scburdet

I've had pretty good luck with my guy. The first batch were in a 6 week backlog, but he turned over the next batch quickly having caught up https://tosscomics.com/ is a bit of a hike from Queens, but he might take a reasonable amount of work by mail. Just as long as you don't create a backlog that slows my C&P down! He hasn't taken on a really tough case yet IMO, but he did get an extra 1.0 over what I was expecting on my Hulk181 and ASM129, so I can't complain.

Yeah @Galen130 there's a lesser, but noticeable discoloration on the inner pages unfortunately. @BSC249 I watched that exact video a week or 2 ago. I'm a chemist by training and did my fair share of work with hazardous, volatile and otherwise sensitive stuff in my days before becoming mostly a desk jockey and IDK if I'm brave enough to start squirting DI water on my comics. I haven't watch the whole series, but I assume you have to do a pressing at some point to get the covers back to flat.

Since the issue of stapling has been running rampant here lately, I contribute the following ToS 77. You only have yourselves to blame for this one. This one is fairly typical of most books I've posted from this era, so I have a pretty good idea where the grade would be minus the stapling. Important to know this is not completely detached, just torn at the back and rough around the area generally. I tried to photograph it was well as I could, but I don't want to mess around with it too much and completely separate it. Other than that, I would like to question the placement of the date stamp. Was some store owner in 1966 trying to be a wise guy? Pretty attractive book otherwise.

I hope so, but I'll take a 0.5 hit on this one if I can use it to guarantee my Clone Wars 1 comes back at a 9.8 @AhsokaTano Jedi Apprentice

It should not take a year. A 3.0-3.5 is probably in the express tier (turnaround 2 weeks) or standard (turnaround 31 days) after the ~3 week wait for them to open shipments. Return shipping by FedEx fully insured is $20 now, so whatever rate to get to Sarasota, say $25-50 by USPS depending on the amount of insurance. Alternatively, you can find an authorized dealer. The one I used does my C&P (faster than CCS) and does not charge for shipping to CGC. IDK if this is typical, but I get an express tier book C&P & graded for $10 less than if CGC did it all, and I don't pay a shipping fee. $230 for all plus shipping if you send it on your own express ($150 for standard). Alternatively, with this book you could get this C&P'd and graded on the "cheap" by sending it off to the Roy Thomas (the book editor and co-creator of GR) signing before the 7/22 deadline. That will be $90 signing/grading, $20 pressing plus shipping, so roughly half the normal grading fee. It will take longer since the signing probably isn't actually until Sept, but still not a year wait. Should only be 6-8 weeks after the signing is done, so my bet would be in time for Christmas if not Thanksgiving.

I might lower my prediction to the lower end of the range (4.0) b/c that missing piece on the spine and the stain. +1 on @grendelbo on grading. My current assumption is that some day (hopefully many years from now) someone will have to assume responsibility for my collection and grading the important books will make that easier. I like the look of a slab and I can't keep up with reading all the new books I have so most of the back issues stay in the boxes anyway. At least these days, it's nice that there are electronic versions of everything out there if you want to virtually thumb through an issue, which isn't as satisfactory an experience from all the senses but you can still enjoy it on some level. I'm working through grading the most important books and MS5 was one of the first ones I sent in for grading

Thanks. I might do it at least for the history/novelty. I balked a little when I found the stain, which I didn't really notice until I was examining the photos. I guess my old eyes need enlarged photos to see this stuff now. I found a rather obvious crease on the back cover of an X-Men 96 (otherwise as sharp a comic from that era as I have) that I missed on visual inspect until I spotted it in the photo and went back and looked again

I don't have any detached staple books currently graded, but a top staple detachment sitting in Sarasota. From the feedback here and additional research, if the book is in high grade you can get a qualified label high grade w/note that the cover is detached. With a low grade book, you can get a universal label where the detachment is lumped in with the accumulation of major/minor defects leading to an overall grade. This book is in the latter category IMO, so a 3.0±0.5 Universal. If you go onto ebay and search "cgc detached" you can see examples of both types of detachment in listings and recent sales. Some books even with >9.0 Q with detachments. Currently, the highest graded is 5.5 Q of a Golden Age book. More than a few Universals from the silver/bronze/copper with <5.0.

I was poking around for Romita Jr. books for the recently announced signing and somehow I came across the creator credit for a 13-year-old JRJR. It seems like it was the name, not the character design, but it does appear to be the first time he "worked" for Marvel. Some obvious condition issues on the top left of the cover and a water stain on the corners. Would it be gimmicky to get a JRJR signature on this book? I can't imagine that someone hasn't thought of this before, but I haven't found an example yet.

4.5--yes

I see ~3 tiny stress marks and perhaps the corners aren't perfect. I am at 9.4±0.2 and I'd be more surprised by a 9.2 than a 9.6. Nice book

Hello again. Not the best copy of this book most notably b/c of the edge wear on the right center (no tears), but pretty attractive copy anyway.

I guess it depends what part of NM you were in, but I will take the Pepsi challenge with you and @BSC249 any day of the week on scarcity. I'm fairly certain I bought every worthwhile back issue at the 2 comic shops in Charleston, WV (the closest city to me) in the late 80s & early 90s. One was a fairly new business w/o much inventory (also a doll shop) and the other was a 2ndary location for a store in Huntington, which was well outside a teenager's authorized driving distance. Both still exist, although the latter is only the main store now. Even though some of these books are not, and were never, the best grade, it meant having access to the stories & art. The low grade Marvel Spotlight 5 I posted a while back came from that 2nd store. Still have it and in some ways has more meaning than the upgrade. Even a book with dings reads pretty well.

Haven't seen many Golden Age books here since I discovered this forum. Always neat to see something new. I'm going to say 4.5±1.0 but I am really uncertain about the standards at CGC for GA books (hence the wide range). The binding/spine looks a little rough but what's the best case scenario for that kind of stapling? Interested to know what other people say.

I hear you about finding flaws well down the road. I will frequently cite a copy of Iron Fist 14 that I bought years ago when I was still on a student budget. A great looking copy. I sent it for grading recently and was disappointed (but not too much b/c it still looks quite nice) to get hammered on some staining that I barely noted before that's quite light and mostly on the back cover. I could have went shopping for a better copy in the 20 years or so in between when it was still somewhat affordable, but I didn't know the true grade. Now, I can't really seeing putting in the $$$ to buy a high grade copy anymore.

Much better. I haven't been in this forum for that long, so don't take my word as gospel. I see the top front cover corner and the cover imperfections. I would set this at an 8.5±0.5 where coming in at 8.0 is more likely. Recent sales put this at $120-160. This would not be in my get it graded pile b/c the expense ($24 + shipping if you don't go through an authorized dealer) is not the right ROI in my mind. Of course, the book could get hot and jump in price with the TV show, or there could be other personal reasons to consider it. I hope to be collecting for a few more decades, but I'm old enough to at least consider what will be the easiest thing for someone to do if they inherit my collection. If your plan is to sell this, I would sell it raw. If you want a good graded copy, I would be inclined to find one at a reasonable price and sell this one, perhaps waiting for the TV show to drive up prices. That's my 2¢

Attaching images of appropriate file type would be much better. Almost all the images when I clicked the links were the same perspective on the back edge.

I've seen raw books listed as "qualified ______" along with a description of the defect. I bought my 94 with the seller disclosing some cover color touch and I was OK with that b/c I just wanted a nice looking copy to finish my modern X-Men run (if you have a taped GS X-Men 1 too, I'm listening). The seller missed the clipping too, but was good enough to make a partial refund. I think transparency is the key thing when selling a book with a significant defect. I know have a 6.5 restored XM94 signed by Claremont, and I'm quite happy with the investment. Now, it should have a qualified description of the clipping on the label or in the notes, but that's only a problem if someone in my family sells it down the road and doesn't know about it, and then the buyer cracks the case open.

I've got several more mainstream 1st appearances in the queue (most of which are in better condition than my square bound books 😌), but it's Friday so how about a character that I care about more than most people do instead? Why do I like Howard the Duck? No idea. Didn't see the movie back in the day (in retrospect, that might have helped...), only 1 random Marvel Team-Up book in my childhood collection, but here we are with an oddly complete early Howard & Man-Thing collection. Picked up all the Fears circa 2000, sadly unlike some of the Morbius issues, no Mark Jewelers here 😢 Only note from an up close visual inspection is that the dark spot near the 2 in 20¢ symbol appears to be a printing error/ink drip to my eye (not a stain or grunge). Seems like another of those books that has sales all over the map, even in similar grades. I'm pretty happy with this one.

I could see pressing getting rid of some or most of the wrinkling on the back, so I'd predict 6.0-7.0 depending on how that went. The tape here is an issue b/c it appears to be between story pages (i.e. if it was two pages of ads, it might be viewed less harshly. I would not try to remove it. I've looked around at methods for price tag removal and I haven't seen a method that wouldn't damage the print and/or paper. Can't see how it's stuck (scotch tape?), but if it was a loop and you could cut it, so you could turn the pages even if it was on the paper, that might be nice. Some professional comic restorer might have a method, but I can't see how dissolving the adhesive can be done without making the ink run. Even though it's a pricey key book, I don't know that it has enough value to warrant a significant expenditure to fix the problem. I can see everything from a 1.0 point deduction to a green label. Or you could get really lucky. My 94 had an advertisement cut out of it, and it's not mentioned in the graders' notes, so you could roll the dice.

I'm going to say 4.5 to be different. Do we use Price Is Right rules? If I guess 0.5, do I get everything above if everyone else guesses to high? I definitely am anti-tape. Put it in something and don't handle it to keep it attached. I'm surprised the Hydra guys even need their green unis. The skateboards are a clear indication of who the evildoers are.

I finished logging the averaged feedback on past posts into my spreadsheet of gradable comics (yes, I have a spreadsheet), so I'm going to throw another one out tonight that's been bothering me. I do appreciate all the feedback. I've moved things up, down, on to and out of the list based on it. So, I file this one under "the COVID pandemic did funny things to my perception of time." I pulled this out thinking I had gotten it within the last year or so when Clea rumors started floating around during Dr. Strange II production. After further investigation, I definitely bought it pre-2020, so like decades ago? I really don't know what was 3 years ago, and what was 30. The elephant in the room with this book is the staining on the top corner on both sides of the cover. There's been a lot of back and forth on this and IDK if I've ever heard a clear answer on who amenable a stain like this is to cleaning, at least to make it present better. Knowing about the stain, I briefly entertained tracking down another copy and upgrading. Maybe someday if speculators lose interest, but listings I can find right now are either for garbage copies and/or insane prices.

I'll make my offering early today. Hope everyone is have a good holiday as I suspect lots of people took this week off too. This is GS Chillers 1. Another comic that seems to be in a market ebb, but a very solid candidate if Marvel continues to pursue Midnight Sons projects. This is not the best key square bound book I own, but I'd put it in the top 3-5. Looks very nice save that color break across the top edge of the front cover. Not a lot of color rub at the staples, still bound well with no splitting at the spine. Presents really well. From the reverse you can see some red ink at the top and bottom. I didn't make a concrete enough mental note (I took the photos ~2 weeks ago. I'll double-check later), but I'm pretty certain this is overspray or similar ink from printing b/c I've been looking hard for stains. This will be the last square bound book I post for a long while as the others fall into a different tier of collectability, and may never be CGC candidates.

OOO. Pictures! It looks to me like the cover is slightly off center. I'd defer to others, but I think that precludes a 9.8, so I'll say 9.6

I personally think that CGC should only look at the front cover if there's a defect on the back but sadly they disagree. That relegates you to <9. An 8.0 or 8.5 if the grader was feeling generous.