10centcomics

Oh my god this is next level! Love it!

Thanks for the heads-up, I definitely will be looking for a replacement and that listing even has a photo of the pin-up!

Thanks to @CGC Mike for helping resolve this! CGC will be "buying" the book back for what I paid and the book will be removed from the census.

Thanks for sharing the link to the guarantee. It looks like the "guarantee" is just that 2 professionals have reviewed it and that the comic book is not counterfeit. And of course, as you pointed out, it only applies to books still in the CGC holder. This hardly seems like any sort of guarantee at all. I understand they need to protect themselves from subjective disputes (e.g., "I think this is a 9.0 and not an 8.5") but there needs to be a policy for remedying situations where they clearly miss something and it has a disastrous impact on the grade. From my understanding this would either be a 0.5 Incomplete Blue Label or a Qualified 5.0 Green Label? I'll reach out to CGC and see what they can do.

I recently purchased this CGC graded 5.0 Archie 47 (grader notes) from the board marketplace. I cracked it open (as I do with all books in my personal collection) and discovered it is missing the pin-up page (pg. 7-8) from the first story. You can see the jagged edges where it was cut out with scissors. Isn't a page count one of the most basic things that a grader should be doing when grading a book? Has this happened to anyone else and how does CGC take responsibility for these sorts of mistakes?

And what happens when the counterfeits get better and better? Someone in this very thread demonstrated how they could make a much more convincing CGC label with the correct font and kerning. And two pieces of plastic is easier to duplicate than an entire counterfeit comic book. Imagine if the counterfeit Cap 1 cover (which fooled many people over on the GA boards) was slabbed with a fake "CVR" label and put into a case without any cracks and properly sealed? I don't think anyone is blaming CGC for the scam, but it also isn't ridiculous to ask CGC to put more security measures in place. A high resolution scan could accompany the certification page. The label could be printed on higher quality paper with elements that could be harder to counterfeit. These are things that enthusiasts, collectors, and dealers should expect from a company that is in the business of authenticating comic books.

It's easy for us to sit back here and say we all would have 100% caught these things. Keep in mind it's easier to notice these things when you have already been alerted to it. I agree people should practice due diligence but there needs to be more empathy for victims of scams (we can't expect everyone to be expert authenticators and graders... which is why services like CGC exist in the first place). As a community we should hold grading companies accountable for better safeguards against counterfeits. I look forward to seeing CGC's response to this.

There are no general rules, it really depends on the census distribution of the book. For things like modern incentive variants that tend to have only 9.8s and 9.6s graded, a 8.0 should be at a steep discount since in most collector's eyes, it is a damaged book. For a Golden Age book, a 9.6 will command an enormous premium over an 8.0 since it could be the highest graded copy of the book with no others even near it. For books with many copies across the grading spectrum, it's easier to guesstimate the value from grades that are slightly higher or lower. I guess this is my long-winded way of saying the value rarely increases linearly. Hope that helps.

There's nothing that would be improve with a clean and press. Solid looking VG, I'd leave it as is!

In the Comics General forum there is a thread about fake CGC books being sold in the Spokane, WA area. It links to a FB post from a dealer who got scammed. In part 3 of the posts, he mentions that in addition to the fake slabs, there was a fake Cap 1 cover. It's the same one as the one in this post right? (missing top right corner, stain patterns, and writing on cover) I guess this story was too good to be true Quote from the post: "Here we have a completely fake Amazing Spider-Man number one cgc 6.0 as well as a cover to Captain America number one also completely counterfeit. I think this cover goes to the comic that I purchased. They were both too small to be golden age books. The guy that purchased these met with the scammer Ryan in Missoula I believe. Please be very careful when purchasing either slabbed books or Golden age books that are raw. There are rumors he has been trying to pass off ungraded Golden age Action Comics as far back as a year ago. And as realistic as this coverless Captain America was, I would likely be fooled again."

In part 3 of the Facebook post, it is mentioned that there is a fake Captain American Comics 1 cover (see pic below). Is this the same cover as the one mentioned in this Golden Age board thread?

This seems unlikely given the timeline though? It was graded in Sept 2022, and then I presume it spent some time in the climate-controlled warehouse at HA awaiting sale in Dec 2022. I've kept it in my air conditioned apartment in a long box until 2 days ago! For comparison purposes, I looked through my collection to see if I had bought any books that actually had the "Slightly Brittle" designation on the CGC label. Like most people here, I avoid brittleness but made an exception for my copy of All-Star Comics 3. Here's a pic of the damage, which is isolated to the bottom part of the spine.

Oh yeah totally agree about the due diligence. I usually do extensive homework before buying but got sloppy in the heat of a live HA auction! I saw I needed a book to fill a gap in the All-Star run and got lulled into a sense of safety with the CGC 6.5 grade. Never doing that again Regarding the judgment call from the grader, I guess what I'm trying to say is...I don't think this is a tweener case, especially with 2 areas of brittle chipping. According to the notes it was graded in Sept 2022. I bought it in Dec. 2022 and cracked it yesterday.

I recently won a CGC 6.5 All-Star Comics #15 at auction and cracked it open (as I do with everything in my PC). The label states the pages are "Cream to Off-White" so I was shocked to discover flaking pages when I inspected the book. I've attached close-up pics of the flaking bottom right corners as well as the cracked bottom left spine. Unless the definitions (see below) have changed recently, isn't this a textbook case of "Slightly Brittle" pages? Even in the grader notes, the bottom right corners are characterized as "light brittleness chipping right bottom of interior." Shouldn't this have made it onto the page quality section on the label? Would love to hear what everyone thinks and if folks have had similar experiences with SB or B pages. Thanks! Slightly Brittle - This grade refers more to the structural integrity of the interior paper than its color. Slightly brittle pages exhibit slight splitting to top and bottom spine of interior pages or minor chipping to the corners. Both slightly brittle and brittle pages may not necessarily appear brown or tan in color, particularly if the brittleness is relegated to only one edge or corner of a comic book. The highest grade achievable with a slightly brittle page designation is 6.5. Brittle - This page designation refers strictly to the compromised structural integrity of the interior paper, which exhibits either heavy multiple spine splits, corner and edge chipping, or both. In some cases pages can appear off-white or white, but suffer from an isolated area of brittleness along the spine that has caused heavy splitting. Brittle pages are sometimes impossible to restore because of their fragile nature. The highest grade allowed for brittle interior pages is 3.5.

I always feel like I have to come out of the woodwork and defend GCE 12! Full disclosure: I own a low-grade copy with CT that I got from an MCS auction last summer. (And even then folks were questioning the $3.9K hammer price) A 5.0 sold on HA for $26.4K in Aug. 2022. So this recent sale of a 3.5 at $19.2K is right in line with that. It's an infamous Baker cover that depicts a sex worker (albeit subtly), is pretty rare (15 on the CGC census), and is currently listed as #1 on the most valuable romance comics in Overstreet (granted that list is kinda weird and CL25 should probably hold the top spot). I think it rightfully deserves its place among Baker's most desirable covers!

A CGC 6.5 copy of this book sold for an accepted Best Offer (list price $40,000) on eBay this week: https://www.ebay.com/itm/134345298911?hash=item1f479a93df%3Ag%3ALtYAAOSwtA5jhPJX&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoHZjlr5A9CJLokMF9YvA3flW3UhSe8zDJgbmF1N4ThTiO5wXOFFhclhAik4cjjkCC45Vta8kLKHOw4lHkBOoTQ6fQR2tj1hSxaH3aA6lAl1vxpwkkImiBQ0B6o3civxXkzVP0K1zPzCBaVigjp8oEyOIxDGplII58nr%2FJ%2F0%2Bi5g7UqNTLRboofswlLO5RUKBvYlpZyoBzq2OiQvPPHWZqgs%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR5KGqteaYQ&nma=true&si=2TVWq5YTpOMP7%2FZHVpp9lRXMQvY%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 The final sale price of $35,000 was confirmed by the seller on his IG account.

I don't think a book's rarity or desirability should excuse it from being accurately and honestly described in auctions and grading. Safe to say everyone here would gladly have a Suspense 3 in any condition (restored, conserved, in tatters, married pieces, etc) in their collection but that's not the point here. I'm sympathetic to CGC that this is not an easy thing to detect. So going forward it's a risk that I will be more aware of when I buy books with split covers. And I'm glad Heritage did the right thing by removing the listing. Hopefully we'll see this iconic book in a future auction with an updated description so all interested buyers will have full information on the book. Thanks to everyone who weighed in on the thread!

I was tempted to bid on the low grade (CGC 1.0) Suspense Comics 3 coming up in this week's Heritage Signature Auction. As I was poking around for historical prices paid for the book, I noticed that the same book (in a different holder by a competitor grading company) was sold by HA in 2017. Back then, the book was marked as incomplete, missing the final 4 pages. There is no such mention of missing pages in the 2020 grader notes (https://www.cgccomics.com/certlookup/2139877002/) for the recent listing. Link to 2022 Signature Auction: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/suspense-comics-3-continental-magazines-1944-cgc-fr-10-light-tan-to-off-white-pages/a/7283-93084.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515 Link to 2017 Sale: https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/suspense-comics-3-incomplete-continental-magazines-1944-cbcs-pr-05-cream-to-off-white-pages/a/7158-91111.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515 What's going on here? I don't think it was originally mistakenly graded by the other company. Nor do I think one of the owners magically stumbled upon the 4 missing pages and added them back to the book. It's possible the most current grading missed married pages but that seems unlikely based on how easy it is to identify married pages (misaligned staples, in consistent tanning, different cuts of paper, etc.) I took a closer look at the high-res scans and I think it's obvious the cover is the same based on the major chipping, the "a" pencil mark, and the ink stain on the top right corner. However, if you look at what's visible of the the interior pages from the cover scan, this does not appear to be the same interior book. The tanning of the pages are different but that could just be the scanner. More telling is the top right page corners: for the 2017 listing, those corners are flaked off whereas they look sharp in the 2022 listing. The center staple also appears to be positioned differently. It seems the cover from the 2017 book was married to a different coverless (but otherwise complete) copy and this went undetected. I could see how a married split cover would be harder to detect than a married page, especially given all the chipping defects and spine damage. If I understand correctly, CGC doesn't use green qualified labels for low-grade books. But if the cover is indeed married, shouldn't this be disclosed in the grader notes and does it still belong in a blue holder? Would love to get thoughts and comments from the community here. Thanks!

I'm actually glad you serendipitously posted this in the wrong forum or otherwise I would've never known as I rarely venture over to the other forum! "Mr. Bellamy" was one of the few Lichtenstein swipes where I did not know where the source panel came from!

I don't see any potential grade bump with a clean and press for this book. And since you mentioned it has a loose cover, I wouldn't risk it. If you plan to display the book, make sure there is no sunlight (direct or indirect) or fluorescent lighting as it will fade the reds and yellows on the cover.

I bought one raw in low grade (2.5ish) earlier this year in March for $800. Hope that helps!

Upon closer inspection I think you're right! And here I thought non-canon Gwen was Satanic

I need to clear up a few misconceptions here: Peter doesn't marry Gwen in this issue. While the cover and opening splash depict a wedding scene, it is revealed that the wedding is a delusional vision that Peter has while under the effect of Green Goblin's gas. This issue was published in May 1972, which places it before ASM #121 (March 1973). So this wasn't a response to Gwen Stacy's death. Plus a fun fact: Gwen is wearing pentagram earrings on the cover! I wonder if that was art swiped from some Warren magazine.