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Fantastic Four Collecting Thread!
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Started by uclapeterg,

13,693 posts in this topic

KirbyJack

KirbyJack

Posted
Posted

FF 12 always reminds me of 1991.

I had a room-mate that year that also collected Fantastic Four, and we went to the KC Planet-Con.

My mission in life at that time was to complete my FF run, and "all" I needed was a #1! I managed to snag my grail; a $240 copy from Motor City, and I was just floating. I showed it off to my friend, who was kind enough to make an appropriately big fuss about it (He already had a better one).

Eventually, I was able to ask him about his progress, and it turned out that he, too, was just 1 issue away from a complete run, needing only #12.

I found him one quickly, and virtually forced him to buy it.

 

Two collections of Fantastic Four were completed that fine day, and I'm happy to say that both runs are still intact!

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vaillant

vaillant

Posted
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Out of curiosity: did you purchase them CGC just for the warranty of the professional grading or simply because you liked the conditions?

I still have my earliest issue (#3) in CGC and I would like to break it out of the case. I just bought it in CGC because I happened to win it at a decent price years ago, but I do not collect the books to keep them closed in the CGC case.

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Mark 1

Mark 1

Posted
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Out of curiosity: did you purchase them CGC just for the warranty of the professional grading or simply because you liked the conditions?

I still have my earliest issue (#3) in CGC and I would like to break it out of the case. I just bought it in CGC because I happened to win it at a decent price years ago, but I do not collect the books to keep them closed in the CGC case.

 

I wanted the pro restoration check and the pro grading on these particular books. I like having most of my collection slabbed for the assurance they are good in case I want to sell them one day.

 

I have all the reprints of these books so I don't mind they are sealed up now.

 

There is nothing wrong with cracking your FF3 out of the case now that it is graded. Break it out and read it. Many do that. I've done it to some books. But most of my books stay slabbed. That's just me.

 

(thumbs u

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jimjum12

jimjum12

Posted
Posted
Out of curiosity: did you purchase them CGC just for the warranty of the professional grading or simply because you liked the conditions?

I still have my earliest issue (#3) in CGC and I would like to break it out of the case. I just bought it in CGC because I happened to win it at a decent price years ago, but I do not collect the books to keep them closed in the CGC case.

 

I wanted the pro restoration check and the pro grading on these particular books. I like having most of my collection slabbed for the assurance they are good in case I want to sell them one day.

 

I have all the reprints of these books so I don't mind they are sealed up now.

 

There is nothing wrong with cracking your FF3 out of the case now that it is graded. Break it out and read it. Many do that. I've done it to some books. But most of my books stay slabbed. That's just me.

 

(thumbs u

 

....it really is a matter of preference. For me, grade has a lot to do with it. I'm probably responsible for creating half of the world's supply of 8.5's by accidentally damaging once 9.0's lol ......I leave 8.5's and higher in the case....safe from my acute buffoonery. Mt ASM stack is mostly mid grade for that reason.....I just can't handle not flipping through them...ads, pin ups, letters :cloud9: My FF'S are both.....that pin up of the Thing in # 2 is the best thing in the whole book....and I LOVE that book......Kirby / Klein :cloud9: I do try to slip the old CGC label in the back of the mylar for reference. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

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vaillant

vaillant

Posted
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@Mark, Jimbo: thanks to both.

 

I have the Fantastic Four stories at least in three different forms (Masterworks, Essentials, Italian editions) but it’s not the point: If I collect original books that’s precisely because I want to read and handle them in their original form.

Maybe, since you have got accustomed to CGC, and the value of american comics has gone up so much in the years, it’s less easy to see, but most non-US collectors would never have books kept in cases (even if those cases can be opened without damage).

It‘s a curious situation related to other countries. Older french albums can be incredibly expensive, but I think a thing like CGC for them could never happen in France. It seems to me it has been the incredible shift in value which happened with american comic books that caused the perceived need of having a professional grading method like the one used with coins, cards, banknotes.

 

As for Jimbo: I feel absolutely confident in handling the books but yes, there is always the danger of damaging them. That’s why I spoke about the prices. The excessive segmentation in grading between Near Mint and Mint, now expressed by the numeric equivalents of 9.2 through 10, has created – it seems to me – an artificial idea of perfection around the conditions for which you are afraid to handle a very high-grade book if it is extremely expensive.

For example, should I buy some day, for some reason, a book with a price in the order of over a thousand of dollars I would be the first to be afraid to handle it, not because of the price, but because of the hair-splitting criteria determining its "mintness", if you see what I mean… :)

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jimjum12

jimjum12

Posted
Posted
@Mark, Jimbo: thanks to both.

 

I have the Fantastic Four stories at least in three different forms (Masterworks, Essentials, Italian editions) but it’s not the point: If I collect original books that’s precisely because I want to read and handle them in their original form.

Maybe, since you have got accustomed to CGC, and the value of american comics has gone up so much in the years, it’s less easy to see, but most non-US collectors would never have books kept in cases (even if those cases can be opened without damage).

It‘s a curious situation related to other countries. Older french albums can be incredibly expensive, but I think a thing like CGC for them could never happen in France. It seems to me it has been the incredible shift in value which happened with american comic books that caused the perceived need of having a professional grading method like the one used with coins, cards, banknotes.

 

As for Jimbo: I feel absolutely confident in handling the books but yes, there is always the danger of damaging them. That’s why I spoke about the prices. The excessive segmentation in grading between Near Mint and Mint, now expressed by the numeric equivalents of 9.2 through 10, has created – it seems to me – an artificial idea of perfection around the conditions for which you are afraid to handle a very high-grade book if it is extremely expensive.

For example, should I buy some day, for some reason, a book with a price in the order of over a thousand of dollars I would be the first to be afraid to handle it, not because of the price, but because of the hair-splitting criteria determining its "mintness", if you see what I mean… :)

 

.......absolutely. For books I keep slabbed, I do like to keep what we Americans call a "reader" copy.....usually 5.0 to 6.5. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

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vaillant

vaillant

Posted
Posted

Haha! lol

If Fine copies are reader copies I think it would be just fine for me to have the whole early run as "reader copies".

 

To me a "reader copy" barely keeps together, and Fine+ are often incredibly neat copies. Fine is one of the most difficult grades to nail down, so you can find Very Goods or Very Fines sold as Fines. :)

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