Get Marwood & I

2024 CGC Grading Contest Season 3 Spring Edition (#10) - 125 participants

• 1st place @Axelrod won $500
• 2nd place @zzutak won $250
• 3rd place @Cerebus3000 won $100
• 6th place @Ride the Tiger won $500**

2024 CGC Grading Contest Season 3 Winter Edition (#9) - 131 participants

• 1st place @pastandpresentcomics won $500
• 2nd place @Ride the Tiger won $250
• 3rd place @Superman2006 won $100

2023 CGC Grading Contest Season 2 Fall Edition (#8) - 109 participants

• 1st place @Withering Wind won $500
• 2nd place @Point Five won $250
• 3rd place @TheGeneral won $100

2023 CGC Grading Contest Season 2 Summer Edition (#7) - 128 participants

• 1st place @batcollector won $500
• 2nd place @Morganmi won $250
• 3rd place @CJ Design won $100

2023 CGC Grading Contest Season 2 Spring Edition (#6) - 131 participants

• 1st place @Get Marwood & I won $500**
• 2nd place @Warlord  won $250
• 3rd place @jbpez won $100

2023 CGC Grading Contest Season 2 Winter Edition (#5) - 115 participants

• 1st place @TC33 won $500
• 2nd place @TheGeneral won $250
• 3rd place @silverseeker won $100

2022 CGC Grading Contest Season 1 Fall Edition (#4) - 104 participants

• 1st place @Yorick won $500
• 2nd place @WilliamLunt won $250
• 3rd place @TheGeneral won $100

2022 CGC Grading Contest Season 1 Summer Edition (#3) - 137 participants

• 1st place @TheGeneral won $500
• 2nd place @Electron won $250
• 3rd place @comicginger1789 won $100

2022 CGC Grading Contest Season 1 Spring Edition (#2) - 154 participants

• 1st place @jbpez won $500
• 2nd place @Mr. Zipper won $250
• 3rd place @Superman2006 won $100

2022 CGC Grading Contest Season 1 Winter Edition (#1) - 354 participants

• 1st place @Squirrel Guy won $500

**

On 5/6/2024 at 2:53 AM, WilliamLunt said:

Watch your back @Get Marwood & I

On 5/2/2024 at 2:18 PM, AJD said:

Huh, what kind of twisted weirdo would be able to help with that request? Oh, never mind.

On 5/2/2024 at 1:00 AM, Gaard said:

I seem to recall I saw one with a vampire(?) actually dumping spiders out of a bucket onto a woman

 Your troubled memory serves you well, Gaard...

On 5/1/2024 at 5:46 PM, Point Five said:

Scrollin' scrollin' scrollin'....

This round has left a stain on my ego that looks a lot like this. 

 

Bit of good news though - CGC have announced that they'll be grading buckets in the future. 

On 5/1/2024 at 5:58 PM, Cerebus3000 said:

A fair point to mention: OSGC does not allow rust migration at 8.0, however by 7.5 it says that "slight rust migration is allowed".  Both guides are close on this, but I think it really comes down to how you define "slight".

I agree. That was a slight earthquake. Or a slight Alien Invasion. Or a slight completely rusted staple. Or a slight piece of poop on my cheese burger. 

On 5/1/2024 at 2:16 PM, Axelrod said:

Well, on the plus side, those pages from the grading guide at least suggest that the grade didn't come completely out of the grader's ***, agree or otherwise disagree as we might. 

I would have said that was pretty "heavy" rust, and the paper migration looked pretty "significant" to me, though, sure, I guess it could have been even worse.  

This is one of the areas where I am miles away from CGC. I understand the desire to give a book the best grade it deserves, but I would never give a book like this an 8.0:

Rusted staples are degenerative under the wrong conditions, and I just can't get behind the degrees of severity thing which allows books to be graded as high when the staples are sufficiently degraded to have stained the pages all the way through to the back cover. Flaws like water damage, trimming, mould and rusted staples should really have grade points beyond which they cannot go, regardless of eye appeal. 

If you asked 100 collectors to buy that book, as an 8.0, and then cracked it open, how many of them would be satisfied seeing that rust do you think? How many would say "Yes, that level of rust is consistent with an 8.0 grade"? Still, that's what CGC do and they're a private company. Matt has a lot of experience, but it doesn't mean others have to agree with the standards that he unilaterally commits to paper.

On 5/1/2024 at 2:01 AM, skypinkblu said:

I had it at 6.5, wanted to make it a 6.0. I wanted to make the Secret Wars a really low number because not even "I" would buy a book with that kind of centerfold rust...then I lost a few more overgrading books after the last round where we had a 9.6 that I couldn't see as more than a 9.0.

8 points. I knew it was a disaster after I saw that video CGC put out last night...talking about grading a book by how it appears and not needing any training...unfortunately I saw that after I submitted my grades, lol. That video was scary.

I went 6.5 too, basing that decision on CGC's own grading scale:

6.5 was much higher than I would have graded it myself, were I ever selling it, but the point of this contest has always been to guess what the CGC grade is, not your own. To me, that's a major defect whichever way you look at it, and one which will degrade further over time. I'm confident that 98% of buyers would either avoid this book if they new about the hidden damage or be devastated by it if they cracked it open having bought it. 

Giving it an 8.0 basically says that the CGC grader thinks that staple rust that has migrated through the pages is a 'moderate defect'. And now I see a video from a CGC employee saying - if I heard it right - that she grades books by eye appeal. Not a great advert for CGC.

I'm getting to the point where I think my score for this competition will be more than the previous five combined. On we go though, eh. 

On 4/30/2024 at 6:15 PM, Ride the Tiger said:

Like someone scored 4 bullseyes.

Stop it, you're embarrassing me.

On 4/30/2024 at 6:15 PM, Ride the Tiger said:

Or someone missed a single grade by 14 points.

And leave @ADAMANTIUM alone.