TappanZee

Hi, I'm the original poster and as promised I'm updating this thread with the resolution of my complaint with CGC. I received my comic back today and it was regraded with a blue label. Still 8.0, but I have no reason to question that. No official explanation of what happened, but I can't say I expected one. The either sent me the wrong book in the right case, or the right book in the wrong case. I'll probaby never know. All in all, I am pleased with how CGC handled it. They customer service reps was helpful and professional, they recognized the error and they corrected it, and that's all I could hope for. Now, does any one want to buy a copy of Amazing Spider-man 300 (8.0, white pages)

Unfortunately no. I'm not that studied at this craft, and while it looks like the same book, the minute details matter and I have no way of knowing. I only have one image of the book from before I sent it (it's at the beginning of this thread) and it didn't occur to me I needed to document it in detail. Naive of me in hindsight, but like I said, I'm new to all this. It's too bad comics aren't printed with individual serial numbers, like dollar bills. That would make this a lot easier.

Fair enough. I appreciate the apology, and sorry if I overreacted. Like I said, this is all new to me, and so far it hasn't been very pleasant. At the end of day, if it's not resolved to my satisfaction, all I've lost is some time, a bit of money, and a day's worth of aggravation (assuming they sent the right book back to me). The comic can go right back into my long box and my kids can deal with it when I shuffle off this mortal coil.

Again, I have no way to prove to you I'm the only owner of the book, or that this is my first time dealing with CGC, or that I'm not a billionaire, or that I'm not Lady Gaga. It's an internet forum, and we're both posting anonymously. You can believe me or not, it matters not a bit either way. I've explained my situation as best as I'm able, and since I've received a lot of useful perspectives here, I'm glad I did. Speculation about my veracity or motives is fair, and maybe even expected, but it's ultimately just meaningless chatter in the ether.

It's my only copy. I don't think I ever said I picked it out carefully - it was my most likely in my pull folder when I bought it from Big Apple Comics in 1988. It's also likely I didn't bag it initially, but some years after I bought it when I realized I should take better care of my comics. I still have big chunks of my collection that aren't in bags at all. I have a long term project to bag and board everything but with 6,000+ comics it's a process. And I was expecting a higher grade, too. You can see the pre-submitted original at the start of this thread and draw your own conclusion.

I'm curious how often it happens to books that have had only one owner? Obviously I can't prove the provenance of my comic to you, but for reasons detailed above, the circumstances that would have led this particular comic being retouched are incredibly farfetched. As you say, I do expect CGC has heard similar stories, and for that reason I am not optimistic, but so far they seem to be treating my case with the concern I would want. All I can do at this point is hope they continue to keep an open mind about their process.

Quick update: I reached out to CGC this morning and they sent me a form for resubmission that includes a pre-paid shipping label. So far they are handling this in an appropriate and professional manner, which is definitely encouraging. I will update this post if and when this is resolved. Thanks for the advice and encouragement from everyone here. I appreciate it.

Hi, I do think this is ultimately my last recourse if CGC won't make it right. This whole thing is just maddening - I thought I was doing the smart thing by getting this comic graded and it's now appearing to be waste of time, money, and mental energy.

I can only again refer to my experience at Big Apple Comics, where I worked and where I bought this comic. New books would arrive Thursday afternoon in sealed boxes, which we would lug in from a van. We’d open the boxes and put all that week’s books on a big table in the back. We’d take the customers folders (literally manila folders) with their pull lists, and go around the table filling the folders. We’d do that for a hundred or so customers, some of whom were waiting in the front of the store for us to fill their folder. There was no time to touch up books even if we considered it, which would have been inconceivable to me. As I mentioned, new books were sold “as is.” No one was paying attention to that level of detail about their condition. Outside of an obvious tear or folded cover, we sold every book that arrived from the distributor. I have no reason to believe this comic was any different. No one cared enough to treat any individual comic as anything special when it was sold.

I guess I should be flattered someone is interested enough in my case to pay to read my notes.

Thanks. Can anyone access them? Are all graders notes public? Or is there another way someone could see them?

Where do these comments come from?

I believe it was something on the cover because I don’t see it now.

One thing I didn’t mention is that CGC turned this around surprisingly quickly, at least compared with how long I was led to believe it would take. I shipped it Dec. 8 and it came back today and I don’t think I paid for expedited handling. That to me lends support to the argument that there was a mixup at CGC.

For what it’s worth I checked my ASM 299 and 301 and there’s no evidence of any tampering. Nor would it make sense for there to be any - the idea that a comic shop would pay workers to discretely touch up thousands of new comics every month just defies logic.

As I said earlier, anything is possible but I can’t fathom the scenario in which what you describe might have happened. I am the only owner of this comic, I bought it from my local comic store in 1988 for the cover price and they would have no incentive to touch up comics. They sold new comics “as is.” As I mentioned, I worked at the same store in 1985-86 and we never did anything like that. It’s been in a poly bag in a long box ever since I bought it. This is of course an anonymous post, and so no one here has any particular reason to believe me, but the only explanation that make any sense is a significant screw up at CGC.

I don't see anything out of the ordinary, and to be honest, I would be shocked if the store I bought it from would do that. I bought it at Big Apple Comics (RIP) on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where I had a pull list for years. I used to work there in high school and would fulfill the pull lists for other customers myself, and we never did anything like that. I mean, anything is possible but I would assign that a very low probability.

Sure, thanks for taking an interest. Unfortunately I only have one image of the pre-graded book and it's in the bag.

Let me state up front I am new to all of this. I have been collecting comics in a casual way for nearly 40 years and never had a comic professionally graded. But when I saw the recent prices for Amazing Spider-Man 300, I realized i might have something of value. I bought my copy in 1988 and it's been in a poly bag in a long box pretty much since then. It's never been out of my possession. But it's in good shape so I thought I might sell a book I didn't have much emotional investment in and use the proceeds to purchase Lee / Kirby Fantastic Four books, which is where my collecting interest lies these days I went through all the steps—joined CGC, ordered a packing box, shipped it, etc— and today received it back: graded 8.0 with a purple label.The label states: "Small amounts of color touch on cover." That is clearly an error. As stated above, this comic has never been restored. I bought it as a kid, read it once, and put it away until last month. Either there was a handling issue and the wrong book was graded and mailed to me or they simply saw something that wasn't there. Either way it's deeply frustrating and certainly does not give me any confidence about CGC, its grading process, or its so-called quality control. While I am new to this, I know enough about the comic market that a purple label will affect its price and apparently my decision to trust CGC with my comic means they have reduced its value, maybe significantly. My question for this forum: What are my options? Can I appeal the grade? Get my money back? Get it regraded? Like I said, I am new to all this and hopefully it can be easily resolved. (if it matters, I posted images of the comic prior to shipping it another forum on this site "ASM 300 Heating Up", so there is some record of its condition prior to grading) Thanks in advance.

Thanks. It's the most prized book in my collection. I bought it on a whim for about $350 from Midtown Comics (on sale) about 15 years ago. It looks like comparable books are selling for 10x that on eBay, so in retrospect it was a smart purchase. I have no plans to sell it but it's nice to know it has some value.

In rough shape, with flaking and a bit of the back cover missing.

Thanks. Not a bad idea.

My hesitation with selling it raw is that I have no credibility as a seller on eBay, so I'm not sure I could get full value for it. I know I would be reluctant to buy a comic from someone who has no history as a seller. I suppose I could try and consign it with a dealer, but again I would be leaving money on the table. I am open to suggestions!

I'm thinking of selling. I have a long term goal of owning every issue of the FF, and I've recently become interested in buying original art, and both of those cost money. I thought I would liquidate parts of my collection that have less meaning for me, particularly high-demand books like McFarlanes, to concentrate on the things I'm more focused on. I've never sold a comic, so this is a bit of a change in philosophy, but I think it makes sense.

I'm debating sending this in to be graded and wondering if it is worth it. To my untrained eye it's in great shape, but I'd love to get some expert opinions. Thanks in advance! (please ignore the ASM 301 at the bottom - I can't figure out out how to edit it out of the post)