Saving Comic Book Collection from California Fires 🔥 2 2

[Robot Man]

8 hours ago, solm4st3r said:

There was a boardie who lost his house and collection in the Santa Rosa fire a couple of years ago. I'm not sure if he posts anymore.

A very large group of the San Francisco/ Tom Riley GA collection was lost in a fire in the Oakland SF area many years ago. Really tragic to lose so many important books. 

[Hollywood1892]

On 8/22/2020 at 8:05 PM, comicdonna said:

December 27th 2010 at 1:00 AM our daughter came into our bedroom screaming her bedroom was on fire.  I woke up and discovered the curtain was on fire.  As I was putting it out, the whole sheet rock wall turned red, then I could see the embers burning the studs.  It was the most evil thing I have ever seen.  This was happening in the middle of a blizzard.  My wife called 911, I got our daughter and dog out, then went back inside, while my wife removed some snow from the vehicles, so we could move them away from the house,

 

I grabbed 2 CGC boxes of comics and brought them out to my truck.  I was heading back in 1 more time, and this sheriff was telling me no.  The only problem was, he had 1 too many doughnuts.  At this point, the fire had taken out the power, and it was getting smoky  I grabbed 2 more CGC boxes, and stacked my 1st wrap of Action 1, a rare Superman Bread Card with coupon attached and an NGC case full of MS65 Morgans and HG Cameo PR Franklin half's.  The top came off the NGC case, and tipped knocking most of the coins out.  I also lost the bread card.  I felt on the floor for them but, no luck and I had to leave right that second.  I  ended up saving all my slabs, and the clothes on my back.   Lost all raw books, including a box of GA Actions packaged for CGC.  I was waiting until after the holidays to ship them.  sigh.   

My wife lived there 50 years, and only made it out with pajamas, boots, a coat and her wedding rings.  We watched the house burn until 5:30 AM then, the firemen helped us across the hoses.  The next day, the only thing standing was the chimney.  

I'm so sorry to hear that bro!

Glad to hear there was no serious injuries tho

[WolverineX]

13 hours ago, SeniorSurfer said:

As to the preparation which you originally mentioned, I second (or third) the idea of having 1-2 boxes of the super valuables separated from the regular books for compactness, ease of removal, ease of transportation and ease of identification in case of emergencies.  To deter ease of thievery, maybe code the boxes with numbers (take only the last odd number boxes for example), longer numbers that mean nothing except maybe if they end in a "27" (take 103727, not 104528) or even simple reverse dollar sign meanings ("$" are actually the expensive boxes to grab, not "$$$$").  Generally thieves don't have a lot of time to sift through boxes after they yank TVs off the walls, pull computers from their moorings and look for jewelry/cash.

Good idea... thinking about selling off more comics now.... 

 

I think the thing is that even if a fire happened, I would probably rather save old family photos and other personal heirlooms rather than comics...

[Rhymenoceros]

On the note about asking for advice:

I have some of these and plan to get more if I need to. They have been on backorder for a long time since I'm pretty sure they are manufactured in China: 

https://www.bcwsupplies.com/graded-comic-book-bin

Not too bad if you buy a 5 pack at a time (or 8+ to get free shipping). This definitely would solve some of the issues involving quick grabbing and going. To that effect, any graded boxed would help vs. using any random boxes you can find. 

[thehumantorch]

On 8/22/2020 at 6:20 PM, comicdonna said:

The boards were very helpful, getting us back on our feet.  

And you paid it forward for years.  Class act.

[kav]

I was going for a walk and came across a scene of chaos-one block away a resident in a 4 plex had snapped-he set his apt on fire and ran out naked, screaming.  He kept trying to throw his dog into the flames.  neighbors showed up and restrained him and got the dog.  One woman ran back to her apt and smashed the fire extinguisher box and ran back and entered the dwelling, bravely putting the fire out.  Her landlord was angry at her for using his fire extinguisher.

[Cool & Collected]

On 8/25/2020 at 11:57 AM, Rhymenoceros said:

On the note about asking for advice:

I have some of these and plan to get more if I need to. They have been on backorder for a long time since I'm pretty sure they are manufactured in China: 

https://www.bcwsupplies.com/graded-comic-book-bin

Not too bad if you buy a 5 pack at a time (or 8+ to get free shipping). This definitely would solve some of the issues involving quick grabbing and going. To that effect, any graded boxed would help vs. using any random boxes you can find. 

 

Thanks for the advice !

It still says backorder until 10/27/2020. 

[Rhymenoceros]

Just now, Cool & Collected said:

 

Thanks for the advice !

It still says backorder until 10/27/2020. 

Yeah, they will be on backorder forever with the new China restrictions. I'm pretty sure BCW is fulfilling shipment in the order they were placed. So if you wait and order later you will likely not get the ones they are "pre-ordering" now that are set to come in 10/27, if that makes any sense. Stuff manufactured in China is all delayed like crazy so if it's something you want I would get on the list now so you get them in a couple months vs. waiting even longer.