When I began my quest to rebuild my comic book collection, the world of collecting had changed in a big way. Walt at Big B Comics in Hamilton was a big help in getting me reacquainted with grading and CGC. The internet and eBay made it possible to get anything you wanted, in any shape you could afford, on any given day.
Since I was starting out from virtually zero I had no place to go but up. I started with (surprise, surprise) The Amazing Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four. I was even a bigger fan of the FF than Spidey, if I was put in a corner and had to choose, so that was where I started. I was primarily buying raw comics and checking the scans on eBay to see if I could get some real bargains.
Most of the books were available as auctions so it was not unusual to get some great copies at reasonable and sometimes downright steals.
Being the entrepreneur that I am I soon discovered buying and selling books myself on eBay and helped to finance my habit. It wasn’t long before the long boxes entered the picture and I started getting books I never had before. I was also started getting better copies than the collection I had to sell in the ’90s. As any collector knows, there is nothing like holding a book in your hands that is 50 years old and flipping the pages! I was having a blast and it wasn’t long until I joined CGC and began slabbing books and reslabbing.
As I am sure many of you know, CGC can be a frustrating animal. As collectors, we all have scratched our heads at some of the inconsistencies in grading we have seen, or when we resubmit and get a lower grade or even (oh the horror!) a purple label for a book that was a Universal grade when you sent it down to be reslabbed. Or worse yet, a purple label and a lower grade! The only word to describe this is aarrgh!!
I am not a gambler by nature, but I will risk some money on comics as it is a subject I am familiar with.
One of my favorite stories of an eBay win is two Spideys, #121 and #122, I bought raw for $100 each. Now these were beauties! I have attached pics of the books that came back a 9.4 on the #121 with White pages and #122 came back a 9.8 with ow-white pages.
The win on this was huge! I netted about $3500 on Comiclink. I re-invested about half and bought killer seats for Paul McCartney and the Eagles and took my 2 daughters with me!
We had a great time! I love comics!!
There has to be some grander accountability with cgc. Some deep undeniable proof of the irregularity in your beefs with reslabbing. Videos of books submitted and returned? If I was a lawyer Id debunk that building.
My biggest resent is they expect $ for their precious grading notes.
I def receive weaker books with 9.8s when I buy from big sellers on ebay vs my gems I send in. Scuffs, color rubbed off on the edges to 2 color breaks on 9.8s?
My first submission story:
Found 40ea xfactor 6 in fresh distributor bags – picked the BEST 5 books. 1=9.6 with 4 mid to low 9s. Perfect to the eyes of 2 lcs. All identical. Had sparkle city comics submitted, would they be 9.9? Def 9.8.
Being a little guy I guess….
Lots of back end hookups I’m sure.
Yes ,paying for grading notes is also a pet peeve of mine re.CGC.You have to admit, they have big cajones charging for that on top of the already established fees.I take it for granted that there can be a wide variance in how a book “shows” particularily in the mid to upper mid grades, but admit to being baffled most of the time in the 9.0 to 9.8 grades, and that is where the widest variance in dollar values are.
The question of preferential treatment by large or small submitters has certainly been a point of question.We shouldn’t however forget the positive though, that CGC has allowed us as collectors,and business people , to be able to shop the world via the internet ,and I can speak for my own experiences,that for the most part it has added a larger level of consistency to the experience of buying and selling on line as well a measure of stability in buying books for investment purposes.We may argue with some of the grades that have been assigned ,but we can’t argue the fact that they are assigned by a 3rd party at that grade.
This is what I’ve been saying to Walter but he just rolls his eyes at me. I know many guys who’ve begged for a higher grade and have gotten it, only because they we’re chummy with someone at CGC. So much for standards, eh?
I think any organization tasked with such a huge responsibility cannot help but get it wrong every now and again.
Overall CGC has been a resounding success,, for the company that is CGC, for resellers like myself, for collectors out there who were held hostage by much much more funny business back in the day of buying reseller graded comics via mail order.
Sure it is not perfect but it is about as level a playing field as any of us could have hoped for say even 15 years ago.
Dennis – how long ago (year) did you pick up the 121 & 122?