OP here
a few points:
1) i'd be surprised if CGC didn't already have some kind of formal spot-checking/inhouse quality control system in place. i doubt they train their graders and then just cut them loose w/o any further review. it's possible, but it's hard to imagine any successful company not already having a review program
2) rockmy...., your info on what this has sold for recently appears to be wrong. the 2 most recent copies of cgc 9.6 on ebay were both right around $3K; mine is certainly not 50% more than that. also, when i said "i priced mine at a high/9.6 price," i didn't mean "high 9.6," (high for a 9.6), i meant a high price.... a 9.6 price! heck, even though i disagree w/it, cgc gave it a 9.6, so that's what i'm selling it as. anyone who wants to return it cuz they have higher grading standards than cgc (who i personally think overgraded this book) is welcome to return it. also, i priced mine a little high cuz there were no other 9.6's on ebay at the time i put it up there. so they can buy mine, a little pricey, or consider lower grades or higher (9.8?), if they exist. lastly, as a 10-yr ebay seller, i have evolved what i think is a good pricing strategy: start very high, and lower it each month. you might get an impulse buy at the very high price, but on avg., it sells for less, i.e. what the market will price it at
3) in conclusion, i'm an old-school comic guy who went w/the changes as they came down the pike. ok, no such thing as mint, NM highest, etc., but then, ok, something called NM+, etc, etc.... all i have is my common sense to guide me, and that reasoning ability suggests that if 10 is perfect, then 9.8 should be virtually perfect, maybe 1 tiny, half thing somewhere, and 9.6 maybe a tiny thing somewhere. that's me, that's my logical mind. setting aside cgc for a moment, as an ebay comic seller (w/100% feedback; my grading has been described as spot-on), when i look at high grade books, i know something amazing gets 9.4, virtually no flaws, and something w/a little flaw or two (frankly, like this TOD 10) will get a 9.2. i suspecdt that under cgc's microscopes and bright lights, most items i might consider higher than 9.4 would probably not earn a higher grade. maybe they would. as we've all said, it's subjective... 9.6 vs. 9.8.... etc.....
but i know what a 9.2 is, or thought i did. same for 9.4. this book, to my thinking, has too big a problem in that one corner, to say nothing of a couple other little things, to earn a 9.6. in my opinion, cgc overgraded it, based on my knowledge, experience and powers of reason as explained
thanks y'all for the input and the help, and your opinions are always of interest to me!