CGC to Begin Grading Steelbooks

[apsmith21]

Does this interest you? Would you get a steelbook or rare slip cover graded?

The more the merrier! CGC Home Video™ is thrilled to announce the expansion of its expert authentication, grading and encapsulation services to include DVDs, Blu-rays and other digital home videos.

“Collectors have been eagerly waiting for CGC Home Video to begin accepting DVDs and Blu-rays for certification,” said Paul Zamarelli, CGC Home Video Senior Finalizer. “We’re very excited to begin offering these services, and we can’t wait to see what collectors submit to us!”

CGC Home Video is all set to start grading your CD-video discs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs! Here’s what will be graded at launch:

CD-Video/CD-i/VCD/DIVX:​

Single Jewel Cases
Single Jewel Cases with Slipcover
Double Jewel Cases

DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray/4K:​

Slipcases (single)
Most Clamshells
Drawer Boxes
Book Boxes
Box only
Standard Keepcases
Standard Keepcases with Slipcovers
Steelbooks
Steelbooks with Slipcovers
DVD Snapper Cases
Jewel Cases

Source:

CGC Home Video Grading DVD Bluray

www.cgchomevideo.com

 

[Patr0n]

The whole thing is silly for the sole reason that movies aren't only intended to be collected. Same goes for video games. I'd say trading card games are probably one of the few things were grading makes sense, but even there are some people who actually play with their cards, some just for fun and some play in tournaments.

 

[Wreck]

you can order sturdy acrylic cases in many places, which protect them equally well if not better.. and are far cheaper..

and since you mentioned wata, i recommend watching this video about their business practices:

I'm well aware of Wata and pretty hip to most all news on all the major grading companies of collectibles. I'm not a fan of the wata case, and the wata stuff happened prior to their purchase by Collectors the parent company of PSA.

I believe there is a need for grading, but its more a need in the future. ie. Take 10 to 20-30 years from now if people are going to collect these items there is a chance that they are no longer being produced at all. So therefore when you buy something online it helps to have a third party telling you the condition. If that never matters, then it means your collections will never matter at least not financially. I prefer to know the money im spending can at the least be worth it in the future should I look to sell.

Not trying to win over this crowd, but I'm entitled to my opinion. I have graded lots of items with PSA, CGC, Beckett and others.

 

[Wreck]

The whole thing is silly for the sole reason that movies aren't only intended to be collected. Same goes for video games. I'd say trading card games are probably one of the few things were grading makes sense, but even there are some people who actually play with their cards, some just for fun and some play in tournaments.

Same argument has been said of Comics ... cant read a comic if its encapsulated. However their is millions of comics graded. It helps protect the condition with older comics, so maybe that makes more sense.

For those collecting sealed VHS it has helped.

 

[Nova]

So what happens if you send your mint steelbook and they damage it during their grading process? Would they replace it with another mint condition steelbook or just say oops sorry.

 

[GenPion]

To be honest, I'm surprised something like this didn't already exist in some form. I have wondered about why steelbooks/Blu-ray collectors editions couldn't be graded in the past. Sure, I see grading items being a niche too, but for certain collector's it makes sense.

Frankly, I could see certain steelbook/collectors editions being worth a ton more decades from now - if not sooner - and some titles could go up in value significantly.

At the same time, I wouldn't probably bother to do it myself - especially with steelbooks - maybe with limited slipcovers, etc. Steelbooks are pretty fragile and often get damaged during transit so even shipping some to get graded sounds potentially unwise and not worth the cost, IMO.

 

[hatredhorror]

I'm well aware of Wata and pretty hip to most all news on all the major grading companies of collectibles. I'm not a fan of the wata case, and the wata stuff happened prior to their purchase by Collectors the parent company of PSA.

I believe there is a need for grading, but its more a need in the future. ie. Take 10 to 20-30 years from now if people are going to collect these items there is a chance that they are no longer being produced at all. So therefore when you buy something online it helps to have a third party telling you the condition. If that never matters, then it means your collections will never matter at least not financially. I prefer to know the money im spending can at the least be worth it in the future should I look to sell.

Not trying to win over this crowd, but I'm entitled to my opinion. I have graded lots of items with PSA, CGC, Beckett and others.

fair enough, it might look different when theyre not being produced at all, true.. but its impossible to predict which ones will be in demand then (or if theyll even matter at all in 20-30 years)

for instance: while for a lot of non-movie collectibles, its the first print of an item that holds the highest value, that hardly ever mattered for steels or premium editions.. so far if a 4k premium happened, the previous blu ray one lost chunks of its value.. similar to when another 4k release happened that just had a better steel or artwork... what happened to the grails of 10 years ago, like terminator 2.0 japan or the german john rambo, which sold for upwards of 500$ back in the day.. i got terminator 2.0 japan for 20 bucks.. in an auction..

so id say its pretty risky if not pointless to get your collection graded *today*

 

[Wreck]

So what happens if you send your mint steelbook and they damage it during their grading process? Would they replace it with another mint condition steelbook or just say oops sorry.

honestly its not the cheapest process so lots of cheap steels or movies are out of the question. But you have two options, you can pay for insurance up front with their shipping or you can ship on your own at your risk (or buy your own insurance) .... when i do other items I do at my own risk to get it there some times i buy insurance sometimes i dont. However i pay for shipping back from them which comes with insurance. The insurance is determined by what value you put on the item. Some grading companies charge you more on grading if the item is worth a lot more. So if someone low values it themselves to save on grading fees then its damaged in return then your insurance isnt as high but you did it to yourself.

 

[Wreck]

fair enough, it might look different when theyre not being produced at all, true.. but its impossible to predict which ones will be in demand then (or if theyll even matter at all in 20-30 years)

for instance: while for a lot of non-movie collectibles, its the first print of an item that holds the highest value, that hardly ever mattered for steels or premium editions.. so far if a 4k premium happened, the previous blu ray one lost chunks of its value.. similar to when another 4k release happened that just had a better steel or artwork... what happened to the grails of 10 years ago, like terminator 2.0 japan or the german john rambo, which sold for upwards of 500$ back in the day.. i got terminator 2.0 japan for 20 bucks.. in an auction..

so id say its pretty risky if not pointless to get your collection graded *today*

true, but I think to even begin to guess at that you have to think of a few things ... like , what would either stand the test of time, or be nostalgic later on? Alot of the collecting world no matter the items in entertainment is cyclical. When the kids of today grow up and get some disposable income what are they collecting? I would say as long as collecting steels has gone on ... it'll have a niche collecting renaissance. However it would take things like grading to really push that forward years from now. Sure you can collect those items raw like vinyl etc. However now even vinyl grading has cropped up.

Ever since the beginning of steelbook collecting there have been people who open all and those who keep sealed. Or a mixture of both... so the groundwork is already there to grade rare items sealed etc. The grading companies keep Pop reports (population) so yes all seems rare on pop reports for the first few years etc but that is where collectors like those on this board know whats truly rare etc.

I'd guess marvel first couple waves etc will be sought after ... honestly if blufans really does release ever marvel movie for the major waves before marvel has been falling off as of late then that becomes a "set" so perhaps things like that.

I'd say first Iron Man futureshop would be a nice one, displays great, early steel, thicker gauge metal etc.

All I know is that seeing sealed vhs graded copies go for thousands and some as much as 10 to 50k very often makes me have no problem with some sealed steels one day reaching that as I got some to sell. LOL

They sell in heritage auctions, goldin auctions and one can even reverse see sold listings at ebay, star wars just recently sold for 10k cgc 9.0

 

[Lenny Nero]

I'm sure it'll matter in 20-30 years, even now I can't find some of the 90's CDs I stupidly sold in 2002 as a poor student, some cost over $100 new (and I only ever buy everything sealed).
On the other hand I couldn't be bothered, and spend tens of thousands of dollars to grade and seal most of my collection, especially that my taste is what other people don't care about.

 

[hatredhorror]

true, but I think to even begin to guess at that you have to think of a few things ... like , what would either stand the test of time, or be nostalgic later on? Alot of the collecting world no matter the items in entertainment is cyclical. When the kids of today grow up and get some disposable income what are they collecting? I would say as long as collecting steels has gone on ... it'll have a niche collecting renaissance. However it would take things like grading to really push that forward years from now. Sure you can collect those items raw like vinyl etc. However now even vinyl grading has cropped up.

Ever since the beginning of steelbook collecting there have been people who open all and those who keep sealed. Or a mixture of both... so the groundwork is already there to grade rare items sealed etc. The grading companies keep Pop reports (population) so yes all seems rare on pop reports for the first few years etc but that is where collectors like those on this board know whats truly rare etc.

I'd guess marvel first couple waves etc will be sought after ... honestly if blufans really does release ever marvel movie for the major waves before marvel has been falling off as of late then that becomes a "set" so perhaps things like that.

I'd say first Iron Man futureshop would be a nice one, displays great, early steel, thicker gauge metal etc.

All I know is that seeing sealed vhs graded copies go for thousands and some as much as 10 to 50k very often makes me have no problem with some sealed steels one day reaching that as I got some to sell. LOL

They sell in heritage auctions, goldin auctions and one can even reverse see sold listings at ebay, star wars just recently sold for 10k cgc 9.0

vhs tapes arent valuable collectibles, and will never be.. thats just another bubble thats been artificially created.. no one in their sound mind and actual interest in them would ever consider paying those amounts... its absurd to believe vhs are all of a sudden super expensive and highly sought after, when theyve been an oddity at best and in 99,9% cases near worthless just a while ago

i mean vinyls provide analogue sound which some people regard as superior, video games have first prints and older titles are still beloved, 4k/blu ray steelbooks are highly collectible and contain the movies in near perfect quality... vhs tapes are the same movie just in absolute **** quality.. people are getting scammed even worse than with video games..

if you want to bet on the next bubble, yeah sure, go ahead.. at least with steelbooks and 4ks/blurays youre getting items with actual intrinsic value.. still, even with those marvel its impossible to predict... will the future public acknowledge asian based retailers like blufans or manta as the provider of the ultimate blu-ray / 4k collectibles? or will they prefer "official" us/eu releases.. what will be more important the artwork/quality of the steelbook or the quality of the disc?...

 

[Wreck]

The intrinsic value of a poster is just looking at it. The people duking it out for these vhs sealed tapes are not doing it to play jt … more like simply treating them as rare collectibles as not many sealed copies exist … sure some are not as rare as sealed copies just not found yet but that is the perception anyhow.

Just like old graded comics if they want to read it it’s online … if you want to watch the vhs you stream it or watch Blu-ray or 4k

To some degree they are trying to make fetch happen, but it’s gone on long enough that it’s real. Pete Davidson has been buying up vhs and Eminem has been buying up cassette tapes … many others have too

I mean with vhs there has always been a niche fan base even still and I definitely get the nostalgia of going to video rental stores and staring at boxes of art. What to rent … simpler times.

I have graded just one vhs tape and it took me 2 years to find a sealed copy. Cool display piece

 

[Lenny Nero]

The intrinsic value of a poster is just looking at it. The people duking it out for these vhs sealed tapes are not doing it to play jt … more like simply treating them as rare collectibles as not many sealed copies exist … sure some are not as rare as sealed copies just not found yet but that is the perception anyhow.

Just like old graded comics if they want to read it it’s online … if you want to watch the vhs you stream it or watch Blu-ray or 4k

To some degree they are trying to make fetch happen, but it’s gone on long enough that it’s real. Pete Davidson has been buying up vhs and Eminem has been buying up cassette tapes … many others have too

I mean with vhs there has always been a niche fan base even still and I definitely get the nostalgia of going to video rental stores and staring at boxes of art. What to rent … simpler times.

I have graded just one vhs tape and it took me 2 years to find a sealed copy. Cool display piece

Exactly, they're being used as art so to say, and to recreate shelves from the past (even though I caught the end of the period, and went to Blockbuster on a regular basis in '96-'99, I have NO nostalgic feelings for VHS, only the experience itself, so I plan to use thousands of my DVDs for that), plus some like having a particular favorite film in all formats it was released.
I got Howard the Duck such way, but 'naturally', meaning I didn't buy every edition post factum just for kicks, but lived through it and got over time out of 'necessity'.

There are many similar videos, I could post a dozen, but I think this one is the best looking example of such 'home store':

 

[hatredhorror]

The intrinsic value of a poster is just looking at it. The people duking it out for these vhs sealed tapes are not doing it to play jt … more like simply treating them as rare collectibles as not many sealed copies exist … sure some are not as rare as sealed copies just not found yet but that is the perception anyhow.

Just like old graded comics if they want to read it it’s online … if you want to watch the vhs you stream it or watch Blu-ray or 4k

To some degree they are trying to make fetch happen, but it’s gone on long enough that it’s real. Pete Davidson has been buying up vhs and Eminem has been buying up cassette tapes … many others have too

I mean with vhs there has always been a niche fan base even still and I definitely get the nostalgia of going to video rental stores and staring at boxes of art. What to rent … simpler times.

I have graded just one vhs tape and it took me 2 years to find a sealed copy. Cool display piece

"Pete Davidson is trying to get rich selling old VHS tapes: 'It's gonna happen, you guys!'"

Pete Davidson is trying to get rich selling old VHS tapes

Pete Davidson says he has collected 'three to five thousand' sealed VHS tapes that he hopes to sell for profit: 'It's my GameStop.'

ew.com

thats just all there really is to say about this

its always the same rationale.. its "rare" and "collectible", they will be out of print for this many years, yada yada.. and the "experts" that are being asked are "surprisingly" those that are heavily involved financially and are trying to hype things up even further..

comics are practically timeless, vhs are ridiculously outdated to the point of being useless.. posters are art itself, vhs tapes might feature art, but they feature it on probably the worst possible medium if you want to display it

and theres a difference between buying them up as a hobby to create some blockbuster memory in your cellar, and paying tens of thousands for a single VHS copy..

im not saying you cant make money of them, you can.. but its all a big bubble about to burst, and people are going to lose a lot of money if their timing is wrong

but alright, we might have different viewpoints here.. ill leave it at that

 

[Wreck]

"Pete Davidson is trying to get rich selling old VHS tapes: 'It's gonna happen, you guys!'"

Pete Davidson is trying to get rich selling old VHS tapes

Pete Davidson says he has collected 'three to five thousand' sealed VHS tapes that he hopes to sell for profit: 'It's my GameStop.'

ew.com

thats just all there really is to say about this

its always the same rationale.. its "rare" and "collectible", they will be out of print for this many years, yada yada.. and the "experts" that are being asked are "surprisingly" those that are heavily involved financially and are trying to hype things up even further..

comics are practically timeless, vhs are ridiculously outdated to the point of being useless.. posters are art itself, vhs tapes might feature art, but they feature it on probably the worst possible medium if you want to display it

and theres a difference between buying them up as a hobby to create some blockbuster memory in your cellar, and paying tens of thousands for a single VHS copy..

im not saying you cant make money of them, you can.. but its all a big bubble about to burst, and people are going to lose a lot of money if their timing is wrong

but alright, we might have different viewpoints here.. ill leave it at that

I've followed it for a couple years now. The bubble already burst, prices have come down astronomically but there are still some outliers like the original star wars. etc. Its here to stay, its simply just supply and demand. You get a couple people with big pockets chasing either the rare item or the rare grade and thats what happens.

Its not like it can be any old copy of Jaws or Halloween , it has to be the first print ... its like books which I dont collect but there is a huge market for first print on books. Typically the tapes that sell for a lot are that of like 80s or 70s movies first print that no one was thinking "oh im going to keep this sealed" similar to a lot of the video games.

It doesnt have to be for you, but doesnt seem that hard to understand, why would any collectible raise in value? Only because of rarity and demand. Dont get me wrong its not for me either, least not with VHS just a couple I wouldnt mind owning but not for crazy prices.

You may think the vhs collectors are crazy, well their are people who think the steelbook collectors are crazy. lol

and yeah I seen the pete clip, I thought it was funny more so because he used it as a joke, but hes also a serious collector, take it for however you wanna see it.

 

[hatredhorror]

I've followed it for a couple years now. The bubble already burst, prices have come down astronomically but there are still some outliers like the original star wars. etc. Its here to stay, its simply just supply and demand. You get a couple people with big pockets chasing either the rare item or the rare grade and thats what happens.

Its not like it can be any old copy of Jaws or Halloween , it has to be the first print ... its like books which I dont collect but there is a huge market for first print on books. Typically the tapes that sell for a lot are that of like 80s or 70s movies first print that no one was thinking "oh im going to keep this sealed" similar to a lot of the video games.

It doesnt have to be for you, but doesnt seem that hard to understand, why would any collectible raise in value? Only because of rarity and demand. Dont get me wrong its not for me either, least not with VHS just a couple I wouldnt mind owning but not for crazy prices.

You may think the vhs collectors are crazy, well their are people who think the steelbook collectors are crazy. lol

and yeah I seen the pete clip, I thought it was funny more so because he used it as a joke, but hes also a serious collector, take it for however you wanna see it.

so if youve been following this for a couple of years, were those VHS first prints worth thousands of dollar before this hyped happened all of a sudden? obviously not as much as during the hype, but there must have been a solid foundation surely? cause if not, then its just the aftermath.. people clinging to their investment

my point is they are barely a collectible... doesnt matter if its rare if nobody actually wants it lol

if they were worth tons, then fair enough... i guess with those star wars vhs, things like them being the original unaltered edition might factor in.. still it must be an insane niche, and its hard to imagine that theyd be rare enough to warrant such ridiculous prices

btw original unaltered versions might be a factor in the future value of 4ks/blurays as well... with certain movements like the woke culture, it does seem possible that movies will be censored or banned in the future..

 

[Lenny Nero]

i guess with those star wars vhs, things like them being the original unaltered edition might factor in..

For that there's better versions, like laserdiscs and DVDs.
Plus fan-made HD pirate versions.

 

[Steely-Booked]

Exactly, they're being used as art so to say, and to recreate shelves from the past (even though I caught the end of the period, and went to Blockbuster on a regular basis in '96-'99, I have NO nostalgic feelings for VHS, only the experience itself, so I plan to use thousands of my DVDs for that), plus some like having a particular favorite film in all formats it was released.
I got Howard the Duck such way, but 'naturally', meaning I didn't buy every edition post factum just for kicks, but lived through it and got over time out of 'necessity'.

There are many similar videos, I could post a dozen, but I think this one is the best looking example of such 'home store':

That guy‘s house must be huge, bc that basement seems massive.

 

[Lenny Nero]

That guy‘s house must be huge, bc that basement seems massive.

There's another longer video of a YouTuber visiting him, showing the inside of the house a bit in the beginning before going downstairs, looks average for Georgia. Well, bigger than the Byers home in Stranger Things...

 

[Drum18]

Hum.... interesting.
Pretty sure that's a good idea now considering how physical media is "about to die-ish" and becomes a collector's item only.

I personnaly always has been one of the rare person in here to open EVERY single steelbook I own as I watch the movie inside, but for collectors who keeps them all sealed up, that could be interesting.

 

[Steely-Booked]

There's another longer video of a YouTuber visiting him, showing the inside of the house a bit in the beginning before going downstairs, looks average for Georgia. Well, bigger than the Byers home in Stranger Things...

Could be. Looks like it’s around 2000 square feet to me (but it’s hard to judge from a video. Personally I wouldn’t bother, bc I have zero interest in VHS, but it’s still a cool idea. Just be better if it was lots of Blu ray and 4k releases.