AJD

As pointed out, that's rust migration from the staples into the paper. Incidentally, the book with shiny staples and rust stains has almost certainly had the staples cleaned or replaced, so would get a conserved grade.

Jon is right. And it's worth adding that many comics published during WW2 had a single central staple. Those are even more prone to having missing parts.

I've done a fair bit of mathematical modelling over the years, and I think the comic market would be doable to an extent, but of doubtful utility. You'd need to have variables for the valuation of major market segments, and the rates of change of those could be pulled from data. You'd need to model couplings between market segments and estimate those ... blah blah blah. Or you could just look it up here. Edit: having skimmed the paper and reading key bits of it, they haven't approached it the way I would. But they are from a mathematics and statistics background and I was in the physical sciences. I'd be more interested in the market as a dynamic system of coupled variables, while their approach looks more like statistical regression at its heart, though with some dynamics through inputs such as 'deterioration rate' and even 'death rate of original purchasers' (!). In any case, the results are so-so (as I expected).

And just like that another thread goes off topic to talk about Hollywood dynamics.

You can't stop me. I love a good crack party. That said, I have a couple of slabbed books that I thought got generous grades, and those are staying entombed!

Well, there are a few possibilities. 1. The Meyers dropped their suit. (Unlikely after fighting through an appeal) 2. CGC made a payment to make it go away 3. The wheels of justice are turning very slowly

Sure, we all collect because we love the medium. But I think it's also worth understanding the opportunity cost (or benefit) of being in the comics market relative to other uses of the money we spend.

Well, a lot of it is quotations of what happened here, so at least it's consistent!

Seems that CGC were successful at trial in having the case dismissed, but an appeals court overturned some of the lower court's findings to do with defamation after the Meyers appealed. https://casetext.com/case/meyers-v-certified-guar-co According to this, the appeals court ruling meant that the court thought that some of the Meyers claims should be put to a jury. That was in late 2019 and I don't know what happened after that.

Not GA, but you'll forgive me, right?

Australian G351 (1965) - reprints Four Color #857

2.0 for me

What he said

I was thinking 3.5 as well, though squarebounds seem to get a discount

5.5 for me, with the caveat that it's me grading it