Tri-Color Brian Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 (edited) Dog, I think you're treading on thin ice with those words... Tomorrow's comic news headline: "29dukedog was banned today from the CGC forums for blasphemy..." Edited October 21, 2014 by tricolorbrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBFan Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 ...or getting too close to the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 I'm amazed I haven't been banned yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Dog, I think you're treading on thin ice with those words... Tomorrow's comic news headline: "29dukedog was banned today from the CGC forums for blasphemy..." I may have sounded a little snarky, but I'm actually taking their side. I get that, in order to be an impartial, third party, they need to be granted a little room to make a decision in a grey area, and not have to defend it to everyone. We employ them to make an essentially subjective call, just like we appoint a jury to render a verdict, or a judge to pass a sentence. If they ever did provide written guidelines to their grading criteria, they'd get people arguing about their grades, and using CGC's own guidelines to try making a case against a particular grade. It's a can of worms that CGC just can't open. I can also see how difficult it might be to actually quantify how many defects, and what kind of defects, are allowed in a particular grade. There are such a wide variety of flaws a book can have, and how do you quantify, not only each type of flaw, but the degree of those types of flaws, and the combination of different types of flaws, that are allowed in a particular grade? If you think about what the task involves, you can begin to understand how difficult it would be to actually write down a defined grading criteria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBFan Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 The more Grader Notes I see, the more I'm starting to figure out their criteria. Having to pay for the notes limits the learning process, but after seeing just a few sets of notes, you can start to discern the kinds and numbers of defects that warrant certain grades. I agree that customer awareness of CGC's exact criteria might cause some folks to call them on mistakes, but what's wrong with some accountability? Grader Notes, in essence, DO reveal CGC's grading guidelines. Regardless of "policy", making Grader Notes available shows they really don't mind letting us in on their grading criteria, but they do want us to pay for it. And just to keep things on-topic, knowing exactly which and how many defects kill a book's grade would be very helpful to those of us who collect Baker, because many, many available Baker books have multiple problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 I agree that customer awareness of CGC's exact criteria might cause some folks to call them on mistakes, but what's wrong with some accountability? I'm in favor of accountability, just a little vague on "exact". How does one go about quantifying the exact difference between a 7.0, and a 7.5, for example? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBFan Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 (edited) Not sure myself, but CGC does it all the time. If we had enough Grader Notes from 7.0 and 7.5 books, we could probably figure it out. Edited October 21, 2014 by MBFan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicnoir Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 (edited) That CL 25 looks very nice but if I saw it in person, I'd probably understand why it's a 5.5. A long non-breaking crease on the back will knock down the grade, not visible in a scan. I've pretty much agreed with their grades once I get a long look at the book in strong light. To me, eye appeal is more important than technical grade, especially when it comes to St. John romances, or any 50's books.. Edited October 21, 2014 by comicnoir Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Not sure myself, but CGC does it all the time. If we had enough Grader Notes from 7.0 and 7.5 books, we could probably figure it out. Just as long as they do it consistently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 The difference between a 7.0 and a 7.5 is simple, .5 of a grade...sheesh...didn't you guys take math? See: 7.5 -7.0 = .5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjpb Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Not sure myself, but CGC does it all the time. If we had enough Grader Notes from 7.0 and 7.5 books, we could probably figure it out. Just as long as they do it consistently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicnoir Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 That CL 25 looks very nice but if I saw it in person, I'd probably understand why it's a 5.5. A long non-breaking crease on the back will knock down the grade, not visible in a scan. I've pretty much agreed with their grades once I get a long look at the book in strong light. To me, eye appeal is more important than technical grade, especially when it comes to St. John romances, or any 50's books.. Apparently I did see this book in person in Chicago at Bedrock's booth. A very nice 5.5 and perhaps upgrade potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 That CL 25 looks very nice but if I saw it in person, I'd probably understand why it's a 5.5. A long non-breaking crease on the back will knock down the grade, not visible in a scan. I've pretty much agreed with their grades once I get a long look at the book in strong light. To me, eye appeal is more important than technical grade, especially when it comes to St. John romances, or any 50's books.. Apparently I did see this book in person in Chicago at Bedrock's booth. A very nice 5.5 and perhaps upgrade potential. Many years ago, that copy was originally unearthed by our own Flex Mentallo (who I hope will correct me if any of this is in error). Around 2006, he sold it to a collector named Joe Serpico, and it was Joe who had it slabbed. Joe Serpico is responsible for a great many Baker romance books in the CGC census. In most cases, where only a single, low grade copy of a particular issue has been graded, it's usually due to Joe. He'd eventually acquired almost every issue of the St. John romance titles, and he slabbed them all in short order, the low grade and the high grade alike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 From CLink last night. Not a great copy, but a bit better than my current copy. Only two copies on the census -- the other is a 9.4. If I'm remembering correctly, that's the old label Church copy that Metro was offering for a while for $2,400. They took it down in that mysterious purge of all their Church books some months back. So far as I know, it has yet to reappear. Note that Baker did sneak a dame into the edge of the cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpknface Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Sweet pickup! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flex Mentallo Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) That CL 25 looks very nice but if I saw it in person, I'd probably understand why it's a 5.5. A long non-breaking crease on the back will knock down the grade, not visible in a scan. I've pretty much agreed with their grades once I get a long look at the book in strong light. To me, eye appeal is more important than technical grade, especially when it comes to St. John romances, or any 50's books.. Apparently I did see this book in person in Chicago at Bedrock's booth. A very nice 5.5 and perhaps upgrade potential. Many years ago, that copy was originally unearthed by our own Flex Mentallo (who I hope will correct me if any of this is in error). Around 2006, he sold it to a collector named Joe Serpico, and it was Joe who had it slabbed. Joe Serpico is responsible for a great many Baker romance books in the CGC census. In most cases, where only a single, low grade copy of a particular issue has been graded, it's usually due to Joe. He'd eventually acquired almost every issue of the St. John romance titles, and he slabbed them all in short order, the low grade and the high grade alike. Joe paid a lot for my Bakers. (The money went to my project in India) I was very surprised when he let them go. Edited October 31, 2014 by Flex Mentallo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Sweet pickup! Thanks. I have a feeling there may be some nice raw copies out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicnoir Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Someone is selling a slew of Bakers at unreal prices on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/CINDERELLA-LOVE-26-GD-VG-CLASSIC-MATT-BAKER-COVER-1955-ST-JOHN-GGA-GOOD-GIRL/361066956034?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27538%26meid%3D7b3b2674f5db45d29e4924158a531da1%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D11353%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D251662200907&rt=nc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Someone is selling a slew of Bakers at unreal prices on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/CINDERELLA-LOVE-26-GD-VG-CLASSIC-MATT-BAKER-COVER-1955-ST-JOHN-GGA-GOOD-GIRL/361066956034?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27538%26meid%3D7b3b2674f5db45d29e4924158a531da1%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D11353%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D251662200907&rt=nc A few of those books, that seller originally won from my eBay auctions, over the past year or two. The Cinderella Love 26, which had been my first, one, and only copy of CL 26 for years, and which was not for sale at the time, he'd approached me outside of eBay and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. His Diary Secrets 26 is pretty nice, and a tough issue. If I still needed one, I wouldn't hesitate to spend that much on a copy like that. But the rest, I agree, are a little steep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...