Marvel Mystery Comics # 72 and 80

[RushComics]

Two more beauties to share.

 

I'm trying to decide which of these to send for my "three free express service" and which I should send for standard Cgc service. (Between these two, the two EC books, the Superboy and the Batman 2 in my other posts).

 

http://rushcomics.freewebpage.org/Marvel72.jpg

http://rushcomics.freewebpage.org/Marvel72.jpg

 

http://rushcomics.freewebpage.org/Marvel80.jpg

http://rushcomics.freewebpage.org/Marvel80b.jpg

[murph0]

Again, just looking at front covers..

 

MMC 72 - 8.0 (definately send this one in)

MMC 80 - 5.0

 

Brian

[RushComics]

 

5.0 on the # 80??

 

Ouch. What am I missing? It doesn't look that bad to me!

 

Charlie

[murph0]

Looked a little rough on the cover. The spine is fairly stressed, and there was some other stuff. It's a G.A. book though so I could be off here. But either way I'd definately send in the 72.

 

Brian

[Bronty]

I think those would rate 8.5 (outside chance at 9.0) and 6.0, although I've looked only at the front covers. Perhaps murph feels I'm overgrading but look at the spine on #72 - it looks flawless! If it wasn't for the soft corners it looks like a 9.4/9.6

[murph0]

That big tear/indent/whatever is what really kills this one. The spine does look nice, however, and since it IS a G.A. book I'd say anything 8.0-9.2 even is possible. My grade would be on a "straight" scale.

 

Brian

[Bonds25]

Gorgeous books! I'd guess a 9.0 on the #72 and a 7.0 on the #80.

[RushComics]

I got my Marvel Mystery 72 back from CGC!

 

(I only wish my scanner would scan the newly CGCed book.. I need a new scanner I think. It comes out very blurry and dark on my current scanner. Suggestions?)

 

I'm very happy--and a bit confused--with the grade that CGC gave it. I can't complain in the least. I'm just not sure I understand.

 

First the grade: I got a whopping 9.2!

 

Yea! Woo, Woo! CGC gave my book a better grade than anybody on this board!

 

It's in one of their new cases, with their new labels, a beautiful blue "CGC Universal Grade"!

 

I notice they no longer say "Near Mint" or "Very Fine," just the number, that's okay with me.

 

Since my scans are coming out blurry, I'll type in what it says on that wonderful blue universal grade label. Which leads to my confusion. Happy confusion, but confusion.

 

Marvel Mystery Comics # 72

Timely Comics, 5/46

OFF-WHITE Pages.

Sol Brodsky cover Sub Mariner and Angel stories.

 

I'm okay with all that, it's what it says between "Timely Comics, 5/46" and "OFF-WHITE Pages" that throws me off. It says:

 

Very minor amount of color touch on cover, very minor amount of glue on cover.

 

Okay, I'm confused.

 

A blue universal grade. So it's unrestored.

"Very minor amount of color touch on cover." So it's restored?

 

You mean a minor amount of color touch is still considered unrestored?

 

I really wonder how this will affect the value. I mean, great grade, and I can't complain about the blue label at all--but the comment seems to almost contradict the color of the label!

 

Comments, anyone?

 

Thanks,

Charlie

 

 

 

[kryptonitecomics]

Very Odd and I would agree with your assessment. Either it's Restored or it's not. I wasn't aware that a tiny amount of restoration was allowed? It's still a beautiful book that many would kill to own, but if you ever decided to part with it, that label would certainly hurt the value. Maybe that put the wrong type of label or the book???

[joe_collector]

CGC reserves the right to assign a Universal on certain Golden Age restored books.

 

It's likely a Pedigree Clause that was instituted, and allowed your book to sneak under.

[murph0]

It's very hard to understand what CGC will do with Golden Age books. Once you have a G.A. book that looks like it could be anything above a 7.5, it's anybodies guess what the grade will be.. could be a 7.5, could be a 9.4.

 

Brian

[RushComics]

Thanks guys! I'll give the towel thing a try.

 

By the way (sorry to advertise ebay on a discussion board but a while back a few people here sounded interested in this book when I asked about a grade),

 

the Superboy # 1 1949 I posted a picture of a while back, I decided to put on ebay as is, without having it restored or CGCed.

 

http://outside-affiliatelinksnotallowed.com/x54m

[RushComics]

 

Um.. the towel thing didn' t help much. And I can't remove the cover.

 

I may end up buying a new one. I'll try to find out if I can use someone else's.

 

Thanks,

Charlie

[garthgantu]

 

You mean a minor amount of color touch is still considered unrestored?

 

I really wonder how this will affect the value. I mean, great grade, and I can't complain about the blue label at all--but the comment seems to almost contradict the color of the label!

 

Rush/Charlie: Yes, both small amounts of glue and small color touches are allowed in the "Universal" (i.e., unrestored) category, under certain conditions. Exactly what those conditions are, no one really knows, but the whole concept certainly seems rooted in early pedigree collections and the owners of those collections, as JC noted.

 

As for "how this will effect the value," the answer is simple: CGC has taken further steps to make sure it won't affect the value - by dropping the letter grade and making the numeric grade so big that you can easily create a scan of the slab in which the numeric grade is legible, but none of the other notations on the label can be read

Just be sure to include "no refunds" in mouseprint in your auction listing!

[Arty]

Yes, both small amounts of glue and small color touches are allowed in the "Universal" (i.e., unrestored) category, under certain conditions. Exactly what those conditions are, no one really knows, but the whole concept certainly seems rooted in early pedigree collections and the owners of those collections, as JC noted.

 

This info was posted here by sborock about half year ago:

 

About blue label restored books

 

This will probably be the 4th or 5th time I am posting this on the forum:

 

CGC, since before it's inception, has always stated that, at CGC's discretion, golden age comics with the most minor color touch and/or the most minor glue will be given a blue label but the very minor glue/color touch will ALWAYS be noted on the label. The comic grade will be lowered one step on the grading scale for this because the "work" done to the book is so minor that if removed, it would only change the grade by one step if at all.

The reason CGC decided to do this is that many of the high-grade pedigree Golden-Age comic books have had very minor work done to them and it was always either accepted or ignored by the buyers and sellers of these comic books. CGC could not come into the market and ignore very minor work because CGC is about full disclosure so, to be fair to both buyer and seller alike, we decided to go with the blue label, a one step down grade, and a notation about the work that was done.

 

In my opinion this is quite clear, see text in bold.

You have to remember that color touched areas could be as small as these dots ==> ;: ::

To me it doesn't make sense to PLOD these kind of books.

 

 

[RushComics]

As for "how this will effect the value," the answer is simple: CGC has taken further steps to make sure it won't affect the value - by dropping the letter grade and making the numeric grade so big that you can easily create a scan of the slab in which the numeric grade is legible, but none of the other notations on the label can be read

Just be sure to include "no refunds" in mouseprint in your auction listing!

 

Um.. that was a joke right?

 

Actually, I *am* hopeful that the comment won't hurt *that* much. Especially thanks to the blue universal label.

 

If you ask me, I'm not sure I understand the whole anti-restoration bias anyway. I mean, it's like, Action #1 Near Mint, a million dollars, restored near mint, it's what, about $32.50?

 

I wonder if they would know specific information about how small the color touch was? Say, from whatever notes they save under the book's i.d. number. How do I get that information? Is it online somewhere or do I have to call them or e-mail them?

 

If I could get it in writing from them that it *is* color touch as small as this: :: then I'll bet a buyer just *might* not worry about the comment and give it a true 9.2 Marvel Mystery # 72 bid when I go to sell it. (Which I expect to fairly soon, in fact, probably soon as I resolve my scanning problem.)

 

I would think any Golden Age book in 9.2 should bring quite a premium. I know according to the Comic Buyers Guide, books "before 1990" in 9.2 bring like Near Mint + 124% or whatever. I would think a 9.2 before 1950 should do better than that.. even if it has :: <--- that much color touch.

 

Charlie

 

 

 

 

[garthgantu]

Well, if you have to ask...

 

As for Borock's statement being straightforward, that one bolded line may be... but consider this: when I discussed this issue with Mark H. at CGC he said that in a case where the PLOD is applied, the book won't be dinged in terms of the grade, but if the book is given the blue label even with 'minor color touch' and/or 'small amount of glue', *then* the grade is impacted based on how the book's condition would change if the 'resto' wasn't there...

 

Furthermore, there are books with 'small amount of glue' noted on the label, that are given the Blue label, and there are books with the same verbiage that are given the PLOD. From Borock's comment, you would expect that *some* distinction would be made in the verbiage, to distinguish those GA books whose 'minor resto' was actually somehow affecting the 'structural integrity' of the comic and those where the 'minor resto' was deemed completely inconsequential to the structure of the book. But there isn't any such distinction.

[Mephisto]

Did you send in the 80? I thought that one looked better than many GA 7.5's I have come across.

[RushComics]

Did you send in the 80? I thought that one looked better than many GA 7.5's I have come across.

 

I sure did!

 

I sent in three books for my 3-comic Express coupon, about fifteen books for Standard Service, about ten or so for Economy Service and another ten for Modern Service. The 80 was among the Standard Service books.

 

The three I got back (I'll post them if I can solve my scanning problems, perhaps I should hold the other grades and post them without labels and quiz you all ;-)

 

The Marvel Mystery 72,

a really nice Avengers # 4,

and the restored Batman # 2 15 cent variant I posted pictures of a while back.

 

P.S.:

I wonder how long it takes for the census to catch up?

I see no 9.2 Marvel Mystery 72's on the census, and no varient Batman# 2s at all.

 

Who cares if my Batman #2 is restored? If CGC's census is an accurate census, it's the only copy of the variant in existance! (Maniacal laugh:) HAHAHAHAHA!

 

 

[Mephisto]

Now there are price varients for GA books. I never really noticed any mention of tehm. So when are the issue numbers going to come out of the wood work and that's all I'll ever here about is working on a GA price varient set?