Welcome CGC to the world of pulps" CGC will be grading them. 10 10

[OtherEric]

On 11/14/2023 at 6:15 AM, Bookery said:

 I also wonder, though not mentioned, if a certain other item released in early 2020 and printed by their own symbiotic partner Heritage, had anything to do with helping in that decision? 

 

[Darwination]

I chuckled at the "we're always looking to get into new markets" or whatever the equivalent line in the video. 

And also at the symbiotic relationship between grading companies and auction houses.   

Edited November 14, 2023 by Darwination

[waaaghboss]

On 11/14/2023 at 10:05 AM, Darwination said:

I chuckled at the "we're always looking to get into new markets" or whatever the equivalent line in the video. 

And also at the symbiotic relationship between grading companies and auction houses.   

I've watched some videos that cover Wata Games (video game grading company) and their relationship with Heritage, and it just looks downright criminal.

[Aman619]

I missed something... what's the connection between Heritage and pulp grading?

[Bookery]

On 11/15/2023 at 12:57 AM, Aman619 said:

I missed something... what's the connection between Heritage and pulp grading?

I didn't mean there was any nefarious connection... but the two companies serve each others' interests (i.e., symbiotic).  It is unlikely CGC would have the position it has today with comic book auctions were it not for CGC grading.  Were it not for the constant publicity said auctions and many record-setting prices bring, would CGC be getting anywhere near the business it does, especially with large and significant collections?  Each company has improved business because of the other, which is to be expected.  It is Heritage interviewing CGC in the above video, afterall.  

[asimovpulps]

On 11/15/2023 at 7:05 AM, Bookery said:

It is Heritage interviewing CGC in the above video, afterall.

Definitely agree with the broader point, and maybe even more importantly, all the other modern auctions places like Whatnot driving modern grading. That's probably where CGC makes most of its money because it's a steady stream of income on new books. 

But that was actually me interviewing Matt and I can guarantee I have no connection to Heritage 😁. I've actually never even won a book on there, I don't own a single comic, and I much prefer hunting pulps and not paying crazy prices. The folks at the Summit asked if I would do the interview so I checked with a few fellow pulpsters on what questions they'd want answered. I had the brittle page question queued up and totally forgot ....my bad... I'm super curious about that one too. And I did later ask about Pedigrees and the answer was essentially "Strasser and Yakima, and any other comic pedigrees that had pulps". Strassers have markings which make that easier, Yakimas obviously don't and have the certificate from Dave and whiter pages, but I think there might be a list so the same book doesn't pop up as Yakima twice, not sure.

Hopefully I covered most of the bases in the interview, and if not then...luckily I have a day job to go back to! 😂. I'm also cool with grading taking another 6 months so I can keep scooping up more pulps

And now a recent pickup because I can't post without sharing a pulp!

[Bookery]

On 11/15/2023 at 10:26 AM, asimovpulps said:

 

But that was actually me interviewing Matt and I can guarantee I have no connection to Heritage 😁.

Wow!  My apologies!  I could have sworn I was seeing "Heritage" on the shirt-badge, which is where I made the assumption.

On 11/15/2023 at 10:26 AM, asimovpulps said:

Hopefully I covered most of the bases in the interview, and if not then...luckily I have a day job to go back to!

You did a great job... a lot of detail was covered and I watched the entire thing in one sitting (when I should have been processing product, dangit!).  Even though I wrote guides to pulps (by default, as nobody else ever wanted to), I have a love/hate relationship with them.  I love historical artifacts, esp. those of the paper variety.  I like the art and history of them.  But I also find them a pain to deal with, in that they tend to leave piles of debris about as I bag and grade them.  It can be difficult to flip through pages, and tanning and browning would make many unpleasant for me to try and read.  Oddly enough, I find the slabbing of pulps a bit more enticing than I do with comics, for the above reasons.  As a dealer, I doubt if it will be cost-effective for me to slab very many (I tend to be rather generous when buying collections, and the added cost of slabbing might make them too expensive for the levels my specific market will bear).  But I am probably more likely to slab pulps in the future than comics (especially if the internal material is available in other formats).  At any rate, your interview is far and away the best information and images we've had to date about this newest CGC endeavor.

Edited November 15, 2023 by Bookery

[Dr. Love]

On 11/13/2023 at 6:19 PM, Darwination said:

Bedsheets fit in the mag boxes? Surprising.

The mag box length is 13 3/4" long. With a narrow label it handles the bedsheet.  Although 1" box is too deep, at least for this book.  I'll be reholdering to get into one of the new tweener slabs.

 

[Dr. Love]

On 11/15/2023 at 12:57 PM, Bookery said:

It can be difficult to flip through pages, and tanning and browning would make many unpleasant for me to try and read.  

This.  The only thing that I took a real double (triple) take on was the emphatic "we're counting pages".  Cumbersome for sure - but dangerous to the product too.  Holding onto that right fragile cover edge as you grab the next tannish page by its edge, and that's if it's a trimmed in production product.  What if that right edge has overhang - and it mostly will.  So the precheck newbie, there to count pages, is pressing down on that overhang while securing each new counted page to that mass under his thumb -  and then repeat hundreds of times looking for what?  a missing page? a cut coupon?  why bother - IT'S SLABBED.  Buyers aren't looking to crack them and read them, for goodness sake. Matt acknowledged that, as well he had to - it's all about the cover cover cover.

For a well thought out process, this seems way wrong.

Edited November 15, 2023 by Dr. Love

[Darwination]

On 11/15/2023 at 3:09 PM, Dr. Love said:

This.  The only thing that I took a real double (triple) take on was the emphatic "we're counting pages".  Cumbersome for sure - but dangerous to the product too.  Holding onto that right fragile cover edge as you grab the next tannish page by its edge, and that's if it's a trimmed in production product.  What if that right edge has overhang - and it mostly will.  So the precheck newbie, there to count pages, is pressing down on that overhang while securing each new counted page to that mass under his thumb -  and then repeat hundreds of times looking for what?  a missing page? a cut coupon?  why bother - IT'S SLABBED.  Buyers aren't looking to crack them and read them, for goodness sake. Matt acknowledged that, as well he had to - it's all about the cover cover cover.

For a well thought out process, this seems way wrong.

On the other hand, say you are a E.R.B. fan and expect to find that full story in this super-pricey book you've just purchased if you do happen to crack it.  You'd be pretty upset if the first page of the story (or whole story) was clipped when that's a key part of the value of the book.

I hear you, though, noticing cut outs or a neatly clipped page can be tricky, especially in a 200+ page book.  And, yes, just thumbing through a brittle or semi-brittle book can shed much pulp flake (with supple pages, though, you might have zero issues with this, some pulps are very sturdy).  Overhangs can be especially delicate and sometimes the loss of those bits affect the overall look of the cover.

And while we're celebrating the wonders of the pulps here, and while I'm digging in my files from curiosity, some illos from Doc's particular (very cool) issue there.  First published appearance of Anne McCaffrey?

Scans courtesy of Gorgon.  Having a good scan available of a pulp or golden age comic might ease the mind in putting a copy under ice.

Peter Poulton with a slightly unsettling spot illo for the McCaffrey story

Or how about Virgil Finlay illustrating Philip Jose Farmer? 

I wonder if the pulps might have influenced any later Sci Fi imagery, hmm

[davet75]

On 11/15/2023 at 7:28 PM, Darwination said:

On the other hand, say you are a E.R.B. fan and expect to find that full story in this super-pricey book you've just purchased if you do happen to crack it.  You'd be pretty upset if the first page of the story (or whole story) was clipped when that's a key part of the value of the book.

I agree that pages must be counted (as problematic as that is).  Some notable / valuable pulps with landmark firsts have very unimpressive covers, or the covers are unrelated to the important content. i.e REH's first Conan in WT has a nice St. John cover that has nothing to do with Conan, PKD's first published work in Planet Stories has a decent but generic cover, Lovecraft's first Cthulhu story in WT has an unrelated and unremarkable cover. The story pages are the gold here, not the covers. 

[tth2]

On 11/16/2023 at 5:09 AM, Dr. Love said:

This.  The only thing that I took a real double (triple) take on was the emphatic "we're counting pages".  Cumbersome for sure - but dangerous to the product too.  Holding onto that right fragile cover edge as you grab the next tannish page by its edge, and that's if it's a trimmed in production product.  What if that right edge has overhang - and it mostly will.  So the precheck newbie, there to count pages, is pressing down on that overhang while securing each new counted page to that mass under his thumb -  and then repeat hundreds of times looking for what?  a missing page? a cut coupon?  why bother - IT'S SLABBED.  Buyers aren't looking to crack them and read them, for goodness sake. Matt acknowledged that, as well he had to - it's all about the cover cover cover.

For a well thought out process, this seems way wrong.

I would expect a grading service, at a bare minimum, to confirm that the book being graded is complete and to note if it's not.  I can't think of anything less controversial. 

[Dr. Love]

the First Law of Pulps -  thou shall not disturb the overhang in any way

[Bookery]

On 11/16/2023 at 1:16 AM, Dr. Love said:

the First Law of Pulps -  thou shall not disturb the overhang in any way

I don't mind putting raw pulps out on a table to flip through, but I find overhangs to be so important that I usually trim them off the pulps and place them in mylar bags to be preserved for future generations.

[Dr. Love]

Lol theres that midwestern humour. Actually the new standards incentivize doing just that - no purple, no real hit on mid grade, which is now 4.5ish. Might as well give those bad boys a haircut for that sweet squarebound look.

[waaaghboss]

I wonder what the pulp version of that 10 copies or less on the census over on the comic board will be.  2 copies and some flakes?

Edited November 16, 2023 by waaaghboss

[Robot Man]

I bumped into a local dealer at a recent show with a whole box of very trimmed pulps. Not just the overhang. They were some what aggressively priced.

I mentioned it and he stated that pulps were different than comics because of their rarity. 

Most were average common sci fi issues. But I did actually buy a couple because they were tougher and he came down to reality.

Seem to be a lot of comic folks who are smelling blood in the water in a medium they have no experience in. 

[Darwination]

I've seen just *a bit* or re-pricing this week on eBay following HA's "Pulp Summit."  

 

[GACollectibles]

On 11/15/2023 at 3:57 PM, Bookery said:

But I also find them a pain to deal with, in that they tend to leave piles of debris about as I bag and grade them.  It can be difficult to flip through pages, and tanning and browning would make many unpleasant for me to try and read.

It's funny you mention this, I discovered years ago I have a paper dust allergy, so when processing pulps I made mask wearing fashionable long before covid.

[Robot Man]

On 11/17/2023 at 6:57 AM, GACollectibles said:

It's funny you mention this, I discovered years ago I have a paper dust allergy, so when processing pulps I made mask wearing fashionable long before covid.

You wouldn’t have much fun with me. I can’t even remember all the dark, dusty, critter infested attics, basements and old buildings I have been in while searching for old paper. Yeah, a mask and gloves as well as a flashlight is required.