RockMyAmadeus

And this is entirely possible...SB is already on record as stating that a particular "highest grade" isn't necessarily given based on that book's individual merit, but rather "is this book the best preserved example we're likely to ever see?" Everyone here can think of 9.6 GA examples. 9.8 Early SA, and 9.9 Late SA books that wouldn't hold up to other, later books in those grades. Does that philosophy still exist...? What say you, Mr. Litch...?

Really? Surely not pre-1990 newsprint, flimsy stock books? Hey, you know me. If I think something's got a strong shot at a 9.9, it's not without reallllllly good reason. As someone who has had several books fail a 9.8 pre-screen, only to be subsequently graded 9.8 on a second go-round, I can tell you for sure that "cusp" books can go either way. I currently have two books sitting in 9.8 slabs that are legit 9.9 copies, and which will be cracked and re-subbed at a time when I feel the grading is most in my favor (keeping in mind that this is two our of several hundred 9.8s) Caveat #1: I would never do this with an already slabbed book, because there may be flaws which prevent it from being higher than a 9.8 that are not visible outside the slab. This only works when I had the chance to sub it myself and physically inspect it. Otherwise, it's just, at best, a waste of another slab fee. Caveat #2: I only do this with relatively low value (in 9.8) books and books that I know have at least an outside shot at a 9.9. For example...my Primer #5 9.8 and Strangers in Paradise #1 9.8 will never see the outside of those cases while I own them. 9.8s they are (and the SIP had the benefit of being reviewed TWICE), but they are legitimately 9.75s. Better than a 9.7, but not quite 9.8 enough to absolutely remain 9.8 on resubmittal (and pressing will help neither.)

About a 1/32" non-color breaking spine stress. A very strong 9.8 can have one. A 9.9 cannot. Easy, cheesy. Next question. But I guess it can have a blunted upper right corner with associated color loss? I've only seen the scan that is on the site, but that is what I observed. Well, no, that criteria is for non-slab damaged books.

I am completely with you on the concept that we will see a handful of 9.9's within 5 years. OK. How is this going to happen? We've discussed pressing, and the fact that the micro defects that separate 9.9s from 9.8s are near universally not pressable. CGC has been up and running 10 years. Hulk 181 is one of the most subbed books. One 9.9 has been graded. Dealers and collectors have subbed the low hanging fruit. So where do you see these 9.9s coming from. From my printing press out back...... Shhhhhhhh......

I am completely with you on the concept that we will see a handful of 9.9's within 5 years. Is the current 9.9 considered by most to be a 9.9? I am a numbers person not a comic expert. I see the numbers of 9.8's growing and too little reason why one or two won't move up to the vaulted class? Will there be a debate on the merit of calling the newly crowned books a 9.9? Absolutely. I would argue that the debate is a political decision and not about the merits of a comics grade. There are probably several hundred to a couple thousand (low 4 digits) books sitting in 9.8 slabs that are markedly superior to *most* 9.8s, and should be in 9.9 cases. When you just look at the numbers... http://www.gregholland.com/CGC/stats.asp ...the numbers of 9.9s and 10s relative to 9.8s is ridiculously out of whack. You've got 1 9.9 for every 62.6 9.8s? That should make it obvious to anyone that those numbers are frightfully out of perspective. However...the ratio of 10s to 9.9s, on the other hand, is a very reasonable 1 to 4. CGC has jealously guarded the 9.9 and 10 grades, and rightfully so...but in that vigilance, they've created a verrrrry wide "9.8 gate", and you end up with 9.8s that are noticeably superior to other 9.8s, which rightfully should be 9.9s (and the corollary that there are 9.8s that should be in 9.6 cases. Granted.) But until and if CGC gets competition, that won't change. Yay for those selling 9.9s and 10s...sad for those who want them.

Woohoo! I've always said.... No one finds 9.9s and 10s....they find YOU. I had a nice chat with Jeremy at SD this last year...very nice guy, and made some wonderful sketches on a current print CPG that I got for a friend. He signed n' sketched 'em fo' free. Cuz he's blizzomb like dat.

6. Darth has subbed like 30 or so by now. How many have you subbed, sonny...? You know the sad thing...? The TOTW 1/2 chromiums that I got, I got directly from Wizard, directly from the printer....so there's *probably* 5-10 more 10s in that batch of about 30 I got. I kid you not. The other funny thing is...there's some film on most of them that needs to be wiped off before subbing. Do you know how hard it is to wipe chromium without scratching the plastic...?

6. Darth has subbed like 30 or so by now. How many have you subbed, sonny...?

Press-to Minto!

About a 1/32" non-color breaking spine stress. A very strong 9.8 can have one. A 9.9 cannot. Easy, cheesy. Next question.

But pressing isn't "new" starting today. It's been going on for a while. You don't think people have been looking at Hulk 181s for the past few years? The reality is, pressing a book into a 9.9 isn't like just turning the press to "11" and watching the magic happen. Books that can grade out at 9.9/10 are FREAKS of preservation, to find a book with a slight, pressable flaw that could turn into a 9.9 is probably just as rare as finding a true 9.9, just because it's got to be an uncanny combination of issues. + infinity to the part in green. What normally gets perfectly preserved books a 9.8 instead of a mint grade is almost never pressable. Tiny bindery tears, tiny flecks of white at a corner, tiny, nearly imperceptible spine tics on otherwise perfect books. I would love to hear anyone post a "press to 9.9" story, because I don't think one exists except for people that are pressing moderns. The questions about pressing gloss over what seem to me to be somewhat bigger questions. One being that if a book is really as common in all grades as it would be if it were printed today, then how much can any copy be worth? And if 9.8s and 9.9s are subjective and virtually indistinguishable from one another (at least in terms of non-microscopic presentability), then the value depends on how much value buyers place, and will continue to place, on a difference that cannot really be seen. And, perhaps more importantly (given the slabbing process itself and "shaken comic syndrome") on whether that infinitessimal difference continues to exist forever except on the label itself. There are real, observable, albeit extremely subtle, differences between 9.8s, 9.9s, and 10s. Anyone who says they don't exist is ignorant or lying. But. For the vast majority of people,these flaws are meaningless because they require a certain type of focus that, frankly, most people don't have. And that's fine. For them, a 9.8 becomes the functionally highest grade they can, or should, care about, and that's perfectly fine for most people. But, again, that dosn't mean there isn't a difference. There is. And I'd be happy to point them out to anyone in person should they so request it.

Couple of issues, and you know I think you're la bomba, but.... New Mutants #98 in 9.9 is no longer a $10K+ book, and there are doubts as to whether it really was at the time it sold. The subsequent Sig Series 9.9 sold for a little more than half that amount, a little more than a year later (the funny "point" can be made that that's because it was signed by Rob Liefeld, but to the people who will shell out $6K or $12K for this book, it IS a premium.) Same with GL #76. Mid-2009, the only (at the time) 9.6 sells for $30K, then 5 more and the 9.8 shows up, and only manages a 22% gain in price over the 9.6, while a 9.6 sells for less than half its high. Yes, granted, 9.8s are not 9.9s, and moreover, sole 9.9s. That point cannot be overstated. But then, Hulk #181 isn't GL #76. Prices have plummeted for nearly everything across the board in Bronze the last year and a half, but this one book is immune? Even considering what it is? Probably not. Had there not been any SCS concerns...had this book been offered for sale in, say, mid-2008, I have no doubt that it would have been a $100K+ book. Those conditions simply do not exist any more. The owners waited too long. And, ultimately, this is merely a philosophical exercise because the reality is, NO genuine 9.9 copy exists in a slab at this moment in time, anyways.

Yes. 9.9s and 10s are, as I have been told, inspected IN the case to confirm that they'll go with the grade (and actually witnessed, as I watched grades come back for all my books...except the 9.9 and 10 on my last sub.)

Sweet miswrap. Innit though? At least it's straight up and down.

No, just misunderstanding. I'm on my phone posting at work. I was talking about the inner wells used for a modern 9.9 vs 9.8 Ah. Well, that makes more sense, then.

Green was joking...

The saddest part is, it survived for 26+ years in real 9.9 condition...and then it was slabbed, and because someone, somewhere didn't treat it like spun crystal, it (allegedly) was damaged. Shame.

Even as a 9.8 sitting in a 9.9 case, it still, tops, worth only abut $50,000, with the shrinking value of the 9.8s. But, hey, people can dream. I thought this was funny: "this singular example is definitively the most significant single comic book graded by CGC published in the last 35 years. " Someone better buy Comiclink a calendar....Hulk #181 was published 36+ years ago.

No.

One and only Sandman #1 in this grade signed by Kieth.

One of only two signed by Sam Kieth, lone top census.