Skwerl

Oh, I see now! Thanks! Very reassuring!

Thanks for the insight! Yeah, hard to tell. The staples don't obviously look dissimilar but hard to tell. The fact that there aren't extra staple holes in the cover tells me that either the cover was counterfeit and then stapled on, or it was attached during production. But I agree that if someone counterfeited the cover, they would either use the original two staples, or at least try and use the same holes to cover their tracks. Especially if they had a machine that could staple properly (these staples clearly aren't from a standad office stapler or anything). And especially given the quality of the cover if it is a really impressive fake. But who knows. How much confidence should I have in CGC to verify a) the authenticity of the cover, b) the authenticity of the staples, and thus c) whether this is an inconsequential manufacturing issue or something that's going to clobber the value; restoration or worse? Also... If it is just a manufacturing issue, would that affect the grade? I'm not sure if I care too much about getting it slabbed, but I'd love to get to the bottom of it so I can either rest easy or start hunting for a legit copy.

Nah, I acquired this from a buddy who got access to the whole lot of dead stock. He got trunks full of unsold inventory with no clue what any of it was. (Which has been a fun hunt for me!) He basically said, "help me sell it and keep what you want," so it's all copacetic.

I've been meaning to post this here for awhile. I acquired this copy of Amazing Spider-Man #194 awhile back at a fair price for its 7.0-ish grade, but I've always been a little suspicious of the staple situation. The cover doesn't seem like an obvious reprint or anything; its condition is in line with the rest of the book and it "feels" real, but it doesn't line up with the rest of the book perfectly, and there are two sets of staples; Only two of the four go through the cover. My fear is that the cover was re-stapled, or worse, is counterfeited. Comparing it to other books from the same era (I have an ASM #192 here among some others), the staples that don't go through the cover (which would be the original staples, if my fear is true) are where staples usually are more or less, with the additional staples (that do go through the cover) either higher or lower. Of course I don't want to believe I was deceived, and I've seen all kinds of weird manufacturing errors (from zero staples to 5), but my gut is telling me that this one's fishy. What do you guys think? What should I do?

Ahh, yeah, this makes a lot of sense and it's helpful perspective, thanks. Not even sure it's worth getting slabbed; It's not like it's a near mint book otherwise. But it at least helps me price/describe it. I put it up on eBay for $50 OBO.

I found this thread Googling "first wrap married" as I have a very strange case of it. I acquired a dead stock Detective #370 that was never stapled at all (manufacturing defect), so all of the wraps were loose with no staple holes. And apparently, it was always missing the first wrap; It came from the plant that way and never sold. Along the way, someone pried apart a different copy, and slipped in a first wrap to complete the book. But it could simply be slipped back out if that is undesirable. So, in this case, hypothetically, if I were to have it graded, would it be better to have the first wrap missing as it was originally mis-manufactured? Or better to have the missing wrap married in, but in a totally non-destructive way? I assume the former, but this is a head scratcher for me. Can't tell if the book is ruined or blessed.