Brittle Pages 2 2

[Red84]

What are the requirements for a book to get that designation?

I have a golden age book with one small missing piece on a single page and with sharp corners that recently got the designation of brittle which was a big surprise.

[Red84]

Does anyone have any interior photos of books that were labeled as Brittle vs Slightly Brittle vs Tan?

[fifties]

I can't address what CGC considers brittle, only what I've encountered with raw books. 

 When I finish reading a book -using a stand to hold it at an upright angle- and there's a little pile of crumbles underneath, the damn thing is indeed brittle.  Because it encounters the most wear, this usually starts at the upper spine area, although turning pages -where the perimeter has turned brown- can also cause chunks to come off.

I guess this is one situation where a slab would be better, so it can't get handled and further deteriorate. 

[Knightsofold]

I've found cgc is not consistent with page quality. 

[Artboy99]

It can be brittle in any part of the book to receive the designation.

[Red84]

Thanks everyone. Considering I was able to flip through every page of my book and no pieces or cracks were created I am going to be more inclined to purchase brittle and slightly brittle books going forward.

[Junkdrawer]

I have cracked and resubbed books with slightly brittle pages thinking the book wasn’t all that bad. Came back again with slightly brittle. So I’d say they are seeing something at that level of PQ. 

[Robot Man]

Brittle is one of the few defects I just can’t tolerate. What good is a book that falls apart in your hands? Thusly, I won’t touch anything with this notation unless I can handle the book. This leaves out CGC books unfortunately. 

[fifties]

2 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Brittle is one of the few defects I just can’t tolerate. What good is a book that falls apart in your hands? Thusly, I won’t touch anything with this notation unless I can handle the book. This leaves out CGC books unfortunately. 

Couldn't have said it any better.  Brittle or trimming are definite no-no's here.

[Knightsofold]

13 hours ago, fifties said:

Couldn't have said it any better.  Brittle or trimming are definite no-no's here.

Exactly.  Please everyone, price your books with these defects at least 1/2 off or even at 1/4 the non brittle/SB or trimmed price.  Thank you.

[fishbone]

19 hours ago, Junkdrawer said:

I have cracked and resubbed books with slightly brittle pages thinking the book wasn’t all that bad. Came back again with slightly brittle. So I’d say they are seeing something at that level of PQ. 

me too

[badback83]

A few years ago I purchased a Torch 1.  It was CGC 3.0 SB.  I was very happy with it as it had wonderful eye appeal.  Some time later I decided to part with it to get something else.  I did have a surprisingly difficult time finding a buyer for it.  Everyone was very turned off by the slightly brittle designation.  It took me by surprise for sure.  I offered it to a very well known dealer that is on these boards and the negotiations pretty much stopped before they really even got started when this person saw the PQ.  I eventually sold the book and it worked out.  Food for thought I suppose.  Even on what I thought was a “big book” and PQ didn’t matter, turns out, it does.

[Badger]

I have one brittle book that I bought because I've yet to see another one that was not brittl(USA Comics #8) and I have another book that I read before submitting which came back as slightly brittle (Archie #23).  The Archie #23 did not have pieces falling off and there are not little pieces in the slab so ...

 

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[badback83]

10 hours ago, Badger said:

I have one brittle book that I bought because I've yet to see another one that was not brittl(USA Comics #8) and I have another book that I read before submitting which came back as slightly brittle (Archie #23).  The Archie #23 did not have pieces falling off and there are not little pieces in the slab so ...

 

e

Both are gorgeous.

[mwotka]

I find the grading on PQ for brittle and slightly brittle to be confusing and perhaps too subjective.  I'd love some clarification on what exactly merits each designation, but it seems like a trade secret, further muddying the waters.  I've seen books with one bad corner get brittle and I've seen books that look brittle or have flakes coming off the cover getting a non-brittle designation.  And I've seen books with a brittle cover and great interior pages, how to rate that?  In my mind there is too much stigma with the designation.  If you've got a book with a brittle spine and the pages have all split or are in danger of splitting if it gets open, that is obviously not good.  But a book that was stored in a stack with an edge or corner hanging out that got exposed to bad conditions and has one flaking edge or corner but is otherwise structurally sound, I'm far less concerned about that.  But I find no way to judge that based on current designations when it is in a grading slab.  I would be absolutely thrilled to own either of the above books.  Perhaps they should start rating level of brittleness, beyond just saying slightly, and indicate what part of the book is brittle.

[Sqeggs]

34 minutes ago, mwotka said:

I find the grading on PQ for brittle and slightly brittle to be confusing and perhaps too subjective.  I'd love some clarification on what exactly merits each designation, but it seems like a trade secret, further muddying the waters.  I've seen books with one bad corner get brittle and I've seen books that look brittle or have flakes coming off the cover getting a non-brittle designation.  And I've seen books with a brittle cover and great interior pages, how to rate that?  In my mind there is too much stigma with the designation.  If you've got a book with a brittle spine and the pages have all split or are in danger of splitting if it gets open, that is obviously not good.  But a book that was stored in a stack with an edge or corner hanging out that got exposed to bad conditions and has one flaking edge or corner but is otherwise structurally sound, I'm far less concerned about that.  But I find no way to judge that based on current designations when it is in a grading slab.  I would be absolutely thrilled to own either of the above books.  Perhaps they should start rating level of brittleness, beyond just saying slightly, and indicate what part of the book is brittle.

We had this discussion in another thread not too long ago and I agree with you.  I think they should introduce an intermediate grade between SB and Brittle (Moderately Brittle?). As it is, Brittle covers way too much territory, from a bit of flaking along the spine to the book practically disintegrating in your hands.

I suppose there's also a fourth category:  Too brittle to encapsulate.  I had a book returned for that reason a while back, even though the book could be read if you were very careful about turning the pages.

[ender]

There is a More Fun 54 on HA upcoming auction that is graded by another company and has "slightly brittle" pages.  It is a beautiful 5.5 but unless it goes in the price range of a 1.8 I probably would not be interested and I am very forgiving on most lower grades, married covers and pages, don't bother me, but the idea of me doing nothing and the book just falling apart, is horrifying!

[Sqeggs]

6 minutes ago, ender said:

There is a More Fun 54 on HA upcoming auction that is graded by another company and has "slightly brittle" pages.  It is a beautiful 5.5 but unless it goes in the price range of a 1.8 I probably would not be interested and I am very forgiving on most lower grades, married covers and pages, don't bother me, but the idea of me doing nothing and the book just falling apart, is horrifying!

I've had some SB books that have only the tiniest bit of flaking at the top of the spine.  Admittedly they are further down the road to ruin than are books without that problem, but they can still be read without damage and may well not deteriorate much further with proper storage. 

Still, I agree that I would probably not buy them except at a substantial discount from FMV for the grade, unless they were otherwise very well presenting.

[ThothAmon]

It's a real punch in the gut when you view a shipped CGC invoice and the universal is there, yes!, the grade is better than you expected, yes!, and then you see the slightly brittle or brittle page quality, woe is me.  I think the marketplace punishes them so badly becomes it reminds us all of our own mortality.  Nothing lasts forever.

[Sqeggs]

15 minutes ago, ThothAmon said:

It's a real punch in the gut when you view a shipped CGC invoice and the universal is there, yes!, the grade is better than you expected, yes!, and then you see the slightly brittle or brittle page quality, woe is me.  I think the marketplace punishes them so badly becomes it reminds us all of our own mortality.  Nothing lasts forever.

Not even me?!