Old School Grading vs. 1-10 CGC Scale

[mr.schomburg]

To me, the old school way of grading was much more strict. I have adjusted my grading down over the last 4 yrs. to match with current grading practices. CGC beign the largest contributor in the new standard. My old VG's were very nice and would be universaly graded in the FN or 6.0 range today, but that is just my experience. I would have to say that my grading which is usually spot on with in .5 or less with submitted grades is easily 1-2 full points higher grade then I would have given in say 2003?

 

I sub'd about 30 silver age books about 1yr ago, all very nice. Long time books in my collection with given grades(by me) of around 6.0 or FN. The lowest was 6.5, but most were in the 7.0-8.0 and even a few 8.5's.

 

Then again my comic grading teacher was a long time collector/dealer who's shop is known for undergrading. Most likely is that he is a strict guide seller and buyer. Half of guide for buying full guide for selling. Thus keeps the costs down, and cust. coming back for 20-30 yrs.

 

Because of this I usually am never disapointed in a grade recieved and most of the time amazed. That being said, it is changing my way, as the more I practice the current standard, the more my brain wants to grade the same way. So now I look for books I would call F/VF and hope for a 8.0 to 8.5???

 

Just my take.

paul

[Blind Owl]

To me, the old school way of grading was much more strict. I have adjusted my grading down over the last 4 yrs. to match with current grading practices. CGC beign the largest contributor in the new standard. My old VG's were very nice and would be universaly graded in the FN or 6.0 range today, but that is just my experience. I would have to say that my grading which is usually spot on with in .5 or less with submitted grades is easily 1-2 full points higher grade then I would have given in say 2003?

 

I sub'd about 30 silver age books about 1yr ago, all very nice. Long time books in my collection with given grades(by me) of around 6.0 or FN. The lowest was 6.5, but most were in the 7.0-8.0 and even a few 8.5's.

 

Then again my comic grading teacher was a long time collector/dealer who's shop is known for undergrading. Most likely is that he is a strict guide seller and buyer. Half of guide for buying full guide for selling. Thus keeps the costs down, and cust. coming back for 20-30 yrs.

 

Because of this I usually am never disapointed in a grade recieved and most of the time amazed. That being said, it is changing my way, as the more I practice the current standard, the more my brain wants to grade the same way. So now I look for books I would call F/VF and hope for a 8.0 to 8.5???

 

Just my take.

paul

 

I kinda agree with almost everything you've stated here. My experiences (we all have different ones depending upon who we bought comics from in the past etc.) have been that in general CGC is stricter in the higher graded brackets.However I have seen CGC 9.0 copies with noticeably dinged corners that I would not have called 9.0. But overall I see high-grade books as stricter using CGC.

 

I also think that some of the mid-grade books (4.0 to6.0) are the books that I have noticed them to be less demanding on as compared to old school. I do remember getting 4.0-4.5 copies that appear nicer than CGC copies.

 

These are just in my experiences. Like you mention some dealers grade a little differently and I may have bought from dealers who weren't as strict.

 

One last point; I remember buying back issues in the late 60's from Howard Rogofsky via mail-order and receiving books without any grade at all. Some of the books I received were Mint, and others were VF. Only the issue number you wanted was given, and the price. I never felt I was burned by him as the lowest graded book I ever received from him was about VF-. These were NOT Golden Age but Silver age Marvels because that's what I was interested in at the time. They were fairly recent copies being about 5 years old or so. If anyone had bought Golden Age from Howard it would be interesting to know how they were graded!!!

 

Joe