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Two CGC 9.8's.....one with stress marks, the other with rounded corners
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13 posts in this topic

I recently came into possession of two Batman #1 New 52's, both graded at CGC 9.8. I noticed that one comic has a color-breaking, hair-line stress mark on the spine. The other comic has a slighted blunted bottom-right corner that showing a little white. I've attached pictures of the first comic and the stress mark, and I'll post pictures of the second comic with the rounded corner in the next post.

While I know that 9.8's are allowed to have 1 or 2 small defects, I'm wondering if these flaws are deal-breakers for you. Part of me is surprised that these two books received 9.8's......what's your opinion?IMG_20180204_002543.thumb.jpg.2d30b89d7d69444316fea898e8f74e8f.jpg

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Here is the second Batman #1 with the rounded corner on the left-hand side......again, would be interested to see if anyone else has seen 9.8's with these types of defects. I'm quickly realizing that not all 9.8's are created equal!

 

IMG_20180203_104207.thumb.jpg.b1889b9b67575df4115ea9553ea16abd.jpgIMG_20180203_103230.thumb.jpg.aecbc34db796f1c1af659393906e4405.jpg

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I also think they take production flaws into consideration. For example, I sent in a copy of Outcast #1, the photo cover, to get graded. Virtually every copy I ever saw had at least one small color-breaking spine stress. Likely from when it was produced. The one I got graded had that as the only flaw I saw. It came back 9.8 just as I expected it would.

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On 2/7/2018 at 11:25 AM, STORMSHADOW_80 said:

Welcome to the boards! I think those are both acceptable 9.8s. Some appear nicer than others.

9.8s from my understanding can sometimes have 2-3 small defects

I disagree. Buyers expect a 9.8 to look near perfect. Any defects on a 9.8 book should be extremely small, not in your face spine tics. I'm okay with the second book but not the first.

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On 2/4/2018 at 3:01 PM, Cringer said:

I recently came into possession of two Batman #1 New 52's, both graded at CGC 9.8. I noticed that one comic has a color-breaking, hair-line stress mark on the spine. The other comic has a slighted blunted bottom-right corner that showing a little white. I've attached pictures of the first comic and the stress mark, and I'll post pictures of the second comic with the rounded corner in the next post.

While I know that 9.8's are allowed to have 1 or 2 small defects, I'm wondering if these flaws are deal-breakers for you. Part of me is surprised that these two books received 9.8's......what's your opinion?IMG_20180204_002543.thumb.jpg.2d30b89d7d69444316fea898e8f74e8f.jpg

You have to consider the situation that when CGC saw the book, it was freshly pressed and flat. Since then, sitting in the slab, the memory of the creases came back and it now looks like this. This could simply be a matter of a poor press job. I would not be happy with this book. I suspect you are not happy either. Move the book, it will always be a sore spot in your collection.

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5 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

You have to consider the situation that when CGC saw the book, it was freshly pressed and flat. Since then, sitting in the slab, the memory of the creases came back and it now looks like this. This could simply be a matter of a poor press job. I would not be happy with this book. I suspect you are not happy either. Move the book, it will always be a sore spot in your collection.

You have to take into consideration that this picture is way zoomed in. I’ve seen a lot of of 9.8s. While most of the time I sub books that don’t have any marks like this. I have purchased 9.8s that do look like this. While not desirable it is somewhat common in my experience and have come to accept it. It could be some residual defects resurfacing. Who knows. A lot of times I suspect people brand new to the boards just trying to cheerlead for the guys across the street...

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14 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:
16 hours ago, Rip said:

The first one is questionable. The 2nd one I have no problem with.

I agree. IMO, the first one should NOT be a 9.8 and I would NOT be happy owning it. 

Make it three. I have won 9.8s in auctions that looked like the first book and have either sold them off or been bitter about them ever since. For a while I was working on a SS collection of ASM, and often bought cheap 9.8s of non-key books to crack and get signed. I would never have cracked the first book since I would be 100% certain it would drop upon a resub.

I also doubt that the spine stress is a matter of paper memory reestablishing itself in the slab. Color breaking stress aren't affected by a press, and color breaks should not emerge as a product of paper memory. Color breaking stress were either there, or happened during handling in Sarasota.

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I'll 4th that sentiment.

I posted similar question in PGM section for my Spectacular Spiderman 1.

It's the opposite issue as the OP as the book looks like a 9.8 but was graded 9.6. FYI, it was graded in 2007.

I looked at photos of the same issue in 9.8 slabs on eBay right now and some actually look worse than my 9.6, with color breaking spine tics.

I'm glad I'm not the only one noticing this. All the more reason to look very closely before buying slabbed books.

I'm not cheerleading for any other companies either, the worst looking slabbed SpecSpidey 1 9.8 i found on eBay, with multiple color breaking spine tics, was a cbcs slab. And pgx is well known to overgrade.

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Thanks for the responses! I agree with everyone that the first comic shouldn't be a 9.8.....I'm going to sell it in the near future, although it's unlikely I'll get a 9.8 price for it. 

I've only used CGC for grading (or bought CGC graded books), so definitely not cheerleading for the other companies :)

Edited by Cringer
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