LowGradeBronze

What I've done before now is take a good quality colour photocopy on decent paper and put that on the wall in a clip frame. The book stays nice and you can change it over when you feel like a change. I've had Special Marvel Edition 15 and X Men 111 'on the wall' knowing the original is somewhere safe away from the UV. I've even taken enlarged copies to display in A3 frames. Now that makes an impact.

Looks like a 7.0 to me. Minor edgewear and softening of corners are the only real defects I can see. (Someone should start a new thread "Comics with 'A World He Never Made!' on the cover" This one and Howard the Duck could start it off. Odd bedfellows.)

This is tough because it looks like a 7.0 but I suspect the combination of crease and wear around the bottom staple (both likely caused by the same lazy habit of folding the cover around) will drop it a full grade. This book doesn't turn up in high grade that often from my experience and yours is a handsome copy. Last of the Steranko covers and clearly Dali inspired.

It is a good question from many angles. I don't think data has been collected all in one place before, but nowadays, with the internet there are many data sources which the perceptive can interpret and draw some projections from. Along with the many reasons that comic prices for some are on the increase. Scarcity for GA, demand for SA keys and more recently very high demand for BA keys due in part to Netflix series which capture the imagination of many collectors with a decent income. Never have so many people with a good income been chasing down the same comics! Boom!

Grabbed one back in 2012 from MCS when it was still under $10 fab cover and inside art. Avengers 186 anyone? I love the heads arranged down the LHS.

Only on this forum could you have Frazetta with a bit of foxing, or your National Lampoon dog slabbed.....

Apologies, my comment above posted twice and I can't seem to delete the second, only edit it.

I'm never confident above 9.0 but I'm seeing so few flaws on this sharp copy that I'm going 9.2 to 9.4 with just the one tiny corner blunting/chip which could even be manufacturing.

This is a 5.5 for me with a shot at 6.0 since it's a bright and bouncy copy.

I think it's a 7.0 too and I'm not just copying him. (I always make up my mind before I see other folks' grade estimates.)

Squarebound comics don't even leave the press as 9.4 but it then depends on how lenient or strict CGC would be on the inherent defects. At some point surely they have to be taken into account? I see an 8.0 or poss 8.5 but not any higher. But come on, that's really high for a squarebound.

I was at 8.0 until I saw the spine abrasion. Lovely copy even so. I think final grade is around 7.0 or 7.5 depending on how harshly the abrasion is viewed. The ink is not an issue.

Smack bang on VG/FN 5.0 for me.

And it's a 4.5 from me too. Nice cover gloss and page quality.

The evidence of past restoration and it's removal are all visible and CGC are able to look for more subtle traces too. They have their methods. The tape residue back cover bottom of spine is obvious. Not sure what you're trying to achieve. Is it a blue label 3.0 you're wanting? Best bet is professional assistance if all traces of residue and glue are to be removed but I don't know what CGC will grade it as when you resub because as said earlier, they can tell what's been done including restoration removal. How that affects grade, and poss more important from your angle, label colour, I don't know. Good luck though and please update us as this is an interesting case. I suspect that if your strong desire is for a blue label then quite possibly it's better to sell this one to partially fund another copy. It's an old expression now but, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear."

I imagine it comes down to whether CGC consider the waviness to be due to manufacturing or moisture. If the latter then expect quite a big hit. If the former then none or minimal.

Could well be something on the inside which cannot be seen now. Gripper tears typically at the bottom of some pages maybe, perhaps just getting too near the very edge of the page? Who knows but the difference is like the difference between male and female jelly babies.

Impact? When held to the light is there any sign, anything at all, that shows where you have been with the rubber? If not then I guess zero impact. Now go in with a magnifier and look for raised or abraded fibres on the cover. Indents from where you rubber? If answer is none then you've made a success of it.

Hulksdaddy, your TTO with Groot is gloriously tatty. Nicely presented now in a slab.

Not sure that crease is such an issue. It came off the press with it, so looks good for 7.0 or 7.5 to me. Page quality is high too. Possibly don't press in case the crease becomes an issue.

They've made some changes to the site. The number of posts we've made now has a little speech bubble next to it, plus some other very small formatting changes I noticed before signing in.

8.5 / 9.0 makes 'cents' to me. The marks on the back appear to be ink transfer, hence manufacturing in origin, so wouldn't count against. (& I see you've brought a little magick to your avatar!) Early Defenders is a fab run.

One of my all time favourite Bronze covers. Looks like an 8.0 or 8.5 all day long to me. Just got that little bindery chip on an inside page. Page quality is excellent and the bookshop stamp is a bonus, giving your copy a proper point of origin. Great copy!

Page quality is lovely and something we often never see with people's PGMs. I want to go 6.0 but there is the colour rub and spine wear so for me it's a 5.5 in the end. But what a handsome 5.5

Good plan, but you really can't beat reading it on newsprint. Plus the smell....forget Bisto...mmmmm...