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Fantastic Four Collecting Thread!
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13,410 posts in this topic

On 10/14/2020 at 8:52 PM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Maybe I'm missing something but if your goal is to sell those books, you should do better than break-even on most if not all of them unless you went with the more expensive pressing / grading options.

Yeah you are missing something...

It cost 45 bucks to send the books in GROUND FedEx.  Took about 3 and a half weeks.  BIG RIP OFF!

About 60 bucks to have pressed each at STANDARD rate...

About 70 bucks each to have graded at STANDARD rate

Turn around about 3 months...

ECONOMY mode will take about 7 months!  I vowed never to do that again!

 

The grading was strict.  Mind you I sent these in expecting high grades because they all look new.  The notes are all prefixed with the words very and small.

When i see some of these other graded books with 100 spine ticks get the same grade as mine i am puzzled.  Its great for the buyer but terrible for the seller unless i add a 100 percent premium.

 

I guess im just curious.  I like the cases at least but at 138 buck per book hmmmm.  These are 60 year old books... a 9.8 is easy for modern but not so much for FF 1 to 100...

 

I post some pics when they arrive.  Be well

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7 hours ago, Karl Liebl said:

Yeah you are missing something...

It cost 45 bucks to send the books in GROUND FedEx.  Took about 3 and a half weeks.  BIG RIP OFF!

About 60 bucks to have pressed each at STANDARD rate...

About 70 bucks each to have graded at STANDARD rate

Turn around about 3 months...

ECONOMY mode will take about 7 months!  I vowed never to do that again!

 

The grading was strict.  Mind you I sent these in expecting high grades because they all look new.  The notes are all prefixed with the words very and small.

When i see some of these other graded books with 100 spine ticks get the same grade as mine i am puzzled.  Its great for the buyer but terrible for the seller unless i add a 100 percent premium.

 

I guess im just curious.  I like the cases at least but at 138 buck per book hmmmm.  These are 60 year old books... a 9.8 is easy for modern but not so much for FF 1 to 100...

 

I post some pics when they arrive.  Be well

I don't understand this drive you feel to get these books graded.

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16 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

I don't understand this drive you feel to get these books graded.

I want to see if they are worth more than 500 bucks in store credit!  Need a second opinion!  Also it’s interesting. All of the books come back lower than I thought but none of them have been truly bad. Yeahh it’s kind of dumb at this point since all the high dollar books are done. Now about this issue 94....

ive bought about 3 ungraded books online and wow were they over graded by about 3 points. I have yet to see an honest grade but then not everyone agrees with CGC. It is what it is. Honestly what’s more incredible than the cost is the time involved but then I could have just sent in 30 at a time and had my answers sooner. Expensive 

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On 10/14/2020 at 8:43 PM, Karl Liebl said:

More mediocrity...

2BEC225F-775E-48B0-A420-E56AF476322C.thumb.png.cc286dafe8b75dd693b9b9d35d08d7c4.png

FD0559E7-A9C9-433F-9761-9F916A9C7276.thumb.png.99b4ecdf3e814f2e865b2c83602506d1.png

 

Maybe broke even on submission fees but not likely. I think real sharp corners are needed for 9 plus. Learn to grade!!  Lol...

In my experience, for a book to be graded above 9.0 it must have only a small number of defects and each must be very small.  The fewer and smaller, the higher the numerical grade.

Here's an example.  The bottom and right edge are pristine, as are the four corners.  The spine has two barely perceptible, teensy stress lines (one near the top corner and the other a half inch below the price box), and the top edge only the faintest of overhang stress.  The cover is squeaky clean.  The back is clean and completely flat, too, with sharp edges.  I think it's accurately graded, and a good example of what it takes to achieve a grade over VF/NM.  If it had only one or two of the tiny defects, it would have been a solid 9.6.

FF62cgc.thumb.jpg.f8024394b21e2e788b8fc21cd2f8bc4c.jpg

Edited by namisgr
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5 minutes ago, namisgr said:

For a book to be graded above 9.0, it must have only a small number of defects and they must be very small.  The fewer and smaller, the higher the numerical grade.

Here's an example.  The bottom and right edge are pristine, as are the four corners.  The spine has two barely perceptible, teensy stress lines, and the top edge only the faintest of overhang stress.  The cover is squeaky clean.  The back is clean and completely flat, too, with sharp edges.  I think it's accurately graded, and a good example of what it takes to achieve a grade over VF/NM.  If it had only one or two of the tiny defects, it would have been a solid 9.6.

FF62cgc.thumb.jpg.f8024394b21e2e788b8fc21cd2f8bc4c.jpg

Nice book. It’s hard to get that grade from books bought from a store used. Much easier for news stand copies read only once. Two things I find interesting. One is that so many people post here that don’t like slabs. Second is that a shop is going to offer pennies on the dollar for your “precious” collection. Remember this as you pump money into this “hobby”. I still want more books but no way I’m buying ungraded ones. Lessons learned. Have a great day!

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4 minutes ago, Karl Liebl said:

Nice book. It’s hard to get that grade from books bought from a store used. 

Not if you're @greggy

It takes a meticulous and highly experienced eye for the high grades.

Edited by namisgr
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42 minutes ago, Karl Liebl said:

Nice book. It’s hard to get that grade from books bought from a store used. Much easier for news stand copies read only once. Two things I find interesting. One is that so many people post here that don’t like slabs. Second is that a shop is going to offer pennies on the dollar for your “precious” collection. Remember this as you pump money into this “hobby”. I still want more books but no way I’m buying ungraded ones. Lessons learned. Have a great day!

9.4 and up SA books are a rare bird.

it sounds like you’re learning some tough lessons as you adjust to the effect of cgc on the hobby.  I think most of us have gone through this.

A good LCS would offer you more for your collection than pennies on the dollar but every store will be more interested in keys than run books.  And they will consider the cost of pressing and grading, which is substantial, in their offer.

i won’t consider sending in a book for grading unless it’s worth more than $200  and there’s a net worth increase of more than $100 from raw to graded.  
 

I’m not sure who you use for pressing but I believe there are cheaper pressers who can get equal results

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1 hour ago, Karl Liebl said:

Let’s see greggy pull his tricks on pre 1965 books instead of stacks of ms marvel and she hulk. Challenge offered

Agreed that the days of collecting high grade early Silver Age comics in their raw state have been long gone since the early days of CGC.  The original owner high grade collections of early Silver are now very scarce (when was the last time a great SA pedigree was found), and when dealers find them they have the best books slabbed for selling.  Don't even get me started on how impossible it is to find high grade Silver that's unpressed these days.

Edited by namisgr
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2 hours ago, greggy said:

I may not have access to high grade copies of 1965 books of late but it still doesn't mean that I still can't identify them when I see them in its raw state.  Just because I concentrate on newer stuff now due to availability and cost doesn't mean that my ability to spot the books has diminished. 

Yeah but if you saw a collection of 8.0 you would probably snatch that up!  I should be happy with my 2 9.0. Best I’ve done is a 9.2 on number 29. Overall best is Star Wars 1 at 9.6. It’s actually a miracle any of these books survived. My brother hated baggage but now they bring me pleasure and I like owning some of his things. I’m not dissing on you greggy. I just find it interesting the difference between 60s books and 70s books. Have a great day

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7 hours ago, namisgr said:

Agreed that the days of collecting high grade early Silver Age comics in their raw state have been long gone since the early days of CGC.  The original owner high grade collections of early Silver are now very scarce (when was the last time a great SA pedigree was found), and when dealers find them they have the best books slabbed for selling.  Don't even get me started on how impossible it is to find high grade Silver that's unpressed these days.

I think they are out there, just locked up. My collection is 95%+ unpressed. If I sell, ya it would be insane not to press some of them, but if I get hit by a bus before that point, they would hit the market. There's got to be many people with collections like mine.

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17 hours ago, namisgr said:

Agreed that the days of collecting high grade early Silver Age comics in their raw state have been long gone since the early days of CGC.  The original owner high grade collections of early Silver are now very scarce (when was the last time a great SA pedigree was found), and when dealers find them they have the best books slabbed for selling.  Don't even get me started on how impossible it is to find high grade Silver that's unpressed these days.

 

Hmmmmm......I'm going to disagree with this.  I regularly attend several local cons and slabbed SA books are the exception rather than the rule.  And this included rows and rows of beautiful unslabbed early keys, in some of the best grades I've ever seen.

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1 hour ago, namisgr said:

 

I'm sure everyone would like to know what local cons to attend in which rows and rows of pristine early Silver Age comics are being sold raw and unrestored.  I know I would.  :wink:

 

 

 

 

Sure thing......there's a local con in Annandale, VA in two weeks.  Specifically, an older gentleman named Gene (who gets mentioned here a lot) has a display in the back left of the hall.  But he isn't the only one.  Would also check out Moving Pictures' display.  Rob always gives me great deals.  Again, most of what these guys sell is unslabbed.

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