Shaggy37 Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Was trying to find a discussion that already exists. I am pretty sure one does but couldn’t find it through the search tool. Are there a list of items to look for when looking at a CGC case to tell if it’s been tampered with. I have a picture of an item I was recently looking at and something does not seem right when I zoomed in on the picture. I can share the image but it will be grainy as I don’t want to affect the seller and will leave the book out of the image but before I do I want to make sure I pot to the correct board. Thanks Shaggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 At this time, there appear to be several different scams involving slabs. One involves books that were reslabbed, one where books were falsely labeled, and one where books were straight out swapped without going through CGC. There is no one common thing you can look at to determine if it is altered or not. My second best advice is to only buy from people who will stand behind the book if it turns out to be fake. CGC recently suggested we only buy from authorized CGC dealers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kortoga Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 I am very new to this hobby. I have never physically handled a slab. I have only seen them on display at my local comic shop. Is it easy to open and put back together without knowing this has been done? I have assumed these slabs are designed with a very very high level of security OR the process of opening the slab would destroy the slab OR at the least the process of opening the slab would cause some sort of sacrificial damage to the case that can be easily noticed and not repairable without the repair being noticed. If these holders have been designed at a minimum without a sacrificial damage mechanism that breaks when opened, how are these slabs ever trusted as being authentic? What is the mechanism keeping them from being opened and the certified trust CGC is selling being broken. What am I missing here? Thanks I am gearing up to purchase my first graded comic book (nothing expensive). However, I trust and assume that there is a very hard way to create the scam you are referring to, that I am getting into a collecting system that has been vetted and is very secure. That when I see a CGC graded comic I can know there is a mechanical process in place to help me (as a novice) identify the item is legit. Without that, if I have to reply on experts and trusted sources for everything, what is the point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy37 Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 Are the auction houses (HA, ComicLink, ComicConnect, etc. ) considered authorized CGC dealers? I believe some do help with grading if I am not mistaken. So do they do anything with respect to vetting what they sell? This is a close up (a little grainy) of a book for sale on an auction site. There are no notes of damage but I don’t recall seeing a micro crack look like that when I have seen them through a dealer that I use to submit my books. Then again it could also be the bonding being messed up with that holder they put it with books. Not sure. Really interested in the book so looking for honest opinions and learning as much as I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
