Tom789

Were the grader's notes posted as stated in @CGC Mike's original post or did I just miss them?

9 pts.  Worst score I had was 4 pts for The Thing at 3.0 vs. 5.0 because I thought the nasty back spine was a major defect.

Grades posted for another 4 rounds of pain.

On 7/20/2023 at 12:19 AM, Majikspellzz said:

Hi!! I have a vast comic collection from the 1940's-1990's and I'm currently cataloging them manually in notebooks one by one .. then looking up price guides between a few select sites for references... What advice do you have for me?! I have everything from Star Trek #1 Gold Key, yes, you read that correctly, to Ms Marvel #1, to Weird War Tales to Marvel Chillers #1-6, to Space Family Robinson to Walt Disney Comics and Stories to Turok Son of Stone to Little Lulu... To Debbie Does Comics to big books like thes Marvel Previews, Super Special, Graphic Novels to Heavy Metal to Elf Quest to DC to Love and Rockets to Epic to These cool 10¢ Girl magazines based on beautiful women in film (I've found 2 so far) I know this is a lot of information but I want you to understand the vastness of the unknown land I'm in..

Thanks for any input!! 

 

If you're new to comic books, first learn how to handle them so you don't introduce damage - there should be several videos available.  Then, buy bags, boards and boxes to store them if they're not already stored that way.

It's just a different grading standard set up by CGC, and as the dominant, almost monopolistic, grader in the market, it gets to set the rules.

This has been pressed once by me.  Not cleaned.  No interior or staple issues.

Flaws that I see:

1. Three color-breaking spine ticks.  One of the ticks has a noticeable crow's-foot bend that could possibly be improved with more pressing, but these are very tough for me.

2. Thin strip of faint/light color rub along front spine starting at the top of the top staple and extending down to about the middle of the book.  Can barely make out in photo.

3. Tiny crease, 1/16" or less, top front right cover.  Didn't take a good picture of it.

4. Small creases, bottom back left cover.

5. Slightly tilted miscut such that inner pages are showing on the top right and putting a thin black strip along the back left cover.  There is some small color loss in the center of the strip.

The one you've been waiting for.  (Can't believe I thought this was a good investment at the time).

You might want to check out (1) Jerry the Jitterbug Comic Book Collector - YouTube, which uses some of the conservation techniques you are interested in.

Please sign me up!

On 6/29/2023 at 1:47 PM, Lazyboy said:

Yeah, that happens. It's not all that common, but sometimes covers don't get attached properly during the normal production process.

Interesting.

There usually isn't.

I have no idea what it is. My copy has nothing.

If there's foreign material in the book, that could affect the grade.

The foreign material is just small pieces of paper clinging to the staples and easily removeable.  The mystery deepens.

On 6/29/2023 at 9:46 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Mark Jeweler's insert? If so, your issue would be Qualified.

Correct me if I'm wrong but that insert is usually a full page centerfold?  This looks more like the Tattooz insert from ASM #238.

I have a copy of Iron Man #131 with two sets of staples.  The second set of staples starts at the first inner wrap and appears to be from production - it's hard to see how they could have been added post-production, nor was there any need to as the outer staples are firmly attached.  There are also small remnants of what appears to be an insert hanging from the inner staples inside the front and back covers.  There is no mention of an insert on the outside covers.  The CGC population only lists 2 qualified out of a total population of 211.  Any ideas on what this is and if it would affect the grade?

25 book Economy, (non fast track) opened and CC charged on 12 June. Shipped today 23 June.

1. ADAMANTIUM

2. zzutak

3. scburdet

4. grendelbo 

5. Mars76

6. jbpez

7. youfoundjake

8. JollyComics

9. davidking623

10. Lninefingers

11. AJD

12. Nilo2

13. Comics4all

14. Sandflea

15. topofthetotem

16. BriD

17. thehumantorch

18. Cocomonkey

19. Krismusic

20. Bobpfef

21. Panda2

22. Snowdon

23. Warlord

24. WestCoast Will

25. Flanders82

26. universal soldier

27. marf

28. timfinz

29. pretzelz2001

30 MaxStats

31. C. Spaulding

32. frozentundraguy

33. thingsofstuff

34. Black_Adam

35. Nsschenks

36. Wipple

37. Tom789

May he rest in peace.  

25 book economy order delivered to CGC, 01 June.  Finally entered in their system today, 12 June.  Longest ever for me - I was worried I forgot the packing slip or something.

Finger bends are very tough to press out completely.  I use a tacking iron first, then apply a ball-bearing attachment that came with my iron and run it back and forth over the bend, and finally the full heat press.  Lesser bends might press out completely, but deeper bends will be left with a small crease.  

I like the attachment bearing vs. the loose ball bearings you might see in videos - I think it gives me more fine control.

On 5/30/2023 at 3:51 PM, apoptosis said:

I have been trying to get better at grading, and have started a folder for each grade where I store front and back scans of CGC comics as I find them on the web.  This got me thinking has anyone ever created a database of CGC scans?  I think it might be nice to have a search box where you put in a CGC number just like validation, but you also get scans of the comic itself.

I gather lots of people don't want their comics scanned, or on the web, because scammers can use them to trick others.  However, every time someone sells a slab on eBay or Heritage they are posted for all to see. So the cat is mostly out of the bag.  I think it would be useful to verify that the book you are buying matches what CGC graded beyond the barcode.

Anyways curious if anyone knows of an existing database or would find such a thing useful?

I think your best bet is a site you mentioned in your post.  Heritage has high-quality scans available for registered users of all of their past auctions of CGC comic books, front and back (except the earliest ones may not have back scans).  Registration is free.  So you might want to train by searching for "CGC 9.8", then "CGC 9.6" and so on.

A sharp corner on a 9.8 looks like a ragged horror on high enough magnification. Is there is a maximum magnification CGC allows their graders?

On 5/24/2023 at 10:02 AM, LowGradeBronze said:

Ignore the copyright date. Line below says vol 1 no. 142 then it says March 1975 which matches the cover date. 

Thank you, $43 saved!

On 5/24/2023 at 9:53 AM, LowGradeBronze said:

Are you saying there's a mismatch between the printed indicia at the foot of the splash page and the 'Mar' printed on the front cover?

Yes.  For #142 for example, the indicia says (c) 1974, the cover says "MAR" and entering it in the CGC form it says "3/75".  I'm pretty sure it actually came out in 1974, knowing that comic book publishers usually had cover dates several months in the future.

I have Amazing Spider-Man #142-145 that I want to get graded.  The indicias say they are from 1974, but in entering #142 for grading, CGC says it is from "3/75", which is the cover date.  Which is the correct one to use for the vintage/modern determination?

I use silicone parchment paper for my pressing and I've never gotten a pebbling/canvasing grader's note out of the 100 or so books I've submitted to CGC so far.

On 5/7/2023 at 10:03 AM, scburdet said:

I'd have to agree with this as my earlier Grader Notes post will attest. I will take that ASM16 at 3.0 over the Action Comics at 4.0 all-day, every-day. I would assume a grading error if I was considering buying a 4.0 that looked like that. The ASM is one of these books I can back calculate how a CGC came to that grade regardless of whether or not it matches my standards. The ASM is quite attractive as long as you don't look at the reverse. In addition, I suspect there's some combination of evaluation of a) the tear is one major defect (i.e. each wrap is not counted as an additional defect) & b) the long tear sets the grade around 3.0 and the inner wrap tears are "allowable" in a comic graded at 3.0. Kind of like the Avengers this round. CGC's states shadow is a 8.0-9.8 defect depending on severity. I thought it was bad enough that the overall appearance merited a lower grade than 8.0, but I can see how someone got there with CGC's standards (the name of the game is guessing where CGC lands, not someone else's grading standards). That Action Comics is not attractive with all the creasing and ink loss on the bottom right. No amount of mental contortion gets me to 4.0. You have to assume that the creasing, which is really severe, lowers to 4.0 & the ink loss (and other decfects), which is not as severe, doesn't result in additional deduction. I don't quite buy the 4.0 floor stated in the CGC book for creasing. This would suggest that no matter how many creases a book has they would never go below 4.0. The Grader Notes for the Action Comics, the Batman (round 3) and JIM (round 2) are similar. I don't see how this is internally consistent. If anything, the Action Comics presents closer to the JIM, which I already felt was a charitable 3.0. 

I don't buy the 4.0 floor either.  I have a Tomb of Dracula #10 that has an extreme amount of creasing on the front cover, and it got a CGC 2.0 (which I was happy with).  I don't think the other flaws would have brought it below 4.0.