The Amazing Chump

My room is still a crazy mess, but I finally got my shelves put up. Now to get some scans framed for permanent placement!

Love this thread. I've been away for a while, but I started doing videos on some finds (easier than taking pics for me):

Blarg. Can only post one at a time on my iPad

Got these back today. Probably should have had them pressed, but is didn't get them to CGC until a day or so before my coupon expired

This is just great, thank you very much!

I deeply enjoy that this thread has been on these boards as long as me (I think, in any case a crazy-long time).

That is totally awe.some. Agreed.

Well, your small amount is someone else's...wait, no. Nope, the answer on that is just yes.

This phrase just made me laugh.

My 2012 coupon submission: Overall pleased. Two books better than I thought, one worse. Hammered me on the PQ though.

First edition 1967 revised (the houghton-mifflin version after the Avon bootlegs). You should see the snowy white maps on these. I'm going to have to haunt that store this week to see if any other gems pop up.

Pretty pleased with these:

I can't. Can't. read 100+ pages of this, so I'll just chime in with my opinion. I'm sure it's duplicative of something else you've seen but here goes: This actually makes sense in many ways, and doesn't really call into question their moral fiber. It boils down to whether you believe their stated grading method. Three graders independently get an unmarked book and provide their grades in a vacuum. If that doesn't change, then their impartiality still isn't in doubt. They're just building economies of scale and specialization. Classics does a resto check, freeing the graders up to grade (faster we can all hope). The graders still grade in a vacuum. Doesn't really change all that much. From the collector perspective it certainly codifies the necessity of pressing to achieve high grades. That they bought the company (instead of some kind of strategic partnership) means they're acknowledging this, as well as keeping their preferred provider close to hand. They benefit from Classics expertise in resto, presumably increased speed in resto checks, presumably faster grading times when graders don't need to perform an out-of-skill-set service (resto checks) and they gain an income stream from the pressing. I would assume they would be able to combat burnout and grading fatigue by switching already experienced staff between teams. Hopefully, though, this is the reason they haven't hired any new graders--they were marshaling some funds for a large purpose. Could have just put up a sales thread, though, and save a lot of panties from bunching. Now, I'm off to read the rest of this monstrosity quickly before it gets locked.

Why would they? Wouldn't matter to how they'd conduct their business.

1996?

That's the best part. (thumbs u Agreed. I'm not nerd "out" in my office, but I would totally buy, display and fully own one of these.

Is this anything? I see the variant on GCD, but don't see it listed in the census. Is it unrecognized, or just something that's as common as the regular version.

I haven't submitted a real order yet (just a coupon order) but I know I've watched this conversation as long as I've been lurking these boards (which I think is 3-4 years). My thinking is if they were going to hire, they would have done so in that span of years. If they were concerned about the issues, they would have hired. True, it may be difficult to find staff, but not 3-4 years difficult. My guess is they have a "suck it up and wait" attitude.

I have a small con tomorrow with mostly weekend dealers-these guys generally use Overstreet as a guide. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for any Vengeance of Bane's, but what do you think would be a good target price?

Not in the best condition, but stoked I found this at my local Goodwill:

Prepare to part with a lot of your money. It's just like Hotel California: "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." I'm getting that I'm already thinking about what I should send in next.

Just got my first submission back: Officially hooked. Damn it

Hoarding is not healthy, I'll go over there and help clear all that stuff out for you. Heck I'll even do it for free But seriously that's a pretty big collection. My OCD would never allow this. Mine neither! Someone needs to have a garage sale It's been driving me a bit nuts (which is why it's spread halfway across the house). I got the comics and books out of storage and finally got them up off the floor and out of boxes. Everything else is still boxed up but I'm selling it as quickly as possible. But over the next month I should have time to organize at least the books-they'll be the easiest to winnow, and they'll free up more storage for me.