Ballpoint pen Newsstand date 0

[StyleMantis]

Hi everyone - I'm new to this so please forgive me if this has been asked, but I can't seem to find anything on this in the search (just printed dates). Googling it is giving me very differing answers. 

How badly does a newsstand book get dinged when it has a small hand written pen date on it? I recently found all my old comics in my parent's attic, and many of them have the same date in the corner. As a kid, I remember wondering why they did it and was kind of pissed about it, but looking at the books now I'm hoping it doesn't ruin the value too much. I like it because I remember grabbing these as a kid, but I can do without those memories if it's super costly. I've attached an example, but I seem to have a lot of them with the date. 

Thanks for any help/advise you can offer!

[10centcomics]

I know for older books (e.g., GA or SA), an unobtrusive penciled date or a stamp does not affect the grade since that was a pretty common practice at the time. I'm not sure if that applies for Copper Age books where the practice isn't as widespread. Also is that actually a date? (I can't quite make it out... 4-1?) Sorry I couldn't be more helpful and maybe someone else can chime in as well.

[theCapraAegagrus]

4 hours ago, 10centcomics said:

I know for older books (e.g., GA or SA), an unobtrusive penciled date or a stamp does not affect the grade since that was a pretty common practice at the time. I'm not sure if that applies for Copper Age books where the practice isn't as widespread. Also is that actually a date? (I can't quite make it out... 4-1?) Sorry I couldn't be more helpful and maybe someone else can chime in as well.

That was my question.

[Lukesaurus]

looks like a 44 to me . 

[StyleMantis]

Yes, that's a 4-1 (April 1st?). I have the same thing on my 301, which is 4-29 (a month later) (see attached). I'm sure of it because I remember loving both of these covers and I remember asking if they had any without the dates on them. Happy I found them again, just don't know what to make of it. Any further thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[marvelmaniac]

Read the Grading Standards...

Stamped or INKED arrival dates...

"May be present" up to and including VF 8.0

"Are acceptable" in VF/NM 9.0

"Are acceptable as long as they are in an unobtrusive location" NM- 9.2 to MT 9.9

https://comics.ha.com/tutorial/comics-grading.s?show=comicdefinitions

[StyleMantis]

4 minutes ago, marvelmaniac said:

Read the Grading Standards...

Stamped or INKED arrival dates...

"May be present" up to and including VF 8.0

"Are acceptable" in VF/NM 9.0

"Are acceptable as long as they are in an unobtrusive location" NM- 9.2 to MT 9.9

https://comics.ha.com/tutorial/comics-grading.s?show=comicdefinitions

I see - so this isn't as big of an issue as I thought, but that would explain the confusion I received by googling it. Some may like it, some may not. I'm personally starting to like it more and more, just because I know some guy in a shop 30 years ago wrote on it and I bought it. Seems more unique, but I can see it the other way as well. I don't think any of mine are above a 9.2, so I don't think it'll matter either way. 

Thanks so much - I really appreciate it.