Vince G

I agree 100%. This is an excellent post.

I for one do have the grading guide, and I undergraded 16 of the 20 books, some by a ton - including the MSH 8 as a 6.0. In my opinion, the guide provides way to wide a grade range for many defects. That staple rust with migration ranges from 6.0 to 9.6 I believe. Personally, I found it to be a horrible defect on a modern book so graded it 6.0. I was way off.

I missed it too. Same reason as you.

Yep. I have the guide and saw the same. I graded it as low as I could based on the guide notes. It's pretty clear to me that they have seriously loosened the standards on a bunch of defects. In days past, you were lucky to get anything higher than a 6.0 with that type of defect present.

You have the link to the video, or let me know where to find it?

I'm fighting you for that spot.

I agree. I felt the staple rust and migration warranted a 6.0. That's a pretty bad defect for a modern book.

Thanks, Matt. I did find the answer to my question via digging through the help but appreciate the confirmation.

You do a great job, Mike. Just my opinion here but I'm cool with a mix and also, the toughest books possible. I enjoy the challenge.

Well, you definitely don't have to worry about me being hired by CGC. I graded it 6.5 for two reasons - 1. The distribution ink/overspray on the top of the book onto the back cover. 2. The light shadowing on three sides of the back cover. In the past, CGC always seemed to knock a book down for these defects. And considering both defects were present on this copy and, in my opinion, were non-trivial, I went low on the grade. I will tell you that I have a few books, most notably, ECs from the 50s that are very clean copies (no staining, no creasing, no color-breaks, etc) but have similar shadowing on the back covers. Those are all in 7.0 holders. In looking at the grading guide, I find that overspray no longer detracts from the grade except if it is more than 1 inch wide or 1/4 in in depth. Also, thin and light dust shadows/light shadows are acceptable in 9.8. So to summarize, yes, my grading was terrible on this book, and it was due to the fact I was going off memory of how I recall these defected used to be treated. Maybe it's time to send in those ECs for regrading.

I did as well but made the assumption it was camera glare. Whenever there's glare on the spine, I assume anything that looks like glare on the right side most likely is glare. That same issue got me a few times previously.

I had the JLA as an 8.0. This may be a new single round record! I can't wait for the stats to be posted! 16 points

Join the club I'll bet you didn't give the Spotlight 6 a 6.5 like I did

Same on my shadowed books here. I believe the grading standards with respect to certain defects have gotten very lenient.

@MattM CS Follow up question. If I want to create a second submission for magazines, can I ship both the books and the mags in the same box. I imagine I will need to create two separate submissions. Do these need to be shipped separately?