Grade these two books.......

[Prophet78]

Ok, I am pretty new to actually knowing what to look for when grading.

 

 

A. http://images.heritagecoin.com/images/hnai/300/13031/13031016118o.jpg

Take a look at these books. One is Batman 400 graded at 9.8. My first comment is on the binding. It looks to be off as the pages come further out than the cover. Two, the lower left corner. It is a pretty bad corner for a 9.8. Three, the top left corner also looks a bit rough.

 

B. http://images.heritagecoin.com/images/hnai/300/13031/13031007009o.jpg

They list this book as a 6.0. This book has a lot of spine stress. Cover is offset like the previous book mentioned. Colors look good. What would you grade this book.

 

By looking at these books I can get a better idea of how to grade. I do realize that you must grade a book once it is in your hands, but this is a good headstart grading covers.

 

-Jeremy-

 

[thecomicsheet]

If the slabbed copy was resubmitted I don't think it would get a 9.8 again. The ding on the lower left corner could be post-slabbing but it looks like a common bindery tear. You usually suffer a hit of one or two grades for those. That plus the curious right edge of the book would lead me to think this is more of a 9.4 or so.

 

The unslabbed one has a rusty staple, some stress on the left edge, but no major obvious creases elsewhere. It has a rather inconspicuous date written on the cover which I really do not like but CGC doesn't seem to detract much for. I think a book in FN (6.0) condition should still have good eye appeal. This one is close, but on the low side IMHO. I would go more of a 5.0 to 5.5 for this one.

[Prophet78]

Thanks for the reply. What would cause rusty staples? Was the book stored in a damp cool area. What about the spine stresses, or am I just imagining these.

 

On the 400, CGC shows only 3 in 9.8 and 35 or so in the census period.

 

-Jeremy-

[thecomicsheet]

As for the rust the book may have been stored in high humidity for a while. The book is more than 30 years old (if I've done my math right ) All it takes is a drop of water or a few weeks of 90% plus humidity in all those years to have a chance for some rust. The staples used on books of this era were not the best quality either.

 

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the ideal storage environment for comics was 1) dark, 2) the cooler the better, 3) slightly lower than normal humidity and 4) constant humidity. The famous Mile High collection was stored in conditions something like this - though I think the humidity in Colorado is normally quite low compared to the much of the rest of the country.

 

As for temperature I think the formula I've seen is for every 10 degrees F increase in temperature a comic book ages twice as fast. So a book in a hot attic at 100 degrees would age 16 times faster than a book at a constant 60 degrees.

 

Those stress marks around the staple just come from the book getting folded over during handling.

[Illiterati-migration]

On that first Batman, they really, REALLY don't seem to care about the bindery issues on those squarebound books (I'm assuming that must be a squarebound issue being an "Anniversary Issue" from that period). There are some UG-LEE books floating around out there with severely damaged edges/corners with very high grades. I just got one in the mail the other day that is a "9.8" that has that same kind of fraying corner. I don't know if they just make a provision that since the book is a squarebound from that particular year and thus it's going to have that particular defect or what. Personally, I don't remember ever seeing one without the fraying? I know Hitman bought a LOSH #300 CGC 9.9 a few weeks back... I wonder if he could comment on this? Did the 9.9 show any fraying? HITMAN?!?!? Help us, please!

 

(It IS squarebound, isn't it?)

[aardvark88]

I'm surprised Cgc did not deduct point off for the bindery corner tear on the thick DC comic. Perhaps it was short enough for them not to justify loss of points. On a bronze Marvel & a golden age thick comic, Cgc deducted 0.2 to 0.5 points off from my essentially unread comics.

[Bonds25]

That Batman #400 has no business being a 9.8 with those corners!

[drbanner]

Indeed! While bindery tears are acceptable in NM, I've always set the limit at 1/16", perhaps an older version of the guide used this metric? In addition, it looks like the one on the bottom affects the pages as well...

[OldGuy]

It was submitted by Heritage. I'm telling you, send all your submissions through Heritage. Condition is not a factor when you buy your lables through them.

[lighthouse]

You know... we joke about that... but I have submitted around 500 books at this point, including around 100 through Heritage, and I got better grades on average on those...

 

But then again, they are also my most recent submissions, so it may be a combination of my grading getting tighter and/or CGC's getting looser. (or maybe it's that I pack my submissions in unmarked currency )

 

Gotta fresh batch in the mail to them today, which will please BronzeBruce and comicwiz among others...

[Guest]

I think it would come back as a 9.8 again because its only a small bindery defect on that bottom corner. CGC isnt too tough on those if the rest of the book is near perfect.

[Rickdogg]

wrong thread doh

[ArAich]

rookie...