Should I CGC grade my comics?

[YoungOnce]

After nearly three decades of storage, I finally got out the long boxes to see what all was in there. A lot of it is what I remembered with Silver and Bronze Age runs of DCs and Marvels.... all the stuff that I liked to read at the time. I never collected for investment. I just loved comics for the joy of reading them.

I have never been interested in CGC graded books because I like to look at the books. But going through, I found a few that are worth some money, particularly "Bone 1,2, and 3 first printings in pristine condition. I don't even remember when these made their way in, but looking them up, I see the 1st printings are very collectable.

I don't read "Bone" so I actually have no qualms about slabbing these, but I started doing some research into slabbing the books and saw where it had become an issue with books being damaged in the grading and slabbing over at CGC and that books being returned (after a few weeks) to their owners had picked up bumps and corner tics, etc which conversely dropped the grade from maybe what would have been a 9.4 to a 9.0 or 8.0...

Since these books are in such pristine shape, I'm a little afraid to send them off, but I'm also afraid not to.

Slabbed books seem to be what the investment collectors want. I wouldn't mind selling these (so I can use the money to get a few old Fantastic Fours I've never owned... books I'd get more enjoyment out of), but I'm up in the air about sending them off to be slabbed. I don't want them to lose value because an intern mishandles them.

Anybody have an experience that encourages or discourages CGC grading?

[Brue]

CGC? No.

They will give some things high grades that don't deserve it. The will give more things lower grades than they deserve.

You will never recoup money for grading in sales.

[Nostalgiabuff]

just sell them as is on ebay. why waste money getting them graded. take lots of photos and put them out there for auction

[Mr.Marion]

If you have pre-1970 issues you think will grade above 8.0 i'd say go for it. But sadly most aren't worth the effort or money. Spiderman 300, New Mutants 98 , and Batman adventures 12 are some of only modern comics to bring alot these days .

[WannabeMego]

It depends...

I would 'Slab' High Demand 8.5 (VF+) or Higher Books to sell because the difference in return against a RAW equivalent is much greater then the cost to slab the book alone...and...

I would also 'Slab' Valuable Books that I do not intend to sell simply because whomever gets them when I die will know they retain some value that they can easily lookup on their own without having any 'Grading' knowledge...but...

In General, the overwhelming majority of books do NOT fall into those categories...so...MOST Books are better sold as RAW.

eBay Sold Auction Searches should shed some light on the return differences between Slabbed & Raw.

Personally, I HATE Grading Institutions...they breed 'Speculators'...BUT...if someone wants to pay me $300+ for a CGC Book that cost $5.99 when it came out versus $100 Raw...

Example: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Marvel+Now%21+Point+One&_sac at=0&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&Certification=C GC&_oaa=1&_dcat=32749

...I'm Slabbin' that Book & spendin' that extra $$$ on some Silver/Bronze Age Back Issues

If you have a reputable/established Comic Shop in your area, they may have a means of shipping books to be graded directly to CGC.

[Sideshow Spock]

BUMPING this thread cuz it fits the bill for my topic, and I'm wondering if the OP ever submitted his stuff..

I collected comics from about 1982-86 (not counting just buying them as a kid earlier) and still have two full long boxes that have been sitting mostly untouched since I stopped. I finally found both the time and inspiration to go through what I have, mostly to determine what had "value" in today's market. I've never submitted to CGC before, but after watching a bunch of YouTube videos, I felt that some of the stuff I picked out was in good enough shape that a high CGC grade would enhance value enough to justify the expense (since I plan on ultimately selling).

I had visions of 9.6s and 98s dancing in my head, but in reality I'll probably end up getting somewhere between 7.0-9.0. Which won't be doing me any selling favors. Still, it's something I needed to get out of my system.

Also, I only did it cuz CGC seems to have gotten its act together with turnaround times. In recent years turnaround times were excessive, could even be a year or more. Now it's about a month with modern books.

[Jorge Galvan]

Not a fan of Slabbing, with that said, I do have slabbed books in my collection, all golden age with a few silver age. The only reason, I haven't UNSLABBED them is I don't know how and supposedly there is a perfect way of opening up a slab. I haven't had the time to seek out someone to do so.

most of the GA books I look for somehow end up being slabbed whether on Ebay or Heritage Auctions. its a burden I have bared so far.


If I were gonna slab a book, it would have to be a rarity and scarce, All American # 17, All Star # 3, Daring Mystery comics # 8, you get the idea. I would say thing about it, once you slab it, YOU CAN'T READ IT ANYMORE. Good luck.