Buying slabbed books to upgrade 0

[justafan]

17 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

Did they just look at them through the slabs?  

I can tell you from cracking out hundreds of slabs, you cannot see 60% or more of the defects through the outer well.

Yep. sigh.  I was thinking the same thing.  I agree but apparently they missed this flaw the first time around, too, way back when it was first slabbed or just graded lightly.  The flaw is actually visible on the front cover but was easily overlooked as a small light color-breaking crease in the middle of the cover less than 1/2".  The front slab dulled over the years and likely masked it from clear view under the convention lighting since I didn't even see it when I gave it a close look after the grader inspected it.  Now in it's bright new slab the flaw is visible but you still have to hunt for it with your eyes.  so yeah, maybe under a softer/rushed grading period it would have gotten a 9.4 but I think it does deserve to be a 9.2.  Now the page quality is debatable as those look pretty white to me but that's how it goes when you roll the slab upgrade dice.

[lizards2]

2 minutes ago, justafan said:

35 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

Did they just look at them through the slabs?  

I can tell you from cracking out hundreds of slabs, you cannot see 60% or more of the defects through the outer well.

Yep. sigh.  I was thinking the same thing.  I agree but apparently they missed this flaw the first time around, too, way back when it was first slabbed or just graded lightly.  The flaw is actually visible on the front cover but was easily overlooked as a small light color-breaking crease in the middle of the cover less than 1/2".  The front slab dulled over the years and likely masked it from clear view under the convention lighting since I didn't even see it when I gave it a close look after the grader inspected it.  Now in it's bright new slab the flaw is visible but you still have to hunt for it with your eyes.  so yeah, maybe under a softer/rushed grading period it would have gotten a 9.4 but I think it does deserve to be a 9.2.  Now the page quality is debatable as those look pretty white to me but that's how it goes when you roll the slab upgrade dice.

Or maybe the flaw was caused by the slabbing the first time around.

[mattn792]

The dice giveth, and the dice taketh.  Sometimes, you just gotta avoid the urge to plop your chips down on the pass line.

[justafan]

On 1/31/2018 at 12:20 PM, lizards2 said:

Or maybe the flaw was caused by the slabbing the first time around.

 you mean by handling or mishandling of it during the slab prep or by the actual slab sealing process? the flaw is in the middle of the front cover so I can imagine it happening during the handling of it but can't see how that might occur during the slab sealing process.  

[lizards2]

7 minutes ago, justafan said:

On ‎1‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 9:20 AM, lizards2 said:

Or maybe the flaw was caused by the slabbing the first time around.

 you mean by handling or mishandling of it during the slab prep or by the actual slab sealing process? the flaw is in the middle of the front cover so I can imagine it happening during the handling of it but can't see how that might occur during the slab sealing process.  

Yeah - maybe you're right on that one.  Or maybe the grader/encapsulator gave it a squeeze when he was pouring the pot into the rolling paper or something.  

[Philflound]

This topic was aimed at the people who do the pressing themselves, not at professionals as many books will upgrade, most may stay the same, and the few will actually downgrade. There are too many people who think they know how to improve a book on their own. They may have success many times too. But I can't tell you how many spines are crushed, staples popped, pebbling occurs, butterfly corners, rippling, and water stains left behind by those who think they know what they are doing. Don't take my advice. I don't care. But don't make idiotic comments either if you don't agree with me. 

One other word of advice. If the spine area is tan or even slightly brittle, I suggest not doing anything to the book or you'll wind up splitting the spine and/or popping staples. 

This post wasn't aimed too much at how to make more money but rather how not to ruin books any further. Making money is a bonus.

As for the downgrade in page quality, that'll occur over time naturally. You can't stop it. Slabbing will protect it somewhat, but store the book in heat/cold constantly changing or leaving it out on display for long periods of time for the cover to fade will still happen whether it's in plastic or not. So it's possible reslabbing will downgrade a book due to the improper storage/display of a book over many years. I think some people forget it's approaching 20 years since the first comics were slabbed.

Wanted to add a couple more thoughts. Since someone mentioned screening. You can only see so much through the holder. That goes for the CGC screener or if you screen it yourself. So you take chances regardless of how well you think a book may improve. Getting graders notes if there are any should be extremely helpful. Also, acquiring the other companies slabbed books is a risk for upgrading which has been discussed many times.

Edited February 2, 2018 by Philflound

[NoMan]

All this pressing/CPR mess is weird, Man.

Each to their own. Simply my opinion and I’m usually wrong. Wish I could drink the kool-aid and get with the program.  Not just in regards to flattening the mess out of comic books but in regards to many, many things in life. Not to get all Jean Paul Satare  (?) and exstastential but I’d probably be rich and have many friends and influence many people if I could only Get. With. The. Program. 

Edited February 2, 2018 by NoMan