Doesn't that say something? That it's so simple to open it up? I'm a card collector myself and this is the first time I've seen a case cracked. 2 questions. 1. Should you be touching it, without gloves? I've seen card packs cracked and opened and it was performed live at a convention. They wore white gloves, which I thought may be of bigger importance here, considering that with a card, there are only 2 parts 2 worry about but with a comic. Can't you get 50 Or so pages, to turn/verify? Question 2. When I saw this 1960's card pack removed from it's grading container, it took them 5 minutes and multiple tools, to open it. Why was yours so easy? The company? Your Experience and or what the were opening? Sorry for my tome of questions but I gained interest as the video went on and knowledge of a different collectable, is still helpful in many ways. I'll like and sub and see the adventure continue.... Cheers from Canada

@DrPaulKosnik

5 ай бұрын

Pocket Rocket, welcome to the channel, and thanks for the questions! 1. Regarding the use of gloves for handling comic books, i follow the standards of archivists and antiquarian book collectors, as do most high-end comic book collectors and dealers. The standard for mass-produced books, even from the 1400s to 1600s, is clean, dry hands. Gloves are only used for two kinds of documents to my knowledge: single surviving examples of ancient scrolls and the like, and historical documents that we value for more than just their printed words because of provenance, like a copy of the Declaration of Independence that may have DNA from the founders or other other valuable non-printed information that one would not want to contaminate. Most in the comic community do not wear gloves, although some do, especially those working on modern comic books printed on super-glossy paper that is very easy to leave a fingerprint on. I suspect cards are similar and may be easier to leave a fingerprint on, especially later super-glossy examples. I'm not an expert in cards though so not sure. It may also just be that the folks don't know if touching the cards could potentially damage them so they err on the side of caution by wearing gloves, and/or wearing gloves is a ploy to generate hype by implying importance or value. Difficult to say. But in high end comics, as in high end books, clean, dry hands are the standard. 2. My experience is most comic book slabs are that easy to open if you know that the trick is to apply stress to the sonic welds. That said, there are plenty of videos with people struggling to open them up and/or using really silly methods to open them if you go looking for them. It's probably more difficult to open a card from a grading slab because you can apply less leverage owing to the smaller size of the slab, so i could see that requiring tools to apply greater leverage with control so you don't damage the card. I'm not concerned about the ease of removal. In fact, i think it's a feature, not a bug. I don't want to have to apply so much force that i risk damaging the collectible if i ever want to remove the collectible from the slab. The important thing is that the removal be non-reversible. That is, it should damage the slab irreversibly so that bad actors can't open it, tamper with the contents or swap them out, and then re-seal it. If you watch the video closely, you will note that this is exactly what the slab did--it cracked in several places in such a way that you would not be able to put the case back together and pass it off as untampered. That said, we've seen some techniques to open them in such a way that they can be resealed and passed off as unmolested, at least to an untrained eye. This is what the slabbing companies are battling now and unfortunately with some comic books selling for millions of dollars, it has brought bad faith actors to our hobby and there is currently an arms race between the criminals and the grading companies. I'm happy to say the grading companies are holding their own, but there have been some temporary set-backs along the way, and they have to continuously re-design their holders. The one i cracked was from 2014; current designs from the major grading companies are improved.

I agree! I think you have a great shot at a FN or FN+

@DrPaulKosnik

4 ай бұрын

Thanks Dan!

Your turorial videos are perfection Dr. Paul. I love your descriptive nicknames: “Grandma shears” in this one 😆

@DrPaulKosnik

4 ай бұрын

They are literally my grandma’s shears! 🤣🤣🤣

@dansxmencomics

4 ай бұрын

@@DrPaulKosnik OMG I love that!

It’s a sharp issue for a 5.0 and I think you’re 100% right, Dr Paul. You will get a bump to a 6.0 perhaps with a clean, spine roll fix, and a press. Very doable. The pencil marks should be easy on the white to erase but the yellow is sometimes susceptible to color loss with the eraser. Look forward to future episodes and the outcome.

@DrPaulKosnik

5 ай бұрын

Thanks Peter we are on the same page. Should be interesting to see how it turns out. 👍🏽

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

great video...i agree with your assessment. After getting the dirt off it will allow it to present much better and if the spine holds up... i am betting on 6.5

@DrPaulKosnik

5 ай бұрын

I'm hoping so Don. I think 6.5 is a reasonable stretch goal but i'll re-assess after i finish the clean and press. We can start a poll on my community page for fun after i reveal the final results.

I have to follow this closely. I have a few dirty golden age that can follow your same process of cleaning

@DrPaulKosnik

5 ай бұрын

Right on Carlos, they all deserve to look their best. 👍🏽

I was thinking 6-6.5 sounded about right.

@DrPaulKosnik

5 ай бұрын

I’d be happy with that!

😂 can't wait get back from Africa start off on this again

@DrPaulKosnik

5 ай бұрын

Or…get some comic book conservation projects going in Africa!👍🏽

do you even lift?

@DrPaulKosnik

5 ай бұрын

Right?! 🤣

I think secretly liberty hill just does KZread videos so he can have an excuse to show off his arms in thumbnails.

@DrPaulKosnik

5 ай бұрын

It's completely by design, and not at all a secret. I assume it's the only reason people click on the thumbnails...why else would anyone watch a white man in his 50s play with comic books for hours on end?! 🤣

@mandofoe7447

5 ай бұрын

Lol hey man I’m just jealous !!! Get them guns out

Doiby dickles was the lamest

@DrPaulKosnik

5 ай бұрын

I'm really not a fan of Doiby Dickles myself. I'm a big Green Lantern fan, and his Golden Age series is only 38 issues without a major first appearance so it's actually a Golden Age series you could aspire to complete. But when looking at the covers so many of them are ridiculously lame Doiby-centric gags that it bums me out. I've taken to only collecting the Green Lantern issues that feature an action cover with Alan Scott.