You might of wanted to keep that poly bag on

Remember back when people would call stuff without poly bags and inserts incomplete pre CGC starting its business. Then everybody opened their poly bags to get books graded because CGC wouldn’t slab them with the poly bags. Well now things in poly bags are becoming rarer and rarer every Ultimate Fallout #4 CGC grades. We have now gone full circle with PGX slabbing poly bagged books and in the future your books removed from factory bags may once again be called incomplete. Will the other graders follow suit? Will a new subclass of rarity like newsstand, or price variants emerge with complete unopened books in the future? What do you think?

Why leave the comic in the polybag ?? You cant grade a comic if you cant see it’s flaws.

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Because the bag is as much a part of the book as a clipped mail away that doesn’t effect story. A 1st Hobgoblin without tattoos isn’t the same as one with. Harbinger book has to have its attached coupon for anybody to want it.

So the Xforce books come with a card but you can’t have it included in grading the book because it’s in the poly bag so shouldn’t they too be incomplete without their added card.

Also in the case of Death of Superman there’s a few freebies and the bag is as iconic as the cover of Action Comics #1 or any comic book ever made. So I wouldn’t mind doing my death of Superman like this because it definitely pops compared to the open cover.

Polybags for UF4 were/are notorious for leaving the vertical seam lightly indented on the comic. I opened all of mine and sure enough they all had that seam lightly creased into it. I had my heat press by then and was able to press them out. Couldn’t do that with the poly bag still on.

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To point out the obvious poly isn’t archival, that’s science. It’s an acid trap sealing in all byproducts of decay. Alana is right though about that cover popping. As well as being considered complete, but you can include all the extras if you sell it. I’m surprised they didn’t give the poly bag a grade itself. Kinda how they do double covers.

Why pay just to have someone seal it in plastic with no grade, when I can do the same thing with a Comic Skin and still be able to remove it without damaging the book (and bag, if that’s important to you)?

Same goes for ultimate comics Spider-Man #1.

To each their own, if that’s what someone wants to spend their money on. There obviously is a market. Personally, I have no need for this.

One question I have is usually bags are quite a bit taller than th comic, so will the slab show the whole bag laid out, or does it fold the top and/or bottom of the bag over to fit it into a comic sized slab, essentially damaging the bag :man_facepalming:.

Might be why they give it a “NG” since they are likely damaging the bag just by merely encapsulating it…

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I would think they fold it over a bit if doesn’t fit right, but that is jut a guess.

So how would that not damage the bag when it’s pressed up against the plastic for eternity?

If people want their comics encapsulated with the bag they should demand the appropriate case to preserve it.

Typically what you are paying for when you send your comics to be encapsulated is a third party grading (“expert”) opinion and a restoration check. The plastic encapsulation is a very small part of the cost.

So you are paying PGX to literally put a plastic case around your valued polybagged comic and likely damage it.

Comic skins claims their case provides 99% UV protection, plus you can remove the label of the slab to make more room for the polybag length, although I’m not sure it’ll still fit…I have a few slabs and polybags…I’ll see how well they fit later today and report back.

I actually like comic skins. Great alternative to slabbing if you don’t care about grade or restoration check. It seems every so often another idea like this PGX polybag thing comes up that reminds me of heir diverse use. I’m surprised they don’t have any noteworthy competition (that I’m aware of).

The stamp in IH181 is literally a part of the printed book. The poly bag is not part of the printed book. Hence why one would earn an incomplete, the other will not. Poly bags and value stamps are not the same thing as far as complete comics are concerned. And as Monopoly said, you can’t properly grade a book if you can’t open the book to look at it.
And if you wanted to get real technical, you could open the poly, cleanly at the top or bottom, remove the book and then return the book into the poly bag. There you go. Book can be graded and returned to the poly bag. Is that book still complete because it has the bag, although opened?

Did they damage the book when’re-inserting it? How would you know if you can’t see it? How do you know someone didn’t swap out your 9.8 out of the bag with a coverless copy?

This also adds no value to me.

Batman Almost Got I’m is more desirable unopened with the tape than opened tape less and graded by CGC. If your Xforce #1 polybag with the Deadpool card became so rare because everyone opens them and only 5 still existed you probably wouldn’t open it or grade it just sell it as is. Too bad none of the Walking Dead blind bag variants are worth a dam if they did a blind bag variant book for a new Donny Cates character 1st appearance with a chase variant or two those could be big bucks unopened down the road if everyone opened them chasing a $1000 variant. I do like it for display purposes and may send my Superman #75 in the bag for the same treatment, it’s $13 not bank breaking. Would look good behind my Superman sideshow statue.

Blind bags are a different beast than regular ol’ poly bagged books. One is a lottery ticket, the other is a plastic bag.

Batman Almost Got 'Im is also a different beast from poly bagged comic books. One is a childrens toy/book, the other is a comic book. You can’t compare apples to plantains.

You do make a valid point about the rarity of the poly bag, if everyone was to open theirs. There def is a sect of collectors who do value that raw, poly bagged book, and perhaps in time those collectors will pay for what they desire.

And I agree about your display point, Alana, particularly those DoSM white and black poly bagged books.

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