scburdet

sort of. A reading of their book suggests some things are "allowable" once a grade drops to a certain level. For example, a fully split spine is a 1.8. Creasing is can drop a grade from 4.0-9.8. So a book fully split spine can have creasing without additional deduction. So, it's not right to say that additional defects lead to additional grade deductions, but it's also not wrong. In this case, my belief is that the nature of this staple detachment alone is worth the 5ish grade. The 7.0 kind of detachment would be a really clean one that was only noticeable upon close inspection. I don't have any examples like that to show.

Honestly, this is much funnier than the word I usually use

This is a great change. Although as an educator my constant mantra is that when you try to make something insufficiently_thoughtful_person-proof, someone else will just build a better insufficiently_thoughtful_person. Wondering if insufficiently_thoughtful_person will get scrubbed....

Unlikely to get all the way to 9.6 with any kind of marking or substance on the book, especially a very new one like this. If it cleans off, then the higher grades are possible. The high print run books like this can get picked apart. Not sure I'd risk sending to CGC given the FMV but a nice $5 pickup. FYI, best not to taint the jury pool by assigning a grade yourself.

I'm having trouble finding the indention on the front. This would hinge on how well things press. I don't have a ton of experience with corner crunches, but one that was a little worse than this pre-press got a 7.5. I can see as high as 9.4 with successful pressing & the potential for a disappointment if there's persistence after pressing.

I'd guess 9.0/9.2 but it could go lower if the paper is indented. You can't get a 9.6/9.8 with writing according to the CGC book.

8.0 with cleaning, maybe a grade better for a newsstand.

4.0/4.5 The stains are murder. It's like a 5.0/5.5 for creasing, but the they would come down hard on the staining.

4.5/5.0. If it started as a gripper hole, I'd bet money it's been enlarged post-production. The discount on production defects goes down in that case.

Back from TerrifiCon signed by Ron Wilson. I should have asked him for more specifics about who did what for the cover art. Even Marvel's website says something different than CGC's label. Either way, the highest grade for any MJs I've submitted. The covers for these Fear books are great.

+1. 9.6 is a long shot

The most a detached staple can get is 7.0/7.5 but that's an extreme case for an otherwise perfect book. That staple detachment looks a little gnarly with some tearing and so forth emanating from it. I'd guess 5.0/5.5 with some preference for the higher grade

I have a High Value in the same boat since 10/26, which means it's approaching 3× the advertised turnaround time. Meanwhile the Vintage books from the same batch of submissions were back in my hands 11/17 & an in-house signing that was checked in a week after is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. I've contacted customer service, but as far as I can tell from other instances like this, they make a note in the system but I then never get any follow-up (e.g. the grading has been delayed for such and such a reason). Then I'm chasing customer service again every 3-4 weeks looking for answers. I worry too (esp since this is a High Value) b/c this has happened to me multiple times recently & the books were never found. The one exception was an in-house signature book that showed up a year after the date the label says it was signed. No explanation why it took so much longer than books of the same type and service that were sent & returned while this one was in limbo.

4.0 is the exact figure CGC has in the guide for a fully detached cover. It actually lists possible up to 5.0, but I assume this means an extremely pristine book that somehow has a detached cover. I don't know how that happens since an unattached (never stapled) cover would get a Qualified grade, and it's hard to detach a cover without some tearing beyond exactly at the staple. I don't have the book in front of me, but as @grendelbo suggests, splits, especially full ones are treated harshly. I vaguely recall the absolute max for a fully split cover is 1.8, but I'm not sure how reliable my brain is. It might be 1.0. Splits and stains are big CGC no-nos

4.0 is the ceiling. I'd guess no lower than 3.5

7.0

4.0/4.5

9.0 at best. More like 8.0/8.5 with modern/copper standards. There's a 9.2 on ebay right not for $125 as a calibration

8ish now, a few grades higher pressed. Probably not much upside in investing in pressing/grading since the FMV of a slab low-mid NM copy is about the same as the fees associated with grading.

8ish now, 9.0/9.2 if pressing works. The indentions look deep enough that they won't go away completely

9.4ish