WPPJames

37 minutes ago, Mars76 said:

9.2 maybe a little higher if you clean up the back a bit. Love that cover.

Thanks. The wording on it makes it seem like something from a much older comic. "Stop him..he..he..ain't human" - "But now you'll pay!". 

I had you guys grade this a while back. Suggestions were to get it pressed. I did and here are the results. What do you think now?

Bumped

58 minutes ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Well that’s what grader notes show.

Yea but there are always a few people out there that will still believe the defect was never there unless they can see for themselves after reading the notes. Or believe CGC somehow damaged their book. These people generally have bigger problems to worry about than comic books. Like calculating how far they can travel from home without falling off the flat earth.

47 minutes ago, Bird said:

I sent some books to Heritage on consignment and said "feel free to slab what you think is worth it" because I thought some of the GA might get slabbed. But they slabbed the NM98, X-Men266, ASM4silk, and She hulk 1 instead...I do not think those books will be 9.8s and was counting on the bidders thinking they could get them there somehow, they could maybe strike gold and get dat 9.8. Now they will be in 9.2/9.4 slabs more likely than not and will get that price more likely than not.

I've had very limited experience with Heritage. They are obviously a large operation and I assume trustworthy? But in general, I'd be very hesitant to leave slab decisions up to whom I was consigning with. It most cases it would be in their $$$ interest to pretty much slab everything you send them. And it's on your dime. Why they would slab your newer, and I assume less valuable, comics and not the GA is curious. Unless maybe they thought it might not be worth their effort to put out the consignment effort unless they could somehow get them into a higher price range. Which, from what you said, they may have accomplished the opposite.

4 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

But overall, I find they catch defects that most people don’t take the time to look for.

And once they get the book back and wonder why the grade was so low, they obviously can't then look closer to find what they missed. Because, you know, it's then slabbed. Also, to me, a book appears better slabbed than it did raw. Being inside the slab can hide a lot of the defects.

3 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

To get a 9.9 or 10.0 I believe it has to be perfect white pages. But if you’re wondering if the 9.8 pedigree didn’t get a 9.9 because it doesn’t have perfect white pages, than no that had nothing to do with it.

Help me understand. If it requires perfect white pages to get a 9.9 or 10.0 then the color of the pages obviously matter. If it was otherwise a 9.9 but didn't have perfect white pages then it couldn't be higher than a 9.8? So it seems "But if you’re wondering if the 9.8 pedigree didn’t get a 9.9 because it doesn’t have perfect white pages, than no that had nothing to do with it" seems contradictory.

Not trying to argue with, but I'm obviously missing something here.

16 hours ago, csaag said:

Also, on the one with the 6.5 estimates, is that a stain by the "Death Strikes Four"?

No I don't think so. I just looked again and don't see that.

1 hour ago, The Lions Den said:

There are hundreds of books that are "new and unread" sent to CGC every week. But many of them will only grade in the 9.4 - 9.6 range. Flaws such as finger bends and smears, light spine stress and spine wear and other minor defects can take a book out of the Near Mint range...

Looking back there were probably some finger print smears on it. Maybe I had been eating Cheetos. That could have easily been cleaned off at a small cost if I'd have known at the time. You learn best when it hits you $$$.

43 minutes ago, Funnybooks said:

Agreed. Spine to corners and the rest will narrow a grade down considerably at first site...and then the book returns from CGC and you can scratch your head in disbelief..haha

That kinda makes me wonder. A long time ago when I was even less experienced at grading, I sent in multiple copies of the original Crow mini-series. All 1st printing. I had purchased new from a distributor. Never read by myself. All came back 9.0 or higher. Except one at 8.5. I was flabbergasted. To my virgin eyes it looked identical to the rest. I don't recall if CGC wasn't providing notes at that time or I just wasn't aware they did and didn't look. Maybe that book had some spine issues. Obviously just because a book is "new and unread" doesn't mean it is without flaws.

EDIT: Not a distributer. One of the pre-order comic book services. I forget the name. They were more catered to the casual comic book person. You didn't have to order as far in advance as the services used by more experienced comic book people. You guys could probably name the company and I'd recall it. So sometimes they would be unable to fully fill your order on certain comics. The Crow was one. I actually pre-ordered a lot more than I received. Oh well, live and learn.

2 minutes ago, The Lions Den said:

The spine is always the first thing I look at when grading any book...  

Good to know. You guys are way out of my league grading wise. I mostly just do an eyeball test. And the spine doesn't hit my eyeballs that often. I guess I can make my New Year's resolution to look closer at comic book spines? It's easier than exercising; drinking less or dieting.

28 minutes ago, Funnybooks said:

.As a whole, we also tend to undergrade/grade more critically 

Unless it's our own book. The we sometimes see it through "owner eyes". That's why this forum is great. You get unbiased opinions. Some brutally so 

Thanks guys. I couldn't ask for a more detailed explanation than that. I need to pay more attention to the spine when evaluating. Also, I honestly have no idea how I missed the one rusty staple and the crease in the bottom right corner on the TOV. It's all right there. I must have looked at them and scanned them late at night when the office was dark. At least that's the story I'm sticking with.

Happy New Year to all!

So I'm looking at selling two "gruesome" comic mags. Both I had done a PGM on. But the difference in grading has me perplexed. I'm not seeing such a huge discrepancy between the two as indicated in the estimated grades. Maybe someone can enlighten me to what I'm missing? Links to both:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/479637-pgm-tales-of-voodoo-vol-2-1/?tab=comments#comment-11492966

Grade Estimates: 6.5

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/479638-pgm-tales-from-the-tomb-vol-5-5/?tab=comments#comment-11492968

Grade Estimates: 9.0/9.2

EDIT: And both mostly graded by the same people. Not disputing, just trying to understand the major differences that would make the two so different in scale. My estimation before PGM both is that the 6.5 would have been higher and the 9.0/9.2 lower.

Thanks for the feedback guys. And i don't recall mentioning submitting to CGC. It was more of a grading question to help me better grade other books.

Curious how much you think the crimping in the front left hand corner (extends to back cover) effects the grading. Have another book or two that are similar.

2 minutes ago, the blob said:

Which is why their raw book sometimes sell for more than cgc? do they give raw books over a 9.4?

Well there was that one time back in 2004...

3 minutes ago, shadroch said:

That's not the point, and as I consign books to them rather than sell, it is moot

Not entirely moot. If you send them a book that you think is a 6.0 but they grade as 5.0 then you likely won't get what you were expecting on consignment. So you can either have it returned or go with it. I've sold and consigned with them and have had mostly positive experiences. And yea, some people realize a MCS 5.0 = CGC 6.0 but I'm not sure that would be the majority of their customers. Anyway, I realize I'm getting off topic here...

59 minutes ago, shadroch said:

When a book is sent to mycomicshop in a cracked but whole CGC case and they grade it a point and a half lower, are they lying about it? When they sell it as a 5.0 when CGC called it a 6.5. are they being unethical or is it only if you raise the grade?  

Not the best comparison. MCS pretty much grades everything lower than everyone else. But to the best that I've observed if they grade what you sent them as a 5.0 they will then list/sell it as a 5.0. Not jack up the grade in between.

2 minutes ago, FoggyNelson said:

This is a very good thread👍

And entertaining. And at this point probably has gone a bit off track. But you can only listen to so much Christmas music and watch Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer so many times. I'm loving on this instead 

2 minutes ago, sledgehammer said:

I've never caught anyone before dumb enough to make 700 bids in one month, exclusively on his own auctions.

And sadly it seems it took the efforts of JJJ and the rest of you guys to bring it to light. I'm sure it's insane how many people are screwing over others across many different industries / hobbies. Unfortunately this guy has thus far been stupid like a fox. That phrase might not have been used in the correct context, but...

5 minutes ago, kav said:

"No one's gonna do anything about it"?

I'm firmly in the 99% of the time no one will do anything about it. Not because they *shouldn't*, but reality often trumps what's the right thing to do. Although, you'd hope, if occasionally stuff like this gets called into question other bad actors might have second thoughts. Sometimes you just have to prosecute one to shut down a whole lot more who thought they could operate with absolute immunity.

4 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

All I'm doing is turning over the rocks to expose the slime under them. It's all information based on the record. Everyone can make of that info what they will. 

You are doing great. I've commended you earlier in the thread. And others here. And I appreciate it. You guys are doing a service. My comment wasn't about any of your positive efforts. But "GTFO and start your own thread" was a rude and unnecessary comment made by someone else.

2 minutes ago, Ride the Tiger said:

Why don't you people that don't believe in this cause go start your own thread in support of the piece of garbage? In simpler terms G T F O already. Don't like what we're doing go talk about it in another thread.

You know I agree with 95% of everything that JJJ and others have stated and done here. But seriously, if someone doesn't agree with you they should not participate and just leave this thread? Start their own thread. No discussion at all between differing viewpoints? G T F O? Real classy.

3 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

The shilling is a crime except in Texas

To hopefully lighten the mood just a tad... I lived almost my entire life in small town TX. And very little is illegal there. Unless you miss church on Sunday or the high school football game on Friday night. If you miss the game on Friday night you can atone for it on Sunday at church if you have a good excuse. Miss church and you have to wait until the next Friday night football game to work it out with your friends and neighbors.