Need advice! Collection organization!

[COI]

Boy...that was a serious pain!

 

That's exactly how I felt about 3 years ago. After forgetting about them through the second half of High school, and for a few years after, I finally opened up the closet and pulled out all my long boxes of comics. I sat there sorting through them, and it was such a pain in the [!@#%^&^] that I started thinking; "Why the F%$K do I have all these books if I find it such a pain to go through them"?

[greggy]

Boy...that was a serious pain!

 

That's exactly how I felt about 3 years ago. After forgetting about them through the second half of High school, and for a few years after, I finally opened up the closet and pulled out all my long boxes of comics. I sat there sorting through them, and it was such a pain in the [!@#%^&^] that I started thinking; "Why the F%$K do I have all these books if I find it such a pain to go through them"?

 

Believe me...I was shocked to see how many multiples of non-key issues that I had. I've basically stopped buying multiples of non-keys.

[Aman619]

you can always look at it this way: just hold onto them.

Thats the attitude I/we always had about the Bronze [!@#%^&^] that piled up..and Im glad ai just packed them up, and got on with my life...and now I see many of you here wildly interested in them. So who knows. Weve been over the whole crash/future of collecting stuff too many times in the 2 months Ive been here.....but still: who knows?? Just bage em and forget em.

[fantastic_four]

Question what are egerber boxes?

 

That MAY be Gerber Boxes?

 

Yes, boxes purchased from E.Gerber.

[PovertyRow]

Question what are egerber boxes?

 

That MAY be Gerber Boxes?

 

Yes, boxes purchased from E.Gerber.

 

Great! What did I win?

[fantastic_four]

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".

 

I'm exactly the same way. It may look like I'm obsessed with grading, restoration, and preservation since most of my posts are in threads about those topics, but I too derive little pleasure out of actually performing the tasks related to those subjects. My grading obsession comes from a desire to protect my investment, not because I like to constantly nit-pick. I've got around 5,000 comics right now, and for me, that's TOOOO darn many...I'll eventually be looking to thin the herd significantly.

[fantastic_four]

Great! What did I win?

 

My respect? If that's not good enough I could deputize you as another amongst Steve Borock's "right-hand men!" I still find that comment from Hammer hilarious...I don't think I've ever met anybody obsequious enough to say something like "I'm (fill in someone's name here)'s right hand man!" in my life.

[PovertyRow]

Great! What did I win?

 

My respect? If that's not good enough I could deputize you as another amongst Steve Borock's "right-hand men!" I still find that comment from Hammer hilarious...I don't think I've ever met anybody obsequious enough to say something like "I'm (fill in someone's name here)'s right hand man!" in my life.

 

Awww -respect is more than enough. It IS a most valuable commodity!

[Aman619]

still find that comment from Hammer hilarious...

 

What went on in your emails with him in the beginning. He writes it like you were a newborne pup that learned a lot from him...and then went to the dark side..... or is that too one-sided?

[fantastic_four]

What went on in your emails with him in the beginning. He writes it like you were a newborne pup that learned a lot from him...and then went to the dark side..... or is that too one-sided?

 

 

Well since I keep most of my e-mail which contain enlightening issues related to comics, I've still got them all and just glanced back at them. In November 2000, I asked him how a Spidey 3 auction of his could possibly not be trimmed. Typically if you ask a seller something like this, you'll get either nothing back or a ton of "kiss my arse you insufficiently_thoughtful_person" type replies, but he wrote this in response to my rather blunt query:

 

Jamie,

I do appreciate the email of concern but, wow, it's really close to the same. I do see the difference but it is very slight. Certainly within tolerances that Marvel expected their comics to be printed within and nothing I haven't seen before. The left side is almost identically constructed, the sole of Spiderman's foot being right up against the edge of the book, and on the right, I see the difference but it is slight. True, it is cutting off the black shadow BUT shows alot of the red, the cut coming up right on it and more like 1/8th " than a full 1/4".

Now, look at the cut of the book, the arc of the pages...identical! the slight enlargement towards the center pages and then regression back in size to the back cover..very natural. Top to bottom, the books are almost identical, and in this respect, if ANY of the two are smaller, it's the other one, in this dimension.

How about the color and paper quality of my #3? There's no comparison. NONE! The other looks burnt out, faded. Lacklustre. No two books size exactly the same. They were making 10 cent comics, not heart valves. With such a flawless spine and incredible surface and colors (of which the scan is an EXACT representation thereof), why should the edges be any different. The book is from a collection of 1960 to 1969 Marvel And Dc Books. Most look like this. Any case can be made for any two books that aren't the exact same size, that 1 of them MUST be trimmed, but look at the top of mine left to right. Of the top line of webbing projections to the right from the code, first three lines and then under that 4 lines of vertical webbing appear within the two horizontal bands, same as the other one. This book is exactly the same left to right at the top and tapers inward towards the bottom. It's actually slightly factory miscut, not the product of an aftermarket trimming job. Take a look, consider my points, and you'll see that I'm correct.

 

Richard

 

PS: Did you ever try to find an X-Men 2 with space showing to the right of the comic code? I HAVE one. Are ALL the rest trimmed? I can't believe this anemic copy of #3 went for 3K. If THAT's a 3K book, this one's worth 15K and I can only pray to God that the reserve isn't met just because people want to believe that the book looks too good and it's not in the hands of a major dealer. The book is GORGEOUS, and would CGC blue top if submitted, and actually looks even more impressive in person than on the scan because the gloss isn't seen on the scan. And those are the interior pages that you can see sticking out from the cover on the right side. They're just so white that they tend to blend in with the right edge of the royal blue dot and white fielded cover. Look at THAT difference, green vs. blue, is that reprint because the colors are just as though they were printed? Of course not. It's just due to the exrtreme state of high preservation of the book. Look at the yellows. Hot canary yellow vs. pale cream. Fire-engine reds vs. burnt orange. the two books aren;'t even in the same ballpark. And this one is Definitely NOT trimmed. One look in person would dispel this erroneous belief that it is, and a book can't be this sharp.

And I do appreciate and respect your giving me the chance to respond. I'm not at all put out and enjoy communicating straight from the hip with fellow collectors on any subject, my books included. Thank you J.

 

I was immediately impressed with the verbosity of the response and how he didn't get ticked over my question, so I continued to chat with him for the next year. I didn't get back into comics until around August 2000, so I'd have to say that his portrayal of our relationship with him being the mentor and me being the pupil is accurate since I always ask knowledgable people as many questions as they're willing to answer, although it's obviously a gross exaggeration for him to claim that everything I've learned came from him; I chat with waaaaay more people than him. It looks as though we exchanged approximately 100 e-mails during 2000 and 2001. He seemed particularly knowledable about restoration, so I asked him quite a few questions about that since I could find almost no written informational source for restoration and restoration detection. At the time I couldn't figure out how someone who claimed they didn't start collecting until 2000 could know so much about comics and restoration in less than a year. We also discussed topics such as CGC, Parrino, insurance, choosing a fireproof/theftproof safe, and other comic-related areas of interest.

 

In June 2001, I told a national dealer about a hypothesis I'd heard about how the multiples paid for CGC books could have been deliberately manipulated by Jay Parrino pumping money into the early Manning auctions, and that dealer told me "You don't even have to tell me--I know exactly who told you that rumor." He proceeded to tell me a HUGE story about comic-keys that I didn't know whether to believe or not. At this time I was considering the purchase of a Fantastic Four #1 from comic-keys, so the story shocked me...but I could tell the story was hearsay, so I didn't believe that one dealer and called or e-mailed at least a dozen other dealers. They had all heard the story, and one of them had some decent evidence of who he is. It ain't my place to do anything about whatever it is he's up to, so I just forgot about it all for over a year, until September of last year, when he came out on this board. And that's when the firestorm started that still flares up every now and then to this day.

[Lantern]

Did anyone see the MTV Cribs episode where "he" showed off his comic collection that was in a filing cabinet system?

 

I think that I have seen the episode that you are talking bout. Sabastian is sitting on the side of the bed and holds up an AF15, then he looks at the camera and says something like "Look kids, its the first appearance of Spider-man."

 

I was surprised, not really sure why, when I saw that. I guess I did not expect him to be into comics.

[Lantern]

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

 

A few years ago I would have been disagreeing with this, but now I am in the same area as you. I sold off thousands of modern and bronze comics to free up space over the past several years, during that time I thought that it would pain me to let them go. Now when I look back over the selling spree I am glad that I did it. I am down to under a thousand issues in short boxes and have much less need for storage shelves. Perhaps the best part of this cleaning is the ability to really focus my collecting and interests. It really does let you know what your priorities are as a collector.

[murph0]

Sabastian is sitting on the side of the bed and holds up an AF15, then he looks at the camera and says something like "Look kids, its the first appearance of Spider-man."

 

I was surprised, not really sure why, when I saw that. I guess I did not expect him to be into comics.

 

Yeah the funny part was he's telling everyone how it's worth like 15,000 dollars and you could tell from the camera view it was not NM

I think he pulled out Hulk 1 too..

 

Brian

[Smokinghawk]

A legal-sized file cabinet holds a double-row of upright bagged and boarded comics perfectly, unless you use those mylar sleeves with the upper edge--those'll scrape the top when you open/sclose the drawer. But simple bags and boards fit perfectly, and CGC sleeves can lay sideways in rows inside the drawers.

 

I'm considering buying a curio cabinet for my best books, and just arranging them on tripods on the shelves with white Christmas light strings draped throughout for great lighting without heat or UV.

 

[fantastic_four]

I'm considering buying a curio cabinet for my best books, and just arranging them on tripods on the shelves with white Christmas light strings draped throughout for great lighting without heat or UV.

 

Oh, forgot to mention that...I bought two identical glass cabinets from a statue store that had downsized a bit. The owner's wife was a co-worker of mine, so I trusted her when she said they cost them $1000 apiece, but they were used and she wanted to get rid of them, so she sold them to me for $350 apiece. The display cases that statue and jewelry stores can get are far superior to what you get from any furniture store I've ever seen because you can get ALL glass and they often have a light built into the top; mine have dual lights built into the top. There was one she had that was twice as wide as mine that had 3 lights built into the top and a fan to blow dust off of the collectibles on the shelves...I kind of regret not buying that but it was $1000 and I had no idea how I'd transport it to my house. Here's a pic of one of my cases, although now I mostly only store statues in them and not comics:

 

 

If I ever want more display space, I'd go looking for another cabinet like these from jewelry stores. I'd keep an eye open for stores with stuff like this in your area that go out of business; you might be able to get cheap display cases from them.

[Mister_Comics]

A legal-sized file cabinet holds a double-row of upright bagged and boarded comics perfectly, unless you use those mylar sleeves with the upper edge--those'll scrape the top when you open/sclose the drawer.

That is why I have mine in hanging folders on thier side. I found this to be the perfect way to store comics for long periods of time. The only comics I have in boxes are my slabbed CGC's. They sit on top of the file cabinets.

[Smokinghawk]

I'm considering buying a curio cabinet for my best books, and just arranging them on tripods on the shelves with white Christmas light strings draped throughout for great lighting without heat or UV.

 

Oh, forgot to mention that...I bought two identical glass cabinets from a statue store that had downsized a bit. The owner's wife was a co-worker of mine, so I trusted her when she said they cost them $1000 apiece, but they were used and she wanted to get rid of them, so she sold them to me for $350 apiece. The display cases that statue and jewelry stores can get are far superior to what you get from any furniture store I've ever seen because you can get ALL glass and they often have a light built into the top; mine have dual lights built into the top. There was one she had that was twice as wide as mine that had 3 lights built into the top and a fan to blow dust off of the collectibles on the shelves...I kind of regret not buying that but it was $1000 and I had no idea how I'd transport it to my house. Here's a pic of one of my cases, although now I mostly only store statues in them and not comics:

 

 

If I ever want more display space, I'd go looking for another cabinet like these from jewelry stores. I'd keep an eye open for stores with stuff like this in your area that go out of business; you might be able to get cheap display cases from them.

 

 

Simply gorgeous! Now that's the kind of thing that makes a home beautiful to me. I just wish I had more interesting friends who would be dazzled by something that lovely.

 

 

[COI]

FF, that display looks amazing. Your slabs look great in there.

 

You've given me something to think about....

 

BTW, is that something that is easily lifted, and taken appart? Or is it one piece?

[murph0]

So....FF....where's the FF 52.. heh..you know..just wonderin...

I also don't see your special Helmet anywhere around there

 

[COI]

Now that's the kind of thing that makes a home beautiful to me. I just wish I had more interesting friends who would be dazzled by something that lovely.

 

For those of you who are married, you also need a wife who will tolerate a display like that in the house. My guess is most wives wouldn't want that in an open area that gets heavy day to day traffic, like a living room. And truthfully, I don't know that I would want that out in an open room. But in a private office or den, that's perfect.

 

And most of my friends who are into comics are impressed, but not as interested in my silver/bronze books. They'd probably ask me why I didn't have a USM #1 White cover.