CGC cases and Creep Factor 1 1

[comicquant]

8 minutes ago, Tony S said:

If this is so I'm unaware. I've unslabbed hundreds - maybe close to a thousand - CGC graded books. Any difference between the holders from the very first to April 2016 isn't obvious. Just changing the appearance of the labels (you mention "old label gen 1") wouldn't mean anything as far as the holder goes. 

I thought 2006/2007 was when they started offering the thicker (oversized for some GA books) holder for some GA books as well as making a materials change?    

[Tony S]

1 hour ago, comicquant said:

I thought 2006/2007 was when they started offering the thicker (oversized for some GA books) holder for some GA books as well as making a materials change?    

Well, that could be. But the thicker holder is - as near as I can tell - simply a different, deeper back half of he slab. It appears CGC probably has several - maybe more - back half of the slabs in various depths to accommodate thicker books. So same front half of the slab, backs of different depths, all the same materials and design. 

I don't believe there was any materials change until Barex - the plastic CGC (and PGX)  used for the inner holder - became unavailable. Which was around the time of the new holder. Ineos, the maker of Barex, closed the only plant making the plastic sometime in 2015,  I say sometime because the date the plant actually closed is hard to nail down. It was announced they were closing the first quarter of 2015, but there were also reports that upon that announcement they had an influx of orders as businesses that used Barex made orders large enough to give them time to find alternatives. Which resulted in the plant in Lima Ohio staying open longer than originally planned. Voldy started out in 2014 using PETG - and everyone in the comic slabbing business is using some version of polyester film (PET) now for the inner holder. 

I don't believe CGC has ever actually stated what plastic is used for the outer holder. I worked a few years in the plastic industry and I am 99.9% certain it is  common and inexpensive high impact polystyrene. Which is used in packaging all sorts of stuff that values rigidity,  potential clarity and low cost. It's the same stuff that is used to make clear CD cases. Like you can purchase in 50/100 packs at Office Depot super cheap.  So think of your CGC outer holder as a larger, thicker CD case. A bit of blue tinting added to give it the premium, glass like look that the marketing types love. 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Tony S