Some work out and some don't.

When it comes to grading, I am very strict and tend to undergrade books. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised by an unpredicted 9.8 than be sure of the grade and wind up disappointed.

I've had plenty of books that I hoped were 9.8 but secretly thought might wind up 9.6, but getting a signature on it made it worth the gamble. In most cases I get the 9.8 but in some cases the books match my secret certainty.

I seem to be mostly in my element with Copper Age books and graphic novels. No surprise since this is the era that made up the bulk of my original collecting days with my dad. Bronze Age is a little tougher for me, but for some reason I seem to be pretty close or right on the money with Silver Age books, which is odd considering I never owned very many of them in my collecting lifetime.

But don't ever ask me to accurately grade a raw squarebound annual. Sheesh, I just can't seem to be accurate on those for some reason.

Anyway, I have a few invoices that finally went shipped/safe over the weekend and among the books on them was a copy of What If? #39.

I picked this book up from a dealer at Supercon 2013 in Miami last year. A quick look told me it was 9.8 material, so for $5 I got it. Later on, when I really looked it over more carefully, I wasn't so sure anymore, and the pages appeared to me as Off White/White. So I put this book down as 9.6 with an upside of 9.8.

I held onto it for a full year until I saw that Ron Wilson was a guest at Tampa Bay CC 2014. I was already planning on cracking my Masters of the Universe #4 for him to sign, but I don't like having just one book for an individual to sign most of the time, so I took my raw What If? #39 along as well for Ron to sign.

I got the MOTU back already since it wasn't pressed, but I had this one pressed to give it a better chance, so it took a little longer. But now it is back and I can see how my grading prowess held up. I had prepared myself to accept 9.6 OW/W. The result?

What If? #39 - SS 9.8 WP signed by Ron Wilson

Wow! As I said, I would so much rather be surprised by a higher grade than expected instead of disappointed by a lower grade. This one not only surpassed the grade I had prepared myself for, but the page quality also surpassed it!

It is now an OAK, being the single highest SS copy!

To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.