Grading this book

[collector78-migration]

Hello,

I am new to collecting comics and I am new to the forum too. How would you grade this book?There seemed to be a little tear/dent at the bottom left corner and has rounded corners all around the book. It it worth to buythe book?

 

Thank you

The photos can be viewed at:

http://www.heritagecomics.com/auctions/largephoto.asp?0221970076

[THE_BEYONDER]

[collector78-migration]

Hi again, to me the book seemed to be indented substantially at the bottom left corner.

[ninanina]

Lower left corner is banged up quite a bit as well as the upper left, although not as much. I do know, when grading a comic the corners are the first thing to look at. I also know, that cover gloss is extremely important in these Silver Age comics and if like new, the grade can surprise. The only person to decide what this book is worth is the buyer. And that really depends on how much. Problem here, is some bidders may bid on the grade and not the book, which puts you at a disadvantage. 'Cause I am thinking that you are the type of person that would bid based on the book. If the corners really bother you, and it would certainly bother a lot of people (in my opinion) wait for a better copy as even at double guide, I feel it would be too much for this comic. At guide? Yeah....maybe.

 

But that's only my opinion.

 

(And guys, I didn't want to get into any Heritage conspiracy discussion on this, so I left that part out)

[collector78-migration]

Hi ninanina

The book is on sale on ebay and it is for $150. Twice the value of the NM guide. By the way are comics from 71 the silver age?

 

thank you

[ninanina]

The book is on sale on ebay and it is for $150. Twice the value of the NM guide (Overstreet)..Hmm

 

thank you

 

If I were to buy this comic at that price, I would want better corners, regardless of the grade. There are certainly nicer copies out there, I would think even if they are only 9.0's or 9.2's ... Just having a lot of trouble getting past that corner.

 

Quote from overstreet:

 

"Corners are cut square and sharp with ever-so-slight blunting permitted. A 1/16" bend is permitted with no color break."

 

Not only is the color gone in this corner, but so is the paper. Real puzzler.

[DiceX]

The book is on sale on ebay and it is for $150. Twice the value of the NM guide (Overstreet)..Hmm

 

thank you

 

If I were to buy this comic at that price, I would want better corners, regardless of the grade. There are certainly nicer copies out there, I would think even if they are only 9.0's or 9.2's ... Just having a lot of trouble getting past that corner.

 

Quote from overstreet:

 

"Corners are cut square and sharp with ever-so-slight blunting permitted. A 1/16" bend is permitted with no color break."

 

Not only is the color gone in this corner, but so is the paper. Real puzzler.

 

It's a square bound book.

They have looser grades.

[fantastic_four]

It looks like that on the right edge, the front cover has "overflash," or in other words, it extends for about 1/16" farther than the interior pages; this is what makes the right corners look "rounded". They're rounded because they're folding in very slightly due to the overflash. The lower-right looks like there might be some minor color loss along the corner, and possibly a 1/16" crease that breaks color--but this is difficult to verify from the scan.

 

I'm not sure, but I don't believe the paper in the lower-left is totally missing; it looks more like it has been crunched up into the spine. I say this because you can still see part of the black registration line about 1/16" left and up of where it should be in the extreme corner.

 

The defects appear to be related to handling wear, although the lower-left corner could possibly have started out as a bindery tear that got worse after a slight impact. Here are the precise Overstreet corner defect allotments for the 9.4 grade from the 2002 Grading Guide:

 

• Total number of defects allowed across all defect categories = 2 to 3
• Severity allowed for corners = "ever so slight blunting, no creases." Slight translates to defects in the range of 1/32" to 1/16" going by the chart on page 128 of the OGG.

If we assume that the only defects are the ULC, LLC, and LRC, then that's three defects. When I resized the picture to be the same as comics are and measured the defects, the severity of the defect in the LLC was 3/32", the ULC was 1/32", and the LRC was 1/16".

 

Because the defect count is towards the high range of what Overstreet allows in 9.4, and because the LLC is 1/16" more severe than is allowed by Overstreet, I judge this book to be overgraded. I'd put it at 9.2 myself just based upon those three corners, but it could be worse if there is a crease in the LRC or other defects not visible in the scan.

[garthgantu]

What about the truly frightening state of the spine? I know people are much more forgiving about square-bound books, but that spine is hideous. Looks like it might even be separating at the top.

 

That combined with the three corners pushes it down into the VF/NM range, IMO.

 

As for the poster's other question, debate rages as to exactly when the Silver Age ends and the Bronze Age begins. 1971 is generally regarded as the end of the SA and beginning of the BA, I believe...