Need advice! Collection organization!

[OldGuy]

This picture taken by a surveillance camera shows one of the little critters at work while I was still moving the comics from the shortboxes to the unit...

 

 

And having a 13 year old I can tell you that they never stop getting into your stuff, they just get better at not being caught.

[fantastic_four]

You need to work on that handwriting FF

It's nice you have a list for what you want to upgrade, I just go randomly around buying junk

 

Hey, I wrote that while bouncing up and down in a car on the way to a comic convention, so lay off.

 

My current project is grading all my unslabbed books and entering the grades into the database...that way I can automatically print out an upgrade report of all the books below a certain grade. My upgrade list to this point has been handwritten notes I jot down while riding to conventions and flipping thru Overstreet.

[Darthdiesel]

 

 

WHOA! Belgian Child Labor laws are really lax or need some serious revision!

[COI]

All my books worth over $200 are kept in a large, fire-proof safe at my office. Not many people have ever stepped foot into my office, or know where it is. I also have various security measures built in that would pretty much screw over anyone trying to rob me. (I'm a part-time security consultant, so I use a few tricks of the trade ). I keep other valuables at this office along with my comics, so for me there's no precaution I won't take.

 

As for my reader books, they're just kept in boxes at my place in alphabetical and numeric order. I keep a visual gallery on my computer of the stuff in my office, but I'm considering doing what FF does and creating a private site that I can access from anywhere.

[sckao]

 

Chromium:

 

That's a really cool system... I use those magazine boxes to hold temporary comics that haven't been shelved yet. It gives better support than a half-empty short box.

 

The only problem I can see is that the comics in your collection right under the overhead lights are going to have problems with fading on the upper part of their spines since that part of the comics are being constantly exposed to either the overhead light or ambient light/direct light from any windows in the room.

 

 

[Mister_Comics]

I have all of my collection in one room. This room is known as "DAD's ROOM" to everyone that lives and visits here. Its like the FORT KNOX of comics. No one goes in "DAD's ROOM" without my pemission. In this room I have all my 10,000+ comics in mylars. Each mylared comic is in a hanging folder and are in file cabinets. Its pretty neat to see rolls of file cabinets flled with comics. For instance, all the Spider-Man comics fill 6 drawers and any issue can be easily found. I have drawers labeled by title and numbers. And folders are number labeled. Also the books are not packed tight so they never have any pressure applied to them. Having the books stored on their side is really the best way for long term storage. I've been collecting for a long time. Most of my old comics get high grades. I contribute that mostly to my comic storage. I'm a fanatic when it comes to comics. Anyone that knows me knows that. I'll spend more on storage of a book then the actual price it cost me to buy the comic. But I believe it pays off in the end.

 

As far as that "NO-PRIZE", I already have one from STAN LEE. They really did exist. No BS, they did.

[Aman619]

I really like the organization method of the numbered boxes plus spreadsheet. It really solves the problem of adding piles of new comics and makes finding a comic a snap since you know exactly which box it's in!

 

Im envious of not having to always make room for new books and adding 'tweener boxes' in my alphabetical system. BUT----you arent able to do the most satisfying thing we alpha/completists can: view our nice runs issue by issue! Makes the extra effort worthwhile IMO!

[PovertyRow]

So I use archival magazine sized half-open boxes, these hold about 50 comics each, stored upright. I use a few loose boards to make sure the comics at both ends remain perfectly flat.

 

Chromium, this is brilliant. My collection is still quite small. The magazine boxes make a lot of sense. Easy to redistribute, easy to organize into whatever you want. And less risk to the books than leafing through a long box. I'm there.

[Aman619]

POV---I would have thought you had thousands of comics.....

[PovertyRow]

POV---I would have thought you had thousands of comics.....

 

Gawd no! I USED to have a lot of comics.But remember, I only really started collecting again shortly before I hit the boards this past September. Right now my pre-code horror collection numbers 42 books (a far cry from the almost 800 I used to have ). My GA Jungle/Action collection (Jumbo, Sheena, Jungle, Dagar Desert Hawk etc) numbers about 50. (used to have a couple of long boxes of these - including those great Xela airbrush covers!)

 

Part of the slowness of the acquisitions is the expense. Certainly nothing compared to the CGC books folks here have, but still a range of about $40-250 per book. For example, at Wondercon I got 19 books and they cost me a bit over $1700. So this is gonna be a LONG time getting back into the quantity again!

 

I HAVE been doing some ba/sa collecting of lower grade/cheaper (around $5 or so each) just for old time's sake. Love a good Werewolf By Night read!

 

But no more thousands of books for me. (I really wish I had that pre-code horror collection back. I understand the genre a LOT more now than I did THEN!)

[jbud73]

Nice stuff all around. I have about 10,000, mostly in the long boxes with some shorties. Question what are egerber boxes? The thing I have a problem with is the Mylars as they dont store in a box with a top well, any suggestions here would be appreciated.

[PovertyRow]

Question what are egerber boxes?

 

That MAY be Gerber Boxes?

[murph0]

Sounds like Mister Comics uses a storage method similar to Sebastian Bach? (I think that was it..) Did anyone see the MTV Cribs episode where "he" showed off his comic collection that was in a filing cabinet system?

 

Brian

[COI]

Part of the slowness of the acquisitions is the expense. Certainly nothing compared to the CGC books folks here have, but still a range of about $40-250 per book.

 

That's the case with my collection as well, and I PREFER it that way. My philosophy has always been quality over quantity, which is why I insist on high grade. Unlike most here, the thought of looking at boxes and boxes of thousands of comics gives me a headache. I had about 12 long boxes of modern stuff before I started collecting high grade, and it made me so crazy that I sold it all off, and used the money to start my current collection. At last count, I have 62 slabs(2 of which being under $100, the rest are more) and 4 short boxes with high grade silver/bronze. I also have a reader for almost every slabbed book I own, and that's it! Most of the comics in the short boxes will be submitted or sold slowly over the next while. And because of the high cost involved in the books I buy, I don't have to worry about my collection getting too big. And if a time comes when I feel I'm starting to get too many slabs, that's when I'll start selling off the lower-priced and less important stuff, and use the money to get bigger books.

 

I have yet to meet another collector who feels the same way. I've met many who prefer quality, but none of them have this revulsion at the thought of having thousands of comics. Can anyone else understand not wanting to have mountains of books?

 

 

[greggy]

Can anyone else understand not wanting to have mountains of books?

 

Sure....now that my comics have overflowed out of my closet into my bedroom!

[murph0]

Can anyone else understand not wanting to have mountains of books?

 

Certainly can't think of anyone. I have mid-grade readers due to the fact that I like to read them and not have to worry about handling it in just the right way. They may be hard to sell later, but who's thinking about selling them later? I'm certainly not. Thus I have the 2 collections, readers and collectors.

 

Brian

[Aman619]

I dont think any of us sitting on our mountains (or under them as it were ) ever PLANNED it this way. You start buying. And buying. And buying... and pretty soon the boxes breed like rabbits...and there you are!

[COI]

Sure....now that my comics have overflowed out of my closet into my bedroom!

 

I think that's definetly one of the reasons I don't want my collection getting big. I'm already unorganized enough, and I hate bagging and boarding stuff, I hate organizing, and all that other mundane stuff that goes with the territory. I like the idea of being able to pull out a few small boxes of slabs, maybe crack open a safe, and say "there's my collection".

 

 

[PovertyRow]

I have yet to meet another collector who feels the same way. I've met many who prefer quality, but none of them have this revulsion at the thought of having thousands of comics. Can anyone else understand not wanting to have mountains of books?

 

Actually, in a way, I can. It is one reason I decided to try to assemble a "type set" of pre-code horror. At only 41 books I have completed 35% of my collection and most have the covers and condition I really wanted. The ones that don't? Well - let's just say they will let me be collecting pre-code for a couple of more years!

 

The collecting is methodical and carefully laid out. What I need and what I have is easily referenceable. I also love getting a few books over a month and knowing I have the time to really READ them. (My job is quite trying).

 

Anyway, I honestly cannot say I feel "revulsion" looking at thousands of books. More, for me, like "confusion"! I actually used to feel confused when I would look at my long boxes and WOULD often wonder why I bought SuperAmazingButterfly 127. But I can also understand the desire of the completists for the full runs, and also understand that some folks actually can put their hands into the midst of a few thousand books, pull one out, and say "Ahhhh! Giant-Ant 47 with CreepyGal's 4th appearance where it is revealed that SlugMan is actually Dynamicon under a spell!"

[greggy]

Sure....now that my comics have overflowed out of my closet into my bedroom!

 

I think that's definetly one of the reasons I don't want my collection getting big. I'm already unorganized enough, and I hate bagging and boarding stuff, I hate organizing, and all that other mundane stuff that goes with the territory. I like the idea of being able to pull out a few small boxes of slabs, maybe crack open a safe, and say "there's my collection".

 

 

Yeah...it was a pain when I finally last year decided to bag over a year's worth of purchases and intergrate all of them in alpha numeric order with my other books. Boy...that was a serious pain!