My CGC Comics Grading Experience & Slab versus Mylar Storage

[Spidey62]

That was an excellent post. Very informative. I just sent out my first order to CBCS and also the their pressing partner CFP. I am hoping to get both shipments back by June sometime. I don't see myself getting into grading but my son and I have been trying to flip a few books and often, graded books bump the value enough to offset the cost. We'll see.

[ONEYE]

I'll have to wait and see how people feel about the new case when they have them in hand. I may have to re-slab mine with the new case.

[OrangeCrush]

I am just not into CGC grading. The only comics I send in to be slabbed are first appearances and its really only for investment purposes. Beyond that, the only slabbed comics I own are roughly 20 CGC Signature Series of some of my absolute favorite covers on the market.

I go the mylar route for the rest of my collection. I use Mylites 4's with Fullbacks for my really valuable comics and Mylites 2's with Fullbacks for everything else. I buy Mylites in large quantity (1000 or more) in order to get the best pricing possible. It winds up being roughly .16 cents each for Mylites 2's (Silver Age) and roughly .29 cents each for Mylites 4's. Fullback boards are .15 cents apiece. So basically including both backing board and sleeve, its .31 cents each for Mylites 2's w/ Fullbacks and .44 cents each for Mylites 4's w/ Fullbacks.

I have been tempted to slab some of my high grade silver age comics, especially my high grade silver age Wonder Woman comics, but I have never followed through with doing so. Its a significant investment and I am really perfectly content with them being stored in Mylites 4's. There are so many other things I would rather spend that money on. And I would never spend money to slab modern comics, unless its a first appearance. I think the modern market is ripe for a big crash, especially the variant market. So the last thing I am going to do is spend a bunch of money slabbing modern comics. Golden age, silver age and first appearances are the comics you really can't go wrong getting slabbed.

[Wombat]

Apparently there are issues with the new CGC cases. There are many examples of very odd spots and blotches showing in the plastic. Here is an example:

[ReplicantSavior]

Originally Posted by Penoy

While I don't have many worthwhile comics to slab, I have referred to this thread to take care of my raw issues that I would like to display.. so thank you for all the input.

Also, I have read around that CBCS does a more stricter job grading as other are having difficulty getting desired 9.8s through them.
They are also current on grading all tiers recently while CGC takes a longer time.

Those being said, CGC has such a hold on the market that they are still considered the go to grading company.

Thanks for reading and the grading information about CBCS.

Originally Posted by Spidey62

That was an excellent post. Very informative. I just sent out my first order to CBCS and also the their pressing partner CFP. I am hoping to get both shipments back by June sometime. I don't see myself getting into grading but my son and I have been trying to flip a few books and often, graded books bump the value enough to offset the cost. We'll see.

Thanks. The difference in price between a 9.8 and 9.6 can be a big depending on the comic. And I've seen people talk about pressings that turn 9.4s and at times lower into 9.8s. I've never looked into pressing enough but if you are grading comics to sell, then pressing for a higher grade seems like something to look into.

Originally Posted by OrangeCrush

I am just not into CGC grading. The only comics I send in to be slabbed are first appearances and its really only for investment purposes. Beyond that, the only slabbed comics I own are roughly 20 CGC Signature Series of some of my absolute favorite covers on the market.

I go the mylar route for the rest of my collection. I use Mylites 4's with Fullbacks for my really valuable comics and Mylites 2's with Fullbacks for everything else. I buy Mylites in large quantity (1000 or more) in order to get the best pricing possible. It winds up being roughly .16 cents each for Mylites 2's (Silver Age) and roughly .29 cents each for Mylites 4's. Fullback boards are .15 cents apiece. So basically including both backing board and sleeve, its .31 cents each for Mylites 2's w/ Fullbacks and .44 cents each for Mylites 4's w/ Fullbacks.

I have been tempted to slab some of my high grade silver age comics, especially my high grade silver age Wonder Woman comics, but I have never followed through with doing so. Its a significant investment and I am really perfectly content with them being stored in Mylites 4's. There are so many other things I would rather spend that money on. And I would never spend money to slab modern comics, unless its a first appearance. I think the modern market is ripe for a big crash, especially the variant market. So the last thing I am going to do is spend a bunch of money slabbing modern comics. Golden age, silver age and first appearances are the comics you really can't go wrong getting slabbed.

Yeah Mylar is the way to go. Variants are strange these days. I remember having to get to comic shops early for variants in the 90s. I don't remember if companies said the ratio of normal to variant comics back then either. But now companies do say the ratio of variants and I believe the majority of normal retailers pull those to flip themselves on eBay. Online stores just charge premiums for them. So you see $20 and more prices for variant covers. Back in the day I was lucky to have $20 to spend between a comic shop and arcade. And $8 to $12 was the most I would spend on one comic. Plus some of these new variants aren't even that good. The Spider-Gwen first appearance variant was a terrible cover yet it goes for crazy prices graded.

Originally Posted by Wombat

Apparently there are issues with the new CGC cases. There are many examples of very odd spots and blotches showing in the plastic. Here is an example:

I'm going through the thread on the CGC forum now. It's crazy that they shipped comics like that and I assume didn't test the case enough before the switch. Apparently there was a similar issue on the old cases though and people are talking about a paper trick. I guess I'm lucky and never saw it. Maybe CGC thought if people accepted it on old the old case, they will accept it for the new case as well. But it is terrible and you can't display and enjoy comic covers like that.

[JadeGiant]

Great thread.

From my perspective, slabbing comics really comes down to 2 primary drivers: sales and status.

You really can't debate that selling a slabbed comic will bring in a higher number than an unslabbed book. I am sure there are exceptions but this rule holds true most of the time.

For others, there seems to be a lot os street cred for having issues in 9.8 and up (above 9.0 for silver keys, etc.). I hear people saying that they want to upgrade their Hulk 181 from an 8.5 to a 9.0 which to me doesn't make a lot of sense. A lot of people collect by issue/grade, meaning they will only buy XX book if they can find it in Y.Y+ grade.

For those that slab, pressing is a really good idea in many cases. I had a really good conversation with a dealer at a show a few weeks ago and he said that pressing a key book can raise it an increment or more and for keys, a single increment will pay for the pressing fee many times over. He was very persuasive when I was discussing what books I have in the crosshairs for getting slabbed. I will definitely look into pressing when it comes time to grade.

My biggest question is WHEN to grade. I was planning to grade some stuff last year and would have been bummed to learn that the new slabs (assuming the resolve the aforementioned issues) are more desirable with collectors. I would not want to have to decide to resale a bunch of books. What will slabs be in a few more years, etc. If you are slabbing to increase value but don't have any plans to sell in the near future, why not just wait? Keeping them in mylar until grading seems the way to go.

Good thread. Thanks to all who have shared.

[Wombat]

Pressing only fixes certain issues. You can't just assume all books will get better with pressing.

[JadeGiant]

Originally Posted by Wombat

Pressing only fixes certain issues. You can't just assume all books will get better with pressing.

True, I did not mean to say that pressing is for all books. I was surprised to hear how many scenarios could be addressed by pressing. Even newer books, at times, can benefit from a press.

[ickwinzs]

I am trying out the pressing,cleaning right now. I have a total of 8 books being done. so I will share the experience when its all said and done.

[Wombat]

Originally Posted by ickwinzs

I am trying out the pressing,cleaning right now. I have a total of 8 books being done. so I will share the experience when its all said and done.

Are you using CCS or someone else if you don't mind sharing?