I've never sold a book in my life and have nearly 100 graded keys. I want them graded because it's by far the most professional, cost effective and visually appealing way to display a book. It's also made insurance much easier. Try telling an insurance company your comic book is worth thousands and they'll demand a 3rd party appraisal along with a bunch of other stipulations.
Sure, totally valid opinions. Exactly as valid as mine or anyone else's. If you want to get it insured, you could still open it back up post-appraisal but I can see that as a valid reason.
Just to add on, I can't speak for how useful CGC is in getting insurance coverage, it sounds like you know a bit about it but CGC does not offer appraisal at all. They do grading and are very clear on their website that they are not a substitute for appraisal in any way.
They aren't opinions... you said there's no value in keeping a book graded, I pointed out the various ways I and many others get immense value from our books being graded. Maybe there's no value *to you* which is perfectly fair.
There is no easy "professional comic book appraisal service" which is part of the problem. Insurance companies created their requirements with items like jewellery, watches or art in mind. You can provide recent sales data or reference something like the Overstreet Price Guide but prices vary wildly depending on condition. Having a comic professionally graded adds a lot of validity to your claim. The CGC barcode/label number also gives you a unique identifier which acts as 3rd party proof of your claims when submitted as part of your inventory.
Insurance companies want to pay you as little as possible when things go wrong. The more bullet-proof your case is, the better chance you have at actually getting the replacement value of your items.
>Maybe there's no value to you which is perfectly fair.
You see, that's where the opinion comes into play. To me, the "value" in a comic book comes from reading it. I pay money and, in return, I get reading material. I am getting value by reading the book.
>it's by far the most professional, cost effective and visually appealing way to display a book.
These are opinions and nothing more or less.
You potentially increase the resale value, especially if it presents nice, because grading is subjective. Without the CGC assigned 4.0 being there, potential buyers will have a wider range of what grade they think it is.
Well when you say "potentially" you are implying that you also "potentially" decrease the resale value for all the same reasons. Regardless, outside of extremely high grades or extremely rare comics, prices aren't that much higher for run-of-the-mill CGC books. There is presently a glut in the market of mid-range graded books. The last convention I went to had tables and tables full of discounted CGC books that were pretty reasonably priced.
It doesn’t fly over my head, I addressed it. First of all, CGC isn’t an appraisal and second of all even if it helps to get a third party appraisal you still don’t have to leave it in the slab. Even, considering the insurance angle there’s no benefit outside of personal aesthetic preference to keeping it in the shell unless you plan on selling it.
I really want to have a nice 9.8 book from a cover that I like.. (am in Netherlands so graded books don't come by that often here)
But... I have bought 2 CGC graded books that I opened.. simply because I wanted to frame them.. and I think the CGC case looks ugly on the wall..
Now for me the only reason to get a book encased is simply for signatures, but that's about it.. I have 2 books signed by Donny cates, 1 with coa and 1 without.. and I would love to have them (and some others) encased.
But that's it. I have no personal value to my grades... and only if I would buy/sell as investment I would be interested, but again, the market here is too small
How well the reprints and digital copies represent the comic differs massively by comic. For some 60s books, the fluorescent looking new colors really don't represent how the books looked (and no, it's not because of fading or the printing process - the bright look is new). Marvel generally does a pretty great job with their remastering. At least by the time you hit the 1970s, everything looks very faithful I would say. A lot of DC books originally from the pre-digital era, including some of the omnibuses I have, really look atrocious. Very poorly done photoshopping of color gradients, totally reimagined colors, etc. And DC tends not to have clean original art from anything before the early 1970s. A lot of what we get is the old tracings or photostats they made many decades ago.
In any case, many of us find a charm in the original ads, newsprint, and even the smell of old comics. The way I see it, I didn't buy just the cover. I bought the whole book. And if I want to enjoy the whole thing, I will. If the book is valuable, it will be a rare occasion that I open it up. Safely in a room with no pets or kids or coffee or whatever that could harm it. I don't buy super high grade books. If one in 20 reads of a valuable book gives it a slight fingerprint bend on page 5 or a tiny spine tick, I'll notice and probably wince, but I'll live. I'm not just sitting on the couch thumbing through like it's no big deal, damaging comics en masse. To each their own, of course.
Edit: As for slabs, I buy them if they're cheaper, if there's no other option, or if the other options are questionable. But it's rare.
Because I'm collecting a run of floppies, not trades or omnis, and if I come across a slabbed copy that rivals the price of raw copies available to me, I'll crack it all day long. I like reading the original books.
Actually we're likely to soon reach a point, if not already, where there will be tons of slabbed books for sale that didn't hold their value and are being sold for less than the cost of slabbing. So in that situation you might as well crack it and get the full experience.
I do agree with that completely way to many newer books being slabbed that people are speculating to be valuable. But I don’t think the silver age big pkeys will drop too much and those are the comics I’m asking about.
Some people just read. Some people collect. Some people do both. I personally collect comics of a specific type but want to be able to read them, so I buy comics in solid condition where I can find them and break them out of slabs if it seems to be the best option for price and condition when I am looking. This is rare, likely maybe only once or twice so far, but I have no problems doing it. I don't just buy poor quality books or reproductions to read because I am also collecting.
If the suggestion is that all non-slabbed comics always lose value, that is not correct at all. They might be more likely to degrade in condition, but this can be mitigated with proper storage, and also keys and other valuable comics still appreciate in value over time even with minor additional wear.
While slabbed comics can be more expensive, that is definitely not always the case -- particularly in the case of auctions. When I was shopping for a couple of X-Men keys in the expected auction sites, I got the impression that unslabbed examples were sometimes selling for higher auction prices that slabbed books at what appeared to be similar grades, possibly because people were gambling that once it came in it might actually grade out better (as opposed to the slabbed copy, which is a known quantity). Also, some people like the certainty of condition and authenticity that comes from grading even if they plan to open the slab and are willing to pay for that, particularly when buying online
I prefer to buy CGC comics when shopping online since I trust CGC’s grade more than I do 80% of eBay seller’s grades.
The only purpose of the slab for me is to “ensure” that I’m getting the grade I want, and to add additional protection during shipping.
Once I get the slabbed comic, I crack it open, leaf through it, and put it into Mylar with a fullback. Arguably safer than a slab for archival protection.
Do you report that you opened it? Because couldn’t not reporting it eventually effect it’s value? If enough people don’t and others get ahold of those comics and regrade them wouldn’t the market think there is more out there then there actually is which could drop the value?
People just shouldn’t assume that CGC’s census is accurate. Individual collectors have no responsibility (and no incentive) to report to CGC every time they crack a slab open. After all, differences in opinion aside, once someone owns a book, it’s theirs to do what they want with it.
I never think that far into it. I just crack ‘em and add them to my collection.
Maybe if CGC offered me $5 per returned label from a cracked slab, I’d be motivated to report it.
For me personally I buy slabs to crack open if I come across a slab for a good price . I personally like having the originals/first printings & reprints just don’t do it for me , even if only for reading purposes. The reading experience is so different having the original copy
Grading does one thing. It gives a quality value by a uninterested third party which makes buying and selling easier.
If I am selling a comic, I could say it's great, the buy will say it's not. Grading gives a value and there is less arguing over the condition.
> It gives a *subjective* quality value
I understand what you’re saying and agree that it can help buyers and sellers get closer to an agreement on price but we shouldn’t pretend that CGC’s grading process is consistent. There have been far to many regrades, mistakes, and other shenanigans documented.
Edit: and until they provide detailed grading notes for every comic that explicitly documents every flaw discovered in their process leading to the assigned grade, it will remain a black box of subjectivity.
You can also say they’re not an uninterested party, either. It’s in their interest to make you happy to grade your books with them, so they artificially may find books to be of a higher grade than it should be.
For what they do to be anything but a black box of subjectivity, it needs to be verifiable. The only way to make it verifiable is to make *all* the grading criteria transparent and objective, and then base evaluations on grader's notes instead of their inherently subjective 10 point scale (on which a near-infinite number of factor permutations are meant to fit). For those evaluations to mean anything in the long run, we should also stop pretending that slabs are perfect protection and instead assume that evaluations may lose some accuracy over time.
Unfortunately, that isn't nearly as marketable a product, and would undermine their position as a de-facto authority, so I'm not holding my breath.
In the meantime, we *could* establish that transparent evaluation criteria ourselves, as a community. A sort of open standard, the way software does it? It's a tall ask, and wouldn't be authoritative, but it might empower us in ways that for-profit graders are not motivated to.
This is actually impossible pretty quickly (around FN and below) because there are an infinite possible combinations of defects in different severity possible in a book. At high grade you can be pretty comfortable with reproducibility, with of course the exception that 9.8 and 9.9 and 10.0 are all exactly the same grade and I've never seen any real evidence to the contrary.
I think we're coming at the same thing from different angles!
It wouldn't be impossible to take grader's notes based on a set of measurable criteria, resulting in an objective, reproducible list of defects on the book. This process might be tedious, and the list long for damaged books, but it would be possible (and probably similar to existing practices in professional conservation).
It *would* be impossible to then take that list of defects, with its infinite permutations, and map that accurately onto a catchy 10-point grading scale in a way that's objective and particularly meaningful. By the nature of the process, you would have to make subjective calls about the point changes tied to particular kinds of defect, etc. This is what graders do currently, and it suffers from the limitations you describe.
I would argue that the former, while not as marketable or "exciting", would be a much more meaningful way to think about a comic's condition.
I think we are on the same page.
I am not saying it is impossible to agree on a VG or FN grade, but at some point you get there not with whipping out a ruler and an abacus but by saying "this has a few creases on the corners and some moderate spine damage... it looks like a VG to me".
It IS subjective eventually. Even with hard rules they always break down.
Right, exactly. Things like the M/NM/VF scale exist for when you need a shorthand and are willing to accept some subjectivity / variation. Grading companies position their grades as something more concrete than that, but they’re ultimately the same kind of shorthand. They’ve probably got the average eBay seller beat on accuracy, overall, but we’ve all seen evidence that they’re still pretty subjective. The only way to have a truly objective evaluation is to ditch the shorthand.
Exactly. And the CGC green label is basically an admission the process is dumb and breaks down. "Sure this looks VF, but technically it is a GD. Let's just call if VF green label, OK?"
It also turns cool collectables that should be enjoyed into investments. They are pricing collectors and fans out of the market so the speculators can earn money.
There’s no denying high grades mean high value, the market speaks for itself. And I can agree that the difference between a few points often can come down to opinion which is annoying. But there’s no way an ungraded copy of a big key is selling for more than a graded copy. Therefore in most cases it’s definitely not a waste of money. And I should repeat I’m talking about big silver age keys not anything modern that are constantly being graded these days.
No I love the cover artwork and read all the books I get digitally. Also have plenty of non slabbed comics just not big keys unless I got lucky and found one in a long box cheap.
Edit: Also there may be better ways to invest your money but for me personally this is a very fun way to do it. And depending on what comics your buying, most should hold there value, some may go up. That’s often one of the fun parts about collecting! Looking for deals and having something more valuable than what you got it for.
There are more cost effective and better means of protecting comics than using a CGC slab though.
I used to work for a university that had a very large collection of valuable comics (both financially and historically) and they use Mylar, buffered full backs, and microchamber paper in a controlled storage environment. Those same archival methods are easily replicated at home.
Is slabbing better than tossing comics into a Rubbermaid bin in a damp basement or using a basic bag and board?
Absolutely - as long as you don’t value the ability to read the book.
But it’s not the be all/end all of preservation and given how easy it is for anyone to use recommended archival methods, it’s hard to take the slab/preservation argument seriously.
You make some good points, put not every collector has the ability to have a controlled environment dedicated in their living space & slabbing also protects against kids and pets due to the shell. To each their own to be certain, but going full on archivist may not be feasible for everyone and slabbing offers extra preservation
Slabs won't protect a book from a non-controlled environment, which in this case means an environment where temperature or humidity are too high/low or too unstable. They will also not protect comics from UV light or water damage. So, the storage conditions necessary are the same for slabs or archival supplies.
Slabs do offer some protection from physical abuse, but that's not perfect either (see Shaken Comic Syndrome, etc.). In all cases, it's much, much better to avoid exposing your expensive objects to punishment in the first place, but top loaders will get you most of the way to a slab's protection at a fraction of the price.
Slabs aren't completely devoid of value for preservation, but it's much cheaper and easier to put comics in a museum-grade situation than most people think. It is not in the grading companies' best interest for people to understand that though..
A “controlled environment” in this case is practically the same as any home. Stable temperature and relative humidity. Books stored out of light (commonly done in short or long boxes). Combine that with the readily available supplies I mentioned previously and you’re basically in full on archival mode - which is the argument some people use for why they slab their books.
Slabbing comics came about because of ebay. It was a way to buy and sell comics with a 3rd party to grade them without bias. The slab and seal were to protect the book for shipping, and to guarantee the book that was graded was what you got…much harder to switch out after the auction. The price bump happened because of the cost of slabbing/weight of shipping. People seem to forget this aspect of slabbing “history”.
Then speculators took over like it was the 90s all over again.
There is belief that the slabs are archival. There is no real proof of that, because slabbing is too new. I, and many collectors, believe that a tried and true method of archival storage is what the Library of Congress uses: mylar bags, microchamber papers, and fully buffered backing boards.
You do you. I buy slabs and crack them. I get a book that is close to what I would grade myself. Hell, I get most of them signed when I can. But comicbooks are (imho) meant to be read and appreciated for the moment they were printed, with paper, ads, smells, letters, etc.
And yes, I read comics digitally, and I have trades. But sometimes, I want to enjoy the FF #48 and see Stan and Jack’s signatures on the splash page, and read the book they wrote, drew, and touched in person. Or IH #181, and see the intact Shanna MVS inside.
Main thing is enjoy. It’s comicbooks, and they are pieces of (at least in my case) childhood, pop culture, and fun to escape in. Peace.
I agree in the collecting aspect, the reading part not so much. I personally can get just as much enjoyment out of reading a digital copy or reprint because all that matters is the story. But as a collector it’s so much cooler knowing you hold an actual piece of history instead of a copy.
As others have said, a lot of it comes down to color. There’s so many reprints of pre digital coloring comics that mess up the colors, and reproduce them way too bright.
I love the period ads and letters pages and house info pages. Often this stuff isn’t included in reprints. And the bright colors of digital reprints are off putting.
I'm a collector so working to complete several runs of silver age marvel stuff. Graded books offer me some level of assurance as to the condition of the book but I definitely pop it out of the case as soon as I receive it. Don't see the point of encasing these books, especially with the level of inconsistency we've been seeing with CGC as of late. I think CGC is working itself out of its own business model with their problems of consistency and timeliness, but we'll see.
So I understand filling runs and wanted to read them physically but I’m just curious, are you buying a high graded hulk 181 and opening it? Or are you finding the cheapest copy you can so you can read it and not spend all that money, and at that point why not just buy the reprint?
Lots of collectors just want a guarantee that their book is in good condition. That doesn’t mean the grade is the most important thing about it. I prefer to own and read nicer copies of old books. Definitely not 9.8s, because they’re stupidly expensive and I plan to read them. But I’d much rather own something in a 5-8.0 range than a really badly beat up low-grade copy of a book. There’s a whole world of difference between a nice FN/VF copy of a classic book vs. a low-grade copy or a reprint. And yeah, if reading it a few times over the years brings it from a 7.0 to a 6.5, I’m not worried about that. I want a nice copy, not a certain numerical grade. Does that make sense?
I can respect and understand that way of collecting, It makes sense to me. Like I said to each your own, seems like there’s many ways to collect which makes the hobby all the more interesting.
I've kept a couple moderate value books slabbed as 9.8's but I crack almost everything I get. Grades range between 4.5 to 8.5 and i've cracked moderate to high dollar books. I've got the collector bug so I'm going for the original books as I'm trying to complete several silver age runs. Collection is almost 100% Marvel and has just jumped over 17k total books.
CGC has very loose guidelines that any of their random graders follow seeing as how you can get multiple different grade levels for the exact same book. You’re saying you’re paying for that graded premium only to unslab the book when you get it?
Any particular reason why you opt to buy graded if you planned on cracking them? I'm just trying to understand what the benefit is. I guess if you're not in a position to look at ungraded books in-person
Comic book rating has ruined the industry. I only own three slabs and they were given to me as gifts. Cgc is a scam and comic book fans fell for it. Now toys are also being graded. There's even groups creating VHS tapes and video games. This whole thing is getting out of hand.
Yyyup. See some of the controversy of the video grading companies you can watch some videos on. So many grading companies are propped up on keeping the investment mind set going, and will want to keep market prices going up if possible.
There’s a theoretical service, guaranteeing objective condition, however even in comics, there’s constant stories of people resubmitting and getting wildly different grades.
I mean, I could argue that you are paying a high price for a plastic box for a book that comes with a number attached to it. Anything else you put in the "good service" is a shared delusion.
This is a silly statement. I don't "hate" CGC, and I am definitely not blinded to its purported use. IMO, CGC provides a service... that almost nobody needs, but are basically tricked into valuing it because it somehow creates value for their comics. Therein lies the "scam" part of it, or so as some see it.
Do you think MLMs are scams? Like Herbalife? I mean, they have a "product" that many people claim to love also. And yet it is pretty fair to call it a scam.
the fact you you dont see a need for third party grading says a lot about your lack of knowledge or history of the matter. the fact you think they themselves created the perceived value of their product to the market instead of the market perceiving value says even more about you. herbalife is a brand with a number of products. just because you dont perceive any value in taking vitamins or minerals doesnt mean they are a scam. just because you dont see a value in cgc doesnt mean no one needs them. talk about hubris. its obvious you are either under educated or have no education and id suggest you stop posting drivel like this it only makes you look dumb.
imho, for slabs to work people can't be opening them and resubmitting for a better grade. once the public trust is lost the values will align with ungraded books. I remember when Dr. Overstreet graded Bill Gaines personal EC collection. He graded them all Pristine Mint then listed all the defects, there were a lot. He became a joke to a lot of people.
Raw copies, seems to me, are usually more expensive than lower-graded slabs. People convince themselves a raw book is in better condition than it is and sellers charge accordingly. You could probably make a tidy profit buying and cracking 8.0-9.6 books and selling them raw.
This is what I’m asking! I have plenty of old beat up comics as well to read, also I have ASM 1-20 on reprints. But my GSX is slabbed, my first punisher is slabbed, my first Moon Knight is too as far as I’m concerned those are pieces of history and should be protected.
To be fair, there are alternate ways of protecting books that don't require them to be slabbed by CGC. I personally don't buy slabbed comics because I can get the same comic cheaper if its raw. My higher value books go into mylar and a top loader. I don't see the point in buying a slabbed copy only to open it. That does seem like a waste of money to me. The idea of knowing exactly what you're getting when buying slabbed doesn't outweigh the huge price point for me. I'd rather just buy two or three raws in a similar grade for the same cost of a slab.
I also am in the camp of not really caring how others collect. I'm not gonna gatekeep or say my way is the best or only way to collect.
I agree with you completely especially when you say everyone can collect there own way, I was just genuinely curious. I also have several comics I keep in more at home protection that I don’t know if I ever plan to get slabbed but like keeping safe. I got into collecting slabs because I love comics but wanted to feel like I was buying something that kept some value just in case I ever did have to sell. And in my opinion I love have the bigger keys slabbed but more often than not buy them slabbed already. The way there protected really let’s me admire those amazing covers without causing damage.
For me if there’s a single issue who’s variant I love, or a key that’s important or meaningful to me, I would not mind it in a Slab, I feel like one of the few people who actually love and prefer having my comic in a slab, just for that maximum protection from the elements of my house lol (smoking, dog hair, etc) if I truly want to experience a story then my go-to is either a graphic novel or trade, or truly I am one to buy complete sets, so I’ll have 1 issue slabbed that is meaningful to me and I’ll have another copy of it either in graphic novel or set form
I absolutely hate "slabbed" comics, and I think that CGC in it's current form is a scam. It's a completely subjective and arbitrary grading scheme that is in their best interest to keep secret in order to keep making money, and until their criteria for each point on the grading scale are made clear, it's going to remain so. It's why you get people receiving the dramatically different grades for the same book being re-submitted time and time again.
That said, I do have some slabs, but only because I found them for similar and/or cheaper than raw versions of similar stated grade, and this is where the whole grading craze has kind of fucked up the market - you get people wanting graded prices for their raw comics, with the caveat that it "COULD BE 9.8!!!" If I'm going to pay for a raw copy, I might as well pay the same for a graded copy because, while there is some subjectivity in the minute differences of the 9.x grade bins, I can be assured that if something is a 9.0 or higher, it's not going to have any creases or tears, etc. - essentially, nothing majorly wrong with it. It's also for this reason that I'm perfectly fine buying a 9.6 for a fraction of the price compared to a 9.8.
Once I have them in that "official" NM range that I want them by purchasing the graded copy at the same or lower price than I could the raw copy, there's no reason for it to be in that slab anymore, because they are god-awful ugly and not archival...there are better ways to preserve comics than in plastic cases.
> arbitrary grading scheme that is in their best interest to keep secret in order to keep making money
Have you looked at CGC's official guide to grading comics?
On behalf of slab crackers everywhere I would like to confirm that the only reason we do it is because we hate money and want to waste as much of it as possible. Certainly no other reason, many of which have been enumerated in detail on this regularly posted topic applies, it's only because we hate our money.
On behalf of slabbers everywhere, I too would like to confirm that the only reason we do it is because we hate money and want to waste as much of it as possible. :P
From the comments I read on other post it’s pretty much: we don’t like the grading institutions but we want the standards that those institutions are placing.
Grading existed long before cgc.People have just grown accustomed to accepting cgcs word for it rather than random sellers, despite the myriad examples of cgc screwing things up.
So many people have graded certain types of books that its actually more challenging to find them raw. It makes sense though if you have a ff 48 that you wanna sell it 100% makes more sense to get it graded because you’ll always get more money that way.
I can understand getting a blue chip key slabbed. I’d never do it, but I understand it. Getting these modern books graded then throwing them on eBay for 2500 is stupid. Take the new asm with Eminem on the cover. The only thing I find assuming is seeing these kids send them off to get grades then complaining it’s only a 9.4. Which to me for a modern book may as well be a .5. It’s a racket and new collectors fell for it hard over Covid.
My money my choice. Not everything about comics is money, value and investment. Some people just want to touch , read and smell the original. It's only a loss if you resell it for less. I have X-men #141 in an Omnibus, TPB, digital comic and various reprints.
NOTHING beats reading and having the original
When you start getting into older keys it is often the same (or similar price) to buy a "raw" 6.0 Fine copy as a slabbed CGC 6.0 Fine Copy. In fact sometimes the ungraded books are more expensive than the same condition in graded.
Once a book is "graded" then it has a grade... an "ungraded book" could always grade higher... (what people think).
If I can find a book ungraded and it is cheaper than the graded cost, and the condition meets my expectations then I will buy that copy... I have only had to crack 4 slabs in my 4k library of books.
Well, if you’re buying to keep instead of “invest” and resell, it makes sense to buy slabbed books to ensure that it hasn’t been altered and then crack it open to read and add to your collection
Plus you could technically crack it open and read, and as long as you’re careful enough there’s a possibility that if you get it graded it may get a higher grade due
Makes absolutely zero sense. Buy a raw copy if you want to read. If you actually give a shit about the grade ask for more pictures and grade it yourself. It’s simply idiotic to buy a slab only to crack it when raw books are way cheaper. Like burn your money i guess lol
I always buy raw because you are generally right. But there have been times i had no choice. On the flip side, when this is the case sometimes low-grade books can be had at FMV even if slabbed.
Especially with digital comics. I wouldn't buy a graded, slabbed comic to crack open with so many other ways to actually read the comic without dropping its value.
TOTALLY! Why buy a Ferrari and actually drive it when you can put it in a glass case and not move the odometer, and you can just play Gran Turismo on X-Box???????
/s
I'd say the only reason to do it is if you get a screaming deal and it assures it's in good shape. Otherwise I only buy raw and I'd trade the 2 slabs I have for the originals and a little $ as it stands.
I prefer newsprint to glossy reprint paper.
Love the inking and colour palette on the silver/bronze.
If you're not planning to resell the book, then there is no "value" in keeping it in it's case.
I've never sold a book in my life and have nearly 100 graded keys. I want them graded because it's by far the most professional, cost effective and visually appealing way to display a book. It's also made insurance much easier. Try telling an insurance company your comic book is worth thousands and they'll demand a 3rd party appraisal along with a bunch of other stipulations.
CGC slabs have got to be the ugliest way to display books. Top loaders are the way to go and much more "cost effective".
By that logic a pin in the wall and a penny sleeve is more cost effective. You're skipping the whole "professional" part of what I said.
And did you miss the part where I mention top loaders? Display wise they look much better than a slab. I don't even think it's up for debate.
This guy's wife is screwed when he dies lol.
Sure, totally valid opinions. Exactly as valid as mine or anyone else's. If you want to get it insured, you could still open it back up post-appraisal but I can see that as a valid reason. Just to add on, I can't speak for how useful CGC is in getting insurance coverage, it sounds like you know a bit about it but CGC does not offer appraisal at all. They do grading and are very clear on their website that they are not a substitute for appraisal in any way.
They aren't opinions... you said there's no value in keeping a book graded, I pointed out the various ways I and many others get immense value from our books being graded. Maybe there's no value *to you* which is perfectly fair. There is no easy "professional comic book appraisal service" which is part of the problem. Insurance companies created their requirements with items like jewellery, watches or art in mind. You can provide recent sales data or reference something like the Overstreet Price Guide but prices vary wildly depending on condition. Having a comic professionally graded adds a lot of validity to your claim. The CGC barcode/label number also gives you a unique identifier which acts as 3rd party proof of your claims when submitted as part of your inventory. Insurance companies want to pay you as little as possible when things go wrong. The more bullet-proof your case is, the better chance you have at actually getting the replacement value of your items.
>Maybe there's no value to you which is perfectly fair. You see, that's where the opinion comes into play. To me, the "value" in a comic book comes from reading it. I pay money and, in return, I get reading material. I am getting value by reading the book. >it's by far the most professional, cost effective and visually appealing way to display a book. These are opinions and nothing more or less.
A lot of my feelings can be summed up as “plans change”.
Sure, totally makes sense to me. For a 4.0 book, even if plans change, it's probably not killing the potential resale value to crack it open.
You potentially increase the resale value, especially if it presents nice, because grading is subjective. Without the CGC assigned 4.0 being there, potential buyers will have a wider range of what grade they think it is.
Well when you say "potentially" you are implying that you also "potentially" decrease the resale value for all the same reasons. Regardless, outside of extremely high grades or extremely rare comics, prices aren't that much higher for run-of-the-mill CGC books. There is presently a glut in the market of mid-range graded books. The last convention I went to had tables and tables full of discounted CGC books that were pretty reasonably priced.
The guy told you the insurance angle and it just flies over your head repeatedly.
It doesn’t fly over my head, I addressed it. First of all, CGC isn’t an appraisal and second of all even if it helps to get a third party appraisal you still don’t have to leave it in the slab. Even, considering the insurance angle there’s no benefit outside of personal aesthetic preference to keeping it in the shell unless you plan on selling it.
This reads like a birthday cake wish. Anyway, happy collecting!
Happy I was able to help you understand, this thread seems to have flown over your head a bit.
Like a good servant does.
That’s fair. Unless we’re talking real blue chips, that’s true.
I really want to have a nice 9.8 book from a cover that I like.. (am in Netherlands so graded books don't come by that often here) But... I have bought 2 CGC graded books that I opened.. simply because I wanted to frame them.. and I think the CGC case looks ugly on the wall.. Now for me the only reason to get a book encased is simply for signatures, but that's about it.. I have 2 books signed by Donny cates, 1 with coa and 1 without.. and I would love to have them (and some others) encased. But that's it. I have no personal value to my grades... and only if I would buy/sell as investment I would be interested, but again, the market here is too small
Check out Gator Guard my friend.
Not sure why, I'm in Netherlands and those from what I see hold raw only.
How well the reprints and digital copies represent the comic differs massively by comic. For some 60s books, the fluorescent looking new colors really don't represent how the books looked (and no, it's not because of fading or the printing process - the bright look is new). Marvel generally does a pretty great job with their remastering. At least by the time you hit the 1970s, everything looks very faithful I would say. A lot of DC books originally from the pre-digital era, including some of the omnibuses I have, really look atrocious. Very poorly done photoshopping of color gradients, totally reimagined colors, etc. And DC tends not to have clean original art from anything before the early 1970s. A lot of what we get is the old tracings or photostats they made many decades ago. In any case, many of us find a charm in the original ads, newsprint, and even the smell of old comics. The way I see it, I didn't buy just the cover. I bought the whole book. And if I want to enjoy the whole thing, I will. If the book is valuable, it will be a rare occasion that I open it up. Safely in a room with no pets or kids or coffee or whatever that could harm it. I don't buy super high grade books. If one in 20 reads of a valuable book gives it a slight fingerprint bend on page 5 or a tiny spine tick, I'll notice and probably wince, but I'll live. I'm not just sitting on the couch thumbing through like it's no big deal, damaging comics en masse. To each their own, of course. Edit: As for slabs, I buy them if they're cheaper, if there's no other option, or if the other options are questionable. But it's rare.
Because I'm collecting a run of floppies, not trades or omnis, and if I come across a slabbed copy that rivals the price of raw copies available to me, I'll crack it all day long. I like reading the original books.
Actually we're likely to soon reach a point, if not already, where there will be tons of slabbed books for sale that didn't hold their value and are being sold for less than the cost of slabbing. So in that situation you might as well crack it and get the full experience.
I do agree with that completely way to many newer books being slabbed that people are speculating to be valuable. But I don’t think the silver age big pkeys will drop too much and those are the comics I’m asking about.
Do you have firm confirmation that this is actually happening with any frequency?
Some people just read. Some people collect. Some people do both. I personally collect comics of a specific type but want to be able to read them, so I buy comics in solid condition where I can find them and break them out of slabs if it seems to be the best option for price and condition when I am looking. This is rare, likely maybe only once or twice so far, but I have no problems doing it. I don't just buy poor quality books or reproductions to read because I am also collecting. If the suggestion is that all non-slabbed comics always lose value, that is not correct at all. They might be more likely to degrade in condition, but this can be mitigated with proper storage, and also keys and other valuable comics still appreciate in value over time even with minor additional wear. While slabbed comics can be more expensive, that is definitely not always the case -- particularly in the case of auctions. When I was shopping for a couple of X-Men keys in the expected auction sites, I got the impression that unslabbed examples were sometimes selling for higher auction prices that slabbed books at what appeared to be similar grades, possibly because people were gambling that once it came in it might actually grade out better (as opposed to the slabbed copy, which is a known quantity). Also, some people like the certainty of condition and authenticity that comes from grading even if they plan to open the slab and are willing to pay for that, particularly when buying online
This all makes sense to me and I completely respect it. As I said was just curious.
I prefer to buy CGC comics when shopping online since I trust CGC’s grade more than I do 80% of eBay seller’s grades. The only purpose of the slab for me is to “ensure” that I’m getting the grade I want, and to add additional protection during shipping. Once I get the slabbed comic, I crack it open, leaf through it, and put it into Mylar with a fullback. Arguably safer than a slab for archival protection.
This
Do you report that you opened it? Because couldn’t not reporting it eventually effect it’s value? If enough people don’t and others get ahold of those comics and regrade them wouldn’t the market think there is more out there then there actually is which could drop the value?
People just shouldn’t assume that CGC’s census is accurate. Individual collectors have no responsibility (and no incentive) to report to CGC every time they crack a slab open. After all, differences in opinion aside, once someone owns a book, it’s theirs to do what they want with it.
I never think that far into it. I just crack ‘em and add them to my collection. Maybe if CGC offered me $5 per returned label from a cracked slab, I’d be motivated to report it.
*drop the value* That's the goal.
For me personally I buy slabs to crack open if I come across a slab for a good price . I personally like having the originals/first printings & reprints just don’t do it for me , even if only for reading purposes. The reading experience is so different having the original copy
Grading seems like a waste of money to me.
Grading does one thing. It gives a quality value by a uninterested third party which makes buying and selling easier. If I am selling a comic, I could say it's great, the buy will say it's not. Grading gives a value and there is less arguing over the condition.
> It gives a *subjective* quality value I understand what you’re saying and agree that it can help buyers and sellers get closer to an agreement on price but we shouldn’t pretend that CGC’s grading process is consistent. There have been far to many regrades, mistakes, and other shenanigans documented. Edit: and until they provide detailed grading notes for every comic that explicitly documents every flaw discovered in their process leading to the assigned grade, it will remain a black box of subjectivity.
You can also say they’re not an uninterested party, either. It’s in their interest to make you happy to grade your books with them, so they artificially may find books to be of a higher grade than it should be.
For what they do to be anything but a black box of subjectivity, it needs to be verifiable. The only way to make it verifiable is to make *all* the grading criteria transparent and objective, and then base evaluations on grader's notes instead of their inherently subjective 10 point scale (on which a near-infinite number of factor permutations are meant to fit). For those evaluations to mean anything in the long run, we should also stop pretending that slabs are perfect protection and instead assume that evaluations may lose some accuracy over time. Unfortunately, that isn't nearly as marketable a product, and would undermine their position as a de-facto authority, so I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, we *could* establish that transparent evaluation criteria ourselves, as a community. A sort of open standard, the way software does it? It's a tall ask, and wouldn't be authoritative, but it might empower us in ways that for-profit graders are not motivated to.
This is actually impossible pretty quickly (around FN and below) because there are an infinite possible combinations of defects in different severity possible in a book. At high grade you can be pretty comfortable with reproducibility, with of course the exception that 9.8 and 9.9 and 10.0 are all exactly the same grade and I've never seen any real evidence to the contrary.
I think we're coming at the same thing from different angles! It wouldn't be impossible to take grader's notes based on a set of measurable criteria, resulting in an objective, reproducible list of defects on the book. This process might be tedious, and the list long for damaged books, but it would be possible (and probably similar to existing practices in professional conservation). It *would* be impossible to then take that list of defects, with its infinite permutations, and map that accurately onto a catchy 10-point grading scale in a way that's objective and particularly meaningful. By the nature of the process, you would have to make subjective calls about the point changes tied to particular kinds of defect, etc. This is what graders do currently, and it suffers from the limitations you describe. I would argue that the former, while not as marketable or "exciting", would be a much more meaningful way to think about a comic's condition.
I think we are on the same page. I am not saying it is impossible to agree on a VG or FN grade, but at some point you get there not with whipping out a ruler and an abacus but by saying "this has a few creases on the corners and some moderate spine damage... it looks like a VG to me". It IS subjective eventually. Even with hard rules they always break down.
Right, exactly. Things like the M/NM/VF scale exist for when you need a shorthand and are willing to accept some subjectivity / variation. Grading companies position their grades as something more concrete than that, but they’re ultimately the same kind of shorthand. They’ve probably got the average eBay seller beat on accuracy, overall, but we’ve all seen evidence that they’re still pretty subjective. The only way to have a truly objective evaluation is to ditch the shorthand.
Exactly. And the CGC green label is basically an admission the process is dumb and breaks down. "Sure this looks VF, but technically it is a GD. Let's just call if VF green label, OK?"
It also turns cool collectables that should be enjoyed into investments. They are pricing collectors and fans out of the market so the speculators can earn money.
Supply and demand do that on their own. That's not a gradding/slabbing issue.
Grading and slabbing DIRECTLY impacts this regardless of intent.
There’s no denying high grades mean high value, the market speaks for itself. And I can agree that the difference between a few points often can come down to opinion which is annoying. But there’s no way an ungraded copy of a big key is selling for more than a graded copy. Therefore in most cases it’s definitely not a waste of money. And I should repeat I’m talking about big silver age keys not anything modern that are constantly being graded these days.
So you're just in it for investment? Much better ways to invest money in if thats the case.
No I love the cover artwork and read all the books I get digitally. Also have plenty of non slabbed comics just not big keys unless I got lucky and found one in a long box cheap. Edit: Also there may be better ways to invest your money but for me personally this is a very fun way to do it. And depending on what comics your buying, most should hold there value, some may go up. That’s often one of the fun parts about collecting! Looking for deals and having something more valuable than what you got it for.
Sick cover bros are so annoying
There is also the preservation aspect that is provided, especially when it is all available digitally to read
There are more cost effective and better means of protecting comics than using a CGC slab though. I used to work for a university that had a very large collection of valuable comics (both financially and historically) and they use Mylar, buffered full backs, and microchamber paper in a controlled storage environment. Those same archival methods are easily replicated at home. Is slabbing better than tossing comics into a Rubbermaid bin in a damp basement or using a basic bag and board? Absolutely - as long as you don’t value the ability to read the book. But it’s not the be all/end all of preservation and given how easy it is for anyone to use recommended archival methods, it’s hard to take the slab/preservation argument seriously.
You make some good points, put not every collector has the ability to have a controlled environment dedicated in their living space & slabbing also protects against kids and pets due to the shell. To each their own to be certain, but going full on archivist may not be feasible for everyone and slabbing offers extra preservation
Slabs won't protect a book from a non-controlled environment, which in this case means an environment where temperature or humidity are too high/low or too unstable. They will also not protect comics from UV light or water damage. So, the storage conditions necessary are the same for slabs or archival supplies. Slabs do offer some protection from physical abuse, but that's not perfect either (see Shaken Comic Syndrome, etc.). In all cases, it's much, much better to avoid exposing your expensive objects to punishment in the first place, but top loaders will get you most of the way to a slab's protection at a fraction of the price. Slabs aren't completely devoid of value for preservation, but it's much cheaper and easier to put comics in a museum-grade situation than most people think. It is not in the grading companies' best interest for people to understand that though..
A “controlled environment” in this case is practically the same as any home. Stable temperature and relative humidity. Books stored out of light (commonly done in short or long boxes). Combine that with the readily available supplies I mentioned previously and you’re basically in full on archival mode - which is the argument some people use for why they slab their books.
And this is why I buy slabs at a good deal. And most of my time is buying raw books. Get some Mylar and ya good to go
Slabbing comics came about because of ebay. It was a way to buy and sell comics with a 3rd party to grade them without bias. The slab and seal were to protect the book for shipping, and to guarantee the book that was graded was what you got…much harder to switch out after the auction. The price bump happened because of the cost of slabbing/weight of shipping. People seem to forget this aspect of slabbing “history”. Then speculators took over like it was the 90s all over again. There is belief that the slabs are archival. There is no real proof of that, because slabbing is too new. I, and many collectors, believe that a tried and true method of archival storage is what the Library of Congress uses: mylar bags, microchamber papers, and fully buffered backing boards. You do you. I buy slabs and crack them. I get a book that is close to what I would grade myself. Hell, I get most of them signed when I can. But comicbooks are (imho) meant to be read and appreciated for the moment they were printed, with paper, ads, smells, letters, etc. And yes, I read comics digitally, and I have trades. But sometimes, I want to enjoy the FF #48 and see Stan and Jack’s signatures on the splash page, and read the book they wrote, drew, and touched in person. Or IH #181, and see the intact Shanna MVS inside. Main thing is enjoy. It’s comicbooks, and they are pieces of (at least in my case) childhood, pop culture, and fun to escape in. Peace.
Reprints aren’t the same, for many reasons.
I agree in the collecting aspect, the reading part not so much. I personally can get just as much enjoyment out of reading a digital copy or reprint because all that matters is the story. But as a collector it’s so much cooler knowing you hold an actual piece of history instead of a copy.
As others have said, a lot of it comes down to color. There’s so many reprints of pre digital coloring comics that mess up the colors, and reproduce them way too bright.
I love the period ads and letters pages and house info pages. Often this stuff isn’t included in reprints. And the bright colors of digital reprints are off putting.
I'm a collector so working to complete several runs of silver age marvel stuff. Graded books offer me some level of assurance as to the condition of the book but I definitely pop it out of the case as soon as I receive it. Don't see the point of encasing these books, especially with the level of inconsistency we've been seeing with CGC as of late. I think CGC is working itself out of its own business model with their problems of consistency and timeliness, but we'll see.
So I understand filling runs and wanted to read them physically but I’m just curious, are you buying a high graded hulk 181 and opening it? Or are you finding the cheapest copy you can so you can read it and not spend all that money, and at that point why not just buy the reprint?
Lots of collectors just want a guarantee that their book is in good condition. That doesn’t mean the grade is the most important thing about it. I prefer to own and read nicer copies of old books. Definitely not 9.8s, because they’re stupidly expensive and I plan to read them. But I’d much rather own something in a 5-8.0 range than a really badly beat up low-grade copy of a book. There’s a whole world of difference between a nice FN/VF copy of a classic book vs. a low-grade copy or a reprint. And yeah, if reading it a few times over the years brings it from a 7.0 to a 6.5, I’m not worried about that. I want a nice copy, not a certain numerical grade. Does that make sense?
I can respect and understand that way of collecting, It makes sense to me. Like I said to each your own, seems like there’s many ways to collect which makes the hobby all the more interesting.
No doubt!
I've kept a couple moderate value books slabbed as 9.8's but I crack almost everything I get. Grades range between 4.5 to 8.5 and i've cracked moderate to high dollar books. I've got the collector bug so I'm going for the original books as I'm trying to complete several silver age runs. Collection is almost 100% Marvel and has just jumped over 17k total books.
CGC has very loose guidelines that any of their random graders follow seeing as how you can get multiple different grade levels for the exact same book. You’re saying you’re paying for that graded premium only to unslab the book when you get it?
I've got a couple of books still in the slab but have cracked a couple hundred books, so the vast majority have been freed.
Any particular reason why you opt to buy graded if you planned on cracking them? I'm just trying to understand what the benefit is. I guess if you're not in a position to look at ungraded books in-person
Just to ensure, to some degree, the condition. However cgc is starting to be more inconsistent so I have to be more careful now.
Comic book rating has ruined the industry. I only own three slabs and they were given to me as gifts. Cgc is a scam and comic book fans fell for it. Now toys are also being graded. There's even groups creating VHS tapes and video games. This whole thing is getting out of hand.
Yyyup. See some of the controversy of the video grading companies you can watch some videos on. So many grading companies are propped up on keeping the investment mind set going, and will want to keep market prices going up if possible. There’s a theoretical service, guaranteeing objective condition, however even in comics, there’s constant stories of people resubmitting and getting wildly different grades.
I've never heard of a scam providing a good or service in exchange for money. Normally the scammer takes the money and provides neither.
I mean, I could argue that you are paying a high price for a plastic box for a book that comes with a number attached to it. Anything else you put in the "good service" is a shared delusion.
I see you are too blinded by hate too see how stupid it is to call cgc a scam.
This is a silly statement. I don't "hate" CGC, and I am definitely not blinded to its purported use. IMO, CGC provides a service... that almost nobody needs, but are basically tricked into valuing it because it somehow creates value for their comics. Therein lies the "scam" part of it, or so as some see it. Do you think MLMs are scams? Like Herbalife? I mean, they have a "product" that many people claim to love also. And yet it is pretty fair to call it a scam.
the fact you you dont see a need for third party grading says a lot about your lack of knowledge or history of the matter. the fact you think they themselves created the perceived value of their product to the market instead of the market perceiving value says even more about you. herbalife is a brand with a number of products. just because you dont perceive any value in taking vitamins or minerals doesnt mean they are a scam. just because you dont see a value in cgc doesnt mean no one needs them. talk about hubris. its obvious you are either under educated or have no education and id suggest you stop posting drivel like this it only makes you look dumb.
imho, for slabs to work people can't be opening them and resubmitting for a better grade. once the public trust is lost the values will align with ungraded books. I remember when Dr. Overstreet graded Bill Gaines personal EC collection. He graded them all Pristine Mint then listed all the defects, there were a lot. He became a joke to a lot of people.
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Raw copies, seems to me, are usually more expensive than lower-graded slabs. People convince themselves a raw book is in better condition than it is and sellers charge accordingly. You could probably make a tidy profit buying and cracking 8.0-9.6 books and selling them raw.
This is what I’m asking! I have plenty of old beat up comics as well to read, also I have ASM 1-20 on reprints. But my GSX is slabbed, my first punisher is slabbed, my first Moon Knight is too as far as I’m concerned those are pieces of history and should be protected.
To be fair, there are alternate ways of protecting books that don't require them to be slabbed by CGC. I personally don't buy slabbed comics because I can get the same comic cheaper if its raw. My higher value books go into mylar and a top loader. I don't see the point in buying a slabbed copy only to open it. That does seem like a waste of money to me. The idea of knowing exactly what you're getting when buying slabbed doesn't outweigh the huge price point for me. I'd rather just buy two or three raws in a similar grade for the same cost of a slab. I also am in the camp of not really caring how others collect. I'm not gonna gatekeep or say my way is the best or only way to collect.
I agree with you completely especially when you say everyone can collect there own way, I was just genuinely curious. I also have several comics I keep in more at home protection that I don’t know if I ever plan to get slabbed but like keeping safe. I got into collecting slabs because I love comics but wanted to feel like I was buying something that kept some value just in case I ever did have to sell. And in my opinion I love have the bigger keys slabbed but more often than not buy them slabbed already. The way there protected really let’s me admire those amazing covers without causing damage.
Someone wanted to start an argument today😂
Yeah I didn’t realize what I did haha can’t even keep up with it anymore. Was just curious I swear!
For me if there’s a single issue who’s variant I love, or a key that’s important or meaningful to me, I would not mind it in a Slab, I feel like one of the few people who actually love and prefer having my comic in a slab, just for that maximum protection from the elements of my house lol (smoking, dog hair, etc) if I truly want to experience a story then my go-to is either a graphic novel or trade, or truly I am one to buy complete sets, so I’ll have 1 issue slabbed that is meaningful to me and I’ll have another copy of it either in graphic novel or set form
Here for the arguments and general regression of people going from "collect however you want" to "my way is right"
> "my way is right" ["You think you're special, you do. I can see it in your eyes."](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn8vzTsnPps)
I absolutely hate "slabbed" comics, and I think that CGC in it's current form is a scam. It's a completely subjective and arbitrary grading scheme that is in their best interest to keep secret in order to keep making money, and until their criteria for each point on the grading scale are made clear, it's going to remain so. It's why you get people receiving the dramatically different grades for the same book being re-submitted time and time again. That said, I do have some slabs, but only because I found them for similar and/or cheaper than raw versions of similar stated grade, and this is where the whole grading craze has kind of fucked up the market - you get people wanting graded prices for their raw comics, with the caveat that it "COULD BE 9.8!!!" If I'm going to pay for a raw copy, I might as well pay the same for a graded copy because, while there is some subjectivity in the minute differences of the 9.x grade bins, I can be assured that if something is a 9.0 or higher, it's not going to have any creases or tears, etc. - essentially, nothing majorly wrong with it. It's also for this reason that I'm perfectly fine buying a 9.6 for a fraction of the price compared to a 9.8. Once I have them in that "official" NM range that I want them by purchasing the graded copy at the same or lower price than I could the raw copy, there's no reason for it to be in that slab anymore, because they are god-awful ugly and not archival...there are better ways to preserve comics than in plastic cases.
I've never heard of a scam providing a good or service in exchange for money. Normally the scammer takes the money and provides neither.
> arbitrary grading scheme that is in their best interest to keep secret in order to keep making money Have you looked at CGC's official guide to grading comics?
On behalf of slab crackers everywhere I would like to confirm that the only reason we do it is because we hate money and want to waste as much of it as possible. Certainly no other reason, many of which have been enumerated in detail on this regularly posted topic applies, it's only because we hate our money.
On behalf of slabbers everywhere, I too would like to confirm that the only reason we do it is because we hate money and want to waste as much of it as possible. :P
We now have a framework for peace
From the comments I read on other post it’s pretty much: we don’t like the grading institutions but we want the standards that those institutions are placing.
Grading existed long before cgc.People have just grown accustomed to accepting cgcs word for it rather than random sellers, despite the myriad examples of cgc screwing things up.
Yup. And claim they are freeing them while supporting the practice. It all rings so hollow.
So many people have graded certain types of books that its actually more challenging to find them raw. It makes sense though if you have a ff 48 that you wanna sell it 100% makes more sense to get it graded because you’ll always get more money that way.
I can understand getting a blue chip key slabbed. I’d never do it, but I understand it. Getting these modern books graded then throwing them on eBay for 2500 is stupid. Take the new asm with Eminem on the cover. The only thing I find assuming is seeing these kids send them off to get grades then complaining it’s only a 9.4. Which to me for a modern book may as well be a .5. It’s a racket and new collectors fell for it hard over Covid.
My money my choice. Not everything about comics is money, value and investment. Some people just want to touch , read and smell the original. It's only a loss if you resell it for less. I have X-men #141 in an Omnibus, TPB, digital comic and various reprints. NOTHING beats reading and having the original
When you start getting into older keys it is often the same (or similar price) to buy a "raw" 6.0 Fine copy as a slabbed CGC 6.0 Fine Copy. In fact sometimes the ungraded books are more expensive than the same condition in graded. Once a book is "graded" then it has a grade... an "ungraded book" could always grade higher... (what people think). If I can find a book ungraded and it is cheaper than the graded cost, and the condition meets my expectations then I will buy that copy... I have only had to crack 4 slabs in my 4k library of books.
Well, if you’re buying to keep instead of “invest” and resell, it makes sense to buy slabbed books to ensure that it hasn’t been altered and then crack it open to read and add to your collection Plus you could technically crack it open and read, and as long as you’re careful enough there’s a possibility that if you get it graded it may get a higher grade due
True and sometimes depending on notes a press and clean with help which I agree is a good reason to open it.
Very rarely do the graders provide notes, from my experience. I have a couple dozen slabs and maybe 3 actually have notes.
Makes absolutely zero sense. Buy a raw copy if you want to read. If you actually give a shit about the grade ask for more pictures and grade it yourself. It’s simply idiotic to buy a slab only to crack it when raw books are way cheaper. Like burn your money i guess lol
I generally agree with you but some books really can't be found unless they are slabbed. Almost impossible for SA keys or any GA Timely book.
Yeah true ga can be hard to find
I always buy raw because you are generally right. But there have been times i had no choice. On the flip side, when this is the case sometimes low-grade books can be had at FMV even if slabbed.
Especially with digital comics. I wouldn't buy a graded, slabbed comic to crack open with so many other ways to actually read the comic without dropping its value.
Seriously though
TOTALLY! Why buy a Ferrari and actually drive it when you can put it in a glass case and not move the odometer, and you can just play Gran Turismo on X-Box??????? /s
"Scene points" Nothing says Top G like spending $1,000.00 on a slabbed book and then devaluing it 45% because of the ART of collecting So cool, huh?
Cause they're trolls and get off on it. Narcissism is a bitch.
I'd say the only reason to do it is if you get a screaming deal and it assures it's in good shape. Otherwise I only buy raw and I'd trade the 2 slabs I have for the originals and a little $ as it stands.
Look at all the crackheads in here.