Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welcome

Discussion of all "slabbed comics" whether Valiant or not

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lorddunlow
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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by lorddunlow »

What's the reason Zenescope is excluded?

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by IMJ »

lorddunlow wrote:What's the reason Zenescope is excluded?

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Zenoscope has found a way to boost their branding by mass producing CGC 10's of their newest monthlies for the market. Basically engineered and immediately slabbed 10's. I think sometime other companies like Dynamic Forces might do this now and again with a small part of a promoted book's print run, but Zenoscope has made a living out of pouring these things to market.

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by greg »

IMJ wrote:
lorddunlow wrote:What's the reason Zenescope is excluded?

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Zenoscope has found a way to boost their branding by mass producing CGC 10's of their newest monthlies for the market. Basically engineered and immediately slabbed 10's. I think sometime other companies like Dynamic Forces might do this now and again with a small part of a promoted book's print run, but Zenoscope has made a living out of pouring these things to market.
That's true. Somewhere between 1-in-20 and 1-in-25 CGC graded Zenescope books are 9.9 or higher.

I would say that Zenescope is using a combination of high quality materials and expert retailer prescreening (as well as official CGC prescreening, most likely).

Basically, if someone has a chance to inspect hundreds of copies of the same book, they can find the best copies.

That's why CGC 9.9 and CGC 10 for books printed since CGC opened aren't as "exciting" since the books probably didn't go into the actual market very often.

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by IMJ »

greg wrote:
IMJ wrote:
lorddunlow wrote:What's the reason Zenescope is excluded?

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Zenoscope has found a way to boost their branding by mass producing CGC 10's of their newest monthlies for the market. Basically engineered and immediately slabbed 10's. I think sometime other companies like Dynamic Forces might do this now and again with a small part of a promoted book's print run, but Zenoscope has made a living out of pouring these things to market.
That's true. Somewhere between 1-in-20 and 1-in-25 CGC graded Zenescope books are 9.9 or higher.

I would say that Zenescope is using a combination of high quality materials and expert retailer prescreening (as well as official CGC prescreening, most likely).

Basically, if someone has a chance to inspect hundreds of copies of the same book, they can find the best copies.

That's why CGC 9.9 and CGC 10 for books printed since CGC opened aren't as "exciting" since the books probably didn't go into the actual market very often.
I think I remember a story somewhere like 20 years ago.... the first Silver Age 10.0 was found and it was a Thor book of some kind. Journey Into Mystery... maybe the first Thor? It was a big deal.

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by corey »

IMJ wrote:
greg wrote:
IMJ wrote:
lorddunlow wrote:What's the reason Zenescope is excluded?

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Zenoscope has found a way to boost their branding by mass producing CGC 10's of their newest monthlies for the market. Basically engineered and immediately slabbed 10's. I think sometime other companies like Dynamic Forces might do this now and again with a small part of a promoted book's print run, but Zenoscope has made a living out of pouring these things to market.
That's true. Somewhere between 1-in-20 and 1-in-25 CGC graded Zenescope books are 9.9 or higher.

I would say that Zenescope is using a combination of high quality materials and expert retailer prescreening (as well as official CGC prescreening, most likely).

Basically, if someone has a chance to inspect hundreds of copies of the same book, they can find the best copies.

That's why CGC 9.9 and CGC 10 for books printed since CGC opened aren't as "exciting" since the books probably didn't go into the actual market very often.
I think I remember a story somewhere like 20 years ago.... the first Silver Age 10.0 was found and it was a Thor book of some kind. Journey Into Mystery... maybe the first Thor? It was a big deal.


i would have liked to have had the 150k to have bought that hulk 181 cgc 9.9

id say its worth quite abit more now if it came to market

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by ckb »

greg wrote: There were only 660 CGC blue label tiny grade Valiant books graded before they switched to CGC blue label large grades.
Wow Greg, can that number really be correct? What date cutoff are you using? I never got any red labels, so I must have been responsible for some non-trivial percentage of that 660. I've never thought about it before.

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by greg »

ckb wrote:
greg wrote: There were only 660 CGC blue label tiny grade Valiant books graded before they switched to CGC blue label large grades.
Wow Greg, can that number really be correct? What date cutoff are you using? I never got any red labels, so I must have been responsible for some non-trivial percentage of that 660. I've never thought about it before.
July 2003

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by nycjadie »

ckb wrote:
greg wrote: There were only 660 CGC blue label tiny grade Valiant books graded before they switched to CGC blue label large grades.
Wow Greg, can that number really be correct? What date cutoff are you using? I never got any red labels, so I must have been responsible for some non-trivial percentage of that 660. I've never thought about it before.
I wonder if there are a few of us that are responsible for a non-trivial number of graded Valiant books outside of pre-Unity, Unity and keys.

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by IMJ »

nycjadie wrote:I wonder if there are a few of us that are responsible for a non-trivial number of graded Valiant books outside of pre-Unity, Unity and keys.
Valiant has been a powerful niche market for probably 18 years now. If Bloodshot can get Valiant comics into the general discussion and then Harbinger turns out to be a good movie (rather than a millenial-Hunger Games fest), I'd hope that Valiant keys would become a regular part of the true key conversation rather than remaining a niche grouping or becoming a speculator bubble.

With that in mind, it is entirely possible that only 100 or so people are responsible for the bulk of the market movement on Valiant books in the last 15 years. I mean... think about it. There is probably maybe truly 40 of us here that post regularly (Greg could figure this out). And now think about the greater market penetration of Valiant titles, what you see at conventions. Maybe Harbinger #1 and Eternal Warrior #4 generate some external interest now and again, but Valiant is a small population of back issue buyers, let alone Valiant key hunters at the moment.

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by lobo »

I want to play but I have too many 9.9/10.0 books to take pics of :lol:

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by IMJ »

lobo wrote:I want to play but I have too many 9.9/10.0 books to take pics of :lol:
:?
Take a group pic? :twisted:

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by greg »

A little more unusual, a CGC 10 signature series...
Image

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by IMJ »

That's a unique one...
Are you a Back To The Future collector? Why did you buy that one?

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by greg »

IMJ wrote:That's a unique one...
Are you a Back To The Future collector? Why did you buy that one?
I'm a passive Back To The Future collector... random stuff for the past 30+ years. I bought that particular book to "celebrate" 2015, since that was the "Future" from the movies. I'm sure I overpaid because there was only one CGC 10 at the time... now there are 3. Additionally, there were zero Michael J. Fox signatures at the time, and I'll admit I didn't expect him to sign comics due to his condition, but now there are dozens of books with M.J. Fox signatures, if not hundreds. But 2015 was the target year when I was a kid in 1985, so I'm happy I have a "souvenir" specifically from 2015. :D

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by tarheelmarine »

IMJ wrote:
nycjadie wrote:I wonder if there are a few of us that are responsible for a non-trivial number of graded Valiant books outside of pre-Unity, Unity and keys.
Valiant has been a powerful niche market for probably 18 years now. If Bloodshot can get Valiant comics into the general discussion and then Harbinger turns out to be a good movie (rather than a millenial-Hunger Games fest), I'd hope that Valiant keys would become a regular part of the true key conversation rather than remaining a niche grouping or becoming a speculator bubble.

With that in mind, it is entirely possible that only 100 or so people are responsible for the bulk of the market movement on Valiant books in the last 15 years. I mean... think about it. There is probably maybe truly 40 of us here that post regularly (Greg could figure this out). And now think about the greater market penetration of Valiant titles, what you see at conventions. Maybe Harbinger #1 and Eternal Warrior #4 generate some external interest now and again, but Valiant is a small population of back issue buyers, let alone Valiant key hunters at the moment.
I would agree it is a small Valiant market. Even smaller when going after key books that require $$$ (and they really aren't that expensive in comparison to the other books). With that said it's a small market for people going after the other publishers books that cost $$$. We all share the "bug" of this universe, I mean why else buy slabbed versions of books we already own?

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by IMJ »

tarheelmarine wrote:
IMJ wrote:
nycjadie wrote:I wonder if there are a few of us that are responsible for a non-trivial number of graded Valiant books outside of pre-Unity, Unity and keys.
Valiant has been a powerful niche market for probably 18 years now. If Bloodshot can get Valiant comics into the general discussion and then Harbinger turns out to be a good movie (rather than a millenial-Hunger Games fest), I'd hope that Valiant keys would become a regular part of the true key conversation rather than remaining a niche grouping or becoming a speculator bubble.

With that in mind, it is entirely possible that only 100 or so people are responsible for the bulk of the market movement on Valiant books in the last 15 years. I mean... think about it. There is probably maybe truly 40 of us here that post regularly (Greg could figure this out). And now think about the greater market penetration of Valiant titles, what you see at conventions. Maybe Harbinger #1 and Eternal Warrior #4 generate some external interest now and again, but Valiant is a small population of back issue buyers, let alone Valiant key hunters at the moment.
I would agree it is a small Valiant market. Even smaller when going after key books that require $$$ (and they really aren't that expensive in comparison to the other books). With that said it's a small market for people going after the other publishers books that cost $$$. We all share the "bug" of this universe, I mean why else buy slabbed versions of books we already own?
Yup. If we do see wider acceptance down the road, I'd guess that maybe Eternal Warrior v1 #4, Rai #0 and Harbinger v1 #1 are the first Valiant books that have a shot at joining the globally accepted Key book arena. That is to say that if all goes well at pushing Valiant characters into the public zeitgeist, then we will see spillover into the hobby where those books are bought more regularly on the level of Marvel Bronze keys, if not Silver Age keys.

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by greatbrandino11 »

Ricomortis wrote:
greg wrote:
Ricomortis wrote:Only 2 Pre-Unity issues in 9.9 or better condition currently known in the world!


Shadowman 1

Image



Magnus Robot Fighter 0 (Retail Version)

Image
:clap:
Do you own both?
Yes sir!

...and I would LOVE to own that Invincible 9.9 you have there. :cloud9:
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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by ckb »

Yeah this thread needs a bump! :-)

Image

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by greg »

ckb wrote:Yeah this thread needs a bump! :-)

Image
:clap:

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by greg »

I suppose this oddity should probably be added to the eye candy. :cloud9:

Image

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Re: Truly Mint Slabs [9.9 or 10's Only] | NO Zenoscope Welco

Post by maraxusofkeld »

I know it's not a 9.9 or 10 but here is an old CGC Red Label that I still have.
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