Which company (CGC or PGX) do you prefer, and why?

I just started to collect graded comics, and was wondering what everyone else thought about the two main comic evaluating companies.

Ok, here's the deal, but keep in mind that although this is my honest opinion, there are disclaimers to note:
1. I am involved with Nostomania
2. PGX advertises on this site
3. Though we would love CGC to advertise on the site, they refuse to do so because they won't even talk to
anyone who acknowledges PGX's existence.

That said, here are the Pros/Cons:
CGC more expensive than PGX
CGC books will tend to sell for more than PGX books, as proven by the pricing data on this site (all generated
from actual sales, I know you veterans get tired of hearing that).
PGX has better turnaround times
CGC is better at restoration detection
PGX, in my experience with many submissions, seems a bit tighter, at least on Bronze and Modern. A PGX
9.8 is usually nicer than a CGC 9.8, strange as that sounds.

So what does all this mean? If you have a high-end Golden Age book, you should send it to CGC, as you
more than anything want assurance it has not been dicked with, and this is your best way of knowing.

For a moderately priced book (say a mid-grade Silver Age or high-grade Modern, in the $100 value range),
go with PGX. The grade will be comparable, they will catch common resto issues in this era (like color touch),
and it will be much cheaper. If your book is only going to sell in the $100 to $150 range, why pay CGC
over $30 and wait three months when you can pay PGX $15 and get it in a month or so?

Thanks Starman.

I only wish more people would participate in the forum conversations. I know there are a million comic fans out there, come on people!

No problem, glad to have you around at least.

Another thing I should mention on the certification issue - is the holder archival quality?
If I'm keeping my most valuable comics in slabs, I would sure hope so!
It's my understanding this is true for both companies - both use an inner well of some
inert material. Historically this has been Mylar, but I was told by Jef Hinds Dupont plans
or already has discontinued production of Mylar, and there are other, similar substances
in use like Barex.

I listed almost the same question on another forum site just yesterday. I didn't get much help and received the typical "PGX is the devil" answer. Not very helpful when I am trying to improve the longevity of my golden age comics. I have figured out that PGX has the better case but CGC is the better choice for grading golden age. My real question is whether encapsulating is better than bags, acid buffered boards, extenders, etc. for preserving comics? The ones I have in question I won't be selling unless I am desperate so that issue isn't a factor for me but I do agree, the market holds out that CGC comics sell better than PGX.
-Teli

telitor wrote:I listed almost the same question on another forum site just yesterday. I didn't get much help and received the typical "PGX is the devil" answer. Not very helpful when I am trying to improve the longevity of my golden age comics. I have figured out that PGX has the better case but CGC is the better choice for grading golden age. My real question is whether encapsulating is better than bags, acid buffered boards, extenders, etc. for preserving comics? The ones I have in question I won't be selling unless I am desperate so that issue isn't a factor for me but I do agree, the market holds out that CGC comics sell better than PGX.
-Teli

I don't know why these guys get so violently anti-PGX. It's pretty damn immature. We all should be glad there is some competition. Why would anyone want a monopoly? Sure, those directly involved with CGC might. I applaud the failed attempts too (ACE and 3PG). But to answer your question - sadly, no - you can always maximize preservation by means other than slabbing. You can get these four key factors only unslabbed: 1. an acid-neutralizing material like a buffered board or anti-aging preservation sheets, 2. an inert holder like mylar or barex, 3. a cool, dry, climate, and 4. the one you cannot get with slabbing, compression. Again, think Mile-High collection. The best books were near the bottom of
big stacks - compressed tight in a cool, dry climate for years.

So starman, what is your opinion on grading books in general. I have a good start but not anything very expensive. A NM Amazing SM 300 and some poor 31, 35, 40 and so on. Is it worth getting them graded, for preservation. I am saving then and not looking to sell but I want them to have resale value for my son.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10-22-2008 12:30:17

omerniar wrote:So starman, what is your opinion on grading books in general. I have a good start but not anything very expensive. A NM Amazing SM 300 and some poor 31, 35, 40 and so on. Is it worth getting them graded, for preservation. I am saving then and not looking to sell but I want them to have resale value for my son.

omerniar - meaning opinion on getting books professionally graded? Ok, but remember, just my opinion. I only have books professionally graded that I plan to sell in the near future. Some reasons for this - 1. Professional grading is expensive. I don't like to lay out all those grading fees unless I'm going to recoup them. 2. As I said in an earlier post, I believe you can preserve comics long-term better when unslabbed (see Top-loading mylar post, I think). 3. I'm confident enough in my own grading. I'm not the type of collector who needs someone else telling me my run of XYZ Comics is all 9.6 or better - I trust my own grading to make a close enough determination.

Collecting for the purpose of future resale value for your son: I think that is very cool, very admirable. I have done the same and my collection will at least get one kid through college. I collect for fun but I also have from over 35 years of collecting gotten to the point where I can recognize a money-maker pretty easily. Market timing is a big factor here. Don't invest in pan-flashes. Pokemon was once a $7 billion / year industry. However, your interest in Spider-Man is good from an investment standpoint. There will always be demand for iconic heroes like Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman. Your ASM 300 is not a scarce book, yet demand remains strong on it for some reason. Although to warrant professional grading, again IMO only, it would have to be better than NM 9.4. The Nosto Top 100 list is a great resource to follow trends. For example, from the list you can see high-end Disney comics are selling for crazy dollars right now. My belief is many high-end Disneyana collectors are just discovering professionally graded Disney comics, and are driving up those prices. I have a bet with Lon Allen at Heritage Galleries right now - they will have a CGC NM 9.4 Walt Disney's Comics and Stories in an upcoming auction, and were speculating at how much over the Overstreet top value of $33,000 it will go for. Lon says 2X or 3X that. I say minimum 4X that, based mainly on actual Nosto sales data.

Thanks for the opinion. So what would be the best way to find out if my book is 9.4 or higher. I have started going to the local shop but I was never big on them. I know they need to make a profit but they are hard for me to work with. The shops remind me of the buy back game stores, they buy the game for a buck and will put it right back on the shelf for $25. Would posting a scanned copy in the forum be to much on the server? It would be fun to see other peoples books and give opinions on them.

omerniar wrote:Thanks for the opinion. So what would be the best way to find out if my book is 9.4 or higher. I have started going to the local shop but I was never big on them. I know they need to make a profit but they are hard for me to work with. The shops remind me of the buy back game stores, they buy the game for a buck and will put it right back on the shelf for $25. Would posting a scanned copy in the forum be to much on the server? It would be fun to see other peoples books and give opinions on them.

Not at all, I'd be happy to give an assessment based on a posted scan.

I submitted some books at the Emerald City Comic Con, and decided to go with PGX because they're local to me (more or less), and the prices and turn around times were less than CGC. I think the value of PGX graded will increase as more and more people start using them; Ebay has a number of books on graded by them. I'm sure CGC didn't start out fetching insanely high prices for higher graded books when they started too.

One of the guys at the convention said he had a rack fall off at a previous show, and several of the CGC books's cases cracked; he said the PGX ones didn't get damaged at all. In my case, I as leary of shipping books away from my direct possession; I was suprised at how well they came back. The box was HUGE and well packed with paper, bubble wrap, some styrofoam peanuts and plastic; the comics themselves were nestled in the center of the box surrounded by more bubble wrap and shrink wrap. Very impressed with the shipping; I'd definitely use these guys again in the future.

CGC is probably a victim of it's own success; the fact that people get peeved that there's competition I think is a good thing because it threatens the stranglehold they have on the grading market.

From a guy with who has seen thousands of books from both companies, here is what I have noticed. As far as grading, for the most part CGC is a little stricter than PGX on lower grade books. I have seen many low grade books graded by CGC that look better than the grade they were given, and I have seen many low grade PGX books that look worse than the grade they are given. But I would say that 80% of books from both companies are pretty close, the other 20% are the ones I am talking about. I have also seen many dealers at shows and on ebay who's grading on low grade books is closer to PGX than CGC. Most of the time when we buy an unslabbed book, we go by the Overstreete price as a baseline, but hope that it will CGC the way we graded it. When buying on the internet, and a book is graded VG, dont always expect it to come back a CGC 4.0 VG, but it may come back a PGX 4.0 VG. Most dealers, especially ones who have been around a while, grade looser than CGC on most low to mid grade books. In simpler terms, unless it is a book that is of high value and for resale, go PGX because they are faster and cheaper. If you are sending any Amazing Fantasy 15, FF 1, Hulk 1 etc. to resell, use CGC, if its for your collection and you just want it slabbed to look nice and have a grade to go off of, use PGX.
As far as high grade books go, (books VF+ 8.5 or higher) I think that both companies are really close 90% of the time. The other 10% , it seems like they both can be too strict or too loose depending on the day. Since the majority of high grade books are going to be modern books, I would say that CGC is the better for resale and they are only a little more expensive. If you are grading the modern book for your collection, either company is fine. For high grade golden, silver, or bronze age books, CGC graded books surely will get higher prices but I don't think that they are more accurate. Both companies have shown to be accurate most of the time, PGX may be a little loose on things like foxing, page quality, browing, and marvel chipping, but I think that CGC is looser on the spine and corners of many high grade books. Bottom line is this, anything for your collection use PGX because they are cheaper and faster and still accurate and have a nice holder. For resale use CGC because they have been around longer and are more respected. If this does not help, try both companies and see which one you like better, but make sure the book is worth sending in for slabbing. I have a friend who sent in a bunch of non key 1970's books that came back between 4.0 and 6.0 from CGC, at around $30 a book, this was a huge waste of money. Check the values here at Nostomania and make sure your books are worth slabbing, if you are just like a cover of a certain book and want it slabbed, definitely use PGX for their cheaper prices.

I agree with sutdogcomics, I have used both companies for long periods of time and have found that for high grade book's both are very close. I switched to PGX about 2 1/2 years ago because of the pricing and the turnaround at one point was just about 4 month's. I don't want to pay to join a society and I was not comfortable leaving my book's with a dealer to submit so I changed over. I have found variations with both, I consider myself to be a pretty good grader and most of the time the grades would be on the money or very close from both companies. Once in a while I would get a book back with to high a grade, know way the book should have scored this high, from both companies. I think CGC is very tough on lower grade key's, you can look your self on Ebay or comiclink.com and see what I am talking about a 4 grade from CGC look like a 5.5 to me. I don't know much about the restoration, I have gotten book's back from both where they detected trimming, color touch . I agree if you are in it for resale right now CGC would be you're best bet they will command more. I basically keep all of my book's unless I upgrade and then I might sell a few off. When I have sold PGX high grade key's I do very well, the lower grade's will not bring you the amount you are looking for. While I say that I have seen in the past year a lot more PGX book's out there and now see big seller's sending there book's into PGX because of price and turnaround time. I believe in time PGX will continue to close the gap and make it more balanced. I have now switched totally to PGX because of the price, turnaround time , holder and also because I will keep the majority of my book's

Hello, I am very happy to find a site where I can price my comics and tlk to other comic lovers...that having been said I need info....I have a Blade #6 and can't find a price for it ...could it be that rare or is it just not popular...can you help me price it ?
Junkpatrol

junkpatrol wrote:Hello, I am very happy to find a site where I can price my comics and tlk to other comic lovers...that having been said I need info....I have a Blade #6 and can't find a price for it ...could it be that rare or is it just not popular...can you help me price it ?
Junkpatrol

Hi junkpatrol - not sure why you were unable to find the book - I just checked the Pricing section, and assuming you mean the Blade title that started in 2006, the Nostomania price guide unfortunately lists this book at under $1.00 in NM 9.4 uncertified. For a Blade book with some real value, check the first appearance in Tomb of Dracula 10.