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n2wdw's Tales of the Comic Book Room
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1,372 posts in this topic

11 hours ago, walclark said:

With everything dropping in grade, you’re going to save a ton of money in grading fees.  Good call on the Sheena.

That's exactly my thinking.  With the current crossover promotion, if the grade drops, the re-grading and putting in the CGC slab is only $10.

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Does anyone have more info around the CrossOver service in terms of whether the graders (who actually grade the book) will know the previous grade (and from which service that grade is from) or even that it is a "CrossOver" book at all? Obviously the "pre-graders" look at the book beforehand in the case to estimate the grade and ask for confirmation, so they'll know, but I'm really curious if after that point, once it's confirmed to be graded, whether those graders will have access to that info. I would hope that at that point, it enters the queue like any other book, and graders have no pre-existing information to start from... I have a few higher value Voldy books that I think are fairly graded (or maybe even have upgrade potential) that would be a no-brainer to send for CrossOver, but makes a difference to me if graders will have any pre-existing info in advance or not.

If they know the grade in advance, I would imagine on the margin, they'd be inclined to err on the lower side (to uphold belief that CGC is the tougher grader), and even if they know it's a CrossOver book (but not the grade), they may still err on the side of grading tougher than usual. 

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8 hours ago, CKinTO said:

Does anyone have more info around the CrossOver service in terms of whether the graders (who actually grade the book) will know the previous grade (and from which service that grade is from) or even that it is a "CrossOver" book at all? Obviously the "pre-graders" look at the book beforehand in the case to estimate the grade and ask for confirmation, so they'll know, but I'm really curious if after that point, once it's confirmed to be graded, whether those graders will have access to that info. I would hope that at that point, it enters the queue like any other book, and graders have no pre-existing information to start from... I have a few higher value Voldy books that I think are fairly graded (or maybe even have upgrade potential) that would be a no-brainer to send for CrossOver, but makes a difference to me if graders will have any pre-existing info in advance or not.

If they know the grade in advance, I would imagine on the margin, they'd be inclined to err on the lower side (to uphold belief that CGC is the tougher grader), and even if they know it's a CrossOver book (but not the grade), they may still err on the side of grading tougher than usual. 

Interesting question.  I am emailing back and forth with CGC on my crossover book, so I will ask.  Although they may consider this part of their confidential grading process.  I'll report back with what they tell me.

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8 hours ago, CKinTO said:

Does anyone have more info around the CrossOver service in terms of whether the graders (who actually grade the book) will know the previous grade (and from which service that grade is from) or even that it is a "CrossOver" book at all? Obviously the "pre-graders" look at the book beforehand in the case to estimate the grade and ask for confirmation, so they'll know, but I'm really curious if after that point, once it's confirmed to be graded, whether those graders will have access to that info. I would hope that at that point, it enters the queue like any other book, and graders have no pre-existing information to start from... I have a few higher value Voldy books that I think are fairly graded (or maybe even have upgrade potential) that would be a no-brainer to send for CrossOver, but makes a difference to me if graders will have any pre-existing info in advance or not.

If they know the grade in advance, I would imagine on the margin, they'd be inclined to err on the lower side (to uphold belief that CGC is the tougher grader), and even if they know it's a CrossOver book (but not the grade), they may still err on the side of grading tougher than usual. 

They see it in the old slab. I got an email saying mine might be the same grade or 1/2 a grade lower, and did I want to proceed.

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Just now, skypinkblu said:

They see it in the old slab. I got an email saying mine might be the same grade or 1/2 a grade lower, and did I want to proceed.

I think he's asking whether, after you tell CGC to proceed, if the same pre-grader person grades your book, or if it is graded by another grader who does not know about the pre-grade.

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2 minutes ago, n2wdw said:

I think he's asking whether, after you tell CGC to proceed, if the same pre-grader person grades your book, or if it is graded by another grader who does not know about the pre-grade.

Ah, that I don't know...but there are not that many graders for each tier, so I doubt it's a big secret.

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13 minutes ago, comicdonna said:

I don't think the graders should be able to see the slab before they grade the book.  People have been sending them PGX books for years.  I thought they were cracked out before presenting them to the graders?

The crossovers are not being cracked out before someone guesses at a grade.

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I asked about this after I got the email with the grade predictions. I was told the graders don't have any of the old slab info, similar to the way they get pressed books from ccs but aren't made aware that they were pressed. I guess they compare the grades after they're done. 

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1 minute ago, BriD. said:

I asked about this after I got the email with the grade predictions. I was told the graders don't have any of the old slab info, similar to the way they get pressed books from ccs but aren't made aware that they were pressed. I guess they compare the grades after they're done. 

:foryou:

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21 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

It's hard to tell what grade a book is until you take it out of the slab.

I agree.  I guess in a way CGC is trusting the other company's grade to a certain extent.  Because they obviously cannot grade the insides at all while in the slab.

Edited by n2wdw
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Food Update

I haven't posted any food pictures in a while, so here we go.

Last weekend we went to Atlanta to visit my daughter who goes to Georgia Tech.  When we visit my daughter always wants to go to the same restaurant, La Grotta.  It's a nice Italian restaurant but what makes it special is black truffles.  You can have them shaved onto any dish.  We stumbled upon this place her freshman year and she fell in love with the taste and texture.  Here are the black truffles all ready to be shaved onto delicious food.

IMG_7046.thumb.jpg.d3373ea05edec3f301d92344f45ebc8a.jpg

 

I don't know if you're like me, but I always carefully study the menu when I'm at a restaurant (as that's one of the fun parts of going out), but then usually I order the same thing.  At this restaurant, every single time we've gone (I think 4 times now), I've gotten the veal chop with shaved black truffles.  It is amazing!

IMG_7051.thumb.jpg.509e5f470e324511b2988fe387c13f6b.jpg

 

This week, I had to go to SF for work.  One night for dinner, I went to Osso steakhouse.  This restaurant is also known for its seafood, especially their version of San Francisco's ubiquitous hot dungeness crab in garlic sauce.  This dish is really good; one of those dishes so good it should be its own food group.  But I always end up getting the bone-in rib eye steak.  As it turns out, Osso -- the name of the restaurant -- means bone-in, as in bone-in rib eye.  The steak was huge and delicious.  In this picture I should have put my fork, to show scale.  It's really big, I could only eat half.

IMG_2013.thumb.JPG.00cdafa41b7388598039cb23f74403ff.JPG

 

I started the meal with a dry martini.  Lately I've been into the James Bond martini -- 3 measures gin, 1 vodka, half part vermouth.  Actually it's Lillet blanc apéritif which, if you're a fan of the Daniel Craig Bond movies like me, you know isn't really vermouth.  Usually when I order this I just order a Vesper, which has become the name of this James Bond martini.  But many bartenders don't know this, so then I just order a dry gin martini with a splash of vodka.  I'm embarrassed to order it reciting the parts (3 measures gin, 1 vodka, etc.) as then I feel too much like a James Bond geek.  And I've never found any bar stocked with Lillet.

IMG_2002.thumb.JPG.66b07b6277db656e2e7bfecec89aef07.JPG

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21 hours ago, BriD. said:

I asked about this after I got the email with the grade predictions. I was told the graders don't have any of the old slab info, similar to the way they get pressed books from ccs but aren't made aware that they were pressed. I guess they compare the grades after they're done. 

Thanks for the info. I would hope that's the case to maintain the integrity of the grading process, to not have any pre-conceptions / goalposts to start from. That's good to know.

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22 hours ago, n2wdw said:

Food Update

I haven't posted any food pictures in a while, so here we go.

Last weekend we went to Atlanta to visit my daughter who goes to Georgia Tech.  When we visit my daughter always wants to go to the same restaurant, La Grotta.  It's a nice Italian restaurant but what makes it special is black truffles.  You can have them shaved onto any dish.  We stumbled upon this place her freshman year and she fell in love with the taste and texture.  Here are the black truffles all ready to be shaved onto delicious food.

IMG_7046.thumb.jpg.d3373ea05edec3f301d92344f45ebc8a.jpg

 

I don't know if you're like me, but I always carefully study the menu when I'm at a restaurant (as that's one of the fun parts of going out), but then usually I order the same thing.  At this restaurant, every single time we've gone (I think 4 times now), I've gotten the veal chop with shaved black truffles.  It is amazing!

IMG_7051.thumb.jpg.509e5f470e324511b2988fe387c13f6b.jpg

 

This week, I had to go to SF for work.  One night for dinner, I went to Osso steakhouse.  This restaurant is also known for its seafood, especially their version of San Francisco's ubiquitous hot dungeness crab in garlic sauce.  This dish is really good; one of those dishes so good it should be its own food group.  But I always end up getting the bone-in rib eye steak.  As it turns out, Osso -- the name of the restaurant -- means bone-in, as in bone-in rib eye.  The steak was huge and delicious.  In this picture I should have put my fork, to show scale.  It's really big, I could only eat half.

IMG_2013.thumb.JPG.00cdafa41b7388598039cb23f74403ff.JPG

 

I started the meal with a dry martini.  Lately I've been into the James Bond martini -- 3 measures gin, 1 vodka, half part vermouth.  Actually it's Lillet blanc apéritif which, if you're a fan of the Daniel Craig Bond movies like me, you know isn't really vermouth.  Usually when I order this I just order a Vesper, which has become the name of this James Bond martini.  But many bartenders don't know this, so then I just order a dry gin martini with a splash of vodka.  I'm embarrassed to order it reciting the parts (3 measures gin, 1 vodka, etc.) as then I feel too much like a James Bond geek.  And I've never found any bar stocked with Lillet.

IMG_2002.thumb.JPG.66b07b6277db656e2e7bfecec89aef07.JPG

Man, that rib eye is a masterpiece! You sure know how to eat Mike!

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n2wdw,

Here's a few questions for you:

How often do you upgrade books in your collection that you value?

If/When you do, how do you manage your under copies? Do you hoard them? Move them along? If so how?

I find I keep building a bigger, better collection, but not bigger in a good way since I end up with triplicates a lot of the time. 

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