Comic Cerification Course

[Sid]

I've really honed my grading skills by lurking here.

 

So much, that people I sell to on the boards usually comment that they get better books than they expected.

Yes, I've looked into those forums quite a bit, just get confused sometimes when people offering grades vary by up to a full point or more. I've also looked very much into the e-bigs website for variations on the older books compared to mine and I'm fairly close most of the time.

 

I would be willing to pay for classes on this though, certification or not.

[MCMiles]

Better Question is: What qualifications do you need to work for CGC??

 

The ability to fill out an application.

[MutantKeys]

Better Question is: What qualifications do you need to work for CGC??

 

The ability to fill out an application.

, I think I will

[SignatureSelect]

What you are speaking of is opening a school. This takes alot of time and money. First to be truly accepted one would need to be accredited by a large orginization or the government. That takes time. Then you have to prove your grading skills. Nobody is 100% correct 100% of the time which makes that hard. Plus there is the debate of old Vs. New. is a 9.8 always 9.8. Well that is a tough debate aswell. Because it is easy to buy and recongize and 9.8 off the shelve today. Would it be as easy to buy and recongize a 9.8 from 1938. Then you would have to get credible restoration artist/experts to commit their time to teaching part of the course. Now there are people who are qualified to the the restoration detection part of the course such as Matt Nelson (he would be perfect for this) but will he and could he with his current business. Then you have the issue of money. First would this be a school in one area that students could come to or or would this be a travelling school going from convention to convention. Either way you have to think about two things it cost money to rent space for a permentant location , and it also cost money to travel to conventions. Then you have to set a text for the course. Do you hand out pamplets or do you require a book aswell. Some books that come to mind that would be useful in a course such as this would be the current overstreet grading guide. Other useful text would be the comicbook pedigree book which is coming out soon. I would possibly help people grading books recongize pedigrees. Could you teach this within 3 days. The next question is do you loan the text for the course or do you charge a fee and let them keep the text. Letting them keep the text would be of detriment to your course because it would be like giving away the recipe for Coke. Now here is another problem. People with enough knowledge to grade and detect restoration aren't going to want to sit and teach a course at a convention when they could be on the convention floor buying, selling, obtaining autographs for themselves or customers, making contact picking up restoration canidates from clients and more. then you have the issue of certificates do you print them there or do you mail them. Now after all this is overcome there is still the issue of payment and attendance. How many people are going to attend the course. How are they paying Cash, Check, or Credit Card. Now I am going to illustrate why any payment could be bad. First cash now here are some things about cash 1. who is going to keep track of it, 2. what it you get robbed, 3. it is illegal to carry over 10,000 over any state line. Next Checks 1. people write hot checks, 2. they take seven days to clear the bank which makes payroll hard. Last Credit cards 1. three percent charge to the merchant to use the card. 2. charge backs are a B I T C H. 3. if a card is charged on friday the money can't be deposited into the bank until monday. 4. The machine cost money and would have to be carried to the convention.

 

I will offer this anybody who really wants a course on this PM me we can talk more. It would be cool but there are alot of things that would have to be worked out.

[lou_fine]

I think it will be a cold day in hell before CGC does anything of the sort..

 

 

In full agreement with Mad Dog's conclusion above!

 

Especially in light of the fact that CGC even refuses to publish their grading criterias. Your idea also only works if grading is a science, when in actual fact, it is really a combination of science and art and probably a lot more subjective then you think it is.

 

On the other hand, I guess CGC should be able to generate a ton of repeat business in this venture since their grading criterias seems to be floating and changes from time to time.

[Dr_Neff]

never

[Dad&Son-migration]

never

 

very constructive input... so take CGC out of the equation.. think of it as a course to teach people to have better abilities to grade and what it takes to discover restoration. *spoon*... just by looking at half the things on this forum I've come light years from where I was just in April on my abilities. You gotta keep it simple and realize this isn't rocket science!!

[Dr_Neff]

I think the art of grading is so subjective, then as you boil it down one becomes an expert. Someone once said, "a little knowledge is dangerous...and so is alot"

 

I would encourage a learning environment to foster the ability to recognize restoration, or a general "get your feet wet" introduction to the collector side of comics . I was quick to suggest that the Certified Collectibles Group would not be forthcoming with such a class, but only because they may not have the time to do so, not a lack of interest or necessity for the hobby. the more collectors the merrier

[ciorac]

What you are speaking of is opening a school. This takes alot of time and money. First to be truly accepted one would need to be accredited by a large orginization or the government. That takes time. Then you have to prove your grading skills. Nobody is 100% correct 100% of the time which makes that hard. Plus there is the debate of old Vs. New. is a 9.8 always 9.8. Well that is a tough debate aswell. Because it is easy to buy and recongize and 9.8 off the shelve today. Would it be as easy to buy and recongize a 9.8 from 1938. Then you would have to get credible restoration artist/experts to commit their time to teaching part of the course. Now there are people who are qualified to the the restoration detection part of the course such as Matt Nelson (he would be perfect for this) but will he and could he with his current business. Then you have the issue of money. First would this be a school in one area that students could come to or or would this be a travelling school going from convention to convention. Either way you have to think about two things it cost money to rent space for a permentant location , and it also cost money to travel to conventions. Then you have to set a text for the course. Do you hand out pamplets or do you require a book aswell. Some books that come to mind that would be useful in a course such as this would be the current overstreet grading guide. Other useful text would be the comicbook pedigree book which is coming out soon. I would possibly help people grading books recongize pedigrees. Could you teach this within 3 days. The next question is do you loan the text for the course or do you charge a fee and let them keep the text. Letting them keep the text would be of detriment to your course because it would be like giving away the recipe for Coke. Now here is another problem. People with enough knowledge to grade and detect restoration aren't going to want to sit and teach a course at a convention when they could be on the convention floor buying, selling, obtaining autographs for themselves or customers, making contact picking up restoration canidates from clients and more. then you have the issue of certificates do you print them there or do you mail them. Now after all this is overcome there is still the issue of payment and attendance. How many people are going to attend the course. How are they paying Cash, Check, or Credit Card. Now I am going to illustrate why any payment could be bad. First cash now here are some things about cash 1. who is going to keep track of it, 2. what it you get robbed, 3. it is illegal to carry over 10,000 over any state line. Next Checks 1. people write hot checks, 2. they take seven days to clear the bank which makes payroll hard. Last Credit cards 1. three percent charge to the merchant to use the card. 2. charge backs are a B I T C H. 3. if a card is charged on friday the money can't be deposited into the bank until monday. 4. The machine cost money and would have to be carried to the convention.

 

I will offer this anybody who really wants a course on this PM me we can talk more. It would be cool but there are alot of things that would have to be worked out.

 

Matt Nelson and I would co-teach. Me - Grading. Him - Restoration Detection. Shall we set it up?

[innocuous]

Host at a convention in California or NYC and I'll attend.

[CycleGirl]

 

Matt Nelson and I would co-teach. Me - Grading. Him - Restoration Detection. Shall we set it up?

 

Sounds good to me!

 

Comic Con?

[ciorac]

 

Matt Nelson and I would co-teach. Me - Grading. Him - Restoration Detection. Shall we set it up?

 

Sounds good to me!

 

Comic Con?

Wizard World Chicago?

[codfish]

This question may have already been addressed in the past but I was wondering if CGC ever thought about venturing into or branching the business to include an on-site training course where dealers and interested collectors would be given an opportunity to "learn the ropes". Such as a 3 day course that teaches a prospective grader how to, of course, grade. But also better detect restoration and page quality. Although grading is subjective, I thought it would provide a uniform standard that could branch across the dealer network and give more integrity to the hobby.

For example, a dealer or collector that might set up shop at a con completes the course and receives his certification certificate (make the certificate counterfeit proof with certain holograms or watermarks embedded in the paper) this certificate could then be displayed so folks know that the person may have more integrity when it comes to grading. I know overgrading is a symptom of greed in the industry, or honest ignorance. Then the individual who is certified would have to renew the certification annually by submitting books with grade and PQ along with their own notes to continue to be certified.

I think this would provide more equality, educate collectors further which would help weed out a lot of overgrading as the consumer would be well informed, especially if he or she took part in the course. CGC, for example, would make money, which is what a company is in business to do.

I don't know the legalities of this thought but CGC could protect their interests by incorporating a clause that does not allow the individual to start their own grading company based on the training given so the person couldn't become direct competition for CGC.

Anyways, it seems as a collective community we want to see more equality and integrity in the hobby and this was my contribution along that thought process.

 

Very interesting that you bring this up. There is some woman going around Winnipeg claiming that CGC has such a program.

[codfish]

A grading school would be a futile venture and I doubt it would lead to anything specifically positive. There are so many ways to interpret the various grading scales out there that alone would be a very serious impediment. I know of plenty of folks which disagree with some of the grading practices of CGC already that I think there would be problems right there.

 

With the practices of declaring restoration as not restoration, the sliding grading scales, etc I don't know if educating people on such things and turning them loose on the collecting world would be such a good thing.

 

Heck without having CGC rules and such set in some sort of concrete way and open and transparent CGC has caught a fair amount of flac.

 

And so forth. IMO the biggest problem out there is people getting away with making outrageous grading claims because CGC or whoever has got away with it. It seems like everyone has two sets of grading rules one for selling and one for buying the latter using the grading rules strictly the former seems to pu tthe strict rules aside.

[Dad&Son-migration]

Very interesting that you bring this up. There is some woman going around Winnipeg claiming that CGC has such a program.

 

Interesting that you should mention that Aaron, my Dad called me the other day and mentioned the samething. He said he was in a new LCS on Osbourne and the shop owner said his wife was training to be a CGC grader. I thought it was a load of BS myself and told him that it probably wasn't true.

[plitch]

Very interesting that you bring this up. There is some woman going around Winnipeg claiming that CGC has such a program.

 

Interesting that you should mention that Aaron, my Dad called me the other day and mentioned the samething. He said he was in a new LCS on Osbourne and the shop owner said his wife was training to be a CGC grader. I thought it was a load of BS myself and told him that it probably wasn't true.

 

It is not true, sorry. Sounds like a miscommunication to me.

 

But, we have been talking about doing grading seminars, resto detection seminars and a manufacturing defects seminar, maybe a pedigree seminar, too. If you want a time-table, look towards late 2007 or 2008 if at all. It is all in the talking stages now, we have nothing mapped out.

 

Let the rumors fly!

[THE_BEYONDER]

[topofthetotem]

Very interesting that you bring this up. There is some woman going around Winnipeg claiming that CGC has such a program.

 

Interesting that you should mention that Aaron, my Dad called me the other day and mentioned the samething. He said he was in a new LCS on Osbourne and the shop owner said his wife was training to be a CGC grader. I thought it was a load of BS myself and told him that it probably wasn't true.

 

It is not true, sorry. Sounds like a miscommunication to me.

 

But, we have been talking about doing grading seminars, resto detection seminars and a manufacturing defects seminar, maybe a pedigree seminar, too. If you want a time-table, look towards late 2007 or 2008 if at all. It is all in the talking stages now, we have nothing mapped out.

 

Let the rumors fly!

Steve uses his pony tail as a whip on the graders when they displease him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and they enjoy it.

[plitch]

Let the rumors fly!

Steve uses his pony tail as a whip on the graders when they displease him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and they enjoy it.

 

I said rumors.

[topofthetotem]

Let the rumors fly!

Steve uses his pony tail as a whip on the graders when they displease him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and they enjoy it.

 

I said rumors.