the un-gradeable book, of many grades

About 10 days ago, I bought a raw ASM 41(1st app of rhino) graded at VF+ for $300.

I originally intended to submit it to cgc ... eventually, but first I thought I'd see what my fellow boardies thought. I got the book home, scanned it , and posted it in the PGM forum. I personally had the book graded at a solid 8.0. When the grades started coming in I was shocked. Most of the board members thought it was a 7.5, but some even went as low as 6.5. I even called a board friend to ask if I was way off, he agreed it was an 8.0.

It was now Saturday morning, and I found myself looking at my book and looking at the grades in the thread over, and over again. "There's no way this in any lower then an 8.0" I said to myself. Finally I just said "screw it". I went online and filled out a cgc form. Express, with imaging. After my 10% member discount it wound up costing $106. Now I'm into this book for $406, which is a 9.0 price. I probably should have sent it standard but , I was way too impatient for that. So, I packaged it up, and shipped it out on Saturday hoping it would arrive by Monday. Monday came , and the first thing I did was check my order status. "Received", and now the waiting game begins. Tuesday,"verified". Wednesday,"graded". I stared at the serial number briefly, before clicking to see what my grade was. I had convinced myself that after pumping $400+ into this book, I was going to click the link and see 6.0 cream-off white. I clicked the link..... I was so shocked by the grade I actually thought it was clerical error. I called the same board friend I had called the week before, to ask him how cgc worked, if what I was looking at was just a temp grade, and if it would later be changed. I had never tracked a submission on line before, so this was new to me. He assured me that that was my grade, and that everyone, he and I included , was waaaaay off .

My ASM 41, that I was sure was a 8.0 with a shot at 8.5, that everyone who graded it had it between 6.5-8.0, that I was so worried that I had invested way too much money into.. was now sitting in a cgc holder with off white to white pages and a universal grade of 9.4. 9.4!!!! I was still skeptical however. "No way was it a 9.4" I said to myself. I started looking at the 9.0s in my collection and deciding whether or not my 41 was better. I was about 50/50.

It's Thursday now, "shipped". "Hm, It's on it's way" I thought, still feeling skeptical. I really had thought I was going to be getting the wrong copy of ASM 41. Later that night I got an email, it was the image I had requested form cgc.

I checked my email.. "Wow, it really is a 9.4"

It finally arrived yesterday, in all its near mint glory. It really does look great in the slab, and while I don't necessarily agree with the grade, I'm definitely not complaining.

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