Jimmy Mint

I just got a copy of 75 and noticed the hologram was very blue looking. I looked at my other copies and this hologram is clearly more blue where the others are green/ yellow. Not much info out there on them but I knew I had read about a blue hologram somewhere before. I'm going to submit mine it looks pretty nice 9.4 - 9.6 maybe. - Jimmy Mint

Yes. Very possible. It's stapled before it gets trimmed. The staples are done by machine but can vary in the event of a miss-feed. Also could vary if the machine was worked on during the production and the position of the staples was moved on accident. Good to know thanks, I think I'll keep the one with the closer staples because the cover is straighter

Protecting their grading standards could also be considered intellectual property that they don't want potential competitor grading firms to copy or say "we use cgc standards" so there may be actual standards written somewhere but it would be considered proprietary information. Just a thought. I personally don't see any big secret between what is a 9.8 and a 9.6 and 9.4 and members are successfully submitting books and getting good grades all the time, just takes a keen eye and you have to remove the emotional attachment to a book you have saved for 15 years and never touched. Just because you were careful with it and loved it don't make it a 10! LM410

I'm very new so if there are formal written standards from CGC about grading I don't know about them. I would imagine it would be almost impossible to write down EVERY single possible reason for giving a comic a particular grade. Given that damage to a book can occur an infinite number of ways how could you account for every possible defect? One book has a blunt corner and everything else is perfect, another has a semi circle ding where someone placed a coffee mug on it, another has a crease, the list would never end. So the CGC method of letting multiple graders give unique blind opinions seems to be the most honest way to conduct an otherwise "imperfect" process. But again, my point ultimately is that CGC is in my opinion providing a service that is needed, and seems to be well received and valued by other collectors. How do I know? Because CGC books sell for more than other graded books, indicating buyers seem to trust their opinions, and better yet they trust when they go to sell their book they can have a better idea what they expect to get for the book. The very cash we spend every single day is just paper, but we accept its value because we know we can use it to buy stuff, we know stores will take the money. If I have a CGC book I know what it is worth because I can easily check the going price for it. If you feel that CGC grades unfairly, is crooked, manipulating the system etc then you dont accept their standards either written or unwritten, you dont accept that value, then thats your choice and you can go along collecting any way you like. I stand by my statement that CGC is the yardstick by which to grade / compare comic book condition relative to the market as a whole.

Got a stapling question - may have been addressed already but I dont have time to scan 30 pages. I have two copies of Wolverine #1 88 series both 9.8 and as I inspect the two books to decide which one to keep and which to sell I notice that the two are stapled in different positions. One (book A) has the high staple about 1.25" from the top edge of the book, the second (book B) high staple is about 1.75" from the top edge almost a full staple width lower than the first book. The lower staples are even more significant. The first book (book A) lower staple is about 1" from the bottom, in line with the Spidey face. Book B is stapled about a half inch above the spidey face. Almost like book A was stapled wider, closer to the edges and book B stapled closer together with wider gaps from the edge. Long story to a simple question, how and when are the books stapled and if they are machine stapled why the variation? I have no reason to suspect these books have been altered or restored and they are cgc graded universal. Could this just be simple machine variations or is there more human involvement to allow for the differences? Thanks guys/ girls

The huge difference in pricing between a 9.4, 9.8 and 9.9 is based on this very fact, that it is MUCH harder to get a book in 9.8 condition. Wolverine #1 in 9.8 is under $100 but for a 9.9 you are going to fork out close to $2,000 just because so few books are given this elite grade. Putting the grade on makes these books a commodity, not just collectibles. LIke everyone else said, if you are getting books back that aren't the grade you expect, or that your expert expects it's not the fault of the CGC. I see no reason they would have to limit the amount of books they grade at a certain condition. When you consider how delicate a comic book really is a grade of 9.8 or better SHOULD be very rare just by their nature. If you don't collect the books for the grade but for your own enjoyment then why such frustration over a 9.4 vs a 9.8 if they are just as nice in your opinion then be happy with that. If you want true 9.8s then either buy them already graded (which you should be able to do if you are paying a pro grader to look at your books, then pay for them to go to cgc, etc $300 is not exactly a huge chunk of money for something so important to you) I just sent off my first batch of books and I tried to make my best guess on the grades before I sent them. When they come back I'll see how close I got, if I'm off I'll know better what CGC is looking for and try to adjust my grading to comply. Your call for standards is right on, but I think CGC is it! They are the accepted standard and their value only increases as more collectors comply to those standards. Calling for wider grading and alleging conspiracy does more harm to the industry more than any 9.4 ever could.

If you are buying books on ebay, especially CGC books its very easy to learn quickly what a fair price is. Just do a search for the book you want to buy, go to the advanced options and select "completed listings". This will show you what other books have sold for either in buy it now or auction form. Don't overpay or chase a book, there will always be another one. For ungraded books stick with sellers with a good record and positive feedback. But don't think you'll get a raw 9.8+ that is shipped through the mail, it just won't happen. Assume the best raw book you'll get without looking at it is a 9.6 or 9.4 no matter how many times they say NEAR MINT, 9.9 GEM MINT they are just hype words to grab you. And most of all HAVE FUN!!