When Do You Slab?

[Owls Head]

i haven’t sent anything in yet to be slabbed. for one i'm afraid it will come back as a plod or that it will come back with a much lower grade then i thought, in witch case i would probably break it out so it would just be a waste of money.

 

one question i have is do most of you guy’s send them in directly your selves or do you go through a dealer? and that are the advantages of that?

 

i did just purchase a conan #7 cgc 9.2 for 20 bucks on eBay. i’m pretty sure i’m gonna break it out. but that fact that a 9.2 sold for such a low dollar amount tells me that anything bellow a 9.4 is not worth slabbing. And hell I can’t really tell the difference between a 9.2 and a 9.4 quote]

 

 

Whew... I thought i was the only one who had problems discerning .2's...

 

i don't have any slabbed books, sure you could guess...

[SurfingAlien]

I have only sent in golden age books & one silver age book. I sent them in a couple of years ago to see what kind of grades the defects got, and to sell them on ebay. I got mixed results with the GA - some I was pleasantly suprised with, others I was scratching my head. I got one 9.4, which sold for triple guide (Black Cat 32 - bondage cover). I thought I might get a 9.6 or 9.8 for that book. The rest were between 5.5 and 9.2, which told me I had a pretty good idea that the books I was buying over the years were at least fines and the really sharp ones very fine. It made me realize that a VF golden age book is really a sharp and scarce book.

 

Some of the books that had lower grades looked better to me than some of the higher ones. I realized that I like eye appeal over whatever CGC considered "technical grade". For instance, I hate corner creases & cover creases in general, however CGC seems to hammer books for light spine wear more than for small creases & folds. Some books had flawless spines but other eye visible defects & they got higher grades than books that had spine wear that you couldn't really see because of the books coloring, but sharp corners and no creases. I think the light spine wear books look better.

 

The silver age book I sent in was a Conan 1 that I bought as a NM+ from a pretty big dealer in NYC years ago. I was hoping for a 9.6 and some big bucks with a sale. It came back an 8.5, I got about $150 bucks for it. I realized SA books are graded MUCH harsher than GA books by CGC and that the "old" standards of NM were out the window.

 

In almost every case though, I was able to sell the book on ebay for higher than what I would have gotten unslabbed. Several of the books were slabbed after I got measly bids on ebay and they then sold easily for over guide once they were slabbed. There are people who just won't trust unslabbed grading, even from a seller with hundreds of positive feedbacks & a return policy. These are slab worshippers.

 

I just started selling again and had a couple nice books not sell, even with big scans and conservative grades, so I may have to start sending them in again (Although I did recently subscribe to GPAnalysis and realized that I will have to consult this guide for pricing, as I may have priced a little too high to get bidders this time around. Looking at this guide also helps me realize what isn't worth slabbing at all - like that GL68 you have, unless it is 9.2 or higher)

[TiQuinn]

The only times I've slabbed are when I have a really nice GA or SA book, or key issue, and then only if it looks like it'll at least get a 8.5 or higher. In the end, it's merely to sell, so there's no quibbling about the grade. Aside from the fact that you can't open them up and read them, I think slabbed books are dulled by the thickness of the container. You can't see the gloss on the cover, and it detracts from eye appeal.

[ignimbrite]

I have a few slabbed books ranging in value (nothing to crazy yet but in a few years maybe) and I sent them in for a variety of reasons and only when CGC is at a local show so I can save on the shipping. For example I have an Amazing Spider-man Annual #22 in 9.8 for the simple reason that I like Speedball (a sickness, I know). I obviously knew it was not worth the price of slabbing but it only cost $15.00 and it was fun at the time. Another example is a Werewolf by Night #32 which I thought was really sharp so I sent it in and it came back a 9.6 which to me was worth is.

[lizards2]

 

Some of the books that had lower grades looked better to me than some of the higher ones. I realized that I like eye appeal over whatever CGC considered "technical grade". For instance, I hate corner creases & cover creases in general, however CGC seems to hammer books for light spine wear more than for small creases & folds. Some books had flawless spines but other eye visible defects & they got higher grades than books that had spine wear that you couldn't really see because of the books coloring, but sharp corners and no creases. I think the light spine wear books look better.

 

 

Exactly the case for me - I'll never buy a 9.2 or 9.4 (or any CGC book for that matter) again without a very large scan, as I've seen and bought too many "high-grade" CGC books with corner creases - something that was never allowable in my neck of the woods for a NM book prior to CGC.

[TiQuinn]

 

Some of the books that had lower grades looked better to me than some of the higher ones. I realized that I like eye appeal over whatever CGC considered "technical grade". For instance, I hate corner creases & cover creases in general, however CGC seems to hammer books for light spine wear more than for small creases & folds. Some books had flawless spines but other eye visible defects & they got higher grades than books that had spine wear that you couldn't really see because of the books coloring, but sharp corners and no creases. I think the light spine wear books look better.

 

 

Exactly the case for me - I'll never buy a 9.2 or 9.4 (or any CGC book for that matter) again without a very large scan, as I've seen and bought too many "high-grade" CGC books with corner creases - something that was never allowable in my neck of the woods for a NM book prior to CGC.

 

I agree. It's also the #1 reason why I can't imagine myself paying multiples of guide for books with imperceptible differences (at least to me).

[rob_allan]

The thing with spine wear is interesting. I hadn't observed that with my CGC books. I HATE creases and spine wear doesn't bother me at all. So I guess I'd be in that camp myself.

 

I have a couple books that I want to break out soooo bad. I may do it for Christmas! =D

[JuliusSeizure]

I've never bought a slabbed book or had a book slabbed, because I'm something of a small timer. So this is all hypothetical, but to address when I *would* slab a book...

 

Situations

 

1. Personal Collecting

Only if it were extremely valuable. If I owned a 9.6 FF#1, yes, I'd buy it slabbed and keep it slabbed. (If I can afford that, I can also afford a VG reader copy.) In general, though, I like to read my comics from time to time, or at least thumb through them and smell them for the sense of the history. Plus slabs take up way more space.

2. For Sale

Yes, if the book and the grade warranted it. That is, if the increase in value of slabbed vs. raw were enough to justify the grading fees and the cost of postage and insurance for the transit to/from Sarasota. I currently own only two books that I would consider slabbing if I were ever to sell them (Avengers #1 and #4, both around VG/F).

3. Curious About the Grade

I'm not curious enough to pay the slabbing fees.

4. For Fun!?

See #3. For fun, I'd rather see a movie. Or buy more comics!

[Monkeyman]

I slab to sell (rarely), and pretty much only if the cost of slabbing is more than offset by the price I can get for the book. The other time is for SS books that I keep and don't sell.

 

If I slabbed my entire collection for giggles and grins, I'd be in the poor house, and my comics would fill every room.

 

 

Slabs take up a lot of space and even 100 books would cost something like $3,000 which I would much rather spend on more comics.

 

Mike

[OldGuy]

When Do You Slab?

 

When I want to sell a book for more then a sane collector is willing to pay.

[lizards2]

 

Slabs take up a lot of space and even 100 books would cost something like $3,000 which I would much rather spend on more comics.

 

Mike

 

[Davenport]

 

Some of the books that had lower grades looked better to me than some of the higher ones. I realized that I like eye appeal over whatever CGC considered "technical grade". For instance, I hate corner creases & cover creases in general, however CGC seems to hammer books for light spine wear more than for small creases & folds. Some books had flawless spines but other eye visible defects & they got higher grades than books that had spine wear that you couldn't really see because of the books coloring, but sharp corners and no creases. I think the light spine wear books look better.

 

 

Exactly the case for me - I'll never buy a 9.2 or 9.4 (or any CGC book for that matter) again without a very large scan, as I've seen and bought too many "high-grade" CGC books with corner creases - something that was never allowable in my neck of the woods for a NM book prior to CGC.

 

I agree. It's also the #1 reason why I can't imagine myself paying multiples of guide for books with imperceptible differences (at least to me).

It's certainly frustating. A year or so ago I just gave up on trying to decipher pro-grading criteria. I finally came to the conclusion that it isn't a learnable numerical scale, it's a language you have to "listen" to. And like any language it's very fluid, always evolving, and context is everything.

 

Sometimes it isn't used to communicate condition, but applied to trigger a wallet-opening emotional response. A "9.2" label might signify traditional NM-, or it might be a tactic-number... like MH's "80% OFF". Context. It can be "spoken" by folks hoping to reach a mutal understanding on condition, or a gotcha-weapon weilded by insatiable marketeers.

[rob_allan]

Wow That post was beautiful *sniff*