Build A Better Slab

[OGJACKSTER1]

First I would like to say I love the entire concept of CGC. Its been

a

long time coming. But there is always room for improvement. I

recently

won a Heritage Comics auction on a comic book (Extra #4 @ FN/VF 7.0)

When I received it in the mail It was noticable

that movement had occured within the plastic case. The cover has

become

detatched from the inside poriton of the book. The case has NOT been

opened and there are no visible "dings". This comic book is

no longer

in the CGC graded condition of 7.0. I feel I paid to much for this

comic. Heritage was willing to take it back but after paying for

shipping, insurance and a restocking fee, it wasn't worth it. I'm

just

glad it wasn't a much more valuable book. Now for my point and

question. I can see that this will be a future problem for some books

where "slippage" within the slab causes damage thus making

the stated

grade inacurate. Have you had this problem before??? The inner sleeve

needs to be redesigned to help prevent inner movement. I'm sure you

smart guys can improve on this wonderful product.

Please keep me posted and if you would like to examine this comic to

try and determine what went wrong, please let me know.

Thanks, OGJaxster

 

[blowout]

CGC now place extra plastic 'wedges' at the bottom and side of some books to prevent movement in the slab.

[MrNice-migration]

Restocking fee??? For what? New stockings?

[Smokinghawk]

I realize that people aren't as open to third-party grading around here, but in case someone's interested...3pgrading (which I have not used) has recently developed a rigid plexiglass slab that they claim will be tougher than CGC's, and filter 98% of UV light.

 

If I had my wish, the CGC slab would have a UV filter sheet in front of the comic, and one of the microchamber papers would be replaced (or supplemented with) a 3% calcium carbonate buffered sheet.

 

[fantastic_four]

CGC now place extra plastic 'wedges' at the bottom and side of some books to prevent movement in the slab.

 

They've been doing that since at least mid-2000, but unfortunately, there's still room for movement on a lot of the slabs. I would imagine that doing the encapsulation is a tough job since the widths on books can vary even amongst different copies of the same title and issue number.

[dolphinsrwj]

my biggest problem is when the comic moves all the way to the right the bottom right corner gets bent down.i have this happen all the time.in most cases it is like that when i receive it in the mail.

[tod09]

This is one of my biggest fears that keeps me from slabbing all my premo books. I'd hate to send in a near perfect book, pay them money for encapsulating it and then have it come back in worse condition then when it left. Some books I have do have wedges but more of them do not and I am the owner of a CGC 9.8 book that has a slightly bent corner most likely due to shifting in the holder. What grade do you think a 9.8 or 9.6 book becomes after it's been flipped a few times and each time shifting around during shipping? I can ship a non-CGC graded book safer than a CGC graded book and they are suppose to be the standards in protection for books?

 

Tod

[fantastic_four]

In my experience, they only shift in the case if you jolt it significantly. And even if the book isn't in a slab at all but in Mylar, it'll jostle and possibly get dented there too. So the solution is to not let the books get jolted, which is probably too much to ask for for either slabbed books or mylared books being shipped through the mail.

 

The biggest problem seems to be what notch_top pointed out in another thread; that if the comic, for example, gets bumped up against the top edge, instead of the entire edge getting uniformly dented all the way across, the corners will shoot up slightly into the little space pockets found on all four corners of the well and the book will either get a little 1/16" tear or dent.

[blowout]

CGC now place extra plastic 'wedges' at the bottom and side of some books to prevent movement in the slab.

 

They've been doing that since at least mid-2000, but unfortunately, there's still room for movement on a lot of the slabs.

 

They have indeed, but it has been noted that they are including them much more often now. Hopefully in response to kind of issues raised here.

You also state that the slabs need to be jolted to cause movement, but I think you will find that gravity will also move the book inside the slabs. Storing them end up may cause minor damage in the long run also (a lesser version of your description of notch_tops observations).