Public Service Announcement and Question - Check the inside too!

[jimm94]

Hi folks,

 

Just a friendly reminder to always inspect the interior of books before you buy them - even from a trusted dealer.

 

I stopped by one of the dealers in my area today to pick up a raw VF+ FF #45 I've had my eye for awhile. They are a very well stocked shop, and I've been extremely pleased with my limited number of purchases from them. I didn't want to waste too much of their time today, so I quickly paid for the book and went on my merry way.

 

Not being able to resist a peek before my 30 minute trip home, however, I carefully took the book out of its' Mylar only to find 3/4" tears on two consecutive pages with small 3/8" tape repairs on the back of those pages. The tape repair had obviously been performed many years ago. I was disappointed and perhaps a bit suspicious that the dealer had missed the tape repairs when grading the book, but they were very apologetic and happy to refund my money. I could have probably lived with the tears, but not the tape considering the grade and price. I will buy from them again in the future, but will always take the time to more carefully evaluate a book before parting with my cash. This goes for every dealer I patronize from now on.

 

What is the maximum grade book you would find this type of thing acceptable in? Would you have called it (all other aspects of the book being appropriate) a qualified VF+, but maybe at a Fine price? I'm curious to know what you all think...

[Aces]

The problem with high grade books is;

You want a high grade book!

 

If you are looking for a VF-NM copy you don't want to settle for a VG-F, even at a reduced price!

 

It's different through if you were looking for a Fine and found one with a small tear or two that made it VGF, then maybe you'd settle for it.

[fantastic_four]

You should remove the tape. CGC will allow tears like those you described in grades up to 9.2, and possibly even higher than that.