Rorsack

Thanks, I appreciate the responses. The top right corner looks much better to the naked eye, the defect only comes out under magnification, but it's there.

I've compared it to other CGC graded scans (via my comic shop, a decent resource for this type of thing) and it compares pretty favorably with the 9.0s and falls short of most 9.2s. I will have to go back and look at 8.5s. Hard to believe, but grading inconsistency can be seen when doing comparisons across grades. I swear one of the 9.2s has a rusty staple.

Another, perhaps loaded, question. Is there any premium for this being a newsstand copy in a relatively high grade? My assumption is that at 9.6/8 there would be, but at 9.0 not so much, but curious of other opinions.

Got this off eBay, the listing had dark pictures and I was pretty happy with the condition when I received it, curious what you guys think. There are only one or two very minor spine ticks and some minor corner wear. It's not well centered but that seems common with newsstand copies. 

At least an 8.5, maybe higher if the back cover is cleaned. 

8 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

I agree, I don't know where the OP is observing any Marvel chipping ? At least there are no big chunks missing. 3.0 - 3.5 vicinity.

That's just me misunderstanding what Marvel chipping is. There are a few small missing pieces (most visible in the inside cover picture). That in combination with the overhang edge tears are what I was calling "chipping".

There is a "catch" with this book, however. Its missing an Ad page at the end, but it doesn't effect the story. My understanding is that fact does not effect the grade, but would label it "Qualified". Is that correct?

Thanks for the opinions.

Bumping in hopes of getting some opinions. 

1.8/2.0 

Lots of creasing but no missing pieces/major tears.

I see a 7.5 ignoring the mis-wrap, which I can't guess would do to the slabbed grade.

Looks like a really nice copy to me, but hard to grade because the pictures aren't the best (hard to see the front corners). Maybe it's in the 8.0/8.5 range? 

8.5, you only have 1 good corner out of 4.

The spine looks decent, but that lower right corner is pretty significantly blunted (and maybe even missing a small piece?). 

PGM Daredevil 7

This is a lower grade copy that I was fairly pleased to get my hands on cheaply. It presents well enough for the presumed grade, but I'm a bit stumped as to how the Marvel chipping affects the grade at this level. This was listed as a VG-, which I think it clearly falls short of, but I'm interested in other opinions.

PGM Giant Size Spider-Man 4, 3rd appearance of The Punisher, with Water Damage

I got this rare beauty for an amazing price thinking the water damage was far worse than it actually is. I would think this book would fall somewhere in the VF family without it, but I'm stumped to what it would grade as is.

Thanks for the replies, bumping for a few more opinions.

I got this copy off eBay recently and it came with two surprises. First, the tear on the back cover had been cropped out of the pictures, nice. Second, it has the Mark Jewelers insert, very nice! I'm curious of the grade, and what the premium might be because of the insert.

The copy lays extremely flat, as would be expected. The Marvel value stamp is intact, but no idea how the missing piece affects the grade.

Bump. Hoping for a few more opinions. 

On 10/21/2017 at 3:55 PM, rjpb said:

I see the horizontal white line that goes through the book, but it looks more like a printing defect than deliberate rubbing. Does reflectivity change?

It was definitely deliberate rubbing, from a semi-botched attempt at dry cleaning the black line off the book. To my eye, the reflectivity does not change, but I honestly can't be certain I know exactly what I'm looking for there.

19 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

In defense of the OP, how is one supposed to know that a specific flaw is common to a book ? Most of us, unlike CGC, do not see multiple copies of a book on a daily basis. It's just another reason why I think CGC should NOT allow certain flaws to get a free pass. A flaw is a flaw no matter how it originated. While I would never have tried to remove it, I can see why it bothered the OP. 

This is it exactly. In hindsight I have seen many 9+ graded CGC books with this flaw, so I'm much more likely now to be able to ignore it. Without that hindsight, I saw it as a blemish worthy of removal. Clearly, I made a mistake, but I'm not sweating it. From a few feet away as the book sits in a case on my shelf, the eye appeal has been greatly improved. It sucks that the value of the book was impacted, but live and learn I guess.

I really appreciate all the feedback on this and the other thread. As an amateur collector, these boards are a great resource for me.

10 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

It looks like he tried to remove some of the black lines from the yellow portion also and then stopped when the yellow starting rubbing off ? As far as eye appeal, when looking at this book, it's obvious what happened. The line is intermittent, broken off in the white areas, the yellow area was rubbed off, and as you said you can see loss of cover gloss. Sorry but I think it looks terrible and no value was added, probably lost value because it will now grade lower.

I think this is a pretty fair assessment of what happened. I'm surprised to learn that the grade/value would actually be higher with the black line, so it seems a mistake was made. That's unfortunate, but this isn't really a gradable book, just an entry in my personal collection. I really appreciate the feedback, thx.

I've posted it over here if anyone is curious what the rest looks like:

20 minutes ago, ned said:

Was that done with an eraser or a chemical?

A soft white eraser, no chemicals.

2 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

I don't think your friend should have even attempted to remove that from the front cover. Just stick to the white areas of the Back Cover. It shouldn't be considered restoration, as long as he only did a dry wipe, no chemicals. However, CGC does not like this and it will be taken into account when grading. On a personal level I absolutely hate the sight of something like this. It's obviously not original to the book. Why would you give him nice book like this to work on ? 

Well, this book is intended for my personal collection and the back needed some work. I guess I don't see the harm in removing the black lines from the white portion of the front (I had asked him to try). From an eye appeal perspective, I think value was added (to my eye at least) by cleaning the front. 

I will say, however, that when I saw the color loss I was a bit worried that the value of the book would be diminished if the dry clean was then considered to be restoration. Thanks for the response, its appreciated.

I had a book dry cleaned by an experienced amateur (a friend). The book looks much better but the is some slight color loss around an area that previously had a prominent black mark. You can only really notice the color loss if you know where to look under magnification. 

My question is...since this is noticable, would it possibly be considered restoration? I was under the impression that cleaning is not considered restoration.

Before and after pics attached. 

Maybe a 5 if you clean up the back, which is very doable. 

I see a 3.5.

Finally got my hands on this book at a decent price, curious how you all would grade it. Note the faint line and color rubbing near Elektras belt (a byproduct of removing a prominent black line), that's causing me to be unsure of my personal grade.

Got this from eBay, at a higher grade than I personally think it is, curious what others think. The thing that has me stumped is the color rubbing/scuffing on the top half of the back cover. I have no idea how that affects the grade. Of course you couldn't see this on the pictures from eBay!

I'd say 8, problems being the spine ticks, the upper left corner,  and the slightly miswrapped cover. Is that a tiny chip/abrasion on the lower left corner?