MatterEaterLad

Well, based on the highly scientific sampling study known as "Spider Dan's Book"...I'd say they're 50% accurate. And on that, I'll be starting Bleuhawaii's Coin-Flip Resto Check...

I agree with Dan in thinking that the book probably isn't trimmed. It came back blue twice, purple once, and now declared purple sight unseen. Sounds like a total cover your move by CGC, which is disappointing.

You are taking isolated incidents and extrapolating them like it's common place. It isn't. How do you know it's not more common? How does anyone?

It was probably changed because it sounded better than pregrader. Which sounds better than comic fluffer.

Right thing to do. Thanks for the update. +1 I agree. CGC is doing the right thing. I am perfectly satisfied with this answer. However, regarding the current owner/submitter of this book, what the heck were you thinking ? I can't understand why you would resub this book in the first place and, miracle of miracles, you get a Blue Label and immediately tell Dan about it. What did you expect ? Also, it seems awfully cowardly to do your talking through Dan and not come on here to discuss. It sure makes it appear as if you are hiding something. No no didn't you read Dan's transmission of his statement, this book was meant for his permanent collection to never ever leave again. That's why he immediately paid a couple hundred bucks for a walk-through submission as soon as he bought the book. Uh huh I knew I should have saved my 20,000 th post for a better moment. I have to agree here that resubbing immediately makes no sense whatsoever..... You are right, it makes no sense in the context of "this is for my personal permanent collection". I have books that I've resubbed for my personal permanent collection. Removed the color touch, resub, purple becomes blue. I'm happy. Looks better in my registry, etc.

Bottom line: CGC sucks at detecting trimming. Still haven't heard what's being done about that. It feels like the bias is, if they can't tell if it's been trimmed or not, they're going to say TRIMMED just to be safe. Am I missing something?

Why not speak up? What's he got to lose? Or is there something we're not supposed to know... Whether or not there was any intent to play the system, the buyer and the book (as it sits now) I would think will be forever be labeled. Just like the bathroom book from Seinfeld. Why? He didn't do anything wrong, right?

Why not speak up? What's he got to lose? Or is there something we're not supposed to know...

WTF? This book went from Blue to Purple to Blue...and NOW it's most definitely Purple without even looking at it?! That's

Stop. I just wanted a trim...

My No's are because I'm gunshy of slabbing at the moment, no matter who's looking at the books.

New note on label: graded on day when most graders were out of town.... The label would be pink. Like a "While You Were Out" note.

I'd be surprised if they even opened modern books during the grading process. There should be a contest for who can get the weirdest thing slabbed inside a modern! Centerfold? Brian Bosworth rookie card? Tongue depressor?

Bingo. And no...let's not advocate burning the book. Screw ups and books with history are part of the collecting world. If they want to retire it that's one thing, but CGC destroying a book they screwed up on would be bad press on top of bad press.

For the record, I was going to walk through a bunch of CPR daredevils for my own collection. (I mentioned this on the Journal section a while back). But I'm not now. If it's a "don't hate the player, hate the game" kind of thing...I'm tired of playing.

Ok....if you've identified a problem, propose a solution?? And apparently you can as the marketplace has accepted this since 1998 or whenever CGC was founded. I like grading too and it does add an unbiased element to the business/hobby; but I also realize there are inherent flaws within the same business/hobby. I'd propose that CGC disclose what their grading standards are. Or, as many suspect, there aren't any. It's all reliant on the 30+ year expertise of "Bob", etc. And that's fine too, but at least be clear about that. Is it, "one spine tick = 9.8 becomes 9.4" ... that kind of thing...or is it a merely qualitative judgement? I've always equated CGC graders to NBA refs. There are rules, but different refs call fouls lightly or aggressively. With NBA teams, they know the refs. With CGC, we never know. Is this instance an outlier, or does it happen more than we realize? I'd say everyone's personal satisfaction with CGC is either validated or rattled by this. For me, I've had wonky things happen with purple books, so this confirms what I've always believed, that CGCs grading is more fluid than we realize. And that few speak out because they think they're the isolated exception, while dealers accept the variance, even using it to their advantage when they can (and I don't blame them).

As someone who only sells CGC'd books on his website I'd say you're hardly unbiased. Staus quo much? Not the status quo...just a realistic approach to an unrealistic expectation. The fact that people here expect perfection from an imperfect product is laughable. The only thing I agree w/in this entire thread is that CGC has a responsibility to handle the situation correctly...and that's on them and only them. Its not the responsibility of this community to determine what they should or shouldn't do..and casting stones before all the information is available is not only ignorant, but shows true colors by many. Take it for what you want...if a mistake was made, is it the end of the world? No...my power still comes on, my fridge still keeps my food cold and I still have a roof over my head.. Its shameful all these first world problems us comic collectors and dealer's have... But CGC is giving out numbered grades and colored labels...in effect, definitive grades. And when something like this happens the answer will be "meh, we're only human." The two don't go together. It's one or the other. You can't have a quantitative number on a qualitative grade. If you do, the whole thing is a farce. (And this is from someone who has 900 slabs in my personal collection. I LIKE grading. But I want transparency).

As someone who only sells CGC'd books on his website I'd say you're hardly unbiased. Staus quo much?

100% this.

But they aren't putting a subjective grade on the slab. They're putting a quantitative number on the label. If they're going to say "grading is subjective" then the label should say 7.5ish. The train has left the station and collided with the PGX train leaving a heaping pile of steaming wreckage.

+1

Sort of. Yes you know the history. You get a book that has been a blue and now is a purple, who would resub it? I wouldn't, you wouldn't. Nobody who buys big books like this would resub so quickly. It wouldn't happen. And contact the seller again? Why? It's just going to cause problems like this. Especially because the resubber was doing this for monetary gain, not curiosity. You don't sub big books for curiosity. So your 1,2, and 3 are not normal. Not saying it's the op but or the seller, but the op needs to address these concerns so we can have a better picture. I would have resubbed it. I might even have flown down and walked a bunch through. I've bought purple books, had the color touch removed, and resubbed for blue (even when it's been a bit of a coin toss).

Especially when "everyone in the building with grading credibility looked at the book, and EVERYONE agreed it was trimmed." Riiiiiiiiight. You didn't read the first post, did you? I read every post. I was agreeing with the above poster.