Mr. Zipper

1.8

I struggle to grade based on a series of disjointed, partial photos. Sorry. I miss the days when people used scanners and not phones.

Tough round. I find books that overall look like "x grade" but have one large prevailing flaw to be a challenge.

There doesn't seem to be black on the opposite side, but there is a suspicious looking spot that seems to correlate. Maybe it's green?

Actually the notes state "very light" spine roll. In my opinion, that is extensive spine roll and I'd be surprised if that was the book that initially obtained the 4.5 grade.

UV light is unreliable for detecting color touch. The best detection tool is your eyes and bright natural light. Color touch will be where there are creases that break color. So the highest likelihood is along the spine or open edges -- not in the center of the cover. Look closely along the spine for rough spots/breaks in the surface of the paper that do not break color... that will be your color touch. You can also use your fingers to feel for a rough spot where the surface of the paper was broken.

Was this book pressed? It appears wavy at the top and bottom, which is often a sign of poor pressing and will ding the grade. 7.5/8.0

This is always a tough book to grade by scan... the dark pattern makes it difficult to hone in on issues. That said, there are a lot of color breaking spine creases and thumbing creases. I agree with @awakeintheashes ... 6.5/7.0 even with a press.

I think the soiling, edgewear and spine issue are going to put it in 4.0/4.5 range.

Haha. On a serious note, there should be no bags, backpacks, purses, etc allowed in any room that has books. Employees should have a locker room where they can secure their bags. Body cavity searches would probably be unnecessary because we all know what that would do to the grade that no clean and press would ever fix.

After a strong first round, this was brutal. Mopsy and Cutie Pie killed me.

The funny (or maybe not funny) thing is... thieves almost ALWAYS come from the inside.

Crisis on Infinite Earths #1: Outsiders figure out a way to swap inner well of lower grade book into a CGC case of a higher graded book. Submit for reholdering and end up with a new case from CGC at the higher grade. Crisis on Infinite Earths #2: Two CGC employees steal customer books, submit as their own and sell on eBay. They also copied legit CGC labels and inserted into slabs with lower grade books. Matt Nelson was interviewed and commenting on Crisis #1 and stated insiders were not involved. The OP here has issued with that, even though they are two different situations.

No kidding. I served on the local library board. No one could write a check of any amount without signoff from two other people. This is common sense fiduciary best practices.

Shocking if true. Literally every single business in the world that deals with items of value has internal controls to prevent insider shenanigans.

I think you're stretching to connect two completely different situations because they may have a common theme, i.e., lax internal controls.

Aren't they two different situations?

I would have assumed there is a secure series of restricted access rooms with cameras, badge swipes, bar coded submissions packets, etc. that would make it impossible for someone to simply take books off a shelf and "bring them back to their desk" without it being immediately flagged.

Looking at this a second time, the right open edge concerns me. On the expanded photo it looks a little rough/abraded and wavy. It could just be an optical illusion, but I hope it's not trimmed.

Books that overall appear to be high grade, but have one prevailing defect like a stain are always the toughest to grade IMO. Does the grade drop to a certain level simply because it has a moderate stain, or do you start at the grade without the stain and deduct from there? I suspect it's the latter. Assuming it's around 9.0-9.2 without the stain, I'd knock off a point or so and call it a 7.5/8.0.

Whether it's an arrival date or unrelated writing, I don't think it will have any effect at this grade level. Nice book. 7.0/7.5

Wow. Kudos to the presser. I would have thought there was a bit too much "touch" to the corners for a 9.8... they must have flattened up nicely.

6.5 due to top edge overhang and the rounded bottom right corner.

7.5/8.0

7.0. Nice looking book. This issue is commonly miscut... the top is narrower than the bottom.