Great press for CGC . .

[dam60]

Congrats to CGC and Dawn . . .

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/quotes/...w&dist=nbk&symb

 

3/15/2005 11:45:01 AM

This Weekend, Comics Guaranty, LLC, Shows L.A. Comic Book Fans How It Keeps the Collectible Comics Hobby Honest

Comic Book Certification Company Trucks Its Operation from East Coast to L.A. to Give Its Expert "Seal of Approval" to Thousands of Comics at Wizard World L.A.

SARASOTA, Fla., Mar 15, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Thousands of comic book fans will line up at the Long Beach Convention Center this weekend just to have their books graded by Comics Guaranty, LLC (CGC) during the popular Wizard World Los Angeles Comics Show, March 18-20. CGC (www.cgccomics.com) began five years ago as the first company to provide expert impartial grading and restoration detection of comic books. Their service has boosted the overall comic market, given buyers and sellers an essential tool for conducting business online, and opened the comic collecting hobby up to novice collectors.

 

"Certification has driven the thieves out of the hobby, because now collectors can be sure of what they're getting by the CGC grade," said CGC President Steve Borock, an industry expert who previously graded comics for Sotheby's. "CGC has become like the 'Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval' for comics. It's opened the hobby up to more collectors, who can buy CGC-graded books without the fear of getting ripped off."

 

The certification process requires careful scrutiny of each comic by five CGC experts, who check for restoration and overall condition of the book. The comic is then assigned a grade from a 10-point scale and encapsulated in an archival, tamper-proof holder. CGC does grading by mail order throughout the year, but many fans will wait for the privilege of handing their books off in person and picking them up at the end of Wizard World L.A. on Sunday night (and not having to deal with the U.S. Postal Service). At similar weekend shows, CGC has graded up to 2,000 books on-site and accepted submissions of thousands more to grade back at its Sarasota, Fla. headquarters.

 

More About CGC

 

CGC is owned by the Certified Collectibles Group, the collectible industry's leading certification company, which also operates business units for the certification of coins, paper money and sports cards. CGC will be on the road for at least 20 conventions in 2005. It plans to expand its reach to the grading of collectible magazines later this year.

 

SOURCE: Comics Guaranty, LLC

[Norrin_Radd]

"Certification has driven the thieves out of the hobby, because now collectors can be sure of what they're getting by the CGC grade," said CGC President Steve Borock, an industry expert who previously graded comics for Sotheby's.

 

 

[Ze-man]

Nice...

 

What is with the jab about the U.S. Postal Service?

Poor USPS.. no respect..

 

 

Ze-

[DawgPhan]

"Certification has driven the thieves out of the hobby, because now collectors can be sure of what they're getting by the CGC grade," said CGC President Steve Borock, an industry expert who previously graded comics for Sotheby's.

 

 

 

yeah, really..honeslty does cgc not have a publicist? Someone needs to start telling Steve what to say...He keeps making claims that he has NO WAY of ever backing up. First he was the greatest thing to happen to back issues and not he has driven thieves out of the hobby...

[Foolkiller]

Great press for Steve and the CGC people! Enjoy Wiz World LA... hope the show is successful for you guys... even though I'm sure you'll be working like crazy.

[jbud73]

"Certification has driven the thieves out of the hobby, because now collectors can be sure of what they're getting by the CGC grade," said CGC President Steve Borock, an industry expert who previously graded comics for Sotheby's.

 

 

 

yeah, really..honeslty does cgc not have a publicist? Someone needs to start telling Steve what to say...He keeps making claims that he has NO WAY of ever backing up. First he was the greatest thing to happen to back issues and not he has driven thieves out of the hobby...

 

Well CGC has made it harder for the theives (not my word choice) to make a living. I hear on good authority though that the theives are currently cleaning up their act and have pressed on to bigger and better things.

[DawgPhan]

I am just glad that cgc was nice enough to save comics.

[awe4one]

Well CGC has made it harder for the theives (not my word choice) to make a living. I hear on good authority though that the theives are currently cleaning up their act and have pressed on to bigger and better things.

 

So is it possible they've been legitimized?

 

Jim

[Norrin_Radd]

I am just glad that cgc was nice enough to safe comics.

 

 

Safe comics? Comics that are important enough that they need to be kept in a safe? CGC did increase the value of many comics exponentially, so yes, they did create a lot of "safe comics".

[Silver Surfer]

"Certification has driven the thieves out of the hobby, because now collectors can be sure of what they're getting by the CGC grade," said CGC President Steve Borock, an industry expert who previously graded comics for Sotheby's. "CGC has become like the 'Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval' for comics. It's opened the hobby up to more collectors, who can buy CGC-graded books without the fear of getting ripped off."

 

[jbud73]

Well CGC has made it harder for the theives (not my word choice) to make a living. I hear on good authority though that the theives are currently cleaning up their act and have pressed on to bigger and better things.

 

So is it possible they've been legitimized?

 

Jim

 

Well the cynic in me thinks that there is no longer a need to CT and trim books. You can get the same profit differential with the C&P. A Devils Advocate could point out of course this is still a net to CGC they have theoretically limited the undisclosed restoration playing field to C&P and since it was occuring before CGC they are still a net benefit. Of course the counter arguement to that is that C&P has increased since the advent of CGC (an argeument with some evidence behind it given the emphasis of Tracey Heft et al to advertise it publicly) and more and more books are having their fibers altered and in Pov's mind damaged.

 

I guess the end result is that CGC has caused some forms of Resoration to decrease in frequency, while other forms have risen in frequency. Conveniently CGC does not consider the forms of resto that have increased to be restoration at all.

 

And if you can get your head around all that, you are up to date and waiting for the next event in "As the Comic World Turns"

[DawgPhan]

I am just glad that cgc was nice enough to safe comics.

 

 

Safe comics? Comics that are important enough that they need to be kept in a safe? CGC did increase the value of many comics exponentially, so yes, they did create a lot of "safe comics".

 

Opps...SAVE comics not safe them...

 

CGC was nice enough to save comics. God bless them one and all...

[sterlingcomics]

Lets see: 2,000 books x $45 grading fee = $90,000. So a loose number would be $100,000 in gross sales. Not bad!

[FlyingDonut]

At the risk of being a wet blanket, that's not press for CGC. BusinessWire is a service where you post press releases. If a media outlet picks UP the BusinessWire release, then CGC would be getting press.

[garthgantu]

Great point, FD, and one I was about to make myself.

 

Marketwatch.com, while certainly a 'news outlet' and a relatively prominent one on the Web, will post just about any press release in its entirety. That doesn't make it news.

 

I also like Jbud's point about how CT and trimming may decrease in frequency due to the easier, safer "improvement options" available to people - namely, clean and press.

 

Now here's where things get a little strange. I went and looked at the "PR contact" at the bottom of the press release. It's someone named Dawn Mortensen, of Dawn Mortensen PR. Okay so far. But when I try to direct my browser to www.dawnmortensen.com (using the domain from Dawn's email address), it redirects me here

 

What does "Colossus Comics" have to do with this announcement? Who is Dawn Mortensen? Dawn is a PR consultant in the SF Bay Area, and the wife of Steve Mortensen, who owns Colossus Comics. Dawn and Steve own the domain "dawnmortensen.com" and figured, why not put a redirect on that so anyone heading to that URL will go straight to the Colossus Comics offerings on eBay?

[PedigreeMan]

Great point, FD, and one I was about to make myself.

 

Marketwatch.com, while certainly a 'news outlet' and a relatively prominent one on the Web, will post just about any press release in its entirety. That doesn't make it news.

 

I also like Jbud's point about how CT and trimming may decrease in frequency due to the easier, safer "improvement options" available to people - namely, clean and press.

 

Now here's where things get a little strange. I went and looked at the "PR contact" at the bottom of the press release. It's someone named Dawn Mortensen, of Dawn Mortensen PR. Okay so far. But when I try to direct my browser to www.dawnmortensen.com (using the domain from Dawn's email address), it redirects me here

 

What does "Colossus Comics" have to do with this announcement? Who is Dawn Mortensen? Dawn is a PR consultant in the SF Bay Area, and the wife of Steve Mortensen, who owns Colossus Comics. Dawn and Steve own the domain "dawnmortensen.com" and figured, why not put a redirect on that so anyone heading to that URL will go straight to the Colossus Comics offerings on eBay?

 

So does this mean that Dawn does CGC's PR?

 

Someone remind me how many new books a month CGC pre-screens/grades for her husband's store ...?

 

[DawgPhan]

tangled web indeed..

[awe4one]

Dawn and Steve own the domain "dawnmortensen.com" and figured, why not put a redirect on that so anyone heading to that URL will go straight to the Colossus Comics offerings on eBay?

 

That is strange...

 

Jim

[garthgantu]

So does this mean that Dawn does CGC's PR?

 

Someone remind me how many new books a month CGC pre-screens/grades for her husband's store ...?

 

 

Yes, Dawn handles PR for CGC. She seems like a very nice sort and is married to a comic book dealer, so you have to have a little sympathy. She attended San Diego Con last year on CGC's behalf, and is going to WizardWorld in LA under the same auspices.

 

As to how many new books her husband submits each month, I have no real idea, but they're pretty much all moderns, so it's probably in the hundreds at least.

[sborock]

tangled web indeed..

 

I am not sure why this would be a "tangled web".

 

We met Dawn through her husband, she is a PR person, we liked her, She is very professional, and now we pay her to do PR for CGC.