Hi guys, I just purchased a CGC graded X-Men #1 3.5 from Ebay and have concerns about whether or not it's been tampered with...kinda stressed right now.
It has an old style label, graded on 10/2000. I understand these cases are less secure and minor cracks after all that time are not uncommon. My question is that it looks like the top right and bottom left posts are missing. I'm not sure if this is how the cases were manufactured at the time, but any expertise you can provide for peace of mind would be greatly appreciated!! Some notes:
- verification number checks out.
- seller has 700 feedback and at 100%.
- book looks in better condition than the 3.5 grade.
- long edge of the case can be warped open about 1/8" without cracking the case; not sure if this is enough to remove the comic, and I'm not going to try obviously.
- photos of all corners attached; sorry if some are hard to see, best I could do with my phone camera.
- seems odd that opposite corner posts are missing; it seems like that wouldn't make it any easier to open.
- (note - can't edit the order of photos but the last two show the post & no-post corners the most clearly.)
So...has anyone seen cases where there are only 2 posts on opposite corners? It doesn't sound completely unreasonable.
Course of action--should I try to return it? I'd much rather not return it, but obviously if it's fake I need to.