CGC pickups

Some really nice books there.

Funnily enough this announcement proved a bit disappointing to me!

I had been pleased that earler this week my books had progressed to ‘in process at CCS’.

I think that actually means ‘we opened your package of books at CCS’…

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Yep, and that means you have quite a while until they press, and then send to CGC’s “new” process. CGC only announced that grading books was faster, I don’t think they said anything about the pressing part if I remember correctly.

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Hey locksmithcomics, I looked up the press guy and read the info he has on his site. I have not watched the YouTube videos yet. How long did it take for you to get comfortable pressing your own stuff? It seems complicated, but I am sure after a few practice rounds its not too bad.

Also, what kind of lighting do you all use to evaluate your comics? I swear some areas of my house stink in terms of lighting and every comic looks like a 9.8, lol. I don’t know if there is a difference with certain LED bulbs, soft white light vs others, etc.

You probably will want “Daylight”, or “Daylight deluxe” if you are looking at comics. That will give you the brightest lighting. However, don’t install it in your whole place or you will look like that commercial where they are trying to keep the roaches out (remember that one?).

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I started pressing my own books a couple of years ago. I highly highly recommend it, especially if you get a lot of them graded. The press costs about $150 and easily pays for itself. I was very scared at first but tested different methods with reader books. Now its a very simple process. Good luck.

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How much did you end up paying for your SWHR 2nd print (if you don’t mind me asking)? I actually bought a few myself, all around the $50-$60 range. Figured that’s going to be a winner when the right time comes around as most retailers were caught off guard on FOC and it wasn’t as easily available.

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I don’t mind sharing as it’s all on eBay anyway. The 9.2 was $36 including shipping and the 9.8 was $50.

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Very nice. I’m not a slab guy but it is nice getting slabs for around the price it would cost if you bought it and sent it off yourself.

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I was comfortable pretty quick, but keep in mind, I’m primarily pressing modern books and not incorporating a humidity chamber much at all. I have used a chamber for older books with paper pages, but almost everything I deal with is going to be modern if not a new release.

I just use blacklights, flashlights and magnification to examine the books, but again, I’m not looking for restoration or things one would be on a silver or gold age comic.

There are things you need to work out on your own once you get your press, but it’s really about following the guide in regards to cardstock, parchment paper, etc. If you follow that guy’s instructions, it’s a breeze, I HIGHLY recommend steel plates if you’re using a press like this, which is what I use.

Also, get the cardstocks that you slide under the covers as deep as you can safely so you’re not leaving an obvious press line along the spine. It’s become pretty easy for me to tell if someone pressed a book improperly.

One more thing… on Marvel books with digital codes, I slide 110lb cardstock on either side of that page and set the press to barely lock in place without a lot of pressure. Sometimes pressing a book twice works out better than trying to smash it down and get stuff out on the first attempt. No matter what you do, the code sticker will press into many pages if you lock the book down too tight. I do know that it was clear that the code had been pressed into a couple pages slightly in most of my Marvel books that got 9.8s, so I just think it’s unavoidable and as long as it’s not pressed through the whole book, they won’t knock you for it.

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In a very positive development, my books have moved from CCS to grading/encapsulation/imaging within a week. Looks like the new processes are speeding things up!

Well done all of the people at CGC who are, no doubt, working their socks off to turn things around. I suspect it has been a pretty stressy place for several months now and the people doing the work are human after all.

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For me personally, it’s always been about the delivered quality. The TAT is, at worst, an inconvenience.
I am so so tired of spending an additional hour using Meguiars plastic restore on every CGC delivery.
I’m frustrated at the inconsistency of grading - both on the high and low side.
I’m tired of cracks, foreign objects and other niceties with the slab.
I don’t want your customer service phone number on my speed dial anymore

CGC Folks, please - just get that right and I’m good. I can live with the price increase and I can live with the less than optimal TAT. But I can’t live with the bullets I’ve identified.

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Locksmithcomics, thanks for the detailed response. That was really helpful. In your experience, if the pressing is done right, can those little non-color breaking “dings” that occur starting at the spine of a book and traveling inward be pressed out on modern Marvel books? It is so hard to get a Marvel book with none of those, at least at my LCS. I don’t know what the “tolerance” level is at CGC for those either. One small one on the back cover… is that a 9.6?

If you ask enough people, you’ll hear a lot of different answers on this. From what I have witnessed, 1 or 2 small non color breaking spine ticks will not take you to a 9.6, but grading is subjective. Remember a 9.8 is not a flawless book. CGC has 9.9 and 10 grades also. A couple small imperfections are allowed.

Pressing can get them out on modern, but it does depend where they are exactly, how deep or wide, etc. Again, sometimes a second press does the trick. Sometimes they won’t come out if you press it a dozen times.

One of my advantages is I pre-order and buy books at two LCS that bag and board every single book as they remove them from shipping boxes. Nothing is more beneficial if you’re wanting to grade stuff eventually.

Stores like these also provide back issues that have 9.8 potential as well, since the books are never loose on shelves. So a lot of my books I didn’t buy new came from stores like this and turned into 9.8s. It’s incredible how many books I just leave on the shelves at my biggest LCS in town because they don’t bag and board anything and have wire shelving that wrecks the bottom edges.

I feel like I’ve read that one color-breaking spine tic is basically a 9.4, you won’t get better than that? Not sure how accurate that is though.

I have plenty of 9.6s and even some 9.8s with a color break.

One color break is ok as long as the length of it isn’t significant. Not all color breaks are created equal.

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I have a couple 9.6’s where the only thing is a small color breaking spine tick.