PGM Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazines #2, #7, #9 0

[jou13]

Greetings everyone. I have boxes and boxes of Famous Monsters magazines lying around and these are my three earliest issues and I was wondering if they are in good enough condition and hold enough value to send them in for CGC grading.

#2

#7

 

#9

 

Thanks for looking! I do appreciate any grading inputs.

[Not A Clone]

Not surer how much they are worth, but I would guesstimate they are in the VG range on average.

[The Lions Den]

Greetings. Yes, these appear to be nice enough to submit for grading. However, a few words of caution are necessary here. As I'm sure you know, the spines on these early FM's are very fragile and prone to splitting (I see they already have various degrees of this problem from your pictures). If you end up submitting these for certification, please don't have them pressed. There's a very good chance this would result in further splitting, popped staples, etc. They are one of the few titles that are not a very good candidate for pressing (especially the early issues). Also, if you're going to submit, make sure the books are complete with no missing pages and no cut-outs, and put a fragile sticker on each one of the bags. 

The #2 is pretty scarce in any grade. It has value even in the condition it's in. The #7 has 3 different cover versions and your copy is the most common version. The #9 is the first Basil Gogos cover---a landmark issue. The grades would likely fall in the Very Good range depending upon how bad the spines are split---#7 looks to be in the best condition. 

No matter what you decide, please handle these with care! They're fragile survivors from a bygone age...

[Gnasher]

2 hours ago, The Lions Den said:

Greetings. Yes, these appear to be nice enough to submit for grading. However, a few words of caution are necessary here. As I'm sure you know, the spines on these early FM's are very fragile and prone to splitting (I see they already have various degrees of this problem from your pictures). If you end up submitting these for certification, please don't have them pressed. There's a very good chance this would result in further splitting, popped staples, etc. They are one of the few titles that are not a very good candidate for pressing (especially the early issues). Also, if you're going to submit, make sure the books are complete with no missing pages and no cut-outs, and put a fragile sticker on each one of the bags. 

The #2 is pretty scarce in any grade. It has value even in the condition it's in. The #7 has 3 different cover versions and your copy is the most common version. The #9 is the first Basil Gogos cover---a landmark issue. The grades would likely fall in the Very Good range depending upon how bad the spines are split---#7 looks to be in the best condition. 

No matter what you decide, please handle these with care! They're fragile survivors from a bygone age...

Fabulous and informative

[The Lions Den]

8 hours ago, Gnasher said:

Fabulous and informative

Thanks Gnasher! Hopefully I've been of some help. Early FM's are always desirable and these are pretty nice copies, even with the spine splits...

[Gnasher]

1 hour ago, The Lions Den said:

Thanks Gnasher! Hopefully I've been of some help. Early FM's are always desirable and these are pretty nice copies, even with the spine splits...

That's what I call the extra mile, and a bit more. I don't know about jou13, but I certainly learnt something!

[evilskip]

The weak spines bring them down into the 3.5 to 4.0 range. Great mags to have though!!

[jou13]

On 8/5/2018 at 9:43 PM, The Lions Den said:

Greetings. Yes, these appear to be nice enough to submit for grading. However, a few words of caution are necessary here. As I'm sure you know, the spines on these early FM's are very fragile and prone to splitting (I see they already have various degrees of this problem from your pictures). If you end up submitting these for certification, please don't have them pressed. There's a very good chance this would result in further splitting, popped staples, etc. They are one of the few titles that are not a very good candidate for pressing (especially the early issues). Also, if you're going to submit, make sure the books are complete with no missing pages and no cut-outs, and put a fragile sticker on each one of the bags. 

The #2 is pretty scarce in any grade. It has value even in the condition it's in. The #7 has 3 different cover versions and your copy is the most common version. The #9 is the first Basil Gogos cover---a landmark issue. The grades would likely fall in the Very Good range depending upon how bad the spines are split---#7 looks to be in the best condition. 

No matter what you decide, please handle these with care! They're fragile survivors from a bygone age...

Thank you for educating me on the grading process and the small history behind the series. I literally have boxes of Famous Monsters passed down from my dad and I will be posting more in the coming days from the earlier issues. This genre of magazines have a very small cult following so finding an interested retailer has become quite the difficult task. I figure I will slab my most wanted/early issues to try to get the most bang for my buck. The difference between a CGC and raw magazine price value is drastic! 

Edited August 9, 2018 by jou13

[jou13]

On 8/6/2018 at 11:20 AM, evilskip said:

The weak spines bring them down into the 3.5 to 4.0 range. Great mags to have though!!

Thank you! I am hoping to turn at least a few 5.0s and I will be posting more FMs in the coming weeks and go from there. 

[The Lions Den]

10 hours ago, jou13 said:

Thank you! I am hoping to turn at least a few 5.0s and I will be posting more FMs in the coming weeks and go from there. 

Since the spines on the early issues are notorious for splitting, they're usually given a bit more leeway when it comes to grading them. It looks like your father took pretty good care of these; the covers look bright and glossy. Good luck and have fun!