Is CGC doing themselves a disservice?

[Mushroom]

I voted for full disclosure. Let the market as a whole place a value on work done to preserve or manipulate books.

 

I am close to having sold 75% of my blue slabs. I no longer buy blue slabs. I collect yellow slabs (great service CGC).

 

I believe that CGC still has a role to play in the hobby but I'll never look at them the same again but as I said once before, who are we to abrogate our responsibility to a third party for the purchase of items that they clearly do not and cannot guarantee free of work.

[jokersrevenge]

Nice poll Ze....

[OldGuy]

Nice poll Ze....

 

I think that belongs on a differant message board. Not that there's anything wrong with that....

[Lazyboy]

I'm also one of those that does not consider pressing to be restoration, but rather conservation. I've always kept all my personal books laying flat and I rotate them around every few years so they kind of get pressed on their own.

 

Obviously Ze-man by your one-sided pressing stance in your poll you feel that pressing is restoration. I see no need "disclose" something on a slab label that many top dealers and collectors in the industry feel is nothing more than a conservation technique.

 

The anti-pressing group seems to want to be able to have some sort of bragging rights over their books and want to treat pressed books like PLOD's. I got news for ya, people have been directly or indirectly pressing books since man first put pen to paper.

 

I know others have mentioned that the Church books were in a way "pressed" which is true. Would all of those have to be disclosed on the label as well?

If you can't tell the difference between a book that has been pressed by deliberate means, and one that has been stored flat under the weight of other things or books, what the hell difference does it make?

 

I guess to sum this up, why can't people just be happy that they have a really nice looking example of a piece of history (sometimes an important one) instead of trying to create some big controversy all the time and turning it into some huge saga.

 

To quote William Shatner, "Get a life!"

 

Pressing does not conserve anything. Pressing is used to remove small defects. It is an attempt to improve the appearance and/or structure of the book. If you remove/clean/replace rusted staples on a book, you conserve it by preventing the rust from migrating to the paper and harming it. Removing a NCB stress mark or slight bend will not slow or prevent the degradation of a book in any way.

 

There is also a huge difference between storage "pressing" and pressing to remove defects.

 

For your last point, most people don't like being (or even feeling) cheated. If I want a 9.4, I'll buy a 9.4. If I want an 8.5 that has been "improved" to 9.4, I'll buy an 8.5 and improve it myself.

 

 

Red Hook:

Yes, I remember reading that. But I would trade privacy on matters of this kind in a second for the ability to track criminals like Ewert.

 

I hate to tell you this Brad, but you don't get to give up my privacy, or Mike's, or anyone else's. Only the government gets to do that.

 

The search engine existed as it was for years and I don't recall a single post on this board complaining about it. Did you? Got some links?

 

You do realize that the outing of Jason Ewert would have been near impossible with the system now in place. I think your position is incredibly shortsighted and self-centered.

 

I also don't EVER recall a public discussion on these board of a persons submissions based on the type of search previously possible, unless it was to uncover something like the Ewert debacle. Or of questionable resubs. Those type of inquires are great for the collecting community.

 

I agree that the timing of the change is somewhat obvious. But CGC should have been better prepared and had a better system that wouldn't compromise the privacy of its clients right from the start.

 

 

Wait, what was this thread about?

Oh yeah,

[Timmay]

[drice6900]

Nice poll Ze....

 

I think that belongs on a differant message board. Not that there's anything wrong with that....

 

[KingOfRulers]

Good poll.

[Tomega]

[Smokinghawk]

[tofer118]

[dc360]

[jkrk]

The comic hobby? some thoughts.

 

My speculations only:

 

1)Does CGC look the other way at times? How much of a difference is there betwwen a 9.4 and a 9.2? Would the tick dramatically affect the pricing on a Golden age key? Does a color touch receive a purple label or a blue label?

Missed tear seals, missed trimming?

 

Do these problems occur often. I suspect not. However, in the right spots.........

Maybe my paronoia gets the best of me and none of this exists. However, my view is that When there is big money involved there are no rules. Are mistakes made by CGC? sure. Could certain books for certain dealers receive a somewhat better grade? My guess, yes. Is CGC basically an honest operation? I suspect they are.

 

2)Are sellers looking for an edge? How many don't certify high dollar books they wish to sell? Why not? A very small percentage are honest. In most cases let the buyer beware. let's not deal with micro trimming and pressing. When big money is involved there are no rules. How about the sellers who conjure up stories of how the family emergency forced the sale?

 

3)Auction houses- are they behind the pressing? Do they buy their customers books believing it is a no risk trade? Do they Charge the commission and buy the book for a discount(selling commish) from their customer. In addition they will have have inventory for future auctions. Do the action houses resubmit their purchases for an upgrade? Or do they fall back on the rationale that their business is to list books and not attempt to investigate the background of the books (I'm shocked, shocked to find out gambling is going on here.) Where big money is involved there are no rules.

 

My view: I accept that decepton/dishonesty in the hobby will continue and fighting each small war is a never ending battle. Maybe it's worthwhile? I would rather accept the fact it exists (at a relatively small scale) and play the game. My hope is that by buying a number of mid priced rather than big tix books will help me minimize my problems. The truth is that where big money is involved there are no rules.

[Red Hook]

 

Red Hook:

Yes, I remember reading that. But I would trade privacy on matters of this kind in a second for the ability to track criminals like Ewert.

 

I hate to tell you this Brad, but you don't get to give up my privacy, or Mike's, or anyone else's. Only the government gets to do that.

 

[ShoNuff-migration]

[Moriarty]

[comicwiz]

For the question regarding if I could change one thing about CGC, etc., I answered other.

 

CGC ought to include mention of first print on underground comix whereby a first print can only be determined by interior inspection. Whether or not they agree, their insistence in not seeing any merit in this suggestion has forced me to seek out alternatives to their offerings.

[Scheradon]

[Korvac Saga]

[Apotheosis]

[ronm3-migration]