Mr. Zipper

On 2/14/2024 at 9:43 AM, BrashL said:

This only makes sense if your top priority is making sure CGC wins its court cases. As a collector I could care less, what I want is a complete list of affected books, how the books were tampered with, and a new case and transparent process that we can trust again. Punishing one bad actor frankly does very little at this point, that cat is out of the bag.

Perhaps you couldn't care less, but its standard practice that companies don't publicly discuss details of ongoing litigation. This is Communications 101. CGC's winning its court cases is in the direct interest of the customers. It's not about vengeance or recovering money, it's about protecting their brand and the integrity of their service, which benefits the customers. Secondly, the information you demand is likely unknown at this time. Do you want correct information, or just any information for the sake of appeasal? I do agree that the information you seek should be shared publicly, but that's after the conclusion of litigation. 

On 2/13/2024 at 6:45 PM, HighGrade said:

The scammers lawyer is quoting the youtube interview. I didn't think that interview helped CGC's image and did nothing to help the case, it's tough, you want to say things but they should not have done it.  It's nothing terrible to the case but it didn't help either so I'm betting we will not hear anything more until the cases are over. We are not going to hear about new security or holders to stop these clowns, or anything more about the list.  The list is important to find the books in question, but a better way would have been to then keep it private between the owners until the case is over.

This is why I cringe every time some boardie is screaming for CGC to issue updates every five minutes and criticizing because CGC uses words like "approximately" and their statements are not detailed enough. It's common sense that the defense will seek to pick apart every word and use it against CGC. The Nelson interview was probably a mistake. 

  Frankly, they should have issued a very high level statement at the onset and noted that they cannot comment any further because it is an ongoing legal matter. Period. 

On 2/13/2024 at 12:58 PM, paulailp said:

The book is actually in worse shape than when I sent it to him. It had brittle pages and it looks like he broke parts off so he could attempt to cast in new material. This didn’t work and he just stopped working on it.

 

Any other victims please file a complaint with the USPS postal inspectors. They deal with Mail fraud, Cybercrime etc. as the books and payments were shipped across state lines by the postal service. I believe Mike also used the internet to steel or defraud. I was told this fits into their jurisdiction.

 

Mike needs professional help and Jail time. Hopefully he can be cell mates with the tossed Salad Man. 
 

Thanks for everyone’s help support and understanding.

 

 

I am sorry to see this. It's possible this explains the 14 year wait. Your book may have been "broken" soon after receipt. He was in over his head, and rather than face the situation, he sat on it and procrastinated.  

On 2/12/2024 at 3:05 PM, FigaroToe said:

For anyone who has bought from them, does "NM" actually mean Near Mint as in very minor to no spine ticks and no other big issues? I've seen some online comic stores list comics as NM and when I receive them, they're F to VF at best. In other words, how likely will I get a 9.8 out of a NM from these guys?

In my experience, a Mile High NM is likely a VF. Sometimes you may get lucky and get an actual NM. 

I suspect the books are "bag graded" at best. With the volume he has, certainly not every book is opened and carefully reviewed for grading. 

From the centerfold, the staples look dark. Is that rust?

That aside, sweet copy. I think the transverse spine creases are a bit much for the 9.X range. I'd go 8.0/8.5 if there is no rust.

Let me know if you are selling.  

Fun, but a tough contest. Thanks to Mike and CGC for doing this.

I always assume grades are not duplicated in any round. It may have happened once or twice over the years, but generally it doesn't happen. In this contest there were so many times I wanted to give the same grade to more than one book, so I had to force rank them. Overall, this contest was overwhelmingly in the 4.0 - 6.0 range, which was a departure from the past. I think it's actually easier grading a batch of books when the grades vary more... less second guessing for me.

I would think that abrasion on the bottom FC would keep it out of the nine range, but honestly I am seeing 9.Xs from CGC lately that are surprising me. 

I'd go 8.5, but would not be shocked if CGC went slightly higher.

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. 

On 2/6/2024 at 10:41 PM, buttock said:

Is that black bleedthrough under the tape at the bottom edge? 

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?

On 2/7/2024 at 9:35 AM, sledgehammer said:

Do you a theory on what the Terrazzos did here?

What threw me was the mention of light spine roll in the notes.

It didn't strike me as "light", but the grade was clearly screwy.

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.

On 2/2/2024 at 7:06 PM, CitrusZ28 said:

If CGC were a cartel they could require all of their employees to work in the nude.

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. 

On 2/2/2024 at 3:39 PM, newshane said:

Rookie mistake. 

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

On 2/2/2024 at 3:27 PM, newshane said:

Could someone please give me the Cliffnotes version? 

2 different cases? Please explain? 

EDIT: Ahh. So there was an outsider scheme...AND an insider scheme? wow! 

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.

On 2/2/2024 at 3:24 PM, BeardedBubba said:

I've worked for companies that required me to get someone to unlock a cabinet so I could get supplies like pens and paper.  It's shocking if CGC blindly trusted all employees around our books.  The phrase "keeping them honest" comes to mind here.

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. 

On 2/2/2024 at 3:05 PM, shadroch said:

No one anticipated a thief would work on the inside.

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

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.