Do you crack slabs for books staying in your PC? 3 3

[Randall Ries]

On 2/17/2022 at 4:04 PM, DocHoppus182 said:

Personally, I don’t crack books.  Yes, I would love to read/handle my copy of AF 15.  But, I have read reprints.  I have read a ton of other “big books” in all their raw glory, Hulk 1, Showcase 4 etc.  

I don’t see the point that if it’s already CGC graded, why I’d crack it.  I wouldn’t want to spend the extra coin to get something re-graded, like my AF 15.

Yep. This. Plus, we tend to spend more for slabbed books than its raw counterpart.

[Randall Ries]

On 2/16/2022 at 4:33 PM, Robot Man said:

I did one today. I had to. It was a prisioner of a slab from a company in the upper Northwest.

I rarely buy or keep slabbed books. I have cracked out quite a few. Occasionally, I keep books slabbed if they are super expensive or I buy them for the cover only.

I currently have maybe 25. I don’t really enjoy them much. Such a one dimensial experience. Look at the cover and put it aside.

They are much prettier in a shiny Mylar and I can pull them out and enjoy them whenever I want. 

You could enjoy the reprints too, right?

Maybe my million dollar idea should be to manufacture a cologne that smells like old newsprint. Call it "Female Repellent". LOL!

[Randall Ries]

On 2/17/2022 at 4:47 PM, Larryw7 said:

They're books, and were created to be read and enjoyed. I have very few books in slabs, except for a few that I'm ambivalent about.

Haha. The Bizarro World comic collector.

"Me crack out valuable, rare book. Touch with chicken wing fingers. Me keep books slabbed me no care about."

[mytastebud]

I bust graded copies out if I feel the grade is wrong. About 90% of the books I own I've read too. For me I wouldn't open a graded book just to read it. I have my raw books graded because I feel it protects them the best and it's easier to sell if I need money. I've never submitted an encapsulated book to CGC.

I do get the biggest kick out of re-submitting books that were once graded by CGC or another company. For me out of the half dozen I have re-submitted (raw) they never have come back the same grade.

[Mystafo]

I don't feel you can truly know a book your keeping...it's strengths and weaknesses...without getting it out of that slab.  Especially after all the stories I've read here over the years as well as my own experiences with mix-ups @ CGC. In addition, I trust my mylar/fullback/archive setup more in terms of keeping more fragile books from de-grading if you'll excuse the pun.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Mystafo

[10centcomics]

I crack open all the books in my personal collection. When I found out this wasn't the norm in the hobby, I was quite shocked! I can understand keeping books in their slabs if you plan to sell it at some point in the future. Or if you had a very high-grade that you wanted to preserve (a 9.8 modern, or a VF/NM vintage book). But for books in my permanent collection, I keep them raw for a variety of reasons:

• No newton rings. Books look great in Mylar sleeves and archives.
• No numerical grade to draw attention away from the book itself. I always thought the CGC label should be unobtrusive and on the back of the book. 
• Slabs take up a lot of space!
• Most importantly, I want to read the story and see all the interior art! Reading a reprint just isn't the same. And slabbing a comic isn't quite the same as a coin or baseball card, you miss out on ~95% of your collectible when you slab a comic. 

That being said, I appreciate having 3rd party grading services when buying a book, especially the restoration check. But when it arrives in my PC, I crack it open and enjoy it! And no shade to slab collectors, people can have their own collecting habits and motivations.

With the exception of the MF54 which I bought raw, these were once-graded books I cracked out because I know they are never leaving my collection. 

 

 

[Lord Gemini]

I'm keeping y'all away from my slabs. 

[MetalPSI]

All my stuff is staying in boxes until the house is built

Then I'll have absolutely no idea how I'm going to store/display everything 

[Robot Man]

On 2/17/2022 at 8:58 AM, Lord Gemini said:

I can get a lower grade copy for that though. If I'm buying a slab, I'm generally trying to get the highest grade I can afford.

If you collect GA, especially those impossible ones to find, you buy what comes your way…

[Lord Gemini]

On 2/17/2022 at 7:28 PM, Robot Man said:

If you collect GA, especially those impossible ones to find, you buy what comes your way…

Understood. I don't do GA at the moment.

[Robot Man]

On 2/17/2022 at 3:34 PM, Randall Ries said:

You could enjoy the reprints too, right?

Maybe my million dollar idea should be to manufacture a cologne that smells like old newsprint. Call it "Female Repellent". LOL!

I have never been happy really with reprints. Paper and color saturation is different. Digital is out of the question.

”Female Repellent” Ha! Maybe if they could capture that Edgar Church scent. There is nothing like a deep whiff of one of those. Anybody who has partook will know what I mean…

[JJ-4]

On 2/17/2022 at 5:10 PM, 10centcomics said:

I crack open all the books in my personal collection. When I found out this wasn't the norm in the hobby, I was quite shocked! I can understand keeping books in their slabs if you plan to sell it at some point in the future. Or if you had a very high-grade that you wanted to preserve (a 9.8 modern, or a VF/NM vintage book). But for books in my permanent collection, I keep them raw for a variety of reasons:

• No newton rings. Books look great in Mylar sleeves and archives.
• No numerical grade to draw attention away from the book itself. I always thought the CGC label should be unobtrusive and on the back of the book. 
• Slabs take up a lot of space!
• Most importantly, I want to read the story and see all the interior art! Reading a reprint just isn't the same. And slabbing a comic isn't quite the same as a coin or baseball card, you miss out on ~95% of your collectible when you slab a comic. 

That being said, I appreciate having 3rd party grading services when buying a book, especially the restoration check. But when it arrives in my PC, I crack it open and enjoy it! And no shade to slab collectors, people can have their own collecting habits and motivations.

With the exception of the MF54 which I bought raw, these were once-graded books I cracked out because I know they are never leaving my collection. 

 

 

Beautiful books!  And I agree with many of the comments above.  I would not crack a signature slab but I would want to open a golden or silver age book that had been graded unless it was worth more than car.  As for more moderns if you were lucky enough to get a 9.8 I would probably leave it slabbed.  Probably.        

Edited February 18, 2022 by JJ-4

[Robot Man]

On 2/17/2022 at 5:37 PM, Lord Gemini said:

Understood. I don't do GA at the moment.

Stay away, stay far away. My first GA book was a Vault of Horror my uncle gave me when I was about 10. It’s been down hill ever since…

[Robot Man]

On 2/17/2022 at 5:38 PM, JJ-4 said:

Beautiful books!  And I agree with many of the comments above.  I would not crack a signature slab but I would want to open a golden or silver age book that had been graded unless it was worth more than car.  As for more moderns if you were lucky enough to get a 9.8 I would probably leave it slabbed.  Probably.        

I don’t own any signature slabs and if I did, I wouldn’t crack those either. The sig is usually on the front cover and most of them are books you could most likely get a reader of fairly easily if you wanted to. 

[badback83]

On 2/17/2022 at 7:10 PM, 10centcomics said:

I crack open all the books in my personal collection. When I found out this wasn't the norm in the hobby, I was quite shocked! I can understand keeping books in their slabs if you plan to sell it at some point in the future. Or if you had a very high-grade that you wanted to preserve (a 9.8 modern, or a VF/NM vintage book). But for books in my permanent collection, I keep them raw for a variety of reasons:

• No newton rings. Books look great in Mylar sleeves and archives.
• No numerical grade to draw attention away from the book itself. I always thought the CGC label should be unobtrusive and on the back of the book. 
• Slabs take up a lot of space!
• Most importantly, I want to read the story and see all the interior art! Reading a reprint just isn't the same. And slabbing a comic isn't quite the same as a coin or baseball card, you miss out on ~95% of your collectible when you slab a comic. 

That being said, I appreciate having 3rd party grading services when buying a book, especially the restoration check. But when it arrives in my PC, I crack it open and enjoy it! And no shade to slab collectors, people can have their own collecting habits and motivations.

With the exception of the MF54 which I bought raw, these were once-graded books I cracked out because I know they are never leaving my collection. 

 

 

All very respectable points.  For me, another thing is value.  I can’t afford to crack and re-slab if I’m going to sell.  A lot of my books I have no immediate plans to sell.  However, in the event I need to sell something, I’ve found it’s easier to sell slabbed.

[Randall Ries]

On 2/17/2022 at 6:44 PM, Mystafo said:

I don't feel you can truly know a book you're keeping...it's strengths and weaknesses...without getting it out of that slab.

I don't know what that means.

[Lamborghinikid]

I bust them out all of the time. Everything goes straight into gerber 2mil Mylar with gerber full backing boards. I recently busted out FF52 8.0 , FF18 8.0, Marvel Spotlight 5 8.0. I’m busting out an Amazing Fantasy 15 1.8 this weekend. I take photos of them in the slab for my records and then out they come ! 

[MetalPSI]

 

 

[Larryw7]

On 2/17/2022 at 6:38 PM, Randall Ries said:

Haha. The Bizarro World comic collector.

"Me crack out valuable, rare book. Touch with chicken wing fingers. Me keep books slabbed me no care about."

I keep books slabbed that I may want to sell. Also, reprints can't compare with an original book with the ads, the smell of the paper, the feel of a Golden Age book, especially the 64 pagers. Amazing that so many people in this hobby are against people reading original comic books.   98% of the time it's the interior artwork and stories that make the comic book valuable, not the front and back cover.

Edited February 18, 2022 by Larryw7

[Poekaymon]

On 2/17/2022 at 6:38 PM, Randall Ries said:

Haha. The Bizarro World comic collector.

"Me crack out valuable, rare book. Touch with chicken wing fingers. Me keep books slabbed me no care about."

Makes perfect sense to me--I do the same thing, minus the chicken wings.  My only slabs are the ones that I'll sell shortly or have up on the wall because it's a convenient frame and which I expect will fade at some point.  The rest are all cracked, though I don't handle them with a bunch of bbq sauce on my fingers.