Covers with fingerprints in the gloss -- highest grade? 0

[Point Five]

Say you have a solid 9.8 modern book with 2 or 3 fingerprints visible in the gloss of the front cover, but no smudging or ink lift whatsoever. What would you grade the book?

 

 

[STORMSHADOW_80]

I got a 9.4 on a book like that

[thecopperagekids]

9.4 sounds about right....

 

Have you tried removing the fingerprints?

 

A few rounds of rubbing the area with a white cotton cloth and then absorene putty work on most fingerprints.Kneading the area first and then forcefully pressing down on the putty with your thumb while slowly moving the putty.Afterwards, wiping the area with a cotton cloth in a circular motion gets the last of it off.

 

Some moderns have paper stock which makes removing even these sorts of fingerprints unlikely.

 

Other moderns like embossed gold covers from the 90's are much less troublesome.If it is the sort of tissue paper stock like a New 52 Batman books with very absorbent paper, not so much.

 

Dark Knight Returns paper stock (copper) are just as problematic.

[STORMSHADOW_80]

It was a Wolverine 10 (1988) so I just sold it instead of cracking it out again. But thank you for the advise. I'm going to have to try some of those techniques out someday.

[Ron C.]

Great timing on this. I had a number of likely 9.8's that had a fingerprint (most likely mine) on the cover that dropped the issue to a 9.4 (it was the only grader's note). The question is: do I try to remove the fingerprint and re-grade or not?

[thecopperagekids]

Great timing on this. I had a number of likely 9.8's that had a fingerprint (most likely mine) on the cover that dropped the issue to a 9.4 (it was the only grader's note). The question is: do I try to remove the fingerprint and re-grade or not?

 

I would suggest that you intentionally put fingerpints on books with the same sort of cover stock.... and then see if *you* can remove them, before you start cracking any books.

 

And just bc graders' notes do not mention any other flaws, that would keep a book out of 9.8, does not mean no such flaws exist.Another thing to keep in mind is that oil based fingerprints cannot be dry cleaned.

 

If you post up a FC and BC scan of one of those 9.4 slabs, I wouldn't mind giving you some pointers.

 

 

[Point Five]

Cool! Thanks for the input, guys.

 

 

[Foley]

I recently subbed (what I thought were) a couple 9.8 candidates of the all black ASM v2 #36

They went to CCS first for a press (I understand dry cleaning is included in this) and one came back a 9.4 and the only grader's note was "light fingerprints front cover"

I have a couple questions about this for those of you more experienced than myself. This was my first sub and I don't consider myself an amazing grader by any means, so there is obviously a good chance I missed some defects. The other copy came back a 9.6 with no notes, so that's even more reason to think it was my oversight. Now, my questions:

1. I assume that there are fingerprints that can be removed by dry cleaning, and those that cannot. Is this an accurate assumption?

2. For the sake of argument, let's say the book that came back a 9.4 had no other defects. Would the fingerprints be enough to drop it from a 9.8 to a 9.4?

All in all it wasn't too bad for a first submission. Other than the ASMs I only had one other book come back a 9.6 that I had pegged for a 9.8. One book came back higher than I thought, and the rest were dead on.

A good learning experience.

 

 

[Foley]

On 4/7/2017 at 4:18 PM, Foley said:

I recently subbed (what I thought were) a couple 9.8 candidates of the all black ASM v2 #36

They went to CCS first for a press (I understand dry cleaning is included in this) and one came back a 9.4 and the only grader's note was "light fingerprints front cover"

I have a couple questions about this for those of you more experienced than myself. This was my first sub and I don't consider myself an amazing grader by any means, so there is obviously a good chance I missed some defects. The other copy came back a 9.6 with no notes, so that's even more reason to think it was my oversight. Now, my questions:

1. I assume that there are fingerprints that can be removed by dry cleaning, and those that cannot. Is this an accurate assumption?

2. For the sake of argument, let's say the book that came back a 9.4 had no other defects. Would the fingerprints be enough to drop it from a 9.8 to a 9.4?

All in all it wasn't too bad for a first submission. Other than the ASMs I only had one other book come back a 9.6 that I had pegged for a 9.8. One book came back higher than I thought, and the rest were dead on.

A good learning experience.

 

 

Bumping for a little help.

[NCAmother]

I'll give this post a bump.  Good questions

 

[Bomber-Bob]

1 hour ago, NCAmother said:

I really think if the poster Foley had the read the earlier posts he would have answered his own questions. You had two Boardies post that a 9.8 with fingerprints will drop a book to 9.4, so the answer to his question #2 is yes.  The poster, CAK (copperAgeKids), clearly states that fingerprints cannot be dry cleaned.  Now, maybe Foley wanted more opinions, hoping for a different answer,  but I think the absence of any responses to his questions indicates there is no disagreement from anyone else. IMO, a visible fingerprint is similar to a stain. CGC hammers stains so 9.8 to 9.4 sound reasonable.

 

Edited May 15, 2017 by Bomber-Bob

[NCAmother]

You're right Bob, just re-read the posts.   To answer both questions:  yes

[joeypost]

While fingerprints cannot be dry cleaned, they can be removed if the oils from the print did not interact with the inks and are just sitting on the surface of the book.

[divad]

2 hours ago, joeypost said:

While fingerprints cannot be dry cleaned, they can be removed if the oils from the print did not interact with the inks and are just sitting on the surface of the book.

Yep, the porosity of the cover stock has a lot to do with it. 

[Foley]

7 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

 

9 hours ago, NCAmother said:

I really think if the poster Foley had the read the earlier posts he would have answered his own questions. You had two Boardies post that a 9.8 with fingerprints will drop a book to 9.4, so the answer to his question #2 is yes.  The poster, CAK (copperAgeKids), clearly states that fingerprints cannot be dry cleaned.  Now, maybe Foley wanted more opinions, hoping for a different answer,  but I think the absence of any responses to his questions indicates there is no disagreement from anyone else. IMO, a visible fingerprint is similar to a stain. CGC hammers stains so 9.8 to 9.4 sound reasonable.

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Bomber-Bob

 

Thanks guys, I had read the previous posts but I guess my question stemmed from the fact that I'm not 100% confident in my ability to peg a 9.8 for what it is. The other book I thought was 9.8 came back a 9.6, with no mention of fingerprints, so my train of thought was something like this:

Was the book that came back a 9.4:
a) a 9.8 that dropped to 9.4 because of the fingerprints, or
b) a 9.6 that dropped to a 9.4

i.e. Does cgc deduct .4 or .2 for fingerprints?

I realize looking back this is a dumb question for a couple of reasons. First, none of you could possibly know the condition of the book I sent in without having inspected it first, and second, CGC likely downgrades based on the number and severity of fingerprints, so the (.2, .4 etc) grade drop is probably variable.

Also, I didn't see the response from CAK because I never took him off ignore after he got the boot.

Thanks for replies