Scanning the CGC bar code 1 1

[sterlingcomics]

I'm curious if anyone is using either hand-held scanners and/or phone software to scan their CGC bar code to help with data entry, and if so, what software are they use for scanning and what software are they using to aid with this?

 

I'm also curious as to what kind of bar code is being used. See this site for more information.

[musicmeta]

Never tried to scan the bar code.

[whisp]

I setup a computer for a store once and played with the software collectorz and it worked for the most part for scanning in books.

[Antpark]

I use a hand held bar code scanner along with the ComicBase software to catalogue my books. I used one of the custom fields available within it to store the CGC bar code. It's a searchable field, so if I need to find that entry, I can scan the code into the search box and it'll find it.

 

This also works on the comic book's UPC code (which they try and prepopulate in the software when possible). This is helpful when adding new purchases to the collection (if the book has a visible barcode) as you can scan the book's code and the software will take you to that specific issue.

 

As for what type of code, I honestly don't remember. It's been a while since I got my scanner and I didn't understand much about bar codes at the time. Included with it was a sheet of different codes to set the reader and I just kept trying ones until both the UPC and CGC codes popped up in notepad

[sterlingcomics]

^ Yeah, I've been dorking around with ComicBase. It's a tad intensive for me, and in reality my collection could be stored in the cloud. I do like the fact that it pulls down story information etc. ComicBase looked to me great for those that have a ton of issues and seemed like overkill for just cataloging my CGC collection. Bit I'm willing to give it a chance. I know it has custom fields, but for the money of the program they should have field type defaults depending on what type of comic collector you are and away you go (ie cover CGC folks out of the box).

 

Can you tell me what type of bc scanner you're using? I tried using my laptop's camera for scanning the book, but that didn't work out too well. I've also tried the phone based ComicBase without good results either.

[Antpark]

True, it might be overkill for just a CGC collection -- I have many other long boxes of Raw books that I used it for too.

They are always soliciting for improvements or additions to the software if you feel like sharing it with them on their forum.

One other thing I like about the software is that I can substitute scans of my slabs in place of the normal cover image, so when I go to an issue, the scan is then visible too.

 

As for the scanner - I don't have any of the packaging anymore, so I had to google it.

It was nothing fancy and pretty cheap -- Shenzhen Alacrity Barcode Scanner .

IIRC, I ordered it from one of those direct from china websites (for the life of me, I can't remember the name now )

You could probably find it or something like it on eBay, Amazon, etc.

It's USB and didn't come with a stand which was fine with me -- I keep it put away unless I need to use it, then it's just plug it in, use it, unplug and store it.

I didn't see the need to go all out and get wireless or Bluetooth -- the increased cost didn't justify the use for which I needed it.

I've had it for a few years now and it's been pretty solid.

No issues with it as of yet.

 

Hope that helps

[sterlingcomics]

Yes it does. I did find some on eBay for $15 for USB based or $30 for bluetooth.

 

The biggest "need" for me is for me to go into "batch create" mode and simply hit the boxes, scan the CGC number and populate my book from that. I'm guessing ComicBase doesn't do a lookup based on the cert number so all I have to do is literally scan does it? Basically like what they do if you scan the barcode on the comic itself.

 

That's the dream.

[Kevin76]

How many slabs do people have that they need to be scanning their inventory?

[DavidTheDavid]

How many slabs do people have that they need to be scanning their inventory?

 

It's good for insurance if nothing else.

[Antpark]

Yes it does. I did find some on eBay for $15 for USB based or $30 for bluetooth.

 

The biggest "need" for me is for me to go into "batch create" mode and simply hit the boxes, scan the CGC number and populate my book from that. I'm guessing ComicBase doesn't do a lookup based on the cert number so all I have to do is literally scan does it? Basically like what they do if you scan the barcode on the comic itself.

 

That's the dream.

Haha, no it won't do that.

The only way I could think of it doing something like that would probably involve having to tie into the CGC Certification Verification which is probably something neither of them wants to do.

[sterlingcomics]

How many slabs do people have that they need to be scanning their inventory?

 

I always want the unique serial number fo the books for insurance purposes. There's also the general notion that if I can lookup the certification number all other details about the book will be known....so...being lazy....reduced data entry requirements?

 

Haha, no it won't do that.

The only way I could think of it doing something like that would probably involve having to tie into the CGC Certification Verification which is probably something neither of them wants to do.

 

There's no reason for CGC to do it, but as a lazy person I would love some software to do it. I generated a small -script that could pull that information in for me, so I guess I could just scrap ComicBase and roll my own. Scanning the barcode is ubiquitous anyway.

[sterlingcomics]

According to this site, CGC is using Code 39 as its barcode format.

[sterlingcomics]

OK, got my scanner. I was surprised to what I found when I scanned: Example:

 

 

NEW: After looking up the comic in the census, I've also discovered that one of the data components is the COMIC ID in the registry. For example:

 

https://www.cgccomics.com/census/grades_standard.asp?ComicID=14410

 

NEW: After looking at the 1st data unknown field, I am fairly certain it relates to PAGE QUALITY. All WHITE pages have value 23 and all OFF-WHITE TO WHITE PQ have values 16. I need to see multiple scans with OFF-WHITE and CREAM TO OFF-WHITE to confirm

 

Example bc information:

00144102398000111075590008

 

00 - prefix that is optional

14410 - comic id

23 - page quality (23=WHITE, 16=OWW, ??=OW, ??=COW, ??=BRITTLE)

98 - grade of the book

00011 - data component unknown

1075590008 - CGC book number

 

We also need to see if there's a pattern between Universal, Qualified, Restored, and on page quality.

 

Data via the verification tool:

 

Certification #: 1075590008

Title: House of Mystery

Issue: 221

Issue Date: 1/74

Issue Year: 1974

Publisher: D.C. Comics

Grade: 9.8

Total Graded At: 2

Page Quality: WHITE

Grade Date: 03/14/2012

Category: Universal

Art Comments: Michael Fleisher and Len Wein stories

Wrightson, Kaluta and Thorne art

Bernie Wrightson/Michael Wm Kaluta cover

Grader Notes: None Available

 

Of course, the last 10 digits is the CGC number presented on the book. Does anyone know what the other data is or for? I'm guessing it could represent the invoice number...

 

My scanner is neat...it has an "inventory mode" where it can store all of the scans and then I can later "upload it" to the keyboard buffer by scanning a barcode. It also can be configured to send an "enter" at the end of the data stream, which is important if you're entering it on a spreadsheet or using it as input in a data entry system (more on that later). It does seem to me that having a wireless option may be worth it after all.

 

Here's a link; I sent a reasonable offer. It comes with a USB cable for charging and a blue tooth adapter if you need it and driver software on a CD as well as a user manual.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/272176740413?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[bababooey]

OK, got my scanner. Here's an example of what returned:

00144102398000111075590008

 

00 - prefix that is optional

144102398000 - data component unknown

111075590008 - CGC book number

 

Of course, the last 10 digits is the CGC number presented on the book. Does anyone know what the other data is or for? I'm guessing it could represent the invoice number...

 

My scanner is neat...it has an "inventory mode" where it can store all of the scans and then I can later "upload it" to the keyboard buffer by scanning a barcode. It also can be configured to send an "enter" at the end of the data stream, which is important if you're entering it on a spreadsheet or using it as input in a data entry system (more on that later). It does seem to me that having a wireless option may be worth it after all.

 

Here's a link; I sent a reasonable offer. It comes with a USB cable for charging and a blue tooth adapter if you need it and driver software on a CD as well as a user manual.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/272176740413?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Your book didn't come up in the verification tool, I tried to look it up to see if anything made sense but nothing.

 

When I look at the garbage data, it looks like you submitted an ASM vol 1 book (001441) would represent the issue range for that volume.

 

The rest 02398000 is probably identifiers for issue number (to pull up their stored notes) maybe label colour indicator, grade & PQ identifiers all of which probably just have a numerical value.

I'd guess that your book was a Spidey 23

 

There should be a way to chop the number so you only collect the digits you want from the back end.

edit cgc verification tool link

Edited September 14, 2016 by bababooey

[The-Collector]

OK, got my scanner. Here's an example of what returned:

00144102398000111075590008

 

00 - prefix that is optional

144102398000 - data component unknown

111075590008 - CGC book number

 

Of course, the last 10 digits is the CGC number presented on the book. Does anyone know what the other data is or for? I'm guessing it could represent the invoice number...

 

My scanner is neat...it has an "inventory mode" where it can store all of the scans and then I can later "upload it" to the keyboard buffer by scanning a barcode. It also can be configured to send an "enter" at the end of the data stream, which is important if you're entering it on a spreadsheet or using it as input in a data entry system (more on that later). It does seem to me that having a wireless option may be worth it after all.

 

Here's a link; I sent a reasonable offer. It comes with a USB cable for charging and a blue tooth adapter if you need it and driver software on a CD as well as a user manual.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/272176740413?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Your book didn't come up in the verification tool, I tried to look it up to see if anything made sense but nothing.

 

When I look at the garbage data, it looks like you submitted an ASM vol 1 book (001441) would represent the issue range for that volume.

 

The rest 02398000 is probably identifiers for issue number (to pull up their stored notes) maybe label colour indicator, grade & PQ identifiers all of which probably just have a numerical value.

I'd guess that your book was a Spidey 23

 

There should be a way to chop the number so you only collect the digits you want from the back end.

edit cgc verification tool link

 

Oh man I love the boards because of threads like this. So much great geekdom.

Edited September 14, 2016 by The-Collector

[sterlingcomics]

^ I'm a tech geek that happens to get paid doing what I like to do....this is just fun!

 

My bad, I had one 1 too many. I modified my original post. Two previous posters may want to remove my quote to prevent confusion.

 

If anyone has any brain cells to tackle this enigma, please do! What's clear however is that the barcode has more data than what it is presenting. The grade of the book is 9.8, and I see that in the data stream. The date graded "might" be part of it, but it's a mess. I'll scan more tonight to see if there's a correlation.

[bc]

As a comic collecting professional geek and amateur cryptographer, you have seriously piqued my interest.

 

I was going to suggest posting more data to begin correlating the header information into meaningful data, but you are all over it.

 

If it's like most barcode systems, it uses a series of significant digits (just to keep it geeky, like an IP address has a set of 4 significant series/octets or a MAC address uses a series of 6 two digit hexadecimal values as identifiers).

 

The "98" may match the grade, but some of those zeros may represent that it is Universal (0) vs a PLOD (1) or Conserved (2), non-sig (0) vs SS (1) and White pages (0) vs any other PQ.

 

Just guesses due to the fact that typically the best default value is a "0" and the other options increment as positive integers.

 

Think I need to buy your setup to help add to the data set to crack the code

-bc

 

[bababooey]

9.8 could also be represented by 23 since it is the 23rd highest grade.

[bc]

Now that a have a fresh pint.....

 

Yes bababooey, that could be it as well. Tough to determine with a single data point

 

The data in the header of the barcode would more than likely link to information that is available via the Census and the Registry; a.k.a., title, issue # and the criteria mentioned earlier like grade, PQ & category.

 

So I started thinking about the issue number and according to the GCD, House of Mystery #221 is the first issue of Volume 23.

 

Going back to your unknown data component “14410239800011”, could the “23” represent volume number component ?

 

Need more data 

-bc

 

[Antpark]

Now that a have a fresh pint.....

Need more data 

-bc

Ask and you shall receive

It's a small sample I pulled out of the database.

 

 

Comic Title,Issue Number,Condition,CGC Registration - Barcode

Uncanny X-Men, The,-1,CGC 9.8,00408942398000080952749019,

Uncanny X-Men, The,146,CGC 9.8,00034322398000081105828013,

Uncanny X-Men, The,147,CGC 9.8,00025030098000000079077009,

Uncanny X-Men, The,148,CGC 9.8,00051621698000080962204004,

Uncanny X-Men, The,149,CGC 9.8,00034332398000081038690053,

Uncanny X-Men, The,150,CGC 9.8,00029842398000081076430016,

Uncanny X-Men, The,151,CGC 9.8,00023151698000080790588039,

Uncanny X-Men, The,152,CGC 9.8,00023162398000080607611022,

Uncanny X-Men, The,153,CGC 9.8,00023171698000080931489030,

Uncanny X-Men, The,154,CGC 9.8,00023182398000080607611048,

Uncanny X-Men, The,155,CGC 9.8,00034342398000081347042009,

Uncanny X-Men, The,156,CGC 9.8,00023192398000081074750016,

Uncanny X-Men, The,157,CGC 9.8,00023202398000080153318014,

Uncanny X-Men, The,158,CGC 9.8,00034971698000080940940060,

Uncanny X-Men, The,159,CGC 9.8,00023212398000080969632017,

Uncanny X-Men, The,162,CGC 9.8,00034981698000080243079021,

Uncanny X-Men, The,163,CGC 9.8,00034992398000080916517009,

Uncanny X-Men, The,165,CGC 9.8,00051631698000080969684001,

Uncanny X-Men, The,166,CGC 9.8,00089012398000080075573003,

Uncanny X-Men, The,167,CGC 9.8,00089022398000081347042012,

Uncanny X-Men, The,171,CGC 9.8,00035012398000081175563007,

Uncanny X-Men, The,172,CGC 9.8,00040892398000080914209011,

Uncanny X-Men, The,173,CGC 9.8,00051642398000081029242007,

Uncanny X-Men, The,175,CGC 9.8,00058462398000080635488029,

Uncanny X-Men, The,176,CGC 9.8,00051652398000080763341075,

Uncanny X-Men, The,179,CGC 9.8,00147212398000080977536058

 

 

It's csv, so you can copy/paste into something else if you want to read it a bit better. Looks like that 98 might indeed be the grade given.

 

Edit: For Comparison here's one that isn't 9.8

X-Men, The,124,CGC 9.2,00025182392000080279629003

Edited September 14, 2016 by Antpark