I don't get it . . .

[divad]

What's the big deal about high grade books that you own, if you didn't get them there in the first place?

 

If all you did was acquire them for wads of cash what does this say about you? Seems foolish to me . . .

[Slacker]

For some of us it is a nice way to see how your collection rates alongside like minded collectors. It is also a nice way of seeing who is in possesion of books you are looking for and in some cases how they aquired them.

[tth2]

What's the big deal about high grade books that you own, if you didn't get them there in the first place?

 

If all you did was acquire them for wads of cash what does this say about you? Seems foolish to me . . .

You're right, I'm going to send a letter to every big art collector in the world and tell them to burn their paintings. After all, if those bastards didn't paint the freakin' things, why should they have the nerve to display them? All they did was acquire them for wads of cash!

[divad]

What's the big deal about high grade books that you own, if you didn't get them there in the first place?

 

If all you did was acquire them for wads of cash what does this say about you? Seems foolish to me . . .

You're right, I'm going to send a letter to every big art collector in the world and tell them to burn their paintings. After all, if those bastards didn't paint the freakin' things, why should they have the nerve to display them? All they did was acquire them for wads of cash!

 

tt, that's a bit of an extrapolation - don't you think

 

and no offense intended - just a question

[tth2]

Sorry David, I went back and removed the angry face and replaced it with a confused one. I think the analogy is still appropriate, though.

 

If we follow your line of reasoning, then there's no need for a back-issue market, as only OO purchases will be deemed worthy. Hmm, that would make Harry the uber-collector on these boards. That's actually a great question, though, who else on these boards has a great OO collection?

[Aces]

What's the big deal about high grade books that you own, if you didn't get them there in the first place?

 

If all you did was acquire them for wads of cash what does this say about you? Seems foolish to me . . .

 

The BSDs like to swing it where everyone can see it.

[arexcrooke]

Good question. Would it make a difference if you bought them raw and sent them off to be graded? Its still the same you are paying money to aquire something.

This hobby, like any other hobby, revolves around money. The more you have the nicer collectables you can attain.

If you are saying that unless you bought them off of the rack then it isnt the same, which i dont think you are, then only people who are 40 and up in age can have these collections.

 

Personally, i never thought I would own more than 2 or 3 cgc graded books and that those would be keys. I bought my Avengers 1 and had no impetus to buy any more slabbed books. Then i see that a Thor registry was started, so i thought, why not. Ill get the books i need to finish my run, not spend a lot of money, and have a little fun.

I will never have a complete Avengers run, in fact, I would only buy issues 1-20 slabbed, and maybe the Kree-Skrull run.

 

Did this answer you question?

[divad]

What's the big deal about high grade books that you own, if you didn't get them there in the first place?

 

If all you did was acquire them for wads of cash what does this say about you? Seems foolish to me . . .

You're right, I'm going to send a letter to every big art collector in the world and tell them to burn their paintings. After all, if those bastards didn't paint the freakin' things, why should they have the nerve to display them? All they did was acquire them for wads of cash!

 

tt, the analogy is inappropriate for several reasons:

1) I am talking about the CGC registry - I am not aware of a comparable "weenie wagging" venue for fine art;

2) Why burn them? I didn't say they weren't valuable;

3) And your reference to creation of the art has no relevance to either situation, as in neither case, is the "owner" the "creator";

4) Fine art is generally displayed in one's home, for personal enjoyment, not on an internet medium;

5) Most fine art in private collections is not displayed publicly at all, until the owner dies and leaves his art to his estate, or to a museum.

6) The only valid part of your analogy is the "wads of cash" involved, although significantly less in the comics arena, and it was part of my question.

 

So with all due respect

 

[divad]

Good question. Would it make a difference if you bought them raw and sent them off to be graded? Its still the same you are paying money to aquire something.

This hobby, like any other hobby, revolves around money. The more you have the nicer collectables you can attain.

If you are saying that unless you bought them off of the rack then it isnt the same, which i dont think you are, then only people who are 40 and up in age can have these collections.

 

Personally, i never thought I would own more than 2 or 3 cgc graded books and that those would be keys. I bought my Avengers 1 and had no impetus to buy any more slabbed books. Then i see that a Thor registry was started, so i thought, why not. Ill get the books i need to finish my run, not spend a lot of money, and have a little fun.

I will never have a complete Avengers run, in fact, I would only buy issues 1-20 slabbed, and maybe the Kree-Skrull run.

 

Did this answer you question?

 

Hi Arex,

 

Obviously, you don't have to be the one that bought them off the racks (but it doesn't hurt). That's not what I'm saying. As we all know, buying HG raw books is a difficult task. Recognizing high grade books, and selecting them to be slabbed is an art in it self. Buying slabbed high grade books takes no skill whatsoever. Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate the intrinsic value of a slabbed HG comic as much as anyone here, and I understand that there are many unbelievably skilled and knowledgeable collectors who do this.

 

But my point is: does having the highest registry set mean anything if all you did is throw money at it to obtain it? Aside from the obvious "mine's bigger than yours" mentality, I think the real credit should go to the original slabbers of the HG books - the collectors who collected or acquired the books and maintined them in pristine condition over the years. In other words - every HG book is its own pedigree! (Man, I know THAT will ruffle some feathers around here.)

 

[divad]

For some of us it is a nice way to see how your collection rates alongside like minded collectors. It is also a nice way of seeing who is in possesion of books you are looking for and in some cases how they aquired them.

 

Slacker - both very good points - Thank you.

[tth2]

1) I am talking about the CGC registry - I am not aware of a comparable "weenie wagging" venue for fine art;

Perhaps not as formalized as a registry system, because it would be difficult to assign a points system to fine art, which are all originals, but if you don't think there is very public "weenie wagging" amongst fine art collectors, and recognition of who has the best private Picasso collection, the best private Monet collection, etc., you're being very naive.

 

2) Why burn them? I didn't say they weren't valuable;

just using a bit of hyperbole to make my point

 

3) And your reference to creation of the art has no relevance to either situation, as in neither case, is the "owner" the "creator";

I thought you were saying buying back issues, whether raw or slabbed, didn't merit praise. In that case, the better analogy would've been that buying art directly from artists was okay, and buying from galleries/dealers was for wimps. Anyways, I see now from your subsequent posts that you did not mean only OO purchases were worthy, but that buying raw back issues and slabbing them was okay. If that's the case, then you should give kudos to guys like Doug Schmell, who purchased much of his collection raw. Sure, he has upgraded books since then by buying slabbed books, but I bet a big chunk of his slabbed collection was purchased raw by him.

 

4) Fine art is generally displayed in one's home, for personal enjoyment, not on an internet medium;

I like knowing where the "bodies" are, and the registry helps with that. I therefore feel it's only fair to show what's in my collection. Publicly posting what's in your collection doesn't prevent you from privately enjoying your collection by one iota.

 

5) Most fine art in private collections is not displayed publicly at all, until the owner dies and leaves his art to his estate, or to a museum.

Sure it is. Lots of really stellar pieces get loaned out for exhibitions and such all the time. Anyways, lots of comic collectors are very private too. If you don't think so, please feel free to produce a scan of the Church Action 1 or Marvel Comics 1.

[Architecht]

There's a large element to all of this that's really just about sharing your collection. Why rank them then? Well, for example, the coin registry has thousands of sets. Ranking helps you know what to look at. Are you looking to get blown away by the top guys in the field? Click the #1's. Are you interested more in what kind of collections are being built in your price range? Would seeing other people's collections help you to determine if you should be buying high grade a few at a time, or slightly lower grade but getting complete runs? Check out some other sets and get a feel for them.

 

Where things REALLY get cool is when the collectors actually make the effort to put comments on the sets and the comics - sharing how they acquired them, where they found them, what the "hunt" was like, and why they find that cover to be beautiful work. Add some pictures into that, and it's like hanging out at a large comic book collecting club where everyone gets to show off and talk about their collections.

 

If you have an appreciation for comics, then you should be able to share in the ehtusiasm someone else has for their own sets. And if you're lucky, they'll share in your enthusiasm for YOUR set and you'll both learn something out of it and garner some enjoyment.

 

Arch

[rob_react]

Sure it is. Lots of really stellar pieces get loaned out for exhibitions and such all the time.

 

It's prevalent enough that there was just an article in ARTnews about that very subject- a "how to " on loaning art.

[arexcrooke]

But my point is: does having the highest registry set mean anything if all you did is throw money at it to obtain it?

My goal has never been to have the highest rated registry set. My goal is to have an average of 9.2. My other goal is to get them as cheaply as possible! Diva, you know i dont mind paying for quality, but I also dont have the coin to toss it around and buy the entire run in a few months. So part of the fun for me is to try to get nice books at the cheapest possible price.

Recognizing high grade books, and selecting them to be slabbed is an art in it self

True, but i also have looked and found that to buy the book raw, pay for shipping both ways, and also for grading fees, it is most likely cheaper for me to just buy them already slabbed. This goes back to me being a collector with a very modest budget. To expand a little, I have looked at many of the big time on-line dealers and hey are asking almost as much for high grade raw books as their graded inventory. It then makes no sense to buy to slab when you have to pay 90-95% of graded prices for raw books. I do have some raw books that I have bought that I will get graded but only because I got into them cheap enough to absorb the grading costs. Again, it comes back to money, and how i have not much of it.

Buying slabbed high grade books takes no skill whatsoever

Maybe, but when you are on a budget where every $$$ counts, then it takes a lot of patience to get what you want at the price you can afford.

[Mithril Man]

If all you did was acquire them for wads of cash what does this say about you? Seems foolish to me . . .

 

I'm glad Doug S. has his sets in the registry. I enjoy looking through them. I'm not concerned about topping them (which is impossible), and I could care less that it took no "skill" to assemble.

[divad]

Ah, now we're getting somewhere!

 

No, I am not naive, and I have huge respect for collectors like Doug and others - so much so that

 

Thanks for your perspective.

[divad]

There's a large element to all of this that's really just about sharing your collection. Why rank them then? Well, for example, the coin registry has thousands of sets. Ranking helps you know what to look at. Are you looking to get blown away by the top guys in the field? Click the #1's. Are you interested more in what kind of collections are being built in your price range? Would seeing other people's collections help you to determine if you should be buying high grade a few at a time, or slightly lower grade but getting complete runs? Check out some other sets and get a feel for them.

 

Where things REALLY get cool is when the collectors actually make the effort to put comments on the sets and the comics - sharing how they acquired them, where they found them, what the "hunt" was like, and why they find that cover to be beautiful work. Add some pictures into that, and it's like hanging out at a large comic book collecting club where everyone gets to show off and talk about their collections.

 

If you have an appreciation for comics, then you should be able to share in the ehtusiasm someone else has for their own sets. And if you're lucky, they'll share in your enthusiasm for YOUR set and you'll both learn something out of it and garner some enjoyment.

 

Arch

 

Thanks Arch,

 

Well said - I'll check it out further.

[Red Hook]

I think the registry is best utilized when people add the occasional scan or write a little anecdote about how or where they acquired the books.

 

I happen to like seeing my sets listed, and ranked. If I was looking for pure ego gratificiation, it wouldn't be the right place to be, that's for sure. I like to browse around and see what other collectors have.

 

Hey, I think it just represents different things to different people. No harm done....

 

....except that I've become Greggy's Scan Slave.

[divad]

....except that I've become Greggy's Scan Slave.

 

Is Greggy "optically challenged?"

[tth2]

If all you did was acquire them for wads of cash what does this say about you? Seems foolish to me . . .

 

I'm glad Doug S. has his sets in the registry. I enjoy looking through them. I'm not concerned about topping them (which is impossible), and I could care less that it took no "skill" to assemble.

I think you'd be surprised at how many issues in his collection Doug bought raw. The man definitely had skill (and money, of course). Even where he upgraded by purchasing a slabbed book that he didn't slab himself, I would guess that he helped to finance the purchase by selling/trading a book that he did slab himself.