awildhome

Oh, and yes, I know . . . I have to return the original cert to CGC to have it removed from the census.

As written above, the Marvel Comics Super Special #1 Kiss book was Cracked out of the CGC case . . . bagged, boarded and put back in the storage vault. Nothing else was done - nada - no cleaning, no pressing. I gave it some time before resubmission to CGC . . . my non-trusting nature showing its ugly head. Not that CGC has the time or inclination to see if a submitter has written/complained about a submission and then possibly resubmitted. The results: 1) Grading went from a ludicrous Purple 'restoration' to Universal Blue Label. That was the good news. 2) Grading went from a 9.0 to an 8.0. That's bad news but, frankly, I prefer the 8.0 Blue label to a Purple Label because the book should not have been Purple Labeled (though, this book is in fantastic shape and should be a 9.0 minimum). 3) Grading went from White Pages to Off-White to White. Huh? As with the first Purple Label grade (as I wrote in the posts above), I can theorize how it could have happened. My guess is - the grading did not take place until the last day to meet the current time frame (and, I know, CGC does not have to meet it) . . . book was quickly looked over - and the front cover opened. I'd bet that was as far as it went. For those who know, the inside cover first page of this book is a tannish paper (which can be seen in my earlier photos identifying the small cover split). The rest of the pages are as white as fresh fallen snow. I am not kidding - mint pages. Aside from the small spine split, this book is pretty fresh and clean. Pages are bone-white and colors super vibrant. One has to ask . . . where did the first couple of graders (supposedly, books are looked at by multiple sets of eyes) see that the book had slight restoration/sealing to cover? The grade of 9.0 (due to the small split) with White Pages made sense. Upon a second set of professional graders eyes, the Slight Restoration was now magically gone - Purple turned to Blue - and the book went from a 9.0 White Pages to an 8.0 OW/White? No way. Then again, I had a Venom: Lethal Protector go from a 9.8 to a 7.5, so I guess anything is possible (yes, really. I have pics of that debacle as well - keeping it in the 7.5 slab as a goof to show side-by-side with one of the 9.8's). As 'The Big Guy' would say: Come'on Man! LOL. I've been a collector for some 50 years . . . but only doing the grading/slab thing for a year - a newbie in that sense - mainly as a learning experience and to see where the hobby has gone. In large part it has been positive - I enjoy seeing some of my books slabbed/protected (though I am not sure how robust the 'protection' part is. I guess protected from possible handling wear - for folks that handle their books. Time will tell if there are any issues due to plastic leaching). The anticipation and then receiving a box of graded books back is certainly fun. However, I am on the fence about continuing the grading thing. In my relatively short time doing so, I have personally seen way too much inconsistency just within my few submissions. A couple times just outright ridiculous. I understand that can and does happen to a degree whenever human interaction comes to play. Given that reality, these are purported to be 'professional graders' - with more than one grader inspecting each book and then coming to a consensus. And this process is not inexpensive - both in time, money and potential for complete loss of a cherished collectible. I submitted the book written about in this post twice, at a cost of $100 ($50 each time) with vastly different results. Resub again? With my luck, it would come back a 9.2 White Pages . . . and a Purple Label. Ha. Not to mention the most recent reslabbing scammer (not CGC fault - but one can look to the holders as flawed and not really 'protected'), which has to make people purchasing big-dollar CGC slabbed books question what they bought and what does it do to potential investment or resale? For those of you I interacted with on these boards or have purchased comics from . . . Thank You! I appreciated your thoughtful comments and suggestions. I've learned a lot from you all and will likely still visit the boards from time to time. Who knows . . . the CGC slabbing bug may bite again at some point. Cheers!

I would go 5.5 as well. Maybe this book gets a mercy bump to 6.0 for what it is. Nice Key. Thanks for sharing. Art

Nice copy. Some color rub BC and corner(s) rounded a bit. With a press, 9.2/9.4 Thanks for sharing. Artt

At first glance, I thought the FC had spine tics on parade . . . but it is the artwork from the BC brick wall. Ha. Some creasing FLC and also appears to be some color rub/loss lower edge? 9.2 - 9.4 Thanks for posting. Art

Spine wear (many Tics), color breaking creases, rounded corner(s), BC sun shadowing, etc. I agree with a 5.0. Cool book. Thanks for sharing. Art

There are, what appears to me, to be several spine tics FTLC (near 'May') as well as on the BC. They are small, but there. The FRLC looks a little rounded. The mysterious spot near the UPC box . . . depending on how the CGC graders look at it - or how much time they take trying to figure it out - will make a large impact. My initial impression was someone might have been a little overzealous with an eraser trying to get a pen mark out. But they would have had to really dig in to get to that place. As others have mentioned, hard to say what it is . . . if CGC see something 'on top' or 'removed'. Or, if it were a common printer error. As is, I would say 9.0 - 9.2. Nice copy though, especially for a newsstand. Thanks for sharing. Art

Slight miswrap (white edge) helps the tic appearance, but they are there. Slight LLFC crunch and soiling (hopefully not foxing) on BC. As-is, I'd go 8.5-9.0. C&P should help. Presents nice though. Thanks for sharing. Art

Really? I certainly believe you . . . just seems odd. Why not? Is it the level or amount of writing inside . . . like if a child scribbled the pen mark instead of writing a word, name or date? Forgive me, I'm still learning.

Spine tics, Small amount of color rub/chip (FC), Foxing BC (and FC), possible light rust top staple. 5.5 Thanks for sharing. Art

I'd agree. How's the inside pages? Looks to be in the 8.5 range. Nice copy. Thanks for sharing. Art

Why is that? I want it preserved as best as possible from and accurately graded (as best as can be hoped, at least) for value from a certified grading company. After me . . . it passes along . . . where it goes from there, who knows. LOL.

Could not tell from within the slab itself . . . but the slab was broken upon return in the lower left corner/side anyway. After cracking - and to give kudos to CGC (aside from the aforementioned breakage) the magazine slab is pretty secure. Instead of five minutes to remove a book, it took about eight. I can see where a grader might think or suspect there was some adhesive - there is a small spine split upper cover. The cover itself is pretty heavy, so even though split, it wraps pretty tight. Just looking at it, or trying to gentle pull it up with the cover closed (not sure how to describe that test) does not work. But just a simple sliding of the finger to the edge of the split easily uncovers that there is no 'sealing' taking place. I put a few pics to illustrate. This will be going back at some point . . . hate to have to pay again, but this goes back to childhood memories and it is to stay with me till the end, so I want it to have the proper grade/slabbing. Thanks to all who read and commented. I appreciate it as I continue to learn the deeper ins and outs of GCG. Art

Nice copy. That looks like a pen mark, but an odd place to write on a book. I'd go 9.4-9.6 depending on what CGC finds when they put it under their Titan Krios cryo-electron microscope. Ha. Thanks for sharing. Art

Nice copy. I'd go an easy 9.4. Thanks for sharing. Art