Need Some Advice

[OldGuy]

Seank said: "Also consider selling to the folk on this message board. They're more honest that many ebayers

 

I agree. I have done business with about a dozen or so people on this board and the deals ranged from great to wonderful. I suggest buy a scanner (HP brand) for about $100 and post some scans on this board. If you need help scanning or posting the scans the people here can help.

 

Once you get a grasp of what the conditions are like then start making a list of what you have. Send the really nice stuff to CGC and post a list of the other stuff here. When people show an interest you can grade the books they are interested in then send them scans (you may want to only post parts of the list a little at a time). When you get the books back from CGC then post them here also. What you don't sell here you can put on E-bay.

 

I would just encourage you to take it slow. You've had the comics all these years and didn't know what you had so what's a few more months to do some research and gain a better understanding of what you've got.

 

On the other hand once you have an idea of what you have if you just don't feel like dealing with it then I'm sure that several of the dealers on this board would be happy to move these books for you on a commission basis (at least the higher grade stuff).

 

Or, you could try something that only a few people now day do. You could sit down and read some of those books, fall in love with them all over again and just keep them all!

[blowout]

Or, you could try something that only a few people now day do. You could sit down and read some of those books, fall in love with them all over again and just keep them all!

 

READ them? Now thats just crazy talk.

 

On a serious note, great advice OG. It would be wise not to rush into any quick sales arcticbear, make sure you know exactly what you have grade-wise first and then determine the current market value for your books.

[arcticbear-migration]

Thank you so much. Yes I already have a scanner. In fact I do quite a bit of webdesign work so I have a very good scanner and a high end digital camera.

 

I remember fondly reading each of these comics and then carefully putting them away. I wonder if there would be a way to say scan them into Adobe Acrobat just for old times sake, without ruining the value. In any case I'm scanning the key issues right now and will have them online in a little while. I'm purposely keeping the size of the scans large so you can get as much detail as possible. Thanks again.

[arcticbear-migration]

In private message someone suggested I scan the key issues I have and put them online. Of course these are the keys as best I know them. But here's a start.

 

Amazing Spiderman 121

Amazing Spiderman 122

Amazing Spiderman 129a

Amazing Spiderman 129b

Xmen Giant Size 1

Xmen 94

Hulk 181

[cd4ever]

First impression: Nice solid copies. Most show some spine minor spine wear and they may all fall into the 7.0-8.0 range. Can't say they are particularly high grade, meaning 9.0 or better. The GS X-men might be a little than the others.

 

Of course, there are far better graders than I on this site and I'm sure you'll be hearing from them.

[supapimp]

well it's obvious you read the books when you were younger, i personally wouldn't slab any of these books, they all seem to fall around FN+ 6.5-VF- 8.0

[ninanina]

Amazing Spiderman 121 -Fine

Amazing Spiderman 122 VG - VG+

Amazing Spiderman 129 A - Fine

Amazing Spiderman 129 B - Very Fine +

G.S. X-Men 1 VF

Hulk 181 F/VF - VF-

X-Men 94 Fine +

 

 

Just an opinion.

[ericc123]

you need to tell the comic shop owner that told you your hulk #181 was a 9.2 to 9.4 that he is an insufficiently_thoughtful_person. Funny thing is I can't figure out why he would tell you a higher grade when he is trying to buy them from you. hmm. Well if he will give you 50% NM guide I'd say take the sucker all the way to the bank. Just tell him it is a hot NM key and that with the X-Men 2 movie coming out he will have trouble getting a copy that nice for 50% guide Go get im.

 

 

Ericc123

[arcticbear-migration]

First off, I'd again like to thank everyone for all their input. I appreciate it very much.

 

I guess I must have screwed something up, cause when I read some of the replies I just assumed that the collection wasn't as good as I had thought. But tonight on a lark, I pulled up the scans I made of them and compared them to the original comics themselves and was amazed. I don't have a trained eye on this, but those scans sucked, and frankly don't look anything like the actual comics. Is it possible that it's just too low a resolution for the scanner? The scans show washed out color, marks that aren't on the comics, lines that look shoddy and generally stuff that looks like it's been through a washing machine. But when I pulled out the originals they looked 10 times better than the scans.

 

I'm thinking of just having the top ones slabbed and selling the rest in lots at this point.

 

But I'd like to ask one more question if you all will put up with me for a little while longer. I've seen some references to comics that have been "restored". I've even seen CGC rate some of the comics that they listed as "restored". What is this. Does it degrade the value siginficantly? Is it worth considering on the better comics? Or is it a waste of time.

[thecomicsheet]

RE: The quality of the scans. Here are a couple of things you can try to improve the quality of your scans.

 

1. Bigger is better. When you get below 5 or 6 inches in width some of the finer features (scratches, creases, etc.) begin to disappear. I recommend a minimum of 6 inches wide - it's a good compromise on the display size of the scan and the size of the jpg file.

 

2. You don't have to go overboard on pixel resolution. PC monitors don't have have the dot pitch to display much beyond 100 to 150 pixels per inch. 300 is overkill.

 

3. For jpeg files I recommend the following:

1) Scan at 100 pixels per inch.

2) Size the final picture to 600 pixels wide (6 inches at 100 pixels per inch).

3) Use a fairly modest compression setting around 20 to 30 (where 0 is no compression and 100 is the highest compression. Some graphics programs list it as 'amount of compression' while others list it as 'file size after compression' - this reverses the meaning of the numbers - a 10 with the first meaning is the same as 90 in the second meaning.)

4) Don't use 'autocrop' when you scan a book. It tends to cut the picture too close to the edges of the book. The edges of the book have some of the most important grading features. Size the scan manually to allow a little bit of 'overhang' around the edges so viewers can see the contrast better - maybe 1/4 inch extra.

 

The above settings will work well for eBay scans. It will keep your scans around 100k in file size. You need to concern yourself with file size for those using dial-up connections.

 

For scans that you post here in the forums for grading purposes you might go just a little higher on the pixels and size. A good choice would be:

150 pixels per inch.

1200 pixels (8 inches) wide.

Compression set to 10 to 20.

Scans with these settings are generally not suitable for the first picture on eBay because of their size, but they make good 'enlarge' pictures.

 

If you go any bigger on your scans it will actually distort the picture of your book. Minor flaws not noticable to the naked eye will be magnified.

 

[yertle]

Great advice Comicsheet!