What is your target grade range? posted by pgbeckstrom

[CSJournals-migration]

For those unsatisfied with their 9.2's let me know your bottom line!

 

I have looked at a few members sets over the past few days and notice that some members will only be satisfied with extremely high grades. This I believe can be attributed to perhaps an abundance of funds to do so. If I did have an overabundance (if such a thing exists!) of funds I still would like to think I would be satisfied with 9.2 for most any book. Here is an experiment to test a theory I have: Get with a friend that also collects and have him place two slabbed copies of differing high grades ( for example a 9.2 and a 9.6) in front of you with the labels covered. Once this is done give each issue a cursory glance and see if you can tell what grade is for each. The point I am trying to make is that most any comic, that falls into a 9-9.2, cannot be distinguished from a higher grade of 9.4-10! Maybe its just seasoned collectors who wish to challenge themselves with finding the diamonds in the rough! I am not passing judgement because God knows one day I will probably do the same thing! Thanks for reading!

 

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[DoctorWyoming]

Hi!

 

I've been thinking about this for some time. When I first started slabbing/buying slabs, I hardly even knew the difference. But that changed quickly.

 

The reality is that for moderns, anything below 9.8 will have trouble holding value: there are just too many people slabbing NM/M for a VF to mean anything.

 

That said, when it comes to Silver age, I'm more than happy with far, far less than a 9.8! My spider-man run includes books with grades as low as 1.8.

 

So thinking about it as I write this: I'd say I want 9.8 for my top 20 list of favorites... and I'd accept much less for the rest....

[pgbeckstrom-migration]

I readily agree with your analysis. We are living in an age where the general populace knows that comics can be valuable. With that in mind collectors, aided by the tool of pre-screenIng, are slabbing only the creme da le creme. I suppose pre-modern age comics are both a blessing and a curse. Curse because people did not have the foresight for comic value. Blessing because that ignorance is what really made them valuable!

[Triskelion]

Great discussion.

 

Similar to Dr. Wyoming, I am trying to limit raw or slabbed purchases for my collection of modern books, to 9.6 and above. Smaller sets I'm pursuing, am even trying to go for a minimum 9.9.

 

Totally different story with silver age books. A few months ago, I ended up buying a 0.5 graded issue of Avengers #4 (well, it DID have Stan Lee's signature).

 

The money aspect is always an issue. I imagine settling for lower graded books to complete silver age sets is affordable. But what happens when one has reached 100%? When I 1st started my Dell/Gold Key Turok set, my aspiration wasnt necessarily achieving the highest ranked set, but only to slab the raw books I had/ purchase others and complete the set. Now it's complete --- and I find myself trying to upgrade everything at least to an 8.0 VF grade!

 

I love this hobby

[etanick]

 

 

I can pick the the 9.2 slab in 1 second in any of these tests. Seriously, the more you buy slabs and start to look at what is in a 9.2 and what is in a 9.6, you will be shock that you didn't notice this today.

 

That being said, I would be satisfy with a 9.2 of many books. Unfortunately, even at 9.2, many silver age books are crazy expensive.

 

Ask yourself this, if you have an overabundance of fund (hit the powerball lottery), would you still living in the same house, wearing the same clothes, driving the same car, be satisfy with low graded books,etc..? If you can, you are a better person than me.

[Tnerb]

I like to be able to afford the best that I can. I tend to chose the 9.8 grade over other grades in certain sets. However I am very curious on the differences of 9.6 and 9.8. I have purchased slabs and had books slabbed and have thought on the ones I gave to CGC for grading would have never received a 9.8, then others I though that would have gotten that prestigious grade were simply a 9.6. I am very curious on what makes a book a 9.8 rather than a 9.6 or vice versa, but as far as a 9.2 compared to a 9.8 the differences are more than subtle.

 

My biggest curiosity at the moment was how did I send in a graded 9.2 ASM #129 with white pages get a 9.4 OW to W ages after getting Stan Lee's signature added to it. Or even how a PGX 9.9 was graded by CGC as a 9.8. Now to answer your question as far as how low I would go. I did purchase a Daredevil #1 in a 3.5. I found this to be the limt of what I could afford. One day I will sell it, but those proceeds would have to go to a higher grade.

 

Although I am an amazing spider man fan I never had the desire to own his first appearance, until recently. As I waited in line at Wizard World 2010 my neighboring attendant was picking u a copy he got graded of Amazing Fantasy #15. I asked to hold the newly graded copy, a 1.5 I might add, and the sudden desire to won the book flared....even in a 1.5 that book looked great. I dare say on any of those issues (FF #1, X-men #1, Avengers #1) I would be happy with a .5 copy, but a modern age book I do not think I would be happy with anything less than a 9.8.copy.

 

Thanks for Reading

 

Tnerb

 

Thanks for reading

[phtmEVENstrngr]

I don't like CGC books, but I want a VF or better on most everything I buy.

 

Some books (ie Phantom Stranger 1-6 (1st series)) I could go as low as F-, or a really nice VG+

 

 

[Mayor006]

I can tell you that I have only been doing the graded comic submissions for less than six months and that I have already gone through my collection several times and as I stand now, have little to no desire to submit any of my modern books for slabbing. I have always taken good care of them but I know that they are not likely to come back in a 9.8 slab. I have very few pre-modern books but I have already sent a few of them in and gotten great results and like someone said earlier, people are more acceptable of lower grades on earlier books.

 

Having said all that I still would like to try and keep everything that is going to stay in my collection at a 9.0 or higher. I currently only have three books that I have sent in for slabbing that came back lower than that so if anyone were to approach me about selling them I would take offers or might eventually list on Ebay in order to try and secure a higher grade elsewhere of the same books.

[Masamune69]

Interesting discussion

 

For me, BA and SA books, I try to get at least 6.5 because I feel it's where the books start to look good. I really prefer a bad crease on the back cover and a nice front cover than an overall average comic.

For big books, at least 3.5, because less than that I just focus more on the defects than on the book itself.

For BA, I want at least 8.5. If I could I would choose only 9.2+ but my GL76 is only 8.5 due to crazy prices.

For Modern books, I collect only 9.8. It's not that 9.6 doesn't look good but there are so many on the market, it's more a 1,0 binary situation. You either have a 9.8 and that's a slabbed book or you have a book which is not much more worse than a raw.

If I get 9.6 on a modern, I prefer to open it and read it. But usually I use pre-9.8 service