grading Fantastic Four #3 2 2

[ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE]

Hi folks, 

Looking to see what people might think this is. I bought this on ebay for $320 and think its criminally underpriced. When I saw it I flipped my lid and bought IMMEDIATELY.  I thought maybe there would be something wrong inside, but nope it looks GREAT.

In my opinion this is easily a 4 or 5 maybe higher considering inside pages look pretty white. Check it out.

[The Lions Den]

Are you thinking of having it professionally graded?

[ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE]

18 minutes ago, The Lions Den said:

Are you thinking of having it professionally graded?

Honestly not really, I might to slab a lot of my comics at this point but really I'm collecting because I love the FF and kirby. I'm not looking at it as an investment or to ever sell them but offhand I'd like to know the ballpark value/grade.

 

[Cliff R.]

I may be wrong, but it looks like the right edge was trimmed. On a perfectly centered copy, the 12c circle just barely touches the left edge, and the Fantasti-car just barely touches the right edge. Your copy is slightly off left of center. There should be more paper visible on the right edge.

 

[ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE]

I dunno if you look at these other ones the right edge looks normal , it’s the left edge that’s off.

[James J Johnson]

1 hour ago, Cliff R. said:

I may be wrong, but it looks like the right edge was trimmed. On a perfectly centered copy, the 12c circle just barely touches the left edge, and the Fantasti-car just barely touches the right edge. Your copy is slightly off left of center. There should be more paper visible on the right edge.

 

It looks uncomfortably lean on the right edge with respect to where the artwork ends on that side, but IMO, it's not trimmed. It's typical of many early Marvels that when centered left at the spine carry major elements of artwork very close to the right edge that sometimes have codes and artwork that a good portion of are cut off on, like ST 101, FF 12, JIM 83, and others. IMO, this will ace the resto detection phase at CGC for trim.

Edited January 22, 2019 by James J Johnson

[ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE]

Thanks for your insight 👌

[The Lions Den]

I really like the page quality on this book---it has a nice, fresh look to it. I wonder what the back cover looks like... 

[bondtrader54]

getting past restoration questions, which is what the thread has been so far,i'll go 6.0 maybe 6.5. Inside is flat out white.

[ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE]

Thanks for being the first person to offer a grade. And I forgot to show the back page 

[The Lions Den]

Thank you for the picture of the back cover. From what I can see, I'm comfortable with 6.0. 

[ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE]

3 minutes ago, The Lions Den said:

Thank you for the picture of the back cover. From what I can see, I'm comfortable with 6.0. 

right on, thanks

[Cliff R.]

17 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

It looks uncomfortably lean on the right edge with respect to where the artwork ends on that side, but IMO, it's not trimmed. It's typical of many early Marvels that when centered left at the spine carry major elements of artwork very close to the right edge that sometimes have codes and artwork that a good portion of are cut off on, like ST 101, FF 12, JIM 83, and others. IMO, this will ace the resto detection phase at CGC for trim.

I hope so, it's a beautiful copy.  ORRGO got a heckuva deal on this.

[ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE]

2 hours ago, Cliff R. said:

I hope so, it's a beautiful copy.  ORRGO got a heckuva deal on this.

thanks, I agree - if it is indeed a 6 or 6.5  it would go for around $1200

[bondtrader54]

21 hours ago, ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE said:

Thanks for being the first person to offer a grade. And I forgot to show the back page 

you're welcome and i only went 6-6.5 because of the questions surrounding restoration. I had a 7 in 7.0 with a sealed tear on the FC of a few inches. It def did't look as good as your #3.   If this is unrestored i can see 7.5-8. However the way prices are today the price you paid kinda indicates some restoration. What you paid was more like a 2005 price which never happens today.

[vaillant]

Here’s mine for a comparision. I agree one should not automatically assume trimming for inconsistent cutting, as often the Silver Age books weren’t the same length or width, it could vary a bit, probably according to different "tranches" in the print runs as well.
If it can help, mine was graded by the professional dealer from which I bought it as a VG. Maybe it’s harsh and I’d agree on a VG+, so I would judge your copy as a VGFN.
The wear on the spine and the creasing on the back are excessive for a full-FN range book, IMO (by Overstreet/average standards as well).

Out of curiosity, did you purchase it recently? That’s a great price.

[DR.X]

7 hours ago, vaillant said:

 Maybe it’s harsh and I’d agree on a VG+, so I would judge your copy as a VGFN.
The wear on the spine and the creasing on the back are excessive for a full-FN range book, IMO (by Overstreet/average standards as well).

+1 maybe a tad more.

too much going on with the back cover plus the tear on the bottom edge. The corners just look too sharp to me when I look at the other defects involved. still a good book to get graded.

[ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE]

Hey yeah I bought it 2 months ago. The same seller on ebay had a few things I thought were underpriced and I checked back and people had bought his other stuff as well. Sometimes I think people just don't know what they have. I bought it for $320 which should be like .5 or 1 level copy. Whether it's restored or not I'm very happy with it. I might send it into CGC next month, we'll see.

your copy def looks better than VG

Edited January 24, 2019 by ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE
added more

[vaillant]

20 hours ago, ORRGO THE UNCONQUERABLE said:

Hey yeah I bought it 2 months ago. The same seller on ebay had a few things I thought were underpriced and I checked back and people had bought his other stuff as well. Sometimes I think people just don't know what they have. I bought it for $320 which should be like .5 or 1 level copy. Whether it's restored or not I'm very happy with it. I might send it into CGC next month, we'll see.

your copy def looks better than VG

It‘s a bit "crumpled" (not much visible in the scan) but yes… generally flat, quite fresh and nice. Very happy with it even if it has very minor color touch, which I do not care about at all.
I scored it on eBay as well some 3-4 years ago, yours was definitely a great deal.