CGC and Comic Book Rarity [Featuring Matt Nelson] 

Hi Keston, you and Matt did a great job on the interview ! Especially liked Matt’s explanation of returning labels when regrading.

Just watched again. I love the history here

Great conversation Keston! Interesting to hear Matt’s perspective on this.

Great interview and great to hear interpretations of the topic. Some have tried to pin a certain number while others seem to pick whether the book is even relative as a key issue or not. It also doesn’t quite address a newer fact of forced rarity in issues. I have a couple of precode horror books that are rare even by the count on CGC( under 30 or so) but may not be highly desirable like a key issue might be. Rarity does not sometimes equate to the value of a book but understanding how many issue of a certain book actually existing might really help in the end. Wish all these guys that slab books would share there info even more….it would tremendously help the community.

According to Overstreet price guide. Rare is 10 or less still exists. Between 10 and 100 is considered scarse.

If we ascribed value according to print run, underground comics would have the greatest value.

Great video as always. I have resubmitted a few books in the past and have always emailed CGC with the old cert numbers. I do it after the fact and I have always received a response from CGC thanking me for the information. It always reflects on the census a few days later. Great video and thank you for the great content as always my friend.

Loved the conversation on returned labels possibly influencing the grading. I've often wondered about this. I hope Matt moves forward with some type of monetary incentive. I think that would have a real impact on reducing ghost numbers.

Good interview he answered a lot of questions. I had speculated that as a comic becomes more valuable the more likely you will see it getting graded regardless of the grade. I looked into the rate at which the books were getting graded.

Howdy K ! What a Great Show ! How nice you can get the Head Honcho on your Show. Real professional as always. C ya !

Keston, this was an excellent interview with Matt. I learned quite a bit.

Excellent interview! I always thought absolute rarity is 200 copies or fewer but at the same time if there were only 200 copies of new mutants 98, it would feel much rarer than Superman 1 due to higher demand.

Thanks for the excellent interview Keston and Matt. PS would love to see a video from you Keston showing off some of your favorite books in your PC!

Why is no one asking Matt Nelson about the warped inner wells that are damaging the books?

Great interview Keston! The term 'rarity' can be subjective. Someone can think that because they can't find a particular book for sale that it's rare - and that might be true in that instance. It certainly doesn't mean that there aren't plenty out there, though. When collecting took off in the 70's/ 80's people just sat on the books and likely there are plenty out there. Looking at the census as a benchmark is a pretty good ballpark for the more "modern" books.

Great wuestions

CBCS and PGX have numerous books graded as well. I know they are nor respected like CGC price wise but they do have high numbers in highly sought after books. I like the point he made on attrition. Golden Age books are more rare and some books do command good price due to that rarity. Demand has a lot to do with it.

Great interview!

Great interview.

In regards to total numbers: don‘t forget the many many raw copies out there somewhere unbeknownst to us, and also there are not only CGC but PGX and CBCS graded comics, and yes graded ghost comics (resubmissions without old labels) are certainly a factor as well

There are def ghost copies. I cracked 2 and was too scared to send them back to CGC after what I received. I learned an expensive lesson.

Thanks Keston, enjoyed the interview. Which comics do you feel are the most prone to have ghost copies on the CGC census? This could be an interesting list.

Rarity is supply. By itself, untethered from demand, ain't much. We focus too much on rarity because it's easier to count how many things there are, as opposed to "how many could be sold"

Well I always send back the labels, even the cheap stuff with thousands on the census

To help with the demand You must add in the 1964 Comicon of New York that created a national market. Plus during the 50s you had comicbooks burning!

Supply is only half the equation. Maybe not even.

Also.comic books were sent overseas during Golden Age. Also the creation of the 1964 Comcon went national news. Marvel had lower print run due to.DC controlled distribution.

Rember the Golden Age had paper drives and comic books.were.being sent overseas. Also rember the three quatert covers sold.for five cents. And Yes I.was at the 1964 Comicon with Bernie Bubnis and Ron Fradkin and DC.and.Marvel gave us Artwork given out free.

Fact #1 - Silver age comics are MUCH more common than golden age comics. Fact #2 - Only a small fraction of all golden age and silver age comics that exist have been sent to CGC.

Hey buddy. Thanks for reminding me that my comics are all commons. Hahahha 😊😊😊😂😂😂😢

This is a strange fact Fantastic. Four 1 was reissued and Fantastic Four.2 was hard to find limited amount. And during the 50s had.a book burning. Coverless comics were sold for 5 cents.

Ok-rarity is relative to the number of collectors- in other words supply and demand. So, if every single person on the planet, (around 9 billion) aggressively collected comic books, then every single existing comic book today would be extremely rare.

Rarity In Age. Rarity In Condition. Rarity In Numbers. Rarity In Existence. Rarity In Availability. Rarity In Value And Purchase Price. Seldom Seen But Hardly Ever Found And Actually Unique!😅*

That background music is so subtle. This was an entertaining and insightful interview. Well crafted questions btw 👍

Relative scarcity. Are you tripping over X-men 1s no but not too difficult to find

Great interview!