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Getting Started
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20 posts in this topic

I am completely new to this. I am in my 50's, and have a few thousand comics, mostly from 1975-1984. Most of those were bought new from comic shops, boarded bagged, and never read. 

I am realizing that comics which are graded here are far more likely to sell for a decent price than those which are not graded/slabbed, but just claimed to be in 'very fine' shape. I've looked at eBay completed sales for example and see listings for Conan The Barbarian in which a 9.8 book has sold for $100+ vs sub-$20 not graded. 

Given the number of boxed I have to sort through, what do you recommend I do to just get started? Pull out 10 titles that at least look like they are great shape, and have a shot at a high grade, and submit those? Or start with ones that will sell for higher regardless of grade? For example, aside from the bulk of 75-84, I have the first 200 or so Iron Man, starting with #1, but I know the earlier few dozen are likely 5.0- 6.0. I know not to kid myself about the grade.   My goal is to reduce the collection over time, selling off the titles that I'm not emotionally attached to. Like Conan. Iron Man, I'd be likely to keep, and let my grandkids sell the set when I'm gone. But, at some point, get the ones worth the time all graded to make the selling easier. 

I am sorry if the question seems all over the place, but as the title says, this is my first time trying to get going. 

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On 3/4/2019 at 2:58 PM, FWM said:

I am completely new to this. I am in my 50's, and have a few thousand comics, mostly from 1975-1984. Most of those were bought new from comic shops, boarded bagged, and never read. 

I am realizing that comics which are graded here are far more likely to sell for a decent price than those which are not graded/slabbed, but just claimed to be in 'very fine' shape. I've looked at eBay completed sales for example and see listings for Conan The Barbarian in which a 9.8 book has sold for $100+ vs sub-$20 not graded. 

Given the number of boxed I have to sort through, what do you recommend I do to just get started? Pull out 10 titles that at least look like they are great shape, and have a shot at a high grade, and submit those? Or start with ones that will sell for higher regardless of grade? For example, aside from the bulk of 75-84, I have the first 200 or so Iron Man, starting with #1, but I know the earlier few dozen are likely 5.0- 6.0. I know not to kid myself about the grade.   My goal is to reduce the collection over time, selling off the titles that I'm not emotionally attached to. Like Conan. Iron Man, I'd be likely to keep, and let my grandkids sell the set when I'm gone. But, at some point, get the ones worth the time all graded to make the selling easier. 

I am sorry if the question seems all over the place, but as the title says, this is my first time trying to get going. 

Welcome to the boards!  This is a really good question.  Believe it or not, unless your fairly certain you’ll get a 9.8, many books from the time period you mentioned are probably not worth getting graded.  In other words, if you take the price you can sell the book for raw, add shipping costs and grading/encapsulation fees, you may very well end up with more money into the book than you can get out of it.  This is particularly true for bronze, copper, and modern age books.  With the possible exception of keys (#1 issues, first appearances, etc.), just about any book from that time period that would grade 9.4 or lower probably isn’t worth grading.  The only reason I would get a book graded is to sell it, not for archive purposes as there are better options for less money and the most common way books get damaged is in shipping.

For what it’s worth, I would take the runs you are less attached to, go through them and identify the books that look absolutely pristine (virtually no damage of any kind under close inspection), and then try a couple of those to see how they turn out once graded.  Sell them and assess successes and failures, adjust accordingly.  Keep the best books, sell the lower books first.

If you haven’t graded books for a while, it may be a little bit of a shock as for many, grading has become increasingly strict over the last few decades.  Hope this helps.

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Consider getting only the "key" books graded. Grading filler issues is a losing proposition.

Also look into cgc pre-screening, basically you submit 25 or more books and say you want to encapsulate only the issues that will grade 9.8 or higher.  

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Welcome to the boards.  The CGC service certainly takes the guess work and haggle out of grading, so everybody (both buyer and seller) is on the same page during the transaction.  But don't go slabbing crazy.  A mid grade Silver/Bronze age book probably doesn't need to be slabbed unless it's a big key.  There are plenty of overpriced 5.0 graded books on ebay, where the cost to get them graded, encased and shipped has made the profit margin for the seller, less than what the book is worth. 

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11 hours ago, adampasz said:

Before you start sending books off for grading, post pictures in the "PGM" section here. You will get good feedback.
(I wish I'd done that before my first submission. :tonofbricks:)

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/forum/42-hey-buddy-can-you-spare-a-grade/

 

Much thanks, to you (and the others who responded). As I waited for first post approval, I discovered the PGM area, and will take that advice. After hours there, I've gotten good at estimating the 3-8 range. Tougher to distinguish from 9.0-9.8. I'll start to dig through the boxes and scan for the PGM. Some that I've seen would have good value at a high score (as Randall noted). If nothing else, better to do this now, that to leave it for people (my wife/kid) who are just likely to hire a dumpster. 

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A very simple rule of thumb is to do a quick ebay search of sold books. Often, you can find stabbed copies for less than it will cost you to slab your books.

 

There should be decent money in your books. Just don't allow anyone to cherry pick your collection. I'd start by selling the cheaper stuff first. There is a learning curve to selling books and best make your mistakes on the cheap stuff.  Have you inspected the books?  A lot of comic boards need replacing after twenty years.  You might consider upgrading some books to mullets with new boards.

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Having a copy of the Overstreet Grading Guide will help you understand grading and help you to grade your books properly, a small investment now to help prevent you from making a larger uneducated investment later on.

Even though it is usually outdated by the time of print as far as actual market prices the Overstreet Price Guide can provide you with valuable info about all comic books, both books IMO are a MUST for any collector. (Both can be purchased on Amazon)

https://www.gemstonepub.com/en/the-overstreet-comic-book-price-guide-48-glflash-hc

https://www.gemstonepub.com/en/the-overstreet-guide-to-grading-comics-2016-edition

Just an FYI...If you are considering sending books to be graded and are going to look to get an approximate grade beforehand remember...

You need to look at your books without bias and grade conservatively.

Here are two links to grading and comic book terminology.

https://comics.ha.com/tutorial/comics-grading.s?show=comicdefinitions

http://www.teako170.com/grade.html

ENJOY!!!

 

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Welcome:)

It does depend on the issue. If you need some help, I would happily look over a list you have and can point out books that are worth getting graded.

As for 9.8 grades, they are hard to come by. I know you said you bought and stored them and never read them. But unless you bought them, stored them flat and protected away from light and never moved them, it is unlikely you have a bunch of 9.8 comics. Again, as others have mentioned, uploading some photos to the "Hey Buddy Can You Spare A Grade" forum can help confirm.

If they are all still very nice, there is still value but I dont think grading them all would be wise. Again, if you would like the help, shoot me a list anytime and I can shed light on what to get graded.

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Thank you to all who responded. I'm imagining the bulk of the space in my closet are worth selling a dozen at a time, by year. Slabbing for $20 in the hope to sell for $30 is not what I'm after. At this point, I'm ok that less than 5% of what I own will even be candidates to scan for PGM.  After a dozen of those, I'll get an idea of the direction to take.  I appreciate the responses. I can already see this is a great community. 

/Frank

Edited by FWM
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I'm also in my 50's and although I've been collecting for a while, I never took them serious until lately.

First, I sorted and inventoried every comic I had (about 1100). I used an app on my phone called CLZ Comics, it's simple to use and pretty accurate but doesn't do a very good job with variants.

Then, I did some searching on "most valuable", "sought after" comics and "key issues" in a run.

I then took the most valued books and paid to have them graded (11 books). Some of mine are 9.8's to 6.0's but having them sealed and graded, keeps them forever.

I plan on doing another run later but that first run cost about $350 (grading and shipping) but I feel it was well worth it.

This is just from my own experience and worked for me, good luck.

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Hello have a quick question.  Pretty new to the comic collecting did it as a kid but haven't done anything for a long time.  I came across a Spider Man #1 Torment Green Cover.  It is signed by Tod McFarlane, and has the red spider web stamp on the back cover. The comic looks to be in great shape, I am not by any means a grader but looks like high 9's.  Will CGC grade it as a SS series? because all I have saying that it is McFarlane's signature is the red stamp, from what i researched that was the way they did things inn the 90's when this was signed.  Last is it worth to send in and get graded?  Thanks  and sorry this was such a long post. Any help Would be helpful.  Also first time on these boards.  Thanks Again

KR 

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All CGC Signature Series grades require an eyes on witness by a CGC representative.  Even if the artist were to tell CGC it's his/her signature, CGC will not give the Signature Series label.  Normally, for a high grade comic book, you'll get a green "Qualified" label stating something like "Name written on cover in marker".

This process enhances the CGC credibility of certifying graded signature comic books.

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KR2428, In short, a CGC Graded Signature Series comic book will sell for more than a CGC Graded Green Label (Qualified) comic book of same title, number, and grade.  The green label should have some additional value than if it were not graded and encapsulated, but probably not much as the only guarantee is the grade and the protection.

I think the consensus here is that Green Labels aren't cool and really don't help selling comic books.  But that's really dependent on the buyer too (which is where the drive for the value really comes from for these).  I had an unwitnessed signature comic book graded because I wanted to make sure the comic book did not have opportunities to be damaged and I really wanted it preserved.  It received a 9.8 Green Label.  So, if anything, the book is a high grade and protected. If someone was seeking the same comic book signed by the same artist (graded and encapsulated not a big deal), he or she will know the grade of the book they are buying, just not the authenticity of the signature.  So it would probably sell for a little more than one not encapsulated.  How much more is again, dependent on the buyer and how bad they want that book with that CGC unwitnessed signature.

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Hi OP, I would recommend that yes, you learn about grading comics and try to apply them to your own books (members I see have already provided you with lots of great DIY grading resources).

I would do the following:

  1. Take your top 3-5 comics you've graded yourself and submit them for grading.
  2. When your submissions are returned, compare your grades to that of CGC - you may even want to return to the forums to question why the grade you anticipated turned out wrong.
  3. Once you have a solid understanding on what your comics may be actually worth, you can go ahead and start to organize and plan what you will do with the rest of your collection.

Hope this helps, feel free to message me for any help!

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Another quick-and-easy source of RELATIVE values is comicbookrealm.com.   The actual prices they give most visibly are for books in 9.4 (although you can easily get their prices in other grades), but the real reason to use it is just to look at the entire run of a title to see which issues are the most valuable, as when there is a 1st appearance of a character deep into a run.  Also, I don't know how long it takes to update to reflect what happens when a character is announced to be in a movie, or there is a rumor of such.  But it gives you a starting point.

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It may be due to what you have entered, or how you have entered it for identifying what you are submitting.  The form can be very picky about some things like date format.  I'd recommend calling CGC and ask for assistance.  They are EXTREMELY helpful and great to work with on the phone.

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