Hi there - I thought I would drop by as this is a topic I am interested in.

I don't have the largest collection and don't know whether the honor belongs to Bill or Matthew (Bill did you compare it with his? I'm curious) or someone else, but I guess I must make it in the top 3 of the biggest spenders on TSR and related collectibles in the last couple years, and not just according to my better half... I acquired over 5,500 items during that time, starting from scratch.

Key highlights include 7 woodgrain boxes, 22 white d&d boxes, the original art for Metamorphosis Alpha, almost every item in the Acaeum Rare list, the multi-artist auction masterpiece drawing at Garycon, 3 play by mail modules (my personal weird item fave!), and of course the D&D pinball machine and TSR frisbee (no collection can be complete without it!). I have several unique items that are too arcane to talk about here, and again nowhere close to the breadth of Bill's trove/hoard!

I might bring a bit of a different perspective as a new collector, a Canada-based European-born business grad and tech entrepreneur, and unapologetically a collectible investor. I went into those collectibles not just because I love fantasy, but also because I thought they would make a great investment, and I am godd*mn awful at picking stocks. I call my collectibles "Investables" (TM and all rights reserved!) and plan to start reselling some duplicates soon, in spite of my romantic attachment to those items.

Introductions and digressions aside, I have a few comments:

A. I see grading for the RPG market as extremely welcome and much needed to mature it. This market is poised for further growth in prices, compared to more mature collectibles markets such as comics or cards. All the signs point towards it, as it attracts a broader audience thanks to Stranger Things, Honor among Thieves, Joe Manganiello and his DragonLance series, or the 50th D&d anniversary. But it needs to navigate some subtle differences. In that regard, I must applaud you for posting your message here and consulting the community early on.

B. The tricky part with grading will be to walk the line between what makes this space special, ie. a lot of diverse formats and items composed on multiple "parts" (which you already run into just for modules!) while standardizing and industrializing the process. And not p*ssing off the community leaders and other recognized experts, a number of whom are on this site. Grading will help attract new, wealthier and some younger collectors to the market. It will also truly turn it into a "market", from the cottage industry/hobby it is today - and it will lose some of its charm, but I see that as hard to completely avoid, and the benefits outweigh the risk.

C. It will be a labor of love, but you know that. Grades are likely to be more subjective than in the comics space, unless you just stick to modules. I am curious whether you plan to also grade other formats, starting with boxes. What about minis, or related board games? Do you stick to TSR items and closely related, or grade all RPGs? Any item age or do you start with items produced in the 70s and 80s? My business instinct would be to focus. At first, don't do signed items, don't do shrink, and focus on modules.

D. On the topic of shrink items, since we went down that rabbit hole and are installing cables.... The premium is just too high on shrink wrap items for anyone to consider opening those items, unless they acquired their collection a while back and don't care or have to care about any ROI, but that's not the majority of active collectors and will be less and less the case as this truly turns into a bigger business. As per the Acaeum rare list comment in orange at the top of the table, an item in shrink commands 3x to 10x higher prices! You will need to prove that opening them and sealing them in a plastic box commands the same premium or higher. That's possible, but I would want to see that before sending you my SW items for grading!

E. For your business I think this is an interesting expansion, especially as the card grading business gets commoditized by technology. See https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ ... -1.6867781

I sold my business recently and am exploring new opportunities with an open mind, and while I don't plan on launching any grading venture, I'll be curious how it does! Good luck and always happy to help.

Tszii wrote in Actually... your opinion DOES still matter! Graded RPGs:It did protect the module some, was in original condition/packaging

Perhaps the Dr. Shrinker community (& the market for shrink) will split: one for perfectionist/investment collectors who might be happier with slabbing, & another for shrinky aesthetes. To these poor souls tortured by nostalgia, everything about the original packaging takes them back to the time when the item was new. Or maybe it's part of the graphic design presentation.

Tszii wrote in Actually... your opinion DOES still matter! Graded RPGs:Shrink was a replacement for grading imho

This is the probably the key to whether grading and slabbing can offer an equivalent increase in value to items that are removed from SW, then graded and slabbed, or simply high grade items that are now officially graded and slabbed.  Since there wasn't an equivalent to grading and slabbing before, did SW evolve into the equivalent?  Probably on some level, yes.  Being "untouched by human hands" is another factor, too.

SW has stirred up a lot of vigorous debate, because SW does not guarantee condition.  Many collectors have items that are in much better condition than some items in SW, which have sold for a considerably more than their equivalent in grade.  Perhaps grading/slabbing is the missing element to rectifying this disparity.

Offering a grading service for both (items left in SW and partially graded then slabbed vs. items not in SW or items removed from SW and graded then slabbed), might be the best way to appease both collectors.  Having a different label or distinct grading commentary, would be the way to differentiate them.

As a general question/observation I think even the Acaeum gave up trying to work out all the product difference's from TSR's habit of changing printers, the printers changing inks/paper stocks, and/or the size or color of the module for the same item. A reflection I am afraid of sourcing/shopping around of limited print runs of what was at the time a hobby based activity rather than one of the big publishing houses who had more stringent quality control. How would these changes be reflected/incorporated into the assessment if at all?

Orlandojones wrote in Actually... your opinion DOES still matter! Graded RPGs:As a general question/observation I think even the Acaeum gave up trying to work out all the product difference's from TSR's habit of changing printers, the printers changing inks/paper stocks, and/or the size or color of the module for the same item. A reflection I am afraid of sourcing/shopping around of limited print runs of what was at the time a hobby based activity rather than one of the big publishing houses who had more stringent quality control. How would these changes be reflected/incorporated into the assessment if at all?

If printing information is available and generally agreed upon by the community (ie the Acaeum) then the "printing" info will be clearly on the label as indicated by the posted examples.

Note that "1st print" will NOT be on the label, so any CBCS slabbed item without a printing notation would be 1st print.

dosselmeyer wrote in Actually... your opinion DOES still matter! Graded RPGs:Ok let me wade in with a few responses to all this great feedback.

Shrinkwrap, ie the "great debate". The decision has not been made yet but we are leaning towards NOT grading SW items. If an item is sent to us in SW we would put ON THE LABEL "Removed from shrinkwrap."
This is a really interesting discussion point, and I was intrigued by the "SW replaced slabbing" line of thinking and certainly I can follow this logic. But also - we all know SW items can still have significant damage.

We have no plans to grade box sets, if you send in an individual booklet from a box set we will grade this. So you could have a "9.8" set of books from Dragon Mountain, but you would not have a grade on the box or a verification of box contents.

We will not grade HB books. We WILL grade softbound books as long as they fit in our slabs (Draconimicon or profession guide books should be fine).

We will grade any published RPG item that fits in our slab, we may reject some "small press" items that we cannot guarantee authenticity on. (if your game is made on a photocopy machine we wont grade it).

We will also grade new releases.

We ABSOLUTELY will have signature verification on release as it is a core part of our overall business and feel very confident in our experience in this arena.

Can you grade the early supplements, like Eldritch Wizardry, Greyhawk, Blackmoor and Deities and Demigods. No one cares about swords and spells. Just kidding, that one too. Or Men and Magic, Underworld and Wilderness and Monsters and Treasure? This would be glorious. I cant believe I didnt think to ask.

I dont think CGC does.

As a collector, I would 100% want nice grades of every booklet of every print. I have no care for the booklets being inside of a box. Sure, I want the box too, but I want to display booklets.

This is exciting.

If possible, I would love to see a few pictures, especially of the supplement/booklet size.

My 2 cents, am new to this forum. I just received my AFA 85 Against the Giants module back from Action Figure Authority who really made the market for graded toys back in the early 2000s. I went with them because they grade sealed items. In the toy world, sealed is key and the value dropoff is huge. There is little to no discussion of what is going on inside the box, its like grading the item makes the contents invisible to the known universe. There is also MUCh less discussion of sealed items being authentic because they rarely used shrink but instead boxes were taped (itself could be faked I suppose). The module looks great BUT it is quite heavy and also very expensive to get graded.

I guess the question is whether these items are toys or comics? Or, stated differently, how will the graded market develop, along which collectible pedigree? Personally, since grading is a form of neurosis the idea of mixing AFA and CGC/CBCS cases would drive me nuts. Are the comic grading companies considering also grading the expert/basic boxed sets?

My 2 cents on shrink, I would never remove it myself and wouldn't send it in to be removed by a grader. The reason is that I am collecting these old things in "store shelf condition" to sort of relive that time when I was nine and walked into a hobby shop to see the brand new product. Whether staples are rusted in the centerfold isn't relevant to me. Its the outer appearance that matters. Back to the toy analogy, if a toy's sticker sheet was peeling and yellowed/dried inside a sealed box I wouldn't care. I wouldn't know.