0
  • entries
    46
  • comments
    0
  • views
    612

Entries in this journal

Tales of... voodoo? Sets gone bad?

Uh my collection got bigger? Anyone see their registered sets have funny additions? My X-Men sets are showing "Tales of Voodoo" (a book I've never collected) in my Uncanny X-Men sets At least after a google search, I've discovered a new book I'm interested in haha... To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

The Pyramiding Scheme

aka "laddering the collection" So I've taken some time off to streamline my X-Men collection, focusing on the core of X-Men 1 through the Byrne era. I sold off a number of later X-Men slabs, mostly 9.8s and I just recently sat down to add my new acquisitions to my scores. I was pleasantly surprised at how many books I've been accruing that are worth a decent amount of points. I'll never have a high score to win an award (at least not in the near future) but as I've been selling off lower cop
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

To John Hancock or not John Hancock

Signature Series books In my quest to fill out and upgrade my primary collection of Silver and Bronze X-Men, I've had some frustration recently in finding some books at prices and conditions I would like to buy that are NOT signed. More and more I see yellow label slabs with Stan Lee usually that seem to be overpriced in the market, or just... don't fit my Universal grade collection. X-Men 58 (First Havok) is becoming a bugger to find in blue label at the right price. I started to wonder i
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Coupons Coupons Coupons

what to do with my 4 gradings I've been sitting for a bit on my CGC coupons from my membership renewal. Recently I've had a bit of a re-org in my collection; if you've looked at my sets you'll notice that my X-Men have gone down over the past few months as I've been selling off my post-Byrne X-Men. Granted, my 99% sets are whittled down, but in the end, my goal is to have Uncanny X-Men 1-144 more or less with annuals as a nice investment and personal collection (investment side is the ongoing
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

I am the 99% now!

And 100 too! Man, finally got my April Pittsburgh Comicon submissions back and updated my registry. As a result, I've now accomplished the following: X-Men 1-66 98% X-Men 67-93 100% X-Men 94-143 100% and my big collection goal: X-Men 1-201 99% Just missing a copy of X-Men #1 now. Granted, I have some dogs in the collection, but the first part is amassing the bulk of the issues. I feel like I can breathe a sigh of relief and now sit back work on upgrading issues. Though I doubt
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

CGC milestone... and my books are almost ready

Wow So the CGC announced that they graded their 2 millionth book, which kind of puts into perspective how many books they have to go through, and that we expect a high quality of service in the grades to get these certifications i.e. I don't think they have somewho flips new books over, thumbs the pages, and goes "yep". It's an arduous process. I saw the book listed in their article/promo was Thief of Thieves #1 from 2012. I had to laugh wondering how many books in queue were close to numbe
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Killing my registry sets softly

It was easier as a kid to just buy "cool books" and throw them in a box... I've been thinking a lot lately about my Uncanny X-Men 1-201 run that I've been working on. I have one of the most complete sets in the registry, and did a lot of work upgrading my copies of existing issues. Then I started a 3-front war between economics, patience (or lack of) and hobby lust. My set has reached the point where in order to get some books at a nicer grade, I have to start shelling out bigger and bigge
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

There's no reason to be a jerk from the get-go

Already regretting selling a book on ebay So I just sold two books in one lot, a couple of Michael Turner cover Wolverine issues, one being a signature series. After taking a couple of days to pay, the buyer contacted me with rather explicit and demeaning instructions on how to pack the slabs. They went over the top with the directions and concluded with " I do NOT want cracked CGC cases." My first reaction? "No SPIT, Sherlock". My second was to cancel the sale. But I responded back with a n
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Same day dropoff, two different journeys

Pittsburgh (April) Comic Con submissions So I dropped off two batches of books with CGC at the Pittsburgh ComicCon. I do this every year, and it usually takes until September to get the books back. Funny thing. The other day I checked my status and saw that one invoice was graded! Oh happy day to me. Books were getting done! Today they are marked as shipped. The other books are still in "Verified" status. The batch on the way to me is 4 modern era books, and the ones waiting are 20
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Walking Dead #100

Ah variant covers So I decided to sign up for a deal at my local shop to get the package they offered off all the WD #100 covers for a flat price. I was thinking about slabbing them, flipping some, and keeping others, but as a WD fan, I also wouldn't mind keeping these in my permanent collection (I strongly believe in never collecting something unless at the end of the day you like the item and don't mind holding it even if the price is nearly zero in 5-10 years) That said, what's other peop
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

September

Earth, Wind and FIRE! My Uncanny X-Men 1-201 run is waiting on a few books to come back that are in my "100 business day turnaround" batch. I'm the 2nd most complete set in the group, and I'm closing in on the top 10 scores... and impatience is a terrible thing. This has led me to some recent purchases to upgrade some JB run issues from 9.6s to 9.8s, and the spending curve is getting steeper to upgrade my books. I've started doing "bang for the buck" score upgrades, combining information on
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Wizard World Philly Thursday PM

5/31/12 Well I got a chance to swing in on Thursday night for the preview. Dropped off some books for on-site grading (one batch is already done, saw my orders up top updated with the invoice) and got some mixed to happy results; my Next Men 1st appearance of Hellboy came back a 9.2 and I was hoping for a 9.4. Mostly moderns done so far but my 1940s-1960s books are on deck. Lots of good vendors so far. Saw a LOT of slabs around including a convention special Killing Joke wall for $39.99, gr
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Thanks Gemma

Got the 411 I contacted the CGC and got a nice reply back from Gemma on how to recertify my "invalid" book. I want to give a nice shout out and thanks for the quick attention and potential resolution on getting my new book re-certed. (I just made that word up). Thanks to all those who sent me replies, information, and horror stories!
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Grade to be VERIFIED?

WTH? "The grade for this comic must be verified. Your request has been added to an admin queue and will be resolved by CGC." Ok, maybe one of the veterans can help me out on this one. I recently purchased a graded copy of X-Men 99 on eBay and this message popped up when I put it into my registry. I've had typos before, or put books in the wrong slot by accident, and I've had more than plenty of the transfer request messages, but I've NEVER seen this. Any ideas? My biggest fear is that so
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Grader notes, my 2 cents (or $5)

Grrrrader notes I'm not a fan of the fees for the notes, but I also do not really use the service nor have I required it in the past. I personally feel these should be included with any purple label submission (the description of the S/A on the label is sometimes clear, sometimes not). What I fear is that somehow people will start pushing these into the costs of a book at resale. I've seen some price snobbery about CGC cases and labels. The grade is for the BOOK. If the case is uncracked a
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

The Doors, Track 11 (or side 2, last song)

This is The End... I heard "The End" in my head as I was packing my last CGC bundle for live drop off at the Pittsburgh Comicon a couple weeks ago. I decided to throw in all of my ungraded remaining X-Men for the sake of getting a grade for completion (still missing issue #1 and #3) but I felt this sense of completion, the closing of a chapter. Work has been busy and I've been reprioritizing while watching my collection gaps continue to close. So I thought, this is the end of my project. I
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

I should just take my grading assumptions and downgrade everything 2 points.

Yep. Grades. Next 4 grades are in. Flashback to a prior journal... with lots of cut and paste. So I got my CGC renewal coupon and decided to put in 4 books right away. Grades are in: Avengers #5: Thought upwards of a 7, came in at a 4.5. Good thing it was bought on the cheap. This is a flipper, not a keeper. Daredevil 53: ... got it for $25 and looks like it could hit as high as a 9.2 if I'm lucky, but thinking an 8.5 One of those covers I just loved too much to resist. Came back as an 8
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Selling the cheap books

CGC loss leaders from my collection So as I've been laddering up the issues in my X-Men 1-201 collection (very proud of some of the recent acquisitions), I've been moving the lesser value copies on ebay and at shows. While some of these books may have been acquired for 5-25 bucks and the CGC grading cost was between 20-30, I'm not always able to get all that money back. The CGC costs are averaged out over different tiers/services/coupons, and I'm cool with that. Many of the books would prob
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Next 4 in for grading (coupon submission) with mid-high hopes

Next 4 So I got my CGC renewal coupon and decided to put in 4 books right away. Avengers #5: picked this up for a $100 barter session and it's really nice given that it's in the 7-8 range. Hoping for an 8, but less than 7 would be a let down. I couldn't resist it... Daredevil 53: ... and this was part of the deal, got it for $25 and looks like it could hit as high as a 9.2 if I'm lucky, but thinking an 8.5 One of those covers I just loved too much to resist. X-Men 100-101: Picked these
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Comic Link good, Comic Link BAD

Frustrating Well a key book that I want/need is listed on Comiclink but the ordered was cancelled because the book is not available. Then I realized I had tried to order this book before and the same thing happened (I must have missed the email somewhere in the last bundle I ordered). THEN I realized that the book has been "up" since March of 2011. Seriously, WTF. I dig CL, they have great prices and I have dealt with them on the phone/email and had a great experience, but can they please
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Cash in, cash out, and a blog plug

Who Watches the Wallet? Well the bonus from work is coming in the next paycheck so I went on a comic link splurge for some X-Men CGC upgrades, I'll report back with the bid successes. I've got 4 books that are nice copies in the 9.0-9.4 range from the original run that I'm eyeing up. Those 9.6's and 9.8's are just too much for me to swing right now. I've also got to get cracking on putting the other lesser grade copies up on ebay... hmmm... might be a good SuperBowl project. Also, I'm putt
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Restored copy sells well, thanks to CGC

Woo hoo! Teaser! Ahhhh. A big sigh of relief today. I wrote earlier about the hearbreak of getting a dreaded purple label on my X-Men 3, a 4.5 SA for slight touch up and a cover tear repair. I'm not into flipping, but my collection plan is to have all blue labels. I put the book up on eBay to try to get some money back towards buying a new raw or low graded copy. The auction sat for almost a full week at around the $30 mark until the last day. Suddenly, it jumped up to $160. The bidder ha
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

7000 points vs 100%

Collecting Goals For This Year Well it's that time of year when my CGC membership renewal comes up (please no sidebars on the whole "paying for membership vs 10% discount thing) and I'm looking at my collection goals for my X-Men 1-201 collection, X-Men Olympics. I'm sitting about 7000 points below the next jump in rank, at about #26 right now. I've got the 3rd most complete collection in the run at 88% and I'm looking at my next decisions for the year. I mostly need to fill out my issues
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Scheduled to Graded!

A mixed bag, but recovered from depression. So my 3 collector coupon submissions are graded! Here's the breakdown: X-Men 3 Apparent SA 4.5 While I am disappointed in the SA, I was thinking this book would be about a 3-3.5, so there's one big plus! Obviously the SA is a setback but it gives me hope in being able to flip this towards a same/better copy... unrestored. X-Men 4 Universal 7.0 This was a bit of an X-periment ha ha. I bought this at a deep discount as a PGX rated 7; I've h
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0

Scheduled for Depression

Waiting for the shoe to drop So I checked on my 20 day submission coupons and saw it was scheduled for grading. Great, right? Then I looked in to the received details for the first time... my X-Men number 3 is an Apparent SA. It wouldn't have mattered if I knew this 19 days ago, yesterday, whenever, but it looks like I've got another hack job book. I'm going to go through my ebay receipts and other receipts to track down the seller, but I think this may have been the copy I picked up at th
duckduckmike

duckduckmike

0
0