Having a hard time believing this is a 9.8 3 3

[Darxlot]

Hello all,

I bought a 9.8 CGC signature series ASM 300 recently online and upon inspection, I can see 3-4 spine ticks, 2 of which breaks color (at least in my eyes).

How in the world did this get a 9.8 CGC grade?  I thought a spine tick with color break automatically dropped a comic to 9.6 at best.  To be honest, I’m mad because I spent a fair amount on the comic and received a 9.4 to 9.6 at best in my opinion.  I have another 9.8 of the same comic and it’s day and night between the two in my opinion.  The blue label 9.8 has razor sharp corners, no spine ticks, and the red 300s on the front cover are much more vibrant.  Makes the gold label 9.8 appear orangish when I compare them side by side.

I am going to try and take photo of the comic.  Please let me know your thoughts on the grade.  I can see there are no CGC notes for the comic.  The last three pics show the spine ticks (circled in white).  It appears the front lower right corner is slightly blunted as well, but I cannot tell for sure.  There is a fair about of lint in this corner (see red circle on the second to last picture).  I confirmed this is lint because I can see it casts a shadow and moves with different angling.  The corner has similar coloring as the lint 

Any thoughts on the grading would be appreciated.  I know the comic has been slabbed and cracked open for multiple signings so I’m wondering if the wear I’m concerned about is the result of this.  

Thanks in advance.

Edited November 17, 2018 by Darxlot

[kav]

doesnt look like a 9.8 to me.

[Silver_Couch_Surfer]

Congrats it coming back a 9.8 though! It doesn't look 9.8 to me either. 

[kav]

What you can do is resubmit it so it gets proper grade-

[Silver_Couch_Surfer]

5 minutes ago, kav said:

What you can do is resubmit it so it gets proper grade-

[kav]

1 minute ago, Ovrclck said:

[Darxlot]

To be honest, I find a number of the ASM 300 I’ve seen graded as 9.8s are not 9.8s in my opinion.  The grading scale on these have always been questionable to me.  Feel like CGC is very lenient on this comic.  I’ve seen a number of 9.8s with small tears, easily visual bindery tears from feet away, spine ticks, etc.

That said, this one is better is some ways and worse in others when I compare to all the 9.8s I’ve seen in person for this comic.  

 

[kav]

1 minute ago, Darxlot said:

To be honest, I find a number of the ASM 300 I’ve seen graded as 9.8s are not 9.8s in my opinion.  The grading scale on these have always been questionable to me.  Feel like CGC is very lenient on this comic.  I’ve seen a number of 9.8s with small tears, easily visual bindery tears from feet away, spine ticks, etc.

That said, this one is better is some ways and worse in others when I compare to all the 9.8s I’ve seen in person for this comic.  

 

It's my understanding that bindery tears do not affect grade.

[paperheart]

35 minutes ago, Darxlot said:

Hello all,

I bought a 9.8 CGC signature series ASM 300 recently online and upon inspection, I can see 3-4 spine ticks, 2 of which breaks color (at least in my eyes).

How in the world did this get a 9.8 CGC grade?  I thought a spine tick with color break automatically dropped a comic to 9.6 at best.  To be honest, I’m mad because I spent a fair amount on the comic and received a 9.4 to 9.6 at best in my opinion.  I have another 9.8 of the same comic and it’s day and night between the two in my opinion.  The blue label 9.8 has razor sharp corners, no spine ticks, and the red 300s on the front cover are much more vibrant.  Makes the gold label 9.8 appear orangish when I compare them side by side.

I am going to try and take photo of the comic.  Please let me know your thoughts on the grade.  I can see there are no CGC notes for the comic.  The last three pics show the spine ticks (circled in white).  It appears the front lower right corner is slightly blunted as well, but I cannot tell for sure.  There is a fair about of lint in this corner (see red circle on the second to last picture).  I confirmed this is lint because I can see it casts a shadow and moves with different angling.  The corner has similar coloring as the lint 

Any thoughts on the grading would be appreciated.  I know the comic has been slabbed and cracked open for multiple signings so I’m wondering if the wear I’m concerned about is the result of this.  

Thanks in advance.

 

i'd have to agree with the comment in bold.  were the flaws not apparent in the listing (if it was ebay?)

Edited November 17, 2018 by paperheart

[oakman29]

You've got  to remember 9.8's aren't perfect.

[Darxlot]

19 minutes ago, paperheart said:

i'd have to agree with the comment in bold.  were the flaws not apparent in the listing (if it was ebay?)

I couldn’t see spine ticks anywhere in the pictures.  Assumed there’d be one or two at most.  

Edited November 17, 2018 by Darxlot

[Darxlot]

Ok, so looks like at least two of what I thought were spine ticks appear to be white lint.  

I am going to reholder the comic.  I can see a number of light gray and white pieces of lint within the slab.  This comic was recently slabbed too which is a shame, but there is an awful lot of lint present.

Hopefully this will result in the comic looking better.  There is definitely one spine tick near the marvel logo up top that barely breaks color.  I can see another tick that doesn’t break color.  The original picture is reflecting light rather than a color break.  The two remaining flaws I circled are not spine ticks.  One is definitely lint.  I can see 3 pieces of white lint within 1/2in of the area.  The other is likely lint too, but I cannot say for sure.  Might be a fine scratch.

[JollyComics]

1 hour ago, Darxlot said:

Ok, so looks like at least two of what I thought were spine ticks appear to be white lint.  

I am going to reholder the comic.  I can see a number of light gray and white pieces of lint within the slab.  This comic was recently slabbed too which is a shame, but there is an awful lot of lint present.

Hopefully this will result in the comic looking better.  There is definitely one spine tick near the marvel logo up top that barely breaks color.  I can see another tick that doesn’t break color.  The original picture is reflecting light rather than a color break.  The two remaining flaws I circled are not spine ticks.  One is definitely lint.  I can see 3 pieces of white lint within 1/2in of the area.  The other is likely lint too, but I cannot say for sure.  Might be a fine scratch.

You need few beers until you see it perfect 9.8.

[kav]

1 hour ago, Darxlot said:

Ok, so looks like at least two of what I thought were spine ticks appear to be white lint.  

I am going to reholder the comic.  I can see a number of light gray and white pieces of lint within the slab.  This comic was recently slabbed too which is a shame, but there is an awful lot of lint present.

Hopefully this will result in the comic looking better.  There is definitely one spine tick near the marvel logo up top that barely breaks color.  I can see another tick that doesn’t break color.  The original picture is reflecting light rather than a color break.  The two remaining flaws I circled are not spine ticks.  One is definitely lint.  I can see 3 pieces of white lint within 1/2in of the area.  The other is likely lint too, but I cannot say for sure.  Might be a fine scratch.

Does CGC honor the previous grade or could it come back a 9.6?  Anyone?

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Reholder would result in the same grade. 

I'm gonna guess with all the signatures this book was not signed all at once? It probably started out life as a blue label 9.8 but has since been handled and signed, handled and signed and that has resulted in slight wear. 

Maybe it was a wall book for a spell, and faded just a little from display? 

[speedcake]

Isn't it graded again from scratch after a signing, though?  

Anyway, lint is not spine tics. Hopefully a reholder without all the weird lint inside will do the trick.

[PeasOfCrap]

Buy the grade not the book

[Darxlot]

Yes after signing a comic is regraded.  Last grading was 12/2017.  Going to send off for reholder today.  

It was likely a solid 9.8 originally and has incurred minor wear from three separate signings.  The comic appears to have been graded four times so far.  After the reholder, I should have a better idea if the comic is a soft/gifted 9.8 or not.  It’s signed by nearly everyone on the ASM team and I really like the notation “We are Venom!”.

TAT is about 30 days now so hopefully it looks better afterwards.  Will let everyone know when I get it back.

[rkretz]

I've seen a lot worse cgc 9.8's  

Edited November 17, 2018 by rkretz

[SBRobin]

I could have sworn when you reholdered they evaluate it to make sure the grade should remain the same. Are you guys saying they always keep the grade on a reholder? What if the book gets significant SCS during shipment? CGC won't say "this isn't a 9.8 any more, let's drop to a 9.6?"