Wow. This is fun. People collect comics for many reasons, and one reason is not better nor worse than another. I did collect comics as a youth, primarily to read and then set aside. I now collect comics because of the art and investment value - and I really don't see what other value a slabbed book could possibly have, other than for the cover art and investment, considering that they can never be opened. A slabbed book is worth significantly more than a raw book - simply because people are willing to pay more for a proven high grade. Therefore, a raw book has no value to me because I collect for investment - though I do see the covers alone as being a piece of fine art - and a raw book unprotected by the case will always receive some damage over time, reducing its value instead of raising in value. As far as PGX versus CGC, I greatly prefer CGC, and currently have no PGXs in my collection - which is about to change. As far as monetary worth of PGX verses CGC - based on what people are willing to pay on eBay - the same PGX book does tend to sell for slightly less than the same CGC book, but only slightly. I hate that I will have to resort to PGX, but when a simple number on top of a locked case raises the value of a book (whether that number is provided by CGC or PGX) I will continue to collect only slabbed books.