New Label CGC VS. Old Label CGC

[comicdonna]

Writing or date stamps tend to devalue the book somewhat in most collectors' opinions. As Jimbo mentioned though, there are some pedigrees such as the Green River Pedigree, which have date stamps and are generally more valuable. The other variable that affects value is the location of the writing/stamp, size of it, and how legible it is.

I will add to this:

 

The date stamp on the Green River's were almost always stamped in the most discreet spot on the cover.

 

The whole purpose of a date stamp was to be discreetly VISIBLE!

Wrong!

 

I beg your pardon . . .

You heard me.

Pray tell . . .

I'm not one for many words but, In a collector's point of view, it is preferable for a date stamp to be located in a spot on the cover that does not interfere with the art. I thought everyone knew that.

 

I knew you misunderstood my comment. I was addressing the original purpose that a date stamped was affixed to a book's cover - so the retailer would know when to return the book to the distributor. We used to stamp and mark books at the drug store, and the last place you'd want to put a date was where you couldn't see it. Consequently, stamps and dates were almost universally (without thought) placed in white or yellow areas of the book. Mind you, we were stamping 100 books or so at a time. . .

Not many of us were stamping comics back in the 60''s like you. You should have stached some of them away.

[gkargreen-migration]

SCS = Shaken Comic Syndrome

 

And it does still happen in new holders. Last week someone tried to sell me a slabbed early X-Men graded 9.6. It was in a new slab and he claimed he had just had it graded before Christmas of last year. However, the lower right corner had SCS and was folded under at an almost perfect 45 degree angle. So now the book was probably just a 9.0 or so, in a 9.6 slab. Naturally he was insulted when I made my offer based on a Raw 9.0 price It was one of the best examples of SCS I had seen though.

 

As for old vs new grading, opinions do vary wildly. Some people say that CGC was easier on high grade silver and gold books on the old label. Other people say the old label was tougher on moderns, and is more relaxed now. Other people say that from 8.0 and up, the old labels were more accurate, while others say that new label books are more accurately graded from 4.0 and down. You hear everything, so I think it is a wash in the long run. On average they are no better or worse. I do think they have gotten better at hardcore resto detection, so new labels are probably better for resto detection. Of course they could also spot color touch and the other obvious stuff, so no different there. I think they have gotten better at spotting trimming, chemical cleaning and other major restoration that requires disassembly of the book. So if I were buying a multi-thousand dollar book, I might feel a bit more confortable with new labels, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker necessarily.

 

Got that one beat! SCS on a Big Apple TOTU knocked a 1/2' corner right of the lower right, broken corner matches perfectly, comic slides pretty good in the old container... my suggestion would be that any book you that is slabbed should be designated as WHITE pages, because there will be no tanning to the cover, which becomes much more brittle from tanning than the pages... you could also go off-white-white, but anything less than that is asking for trouble. Also, be sure to take a good look at the cover and see if there is any tanning to either the front or back cover, its fairly apparent when you know how to look...