Slappy Jones Posted June 19, 2019 Share Posted June 19, 2019 3 minutes ago, The Lions Den said: I'm glad to hear that things went well. I certainly look forward to seeing the books... Oh hell, now it's on my mind, I gotta do one... FF36, bought it a decade ago on EBay. Truly blinding white pages, mostly nice sharp square corners, staples firmly attached everywhere without even a hint of splitting, no foxing whatsoever, clean staples, no rust, glossy, supple, good alignment, no spine roll, absolutely no color-breaking creases other than half a dozen very faint spider creases on the spine and a very (very) slight tanning ring starting around the perimeter of the cover . One standout issue only; two moderate abrasions along the spine around the lower staple, does not affect attachment at all. I was expecting it to come back 9.0, so I was kinda disappointed but just chalk it up to the learning curve... So my question/observation is that assuming I am correct in all of the other items as stated above, how does it come back an 8.0? What I'm speculating is that while I considered the abrasions to be a fairly minor issue, not enough to 'ding' a full grade, CGC takes a significantly leaner view. Take a good look at the pic; each abrasion is not much longer than the staple, and at only one spot to you see some inside paper showing thru - it seems quite minor relative to all the other overwhelmingly positive qualities to the book. I remember reading in Overstreet once "grade it as it really is, not what you wish it were..." (paraphrasing) which I've always tried to do, but now I have to rethink some aspects of my grading, give even seemingly isolated minor flaws even greater weight... The Lions Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappy Jones Posted June 19, 2019 Share Posted June 19, 2019 2 minutes ago, Slappy Jones said: Oh hell, now it's on my mind, I gotta do one... FF36, bought it a decade ago on EBay. Truly blinding white pages, mostly nice sharp square corners, staples firmly attached everywhere without even a hint of splitting, no foxing whatsoever, clean staples, no rust, glossy, supple, good alignment, no spine roll, absolutely no color-breaking creases other than half a dozen very faint spider creases on the spine and a very (very) slight tanning ring starting around the perimeter of the cover . One standout issue only; two moderate abrasions along the spine around the lower staple, does not affect attachment at all. I was expecting it to come back 9.0, so I was kinda disappointed but just chalk it up to the learning curve... So my question/observation is that assuming I am correct in all of the other items as stated above, how does it come back an 8.0? What I'm speculating is that while I considered the abrasions to be a fairly minor issue, not enough to 'ding' a full grade, CGC takes a significantly leaner view. Take a good look at the pic; each abrasion is not much longer than the staple, and at only one spot to you see some inside paper showing thru - it seems quite minor relative to all the other overwhelmingly positive qualities to the book. I remember reading in Overstreet once "grade it as it really is, not what you wish it were..." (paraphrasing) which I've always tried to do, but now I have to rethink some aspects of my grading, give even seemingly isolated minor flaws even greater weight... This is the entirety of the Grader Notes: Comic Description: Fantastic Four 36 3/65 Marvel ComicsGrader Notes:wear spine breaks color Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lions Den Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 (edited) 49 minutes ago, Slappy Jones said: First, let me say that this is a very nice copy, the kind that I personally like. I'd much rather have the wear along the edges of the cover or spine than somewhere in the middle. IMO, the abrasions are the reason this book received an 8.0 instead of the 9.0 (or better) you were hoping for. And it passed the CGC restoration exam, so that's a plus as well. I agree with you that this book has many positive qualities; the centering is nice, the colors look great, the overall presentation is wonderful. I think this is a case where the technical grade was enforced, but nothing was added back to the book. But I can't say CGC is wrong, either---the bottom scuff is particularly troublesome. In any event, it's a great book regardless of those scuff marks. And don't worry about changing your grading system, either. If you only had a couple of books that surprised you, that's still pretty darn good. Thanks for posting it, and I hope I've helped in some small way... Edited June 20, 2019 by The Lions Den Krismusic and Slappy Jones 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappy Jones Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 22 minutes ago, The Lions Den said: First, let me say that this is a very nice copy, the kind that I personally like. I'd much rather have the wear along the edges of the cover or spine than somewhere in the middle. IMO, the abrasions are definitely the reason this book received an 8.0 instead of the 9.0 (or better) you were hoping for. And it passed the CGC restoration exam, so that's a plus as well. I agree with you that this book has many positive qualities; the centering is nice, the colors look great, the overall presentation is wonderful. I think this is a case where the technical grade was enforced, but nothing was added back to the book. But I can't say CGC is wrong, either---the bottom scuff is particularly troublesome. In any event, it's a great book anyway. And don't worry about changing your grading system, either. If you only had a couple of books that surprised you, that's still pretty darn good. Thanks for posting it, and I hope I've helped in some small way... yep, sure helps, just looking for some confirmation from a 2nd set of eyes, thank you! The Lions Den and James J Johnson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbeard Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 On 6/19/2019 at 4:31 PM, Slappy Jones said: Oh hell, now it's on my mind, I gotta do one... FF36, bought it a decade ago on EBay. Truly blinding white pages, mostly nice sharp square corners, staples firmly attached everywhere without even a hint of splitting, no foxing whatsoever, clean staples, no rust, glossy, supple, good alignment, no spine roll, absolutely no color-breaking creases other than half a dozen very faint spider creases on the spine and a very (very) slight tanning ring starting around the perimeter of the cover . One standout issue only; two moderate abrasions along the spine around the lower staple, does not affect attachment at all. I was expecting it to come back 9.0, so I was kinda disappointed but just chalk it up to the learning curve... So my question/observation is that assuming I am correct in all of the other items as stated above, how does it come back an 8.0? What I'm speculating is that while I considered the abrasions to be a fairly minor issue, not enough to 'ding' a full grade, CGC takes a significantly leaner view. Take a good look at the pic; each abrasion is not much longer than the staple, and at only one spot to you see some inside paper showing thru - it seems quite minor relative to all the other overwhelmingly positive qualities to the book. I remember reading in Overstreet once "grade it as it really is, not what you wish it were..." (paraphrasing) which I've always tried to do, but now I have to rethink some aspects of my grading, give even seemingly isolated minor flaws even greater weight... Those abrasions are significant. One should bear in mind in the SA, there are a population of 9.4 and above on almost all SA books. This is not true for GA books. I strongly agree with CGC assessment of this book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappy Jones Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 30 minutes ago, Redbeard said: Those abrasions are significant. One should bear in mind in the SA, there are a population of 9.4 and above on almost all SA books. This is not true for GA books. I strongly agree with CGC assessment of this book. Good points, I appreciate the input. I'm not saying I necessarily disagree with CGC, more like working through the learning curve, trying to get a better feel for it on an ongoing basis. I had a similar issue on the Iron Man 55 that I submitted as well; had all the qualities of a solid 8.0 except for a small (1/4") chip out of the top corner of the back cover, came back as a 7.0, so what I'm taking away is having to put an even greater weight on 'singular' flaws. Conversely, I submitted an Avengers 4 that I expected to come back as a 5.5-6.0 just due to the overall wear, and it came back as a 7.0. In all, 13 books I submitted have come back; 3 came back with the exact grade I expected, 4 came back better than I expected, and 6 came back lower. Of the 10 that were different, 8 were off only by 1/2 grade. So this entire exercise for me is just fine-tuning!... The Lions Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappy Jones Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Just now, Slappy Jones said: Good points, I appreciate the input. I'm not saying I necessarily disagree with CGC, more like working through the learning curve, trying to get a better feel for it on an ongoing basis. I had a similar issue on the Iron Man 55 that I submitted as well; had all the qualities of a solid 8.0 except for a small (1/4") chip out of the top corner of the back cover, came back as a 7.0, so what I'm taking away is having to put an even greater weight on 'singular' flaws. Conversely, I submitted an Avengers 4 that I expected to come back as a 5.5-6.0 just due to the overall wear, and it came back as a 7.0. In all, 13 books I submitted have come back; 3 came back with the exact grade I expected, 4 came back better than I expected, and 6 came back lower. Of the 10 that were different, 8 were off only by 1/2 grade. So this entire exercise for me is just fine-tuning!... I'm starting to think of it more like plotting on a bell curve, once you get to a certain point of high grade any flaws start to count exponentially... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
