 and above, with the odd rare exception, such as F.F. 112 or Sub-Mariner 8.

[Artboy99]

I cant afford to slab AND buy more comics so the only slabbed books I have are the ones I have bought.

 

Artboy99

[Harvey Dude]

I have resorted to pretty much buying pre-slabbed books. With my existing collection, my very loose criteria is as follows:

 

GA---Anything above $100 (I like the protection they offer)

 

SA--8.5 or better

 

BA- none

 

MA--N/A

[jbud73]

Otherwise, raw books in mylite look just as nice to me as the slabbed ones.

 

Actually in Terms of eye appeal books im Mylar and Mylite look much better than in a slab. The heavy plastic generally dulls the appearance of the book IMO.

[whomerjay]

Otherwise, raw books in mylite look just as nice to me as the slabbed ones.

 

Actually in Terms of eye appeal books im Mylar and Mylite look much better than in a slab. The heavy plastic generally dulls the appearance of the book IMO.

 

I agree. perhaps slabbing adds some protection, but I find all grades, especially high grade, look great in a mylar. Even more so knowing that that book has resisted the slabbing urge. Also, getting it graded can sour you on a book when you disagree with the grade, so why spend money to at best confirm your opinion of a grade?

 

Plus skybolt with the rate at which you buy books the grading fees would be huge. IMO bigger collection is better than a smaller slabbed collection.

 

The space needed to store all those slabs is also a consideration.

[skybolt]

Plus skybolt with the rate at which you buy books the grading fees would be huge. IMO bigger collection is better than a smaller slabbed collection.

 

The space needed to store all those slabs is also a consideration.

 

What can I say, it's a sickness.

[BassGMan]

My criteria is pretty simple. I don't have a general rule about what to slab or not slab except for if I think I can make a worthy enough profit to make the cost and effort worthwhile. Assuming grading costs are about $15 for a Modern (minus discount but add on shipping, etc.) if I think I can only sell the graded book for $30, then it's not worth it. A possible $15 profit on a few books isn't worth the hassle. If I think I could sell the book for $50, it would be worth it. For Economy books assuming a net cost of $30 per slab, I'd only slab it if I think I can sell it for at least $100 as the extended turnaround on these books makes my demand for a profit much higher than the shorter turnaround on a Modern.

 

Anyway, at least that is my basic criteria. There are very few books that I slab for my own personal use. With those it is just a matter of if I like the cover and overall look of the book enough to make it a display item.

[pjthib]

Actually in Terms of eye appeal books im Mylar and Mylite look much better than in a slab. The heavy plastic generally dulls the appearance of the book IMO.

 

I agree also. Mylite 2's make a book look really really nice.

 

For me the question is more often to crack or not to crack?

[jokersrevenge]

mylite 2's make any book look great. I like to slab only for the registry. I think slabbing is just another hobby alltogether. if you like it doit.

[shrunkenhead]

mylite 2's make any book look great. I like to slab only for the registry. I think slabbing is just another hobby alltogether. if you like it doit.

 

Very true. Whenever I'm looking to flip raw bronze, I stick them in mylite2s to give them that extra shine...is that so wrong?

[Silver Surfer]

All of my Golden Age are slabbed, regardless of grade, except for 5 Nedors that I acquired a few months ago. They'll be on their way to Sarasota in the near future.

 

For me it's all about the resto check.

 

What Nearmint said. If I have a GA key or rare issue I will probably want to slabb it even if its a low to mid grade key.