Albert Thurgood

I guess he only needs to find one other person off their head and he will make a nice profit.

That makes me sad - and even madder at the dealer who ripped me off with all those books at full price back in the day.

Thanks. Yes the adhesive in the tape has stained the books. In some cases it has squeezed out the sides and stuck to the bag. I hate to throw out the books, but they are very annoying!

Many of the comics I bought from a dealer in the '70s came from the collection of someone who thought it was a good idea to protect his books by taping up all 4 sides. Here is an example: So my question is: how does this book grade with the tape? Let's say if it would have been a 5 otherwise, does it automatically go down to 2, or what? Even though it is not worth grading by CGC if I were to try to sell it I would have to know what level to aim at. I am angry at that dealer who saw a good opportunity to unload these books at full price.

@waaaghboss identified a new pedigree, the "Hole Punch Pedigree" Many of the comics I bought from a dealer in the '70s came from what I now describe as the "Tape on 4 Sides Pedigree". Here is an example: (The LHS looks darker in that scan. I don't know why it came out like that - the color is even). So my question is: how does this book grade with the tape and what would it have been otherwise? (There are no other issues with the book). PS Here is a link to the Hole Punch pedigree:

This seller is very optimistic: he wants $995 for FF #142! https://www.ebay.com/itm/184804271768?hash=item2b07316698:g:LFoAAOSwpxtgjNbr Claims it is a "10" without providing anything other than a photo of a book in a bag. The bag has a "$2.50" sticker on it and he claims that is the "original sleeve". Meanwhile, MCS has a copy CGC graded 9.6 for $170 (and less directly).

I was just going through my collection and re-bagging and boarding them, looking also at what current values may be. Naturally I started with the FFs. I got up to issue 110 and found that I have a rare green Thing. (I meant in the comic, not a medical condition ;-) ) MCS lists this as a variant but have none in stock. They describe it as a printer error. I checked on ebay. There are about 80 different copies of #110 for sale but none of this variant. Unfortunately it looks like the printer's error has extended to a bindery error too. This must be the most off-centre book in my collection. Does anyone know what this variant could be worth?

What was the grade on the slab? I would say a 8.5 to 9

Maybe I need new glasses but I can only see one small defect on the FC that is no worse on books graded over 9 by CGC. Aside from some marks on the BC, what is the rationale for grading this as low as 7.5?

at least they're not betamax!

I bought mine for 25c back in the day... so I am glad I bought when I did ;-) unfortunately it's not a 9+ though.

Trimming on early SA Marvels would have been to remove the unsightly "Marvel Chipping" that these books were infamous for. This mostly happened at the side rather than the top, so take that into account when considering the evidence as per above advice.

Hi @Nic8612. Still waiting for you to let me know how to pay you for this...

5.5/6 That crease in upper RC is a problem

5.5

Spa Fon!

I wish my mailman was as generous as @Robot Man's!

Agreed! Pics have been posted here of books CGC graded as 9+ that have such dings. But the OP should show a pic of the size of the defect for comparison.

I will go to 3.0

I agree with that answer.

5.5 with C&P

I have this, otherwise would have bought it. I highly recommend the MW Kaluta Shadow books.

I have some SA books from the "Adhesive Tape On All 4 Sides" pedigree. Dealing with them is a sticky problem.

I guess there can be more than one Joe Orlando but I wonder if that's the one I know of from the '70s

OK. Interesting to see different outcomes Marvel v DC. As a maths guy, you would appreciate this: 2-Tail : p-value = 0.0009 Relative Risk of going down of a DC book in @Math Teacher's collection = 11.25