Gosh, Bruce sure opened another can of worms, huh?
Since I know very little about lobby cards and movie posters, I kept my
comments to myself last Sunday when the subject was first brought up. I
joined this exciting community last year when I started selling off my movie
posters from my theater-managing and teen-age collecting days so that I could
have buying-power for my true collecting passion: MONSTER MAGAZINES! When the
CGC started slabbing Monster Mags a little over two years ago, I went through
all stages from “denial” to “acceptance”. No doubt there are Pros and Cons
on the subject. I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but since I was knee-deep in
the stuff, I figured I would get on the bus early.
Unlike lobby cards, there are many more factors that can go wrong for the
condition of a book. As I “completed” the collection I was after, I began
taking my upgrading seriously and was growing quickly tired of sellers
over-grading their material. They would boast a VF/NM and I would bid just
hoping for a
FINE and would be lucky to acquire a VG. After sending off many of my own
mags for grading, I quickly learned that some of my pieces weren’t quite
up-to-par after all, although after many submissions since, I have grown a
little
more aware of what flaws can bring certain grades, and have finally started to
notice some consistency in their grading. Also, some restoration was
detected that my scrutinizing eye didn’t originally catch.
I know nothing about comic books either, however I do know that early
monster magazines were manufactured with paper quality that was inferior to
comic
books, and was angered that their scale wouldn’t grade on a curve in lieu of
which. There does seem to be some leniency here as of late, though.
I can’t agree more that one must actually hold vintage paper in their hand
to truly appreciate its novelty, perhaps just as much, if not more so, on a
book or comic. Unlike a lobby card, even the most careful and experienced
collector can hardly read through an early high-grade Famous Monsters Of
Filmland
without running a risk of degrading a $400 mag to a $40 mag, as the spine can
just easily fall apart in your hand, so I’ve always considered my
high-grades were “untouchable” and feel that slabbing is the best way to
preserve
them. I have to agree, though, that a slabbed lobby card would NOT be quite as
desirable in appearance. Let me remind the community that a slabbed item is
not
necessarily a permanent encapsulation… one can always remove it from its
holder for enjoyment or framing. The intended advantage here is so that you
know
just how “nice” the item is (or isn’t) whether you‘re purchasing it, or
just wanting to keep it in your collection.
Which brings me to why I finally am making a comment this time around on the
apples and oranges… I feel I must praise Bruce for bravely pointing out the
correlation of the auction houses and the CGC. It has been my own personal
observation that CGC’d mags that have been sold through the major auction
houses definitely appear to be rather over-graded in comparison to the exact
same
issues that I have had graded, or otherwise acquired, from my own collection.
I have recently brought this subject up with my colleagues, coincidentally,
and Bruce has solidified my theory. This is an extremely frustrating aspect
to the serious collector.
It was mentioned that the lobby card collectors make up only a fraction of
the comic freaks. Well, I can assure you that the magazine collectors are even
smaller in numbers than the lobby card fans, so don’t be surprised if they
start grading LC’s as soon as they discover how much money is to be made. I
only hope that if they do, someone like Bruce can step in early on and show
’em
how it’s done.
Sure, if a common book scores something like a 9.6 it can fetch $150-200
whereas the same issue would be tough to sell at $20 raw. As for the tough
early
issues, though, “raw” copies still can fetch a hefty amount, and “slabbed”
ones sometimes don’t even meet book-price. This could be because the
inexperienced buyers do not quite yet realize how “nice” a 6.0 (Fine) or 7.0
(FN/VF)
can actually be while holding out for the non-existent 9.8, or that they,
too, just want to hold them in their hands, and not want to have to remove
them
from a holder. I do not sell for profit (though it’s nice when it happens
that way) but only to unload my second copy when I upgrade since I have no
need
for duplicates, much less can afford them. I still like to keep a “reader”
copy on hand, be it low or mid-grade, so that I can still enjoy them for
their original intent and purposes.
With all the inconsistencies, I can’t say that I’m Gung-Ho CGC, but I feel
it’s a better system than we used to have with ignorant and dishonest sellers
flooding the market with over-graded books. If they do start grading LC‘s, I
’m sure it might make a slight “impact” at first to a small percentage of
high-end collectors, but it’s obvious now, thanks to the MoPo Group, that it
will eventually be business-as-usual later on, much like the monster market. I
am one of very few who even care a darn about professionally-graded
magazines. This is to my benefit since my collection’s grades, as a whole, are
only
exceeded by authors and contributors of previous monster magazine price
guides. Not bad for a nobody.
I guess this would be a good time to pimp my store for more monster mag
buying-power... lots of posters and memorabilia has been added since my last
link from several months ago... as before, some prices are steep, but that's
what the Or Best Offer Button is all about:
_http://stores.ebay.com/Castle-of-Frankenwick_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm
_
(http://stores.ebay.com/Castle-of-Frankenwick_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm)
Thanks, folks;
FranKenwick
P.S. Again, can anyone help me distinguish my 27x41 rolled Animal House
Style "B" poster as an original or fake?
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