kvrdave

I just sent off a few to CGC for the first time. Three Star Wars #107, a Star Trek Gold Key #1, and The Tick #1.

I have purchased several, and have a Jonah Hex #1 9.4 a Star Wars #1 9.4, a Star Trek #1 3/5 ( ) and a few others. Those were all Ebay purchases, I think.

What do you guys think of the whole thing?

benedict

For those interested in "history", there are some earlier thoughts here: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=488309

Bronkster

I've only purchased one CGC comic (Amazing Spider-man #1) and consider it useless. If I just wanted to look at the cover, I'd be happy. (At the time I wasn't familiar with CGC and didn't know the case was unopenable). I will be selling it if I can find someone who prefers to simply own the book instead of enjoying it.

Dave, what do you plan on doing with your plastic slabs when you get them back?

bishop2knight

I love slabbed comics. I buy them for the collectibility and to say I own a piece of history (even if it is just remembering the books I loved as a kid). Sure, you can't see the pages, but that's why reader copies are for. I have no problem having a mint, unreadable comic in my collection. I just love pulling them out and looking at the covers, studying the spine, noting the imperfections that dropped the grade. I consider that fun.

MovieExchange

Grading isn't bad when used for something like eBay. One of the longtime drawbacks of buying a comic online was that you couldn't be assured that your definition of mint and the seller's definition were the same. Grading allowed a standard to be set.

Now, however, people are getting brand new books graded, and some companies are making a side market of selling high-grade new issues. It's not as bad as the variant craze, but it's still annoying.

Bronkster

Dave, what condition are you estimating these at (before CGC ranks 'em lower)? Is your Star Trek #1 the rare photo-on-back cover? Mine is Also, what are you paying to have this done? Are you keeping these or is this in order to eBay 'em?

kvrdave

The Star Trek is the photo one. I will guess a 7 for it. It is in amazing shape, but has a date written on the front. The Star Wars #107 is one I am excited to see. One is probably a 9.4 and a 9.2, but the one from my personal collection is the best I have ever seen. I wouldn't be surprised to see 9.8 but it is probably a 9.6.

The Tick is one I bought from an Ebay auction direct from New England Press and was advertised as MINT. It appears to be absolutely perfect, so less than 9.8 and I will be a little disappointed. I don't see anything wrong with it.

I may sell off the Star Wars ones that are the lowest grade, but all the others are just for me to enjoy. That gives me 2 Star Trek #1 with photo back, and one that is only a 3.5, so it isn't worth selling, but I love it.

I actually have quite a few more I am considering grading, but they would all be just for myself.

I went through Comicspriceguide.com and got 20% off whatever they normally charge.

Bronkster

Let us know when you get them back - I hope they rate them as high as you feel they should be, but I've heard that they're pretty strict.

kvrdave

Will do. I think they are very strict, but that's okay. I remember when there was only 1 sports cards grading, and they were tough, but then there came about 3 others while I cared, and it got to where some were obviously easier to get the business.

porieux

If I bought one it would be just to know what condition to expect and I can guarantee you I would open that sucker up and put my grubby paws all over it. Then again, I probably won't be doing that any time soon anyway ;-)

movieguru

Bought a copy of Anthro #1 from a comicbook convention for $130. It was from the Boston collection. I sent it out to be graded by CGC and thought it would grade at a 9.4; but it graded a 9.6 instead. it was the hightest graded copy last time I checked. Nobody has any respect for Anthro though but I love the cover art.

movieguru

how much did that one cost you?

Bronkster

You'd think I'd remember important things like that. It was around $1,100 or $1.200 - I have the paperwork filed in another room. It's got minor restoration, CGC grade 4.0

kvrdave

Okay, I don't have the Star Trek #1 back yet as it was a seperate order.

For the Star Wars #107, it is interesting. The one from my personal collection got a 9.4

Now, one of them was one I bought off ebay that was CGG graded (big scam, I didn't see the typo, etc.) at 9.4 and it graded a 7.0 Watch for those on Ebay. The other was another I bought off Ebay cheap and it came in at 8.5.

Now The Tick #1 really confuses me. It graded a 9.0 and I still can't see a single thing wrong.

It would really be nice if when they graded something they gave you a check list that showed why things were marked down, etc.

Bronkster

From the little I understand about CGC is they are incredibly fussy about the higher ratings. Little things, like an imperfect staple, can bring the rating down. I would think that some of it has to be subjective depending on the person doing the job.

I'm glad you mentioned the CGG thing because I hadn't heard that scam and I will be sure to watch for it (if I ever buy off Ebay again).

So, now that you have plastic slabs, are ya happy?

kvrdave

Relatively happy. I really wish they would give you a grading report, still.

Years ago I had a 1985 Topps Mark McGwire card graded and it came back as a 9.0 with the marker that it had been trimmed. I knew for a fact that it hadn't because I had pulled it from a pack myself. Talked to them, sent it back, and it came back as a straight 9.0, so there is definately some subjectivity.

For some reason, I have a hard time dealing with new comics being less than 9.4, though.

I lost your address, send it to me again.

Bronkster

I'll email ya, if you're serious


I just did a glance around Ebay for CGG stuff and am shocked (shocked, I tell you!) at the blatant rip-off they're trying to pull there! Just to add to the confusion, CGC seems to have new label colors for specific things; Signature Series, Modern Grade ... Still, the CGG people should be made to suffer.

kvrdave

I didn't get your email.

Bronkster

Patience! It's uphill!

devilshalo

I have too many comics I want to get rid of that grading them isn't worth the time or money. My collection is somewhere around 60% enjoyment/40% collectability. Unfortunate that most I bought for collectability aren't worth cover price anymore.

Rainet

I have a couple questions.

I am not comfortable sending my comics in the mail to be graded in fear of getting it banged around. This is my first time getting my comics graded. I have a few nice condition amazing spidermans, #11,18,27,39,40 that i wouldn't mind getting graded. Have anyone ever gone to an authorized dealer from a retail store to do it?(I found one under the CGC site in my state) Is it trustworthy? Do they ship them out thermselves etc? I had these comics for a couple decades and have alot of sentimental value to me. So its a bit scary letting them out of my hands.

Another question i have is, i that i read off the wikipedia,

CGC recommends you get your books re-slabbed every 7 years because the microchamber paper (a small sheet of paper that is inserted between the inside covers and the interior of the comic to protect the comic from any paper off-gassing) becomes inert.

I would be doing this for me and not to sell, but getting it reslabbed means getting it graded again? If i kept doing it every 7 years for each book. Would that be a losing proposition if i don't plan on ever selling?

Oh well, any info would be great.

movieguru

If you go through a dealer for submission you still have to send it in to CGC yourself for grading. CGC doesn't allow you to send them directly to them without going through an authorized agent. I have no idea why they do this. It only seems to comlicate things and make it more confusing.

You can drop the books off to them at a comicbook convention if you don't want to mail it to them. They have a list on their website of which cons they will have a booth at. They still mail them back to you after grading but they're insured.

They also have a drop off service at their warehous, I beleive in Flroida. This is an expensive option unless they've changed any of their pricing tiers.

Going throug a dealer, you shoulld be able to find ones that offer a 20% discount. Just Google "cgc 20% discount" and yopu should find a number that offer that discount. Not many offer 20%, most offer less or none. I don't see any difference one would gain by going with one that offers less than 20%. 20% is the highest discount I've see; i don't beleive there is a higher offer unless anyone else here knows of one.

Rainet

Thanks for the input. I notice the membership is $99. Is that for one year or a one time fee? I also see that i get a coupon for 3 free Express submissions with CGC if i join. Since some of my spideys are worth a bit, maybe it would be worth it to join. So hypothetically if i send 3 comics im guessing worth $500-$800 each it would of cost $49 each to be graded.(standard-$1,000 max each) So it would make sense joining using the 3 free Express submissions.

Am i thinking this right?

movieguru

As I recall it's an annuual membership. If they give you 3 free express submissions with membership then it's worth joining. Express subswithout membership is $79 or $63.20 after the 20% discount. So to submit 3 books in thast range would be $189.60.

It also depends on the value of your books. When I sumitted mine in person at a con, I asked them what criteria they use to decide the value of the book to get the price it would cost. They were very coy with the answer by generally saying 'We try to attribute a reasonable value to each book". I tried to question them several times more on what the meant, but I essentially got the same answer each time. Nothing concrete.

So let's just say for example your Amazing Spiderman #11 is listed in the Overstreet guide for $900 in NM 9.4 condition. If you submit your and it looks like a 9.4 when you submit it; the standard service would cost you $49. If the books happens to grade a 9.6 the value of the book would be say $2500 which means it should be submitted under express service for $79. If the book has something cut out from the inside of the comic it would not grade a universal 9.4 and could be worth less than $250, then you should only pay for $29 for economy service.

The thing is though, they collect the money upfront for submission before any grade is attached to it. Therefore there's no way to tell the precise value of the book, so who knows how they'll charge you when you bring the books to them.

Several years ago I brough a number of books to them. They were all NM Marvel's from the 60's and one DC from the 60's. All had NM guide values under $250. So I chose economy service for mine. They didnt examine the books there to determine if any could score a 9.6-9.9, etc. They took my check for the amount for economy service. When I got them back, I had a number of them that scored a 9.6. I had an Anthro #1 that got a 9.6. At that time it was the only one above a 9.2 which sold on ebay for around $225. A 9.6 would have gone for much more. It was also from the Boston "Pedigree" collection so that would increase it even more. So the value of that issue could be over $400 but I only paid for economy anyway.

If you submit your let us how they derive a value on yours for submissions purposes. I'm curious if they are giving a better explantion nowadays.

Seeker

So - kvrdave (and others) - how satisfied have you been with your CGC grading?

And - I'm thinking of doing the same - should I just "join" and submit, or go through a comic dealer? What did you do?