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Modern Age date stamp
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24 posts in this topic

Would anyone have any insight whether an ink date stamp (on the back cover in this instance) on a modern book would affect the grade with CGC?  Another grading company's stance is "It is extremely rare for a comic from the 1990's to present to have a date stamp.  Date stamps were widely used from the 1940's - 1970's and are accepted in the collecting community. By the 1980's very few newsstands and comic shops used date stamps and by the 1990's probably 1 out of 50,000 comics have a date stamp on it. Comics from 1990 to present are downgraded for date stamps in high grades, as it is almost unheard of to see that."   With that explanation, it infers that a high grade 1990's Newsstand with a date stamp would be super rare....So why the downgrade?  This does not seem to be the Overstreet Guide to Grading Comics stance as it is not specifically addressed concerning "modern" books.  Any insight is greatly appreciated. 

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And, btw, the (an)other grading company's stance is sound. Modern covers are also typically glossy stock, which can be quite messy. On the other hand, if it were indeed a newsstand copy, it may be arguable, (that the vendor is lost in some kind of time warp.) lol

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I'm of the opinion that it doesn't matter how old a book is or what common actions newsstands or stores took with books. Damage is damage. If that means that best existing copy of a book is a 9.2 (or whatever) because they were all defaced at the point of sale, so be it. That makes a pristine copy that wasn't marked up that much more remarkable

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3 hours ago, valiantman said:

If there was added value for a date stamp, people would just buy a date stamp and add it themselves. :kidaround:

It's not about added value, it's about the double standard for downgrades.

But yeah, if something that can be added or altered brings a premium, get ready for massive manipulation of books.

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Forgive me for “implying” or um, “inferring” the wrong impression.  

“It's not about added value, it's about the double standard for downgrades.” So if an older book from an “era” that frequently ink stamped newsstands does not get “ dinged” a downgraded, should a newsstand from the 1990’s get downgraded simply because some mom and pop store still ink stamped the book? 

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7 hours ago, Azreael said:

Forgive me for “implying” or um, “inferring” the wrong impression.  

“It's not about added value, it's about the double standard for downgrades.” So if an older book from an “era” that frequently ink stamped newsstands does not get “ dinged” a downgraded, should a newsstand from the 1990’s get downgraded simply because some mom and pop store still ink stamped the book? 

So, how do you feel about "3 for $1" stamps? hm Does it cheapen the whole experience for you?

Edited by divad
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1 minute ago, shadroch said:
20 hours ago, valiantman said:

If there was added value for a date stamp, people would just buy a date stamp and add it themselves. :kidaround:

Loose lips sink ships.

If the only people on the ship are scammers... then let's poke a few more holes in it.

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I love date stamps but I don't think I would like it on a 90's Modern. IMO, it should be downgraded. The vintage books were stamped for a legitimate reason. A Modern would have no reason to be stamped other than the owner had some sort of filing system.  I've honestly never have seen one, let alone submitted one, but I would suspect it would not downgraded harshly. It might keep it out of 9.8 range.

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On ‎8‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 12:08 PM, Bomber-Bob said:

I love date stamps but I don't think I would like it on a 90's Modern. IMO, it should be downgraded. The vintage books were stamped for a legitimate reason. A Modern would have no reason to be stamped other than the owner had some sort of filing system.  I've honestly never have seen one, let alone submitted one, but I would suspect it would not downgraded harshly. It might keep it out of 9.8 range.

I don't disagree but your post brought up an interesting thought.  I have been to some comic shops who stamp their Free Comic Book Day Books with their shop name and there is often even a spot on these books for that stamp to be placed.  So this would be a valid reason for the stamp - an advertisement for the store who bought something and in turn gave it away for free.  Putting aesthetics aside should that result in a drop in grade and resulting diminished value?  There are some FCBD books that have value so this may be a realistic example.

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14 minutes ago, pjray55 said:

I don't disagree but your post brought up an interesting thought.  I have been to some comic shops who stamp their Free Comic Book Day Books with their shop name and there is often even a spot on these books for that stamp to be placed.  So this would be a valid reason for the stamp - an advertisement for the store who bought something and in turn gave it away for free.  Putting aesthetics aside should that result in a drop in grade and resulting diminished value?  There are some FCBD books that have value so this may be a realistic example.

That is a legitimate example of a stamp but we are talking about date stamps in this thread. I don't think a store stamp would be downgraded unless it was too large or in a bad location. Date stamps are interesting because they take us to a specific point in time. The store stamp, not so much. Just cheap advertising.

Edited by Bomber-Bob
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25 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

That is a legitimate example of a stamp but we are talking about date stamps in this thread. I don't think a store stamp would be downgraded unless it was too large or in a bad location. Date stamps are interesting because they take us to a specific point in time. The store stamp, not so much. Just cheap advertising.

 

In my experience, store stamped FCBD books get a green label when submitted to CGC. I don't believe it affects the grade.

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On 8/1/2018 at 11:08 AM, Bomber-Bob said:

I love date stamps but I don't think I would like it on a 90's Modern. IMO, it should be downgraded. The vintage books were stamped for a legitimate reason. A Modern would have no reason to be stamped other than the owner had some sort of filing system.  I've honestly never have seen one, let alone submitted one, but I would suspect it would not downgraded harshly. It might keep it out of 9.8 range.

No more legitimate than a stamp on a newer (Newsstand) issue. No comic ever had to be stamped.

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On 8/10/2018 at 2:55 PM, Lazyboy said:

No more legitimate than a stamp on a newer (Newsstand) issue. No comic ever had to be stamped.

Seriously, I luv ya lazyboy, but this is just wrong.:makepoint:

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17 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

Which comics ever had to be stamped? Using stamps was never universal, even if it used to be more common.

Before the direct market started (circa 1977), almost every Mom & Pop store used a date stamp to mark when 30 days was up, so they could return their unsold copies to the local distributor for credit. I worked in such a store. My employer even instructed me how they wanted it done. As you may know, the publication date was not only irrelevant, but also incorrect by 2-3 months, so it couldn't be relied on. There was a time limit on returns, so the retailer had to have proof to show the distributor. Of course, the practice varied store-to-store, and region to region, but there was a legitimate marketplace reason for a date stamp to be applied at the retailer level.:foryou:

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