"Lowball" Collecting 4 4

[Robot Man]

I love ECs. I have my collection in nice pretty mylars and have read them all carefully sometimes several times without harm.

Years ago, I started picking up very low grade readers cheap. I just stacked them in piles, unbagged on a closet shelf in no particular order. Now, when I get the urge to read some or for research, I just grab a handful. 

[Happy Noodle Boy]

On 8/24/2024 at 11:07 AM, Robot Man said:

I love ECs. I have my collection in nice pretty mylars and have read them all carefully sometimes several times without harm.

Years ago, I started picking up very low grade readers cheap. I just stacked them in piles, unbagged on a closet shelf in no particular order. Now, when I get the urge to read some or for research, I just grab a handful. 

I think I'm leaning toward your approach. Pretty 9.0+ books with great covers in mylites, mid-grade readers unbagged in a pile.

Thank you.

[Happy Noodle Boy]

On 8/24/2024 at 5:13 AM, LowGradeBronze said:

Your collecting journey was great to read, Happy Noodle Boy, especially about Giarla's. Like you, I discovered bags long before boards were a consideration. Like you, I got to a point in my collecting when I was maybe 15 or 16, when I had to have the best copy on the shelf, then took it home and stored it and I cannot recall reading those books. I just leafed through to see the art then set them aside. I never got the best value from those comics. I had to buy lower grade copies (in some case many years later,) before I could really get the best from those issues. (Think John Byrne X-Men 108 to 143 as an example.) 

Given where you are now, would collecting Treasury Editions be of any interest? They are an underrated format and can be stored raw, but maybe not upright! 

In your position, I'm not sure I would take WWBN 32 out of its protective bag/board and stack it loose with other books. I avoid any tape or seals on my books for exactly the reasons you state, that unsealing the bags is often enough hassle to put me off taking it out the bag. Don't like mylars much either, because returning a book to a mylar is a pain requiring the comic to be sandwiched between two boards to effect safe entry. The edge of a mylar will damage a book too easily. 

Why can't your collection be a mix of the different approaches? High grade slabs, high grade bagged/boarded for you as the 'adult collector', plus a glorious box of loose lower grades to satisfy you the 9 year old comic lover. I have a doubles box in the living room where many of my favourite books that Ive bought second copies of in lower grades can be accessed fast for reference or just to enjoy the art carefree like 9 year old me. I still take care of them, but they get handled and sniffed a lot. If I want to recall 1973 I just close my eyes and sniff.....heaven. Memories and smell are intricately linked. Give 1973 a sniff today! 

As we grow up in many ways we become more complex creatures than we were when aged 9. But part of us, however complex we have become, still needs the simple pleasures we took for granted at that young age. It reconnects us with our past. That's why comic collectors are so passionate. That's the journey I feel you're on now. 

 

 

Hey, thanks for your ideas, especially not using tape. I have a feeling it will make things a lot easier for me going forward. Just FYI, when I said "mylars" I meant mylites. I have all my books in mylite 2's and full backs.

My current plan is to have a couple of separate collections: key issues and books I'm interested in because they have great covers will go in mylites and boards, while books I'm interested in for reading only will be stored separately without plastics. This frees me up to relax about condition on some books, building that collection of readers I want, while still having a high-grade collection of key books and books with pretty covers.     

[Robot Man]

On 8/25/2024 at 12:42 AM, Happy Noodle Boy said:

I think I'm leaning toward your approach. Pretty 9.0+ books with great covers in mylites, mid-grade readers unbagged in a pile.

Thank you.

Got this recently right here on the boards for $5. Covers neatly split and detached but at the cost of a modern…