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How deep do you consider slabbing a set?
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74 posts in this topic

A lot of what I collect is from fairly self-contained targets with 10 or 20 books to chase, counting whatever variants exist (here used broadly, including alt covers, limited editions, art-swapped reprints, and sometimes even stuff that goes beyond what CGC cares about: DM/newsies, subsequent printings, and so on). I like the hunt. I also like chasing high grade copies. I have no illusion that this is an investment. I collect what I want, and I'm quite comfortable doing so. I enjoy the appeal of slabbing my prey because it provides the grading with an imprimatur, and because I think CGC's slabs look pretty classy, frankly. I have TPBs and reading copies to, well, read.

But, um, a lot of this sort of thing starts off really strong and then goes for... awhile. I'm curious how other people handle that. How far do you let a set wander off into the weeds before you stop slabbing? As an example that I haven't targeted (yet, anyway) but that should be familiar to everyone: Albedo. Obviously, Albedo #2 is a key copper indie, and the Albedo #0 1st print yellow desk is one of the great rarities of the era. But the Thoughts and Images series runs to #14 (to say nothing of the Antarctic Press and Shanda Fantasy Arts series, which I frankly assume are of interest only to their primary demographic). As I type this, there are zero slabbed copies of Albedo #9-12, 14. Obviously, despite starting with several rare, fairly high-dollar, and even key issues... no one is actually interested in slabbing the full run.

So, what does everyone else do when their set starts strong but ends in drek? Is the cost of encapsulation enough to deter making full run match for storage and presentation? Or does everyone just put the boring fill in mylar to think about what it (hasn't) done?

 

Edited by Qalyar
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16 hours ago, Qalyar said:

A lot of what I collect is from fairly self-contained targets with 10 or 20 books to chase, counting whatever variants exist (here used broadly, including alt covers, limited editions, art-swapped reprints, and sometimes even stuff that goes beyond what CGC cares about: DM/newsies, subsequent printings, and so on). I like the hunt. I also like chasing high grade copies. I have no illusion that this is an investment. I collect what I want, and I'm quite comfortable doing so. I enjoy the appeal of slabbing my prey because it provides the grading with an imprimatur, and because I think CGC's slabs look pretty classy, frankly. I have TPBs and reading copies to, well, read.

But, um, a lot of this sort of thing starts off really strong and then goes for... awhile. I'm curious how other people handle that. How far do you let a set wander off into the weeds before you stop slabbing? As an example that I haven't targeted (yet, anyway) but that should be familiar to everyone: Albedo. Obviously, Albedo #2 is a key copper indie, and the Albedo #0 1st print yellow desk is one of the great rarities of the era. But the Thoughts and Images series runs to #14 (to say nothing of the Antarctic Press and Shanda Fantasy Arts series, which I frankly assume are of interest only to their primary demographic). As I type this, there are zero slabbed copies of Albedo #9-12, 14. Obviously, despite starting with several rare, fairly high-dollar, and even key issues... no one is actually interested in slabbing the full run.

So, what does everyone else do when their set starts strong but ends in drek? Is the cost of encapsulation enough to deter making full run match for storage and presentation? Or does everyone just put the boring fill in mylar to think about what it (hasn't) done?

 

A few years ago I started on a quest to collect CGC 9.8 Darkhawks from the first series.  Ideally (no rush), I'd like to get 1-50, 1-3 annual all direct, then all available newsstands (1-37, 1-2 annual), then all of those ALSO in CGC SS, and then also the random foreign language ones (less picky about grades) in Spanish and Italian (if there are others I'd love them too), then also all the mark jewelers also (so far only 2 issues discovered).  Ideally I'd get everything in CGC 9.8 but for some of them I don't even know if its possible.  But its something I can slowly work on for a lifetime.  Also, Darkhawk 5 2nd print.

So far I have a handful of newsstands, 2 handfuls of CGC SS, and 85% of direct editions in CGC 9.8.  I have all of the foreign language comics raw, but no slabs yet.  When I started a lot of the issues had never been slabbed before. 

 

But darkhawks are relatively cheap and mass produced compared to the high grade albedos. 

So take what you will out of my experience.  Good luck.

Edited by revat
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As revat points out that's a challenge. Not only in and of itself due to scarcity in HG, but it sounds like you may have to submit them all yourself. I might have a raw copy to start you off :grin: (lemme czech)

I see now that Albedo was only an example - I would just continue to collect the best of what you can find raw, but the "set" commitment is certainly rewarding.

Edited by divad
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Yeah, I have a few easier targets that I'll probably be completing before tackling Albedo for really reals. Honestly, my biggest worry with Albedo is how much it'll annoy me to permanently lack the first-print yellow table Prototype, which I neither expect to encounter nor be willing to pay for. :ohnoez:

But at least the idea of slabbing up some drek to make full runs of small series doesn't mean I'm crazy alone around here.

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14 hours ago, revat said:

A few years ago I started on a quest to collect CGC 9.8 Darkhawks from the first series.  Ideally (no rush), I'd like to get 1-50, 1-3 annual all direct, then all available newsstands (1-37, 1-2 annual), then all of those ALSO in CGC SS, and then also the random foreign language ones (less picky about grades) in Spanish and Italian (if there are others I'd love them too), then also all the mark jewelers also (so far only 2 issues discovered).  Ideally I'd get everything in CGC 9.8 but for some of them I don't even know if its possible.  But its something I can slowly work on for a lifetime.  Also, Darkhawk 5 2nd print.

So far I have a handful of newsstands, 2 handfuls of CGC SS, and 85% of direct editions in CGC 9.8.  I have all of the foreign language comics raw, but no slabs yet.  When I started a lot of the issues had never been slabbed before. 

 

But darkhawks are relatively cheap and mass produced compared to the high grade albedos. 

So take what you will out of my experience.  Good luck.

Was flipping through my darkhawks to see if any had a jeweler insert and I found 1 copy of issue 9 with a wham insert.  My newstand 9doesn't have it, so I'm wondering if all 9 directs have the wham insert?

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Whatever makes you happy.

Two sets I've been considering:

Rai # 0-8.

Only half of these have any real (slab-worthy) value in 9.8, but it would feel weird to stop at # 5, or # 7.

Punisher War Journal # 1-19 CGC 9.8 Jim Lee Sig. Series.

Would be a good 4-10 year challenge, I think, since some of these don't yet exist in sig. series at all.

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“Going into the weeds” I personally think is the best part wether raw or graded.  I have several registry sets.  Some are just first print runs and others cover variants and follow on printings. I have an obsession with second, third, forth, etc prints.  I think they’re cool, especially is high grade.  
 

What I consider when I want to slab a set is: number of issues, do I really care about the full run or just the keys, and cost.  But like what Gatsby77 said, “Whatever makes you happy.”

Edited by Parabellum
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On ‎3‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 6:13 PM, Gatsby77 said:

Whatever makes you happy.

Two sets I've been considering:

Rai # 0-8.

Only half of these have any real (slab-worthy) value in 9.8, but it would feel weird to stop at # 5, or # 7.

Punisher War Journal # 1-19 CGC 9.8 Jim Lee Sig. Series.

Would be a good 4-10 year challenge, I think, since some of these don't yet exist in sig. series at all.

I've been considering the same with Punisher War Journal and the limited 5 issue series of Punisher. I just want to wait till I can get to a con and get signatures first but the I agree the aesthetic of slabbed books, especially yellow label, is awesome. I think slabbing a limited series like Punisher or Deadpool Circle chase is a more realistic for me than trying to do a full run.

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55 minutes ago, nepatkm said:

I've started trying to complete to many sets in CGC graded, currently I have been trying to complete The Punisher (1987) Set #1-104 with 2 Variants (#57, 100 Newsstand, (Not including UPC variant Newsstands,.... yet (shrug)) _and the 7 Annuals in CGC 9.8 -need 9 issues in 9.8 to complete in grade. Its been a decade, and a lot harder to complete than I originally thought it would be...doh!

--Largest series I am close to completing in 9.8 grade.. It is frustrating, and costly, but will be a Fantastic satisfaction to complete.:wishluck:

Punisher (1987) Wall new.jpg

That is an impressive set of Punishers. And yeah, I can imagine it's tough to find 9.8s for random issues late in a run that virtually no one else slabs. Do you just pick them up in relative bulk and put them through the CGC prescreen?

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11 hours ago, Qalyar said:

That is an impressive set of Punishers. And yeah, I can imagine it's tough to find 9.8s for random issues late in a run that virtually no one else slabs. Do you just pick them up in relative bulk and put them through the CGC prescreen?

 Thanks @Qalyar—-

 No, wish i could do that..I’ve bought many multiple issues from this series, and keep finding the same flaws in certain issues. Some may not be possible to get a 9.8-However, I’ve haven’t  submitted issues for pressing (yet hm)  ... Then there’s the cost/money factor that I value a books worth at..:tonofbricks: ,.. 

—Thankfully  a bunch of help  from the boards to get me this far..  :cloud9:

Edited by nepatkm
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16 hours ago, nepatkm said:

I've started trying to complete to many sets in CGC graded, currently I have been trying to complete The Punisher (1987) Set #1-104 with 2 Variants (#57, 100 Newsstand, (Not including UPC variant Newsstands,.... yet (shrug)) _and the 7 Annuals in CGC 9.8 -need 9 issues in 9.8 to complete in grade. Its been a decade, and a lot harder to complete than I originally thought it would be...doh!

--Largest series I am close to completing in 9.8 grade.. It is frustrating, and costly, but will be a Fantastic satisfaction to complete.:wishluck:

Punisher (1987) Wall new.jpg

That is amazing! Great collection. I'm still trying to work up the whole series raw in decent condition, I can't imagine how tough it would be to find all of them in 9.8. Unfortunately the area in NC I'm stationed right now is a bit bare when it comes to LCS's.

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On 3/18/2020 at 3:04 PM, Steelrain41 said:

That is amazing! Great collection. I'm still trying to work up the whole series raw in decent condition, I can't imagine how tough it would be to find all of them in 9.8. Unfortunately the area in NC I'm stationed right now is a bit bare when it comes to LCS's.

What issues are you missing? @Steelrain41

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Back in March I bought my first slab. It was the first in a run I want to collect in all 9.8+ It is Neil Gaiman's Sandman. It has always been my favorite comic series and I finished a whole raw run, except variants, back in the early 2000s, including getting several autographed by Neil Gaiman and some of the artists. That collection, and all my other comics and collectables, were destroyed in flooding not many years later. So now 20 years later I decided it was time I started again, but this time I am doing it in 9.8s or better. Unfortunately the series has fallen out of favor of collectors, with the exception of 3 key issues. Which means over half the series has fewer than 10 copies in 9.8. This is mainly because people don't bother with getting them graded. Which creates a sort of false rarity. Which means prices fluctuate wildly for sales since there are so few being sold. Then there is the fact that a TV series is coming for it. That will throw the prices around as well, but I don't see a lot of people getting the series graded beyond the first 9 issues maybe. As for the series I think it will be canceled within the first season like the rest of the vertigo TV shows that came out. The only reason Lucifer has lasted so long is its about sex and a hot guy, which will definitely not be the case of Sandman. So I think in the end it will just drive the price of the keys up and that's about it. But so far I have 7 9.8s for the series. So still 75+ to go. 

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6 hours ago, Urion said:

Back in March I bought my first slab. It was the first in a run I want to collect in all 9.8+ It is Neil Gaiman's Sandman. It has always been my favorite comic series and I finished a whole raw run, except variants, back in the early 2000s, including getting several autographed by Neil Gaiman and some of the artists. That collection, and all my other comics and collectables, were destroyed in flooding not many years later. So now 20 years later I decided it was time I started again, but this time I am doing it in 9.8s or better. Unfortunately the series has fallen out of favor of collectors, with the exception of 3 key issues. Which means over half the series has fewer than 10 copies in 9.8. This is mainly because people don't bother with getting them graded. Which creates a sort of false rarity. Which means prices fluctuate wildly for sales since there are so few being sold. Then there is the fact that a TV series is coming for it. That will throw the prices around as well, but I don't see a lot of people getting the series graded beyond the first 9 issues maybe. As for the series I think it will be canceled within the first season like the rest of the vertigo TV shows that came out. The only reason Lucifer has lasted so long is its about sex and a hot guy, which will definitely not be the case of Sandman. So I think in the end it will just drive the price of the keys up and that's about it. But so far I have 7 9.8s for the series. So still 75+ to go. 

Personally, I have to say that I would find a full run of Sandman in 9.8 to be absolutely fantastic, although it's unquestionably a huge commitment both in terms of slabbing fees and the hunt for pristine copies of those mid- and late-run books that no one pays much attention to.

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There’s a member named mschmidt who has a great custom set in the registry named “Sometimes You Fly” He has all of the Sandman’s in 9.8 or higher and there are scans of all of them.  You should check it out.

11 hours ago, Urion said:

Back in March I bought my first slab. It was the first in a run I want to collect in all 9.8+ It is Neil Gaiman's Sandman. It has always been my favorite comic series and I finished a whole raw run, except variants, back in the early 2000s, including getting several autographed by Neil Gaiman and some of the artists. That collection, and all my other comics and collectables, were destroyed in flooding not many years later. So now 20 years later I decided it was time I started again, but this time I am doing it in 9.8s or better. Unfortunately the series has fallen out of favor of collectors, with the exception of 3 key issues. Which means over half the series has fewer than 10 copies in 9.8. This is mainly because people don't bother with getting them graded. Which creates a sort of false rarity. Which means prices fluctuate wildly for sales since there are so few being sold. Then there is the fact that a TV series is coming for it. That will throw the prices around as well, but I don't see a lot of people getting the series graded beyond the first 9 issues maybe. As for the series I think it will be canceled within the first season like the rest of the vertigo TV shows that came out. The only reason Lucifer has lasted so long is its about sex and a hot guy, which will definitely not be the case of Sandman. So I think in the end it will just drive the price of the keys up and that's about it. But so far I have 7 9.8s for the series. So still 75+ to go. 

 

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I saw it. He currently has the best set of sandman in the world. I don't know much about his details beyond what he says in his bio, but he must have some kind of connections to have the amount of signatures he does. Most of the time if there is only one of a sandman issue he has it. After seeing his collection on line I realized I would never be able to achieve what he has. But its wonderful to see someone has done it. I'll never have the income that he has to be able to afford some of the books he bought. I will inevitably have to submit some books myself since there are some that just don't exist outside of his set, such as #18 in a 9.8, but I am going to try to buy as many as I can already graded. I am looking forward to the hunt though. I am hoping Dragoncon wont be canceled this year, though it is very ify. Only one store near me has any sandman and they only have like 5 issues and they aren't 9.8s.

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27 minutes ago, Urion said:

I saw it. He currently has the best set of sandman in the world. I don't know much about his details beyond what he says in his bio, but he must have some kind of connections to have the amount of signatures he does. Most of the time if there is only one of a sandman issue he has it. After seeing his collection on line I realized I would never be able to achieve what he has. But its wonderful to see someone has done it. I'll never have the income that he has to be able to afford some of the books he bought. I will inevitably have to submit some books myself since there are some that just don't exist outside of his set, such as #18 in a 9.8, but I am going to try to buy as many as I can already graded. I am looking forward to the hunt though. I am hoping Dragoncon wont be canceled this year, though it is very ify. Only one store near me has any sandman and they only have like 5 issues and they aren't 9.8s.

Michael lovingly created almost every book in his collection - sourcing the 9.8 copies and arranging to have the signatures done. Nearly every book has multiple signatures. I have owned several of his dupes and was involved in many of the same signings that created his copies.  One of the finest gentlemen in the Sig Series game, and someone that I grudgingly had to admit, very early on, loved Sandman even more than I did!

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