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Disappointed in my slabbed grades, again!!!!!!

Started by BassGMan,

36 posts in this topic

BassGMan

BassGMan

Posted
Posted

Hi. We've all been through it. You ship out your books to CGC 893crossfingers-thumb.gif with dreams of golden rainbows and happy days ahead. cloud9.gif Then you open that box, pull out the slabs one by one. Carp!!! 893frustrated.gif Not the grades you were hoping for, at least on many. Happens every gosh darn time. 10% of the time I am surprised by a higher grade than expected. Maybe 30% what I expected, and about 60% minorly to majorly downgraded from what I expected. The good news? two of my Wolvie mini-series #1s came back in 9.6 and one an amazing 9.8 but the rest? Carp. Lots of 8.0s to 9.2s. Not bad mind you, but I was hoping for the best for these Modern keys foreheadslap.gif.

 

I am sure many of you have been through this. Probably some of you guys are so good at CGC's game that you really know how to pick 'em and can avoid the lessor grades. Anyone have any tips? I am an experienced dealer/collector and know how to grade books, but sometimes I overlook something, maybe am not paying attention to something I should be, etc.

 

To put it simply, how should I examine my books so that I don't miss the things CGC grades down for? I know the obvious, I don't know the not-so-obvious. confused-smiley-013.gif Thanks-----Sid

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JiveTurkeyMoFo

JiveTurkeyMoFo

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Posted

Are you remembering to put a $50 spot in an envelope marked "Steve's Retirement", and slipping that in with your books? 27_laughing.gif

 

Seriously, like you I have often been bewildered with some of the CGC grades I get back on some of my submissions. But, what can you do? You take the good with the bad and keep on truckin' confused-smiley-013.gif

 

 

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sterlingcomics

sterlingcomics

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Sorry to hear your disappointment on your submission. As some of you know, I'm expecting a number of surprises in my batch which should come back in March. gossip.gif

 

The obvious stuff: complete, sharp corners, no spine stress are my initial criteria. What does the rest of this motley crew use for criteria for submission?

 

Now, don't be shy... shy.gif

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THE_BEYONDER

THE_BEYONDER

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Pre-screen... gossip.gif

 

Good point. I think there's a 50 book minimum, right?

 

The minimum is 100. hi.gif

 

I thought on non-moderns it was 50, moderns 100. Anywho, ya gots to have lots of books to pre-screen! acclaim.gif

 

You might be right... sorry.gif

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Smokinghawk

Smokinghawk

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Posted
Pre-screen... gossip.gif

 

Good point. I think there's a 50 book minimum, right?

 

The minimum is 100. hi.gif

 

 

But...but...that wouldn't really work, would it?? I mean, the jig is up as soon as your next buyer sees the book and realizes in an instant, "hey, THAT'S not a 9.8, it's a 9.6! Why, something's crooked about this whole thing!"

 

 

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shiverbones

shiverbones

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well i tend to be a hair stricter than cgc, so i tend to be happily shocked. some defects are still wild cards with me, especially the "Bindery" or printing defects, but for the most part i go by NO spine stress & razor sharp edges 9.8. 1 stress or 1 slight bindery corner 9.6, 2 or 3 stresses 9.4, slight corner bump & a couple stresses 9.2. Basically the most important thing i have noted is hold the book at an angle & look in the light. The surface should be mirror smooth. If not, all those little imperfections count!

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BassGMan

BassGMan

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well i tend to be a hair stricter than cgc, so i tend to be happily shocked. some defects are still wild cards with me, especially the "Bindery" or printing defects, but for the most part i go by NO spine stress & razor sharp edges 9.8. 1 stress or 1 slight bindery corner 9.6, 2 or 3 stresses 9.4, slight corner bump & a couple stresses 9.2. Basically the most important thing i have noted is hold the book at an angle & look in the light. The surface should be mirror smooth. If not, all those little imperfections count!

 

Yeah, good point. I have always looked at the edges and the spine and all the obvious stuff for imperfections but I have not done the tilt under light bit. However, those "invisible" slight creases and flaws do stand out in the slab as the shiny plastic makes these hard to see imperfections stand out better. You can look right at a comic and not see this stuff without the right tilt. From now on, my new motto is "with light, I will tilt". Thanks Shiver, that scary bunny tale has given you good insight. Now, I just need another four or five good tips like that and it is NM+ and above all the way. -----Sid

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Darthdiesel

Darthdiesel

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check the interior carefully - even unread sometimes has folded, rippled pages inside - go figure how that happened.

 

check the spine edge - cardstock cover if the spine is worn/white showing thru the dark color gloss - it i not 9.8 caliber

 

check the covers against all angles in bright light, if there is a "break", that is evidence of light impact stress that will take it down a notch. Also avoid on the soft covers anything that looks like "sweat damage" - some of us don't like to admit the having extra moister than usual palms and fingers for one reason or another (i.e. reading Wizard or the newpaper and seeing smudges where your fingertips were) - these definitely take it down out of high grade contention.

 

Don't have the false hope that if you notice a slight flaw or imperfection, that CGC won't notice it or will glance over it. You will not get that 9.8 you are hoping for. Immediately move that from your "CGC prescreen potential" pile and set that comic aside in your "list as raw NM/MT on eBay" pile

 

 

Prescreen the books first by yourself with latex gloves and magnifying glass handy in a well lit and clear table area without refreshments (spill potential) - bags and boards handy to slide them into once you are done with a quick prescreen. and lots of time 893frustrated.gif

 

Keep in mind the CGC'd stuff you see on eBay or Heritage via scans and that are brought to the attention of forumites here whereby we'd all shake our head s and cry out "What was CGC smoking when they gave that a 9.8, 9.6, etc." are digitally magnified, photoshop touched or adjusted for maximum presentation. Some scanners are just terrible and darker than others and contain "artifacts" that are not on the book. I have to admit - My scans make my books look bad becuase I am lazy and I use an autofix program after I scan, then compress it into a jpg with all different resolutions and sizes...I give a fairly accurate representation, but I have to say my books look so much better in hand than they do on screen confused-smiley-013.gif

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RS

RS

Posted
Posted
check the interior carefully - even unread sometimes has folded, rippled pages inside - go figure how that happened.

 

check the spine edge - cardstock cover if the spine is worn/white showing thru the dark color gloss - it i not 9.8 caliber

 

check the covers against all angles in bright light, if there is a "break", that is evidence of light impact stress that will take it down a notch. Also avoid on the soft covers anything that looks like "sweat damage" - some of us don't like to admit the having extra moister than usual palms and fingers for one reason or another (i.e. reading Wizard or the newpaper and seeing smudges where your fingertips were) - these definitely take it down out of high grade contention.

 

Don't have the false hope that if you notice a slight flaw or imperfection, that CGC won't notice it or will glance over it. You will not get that 9.8 you are hoping for. Immediately move that from your "CGC prescreen potential" pile and set that comic aside in your "list as raw NM/MT on eBay" pile

 

 

Prescreen the books first by yourself with latex gloves and magnifying glass handy in a well lit and clear table area without refreshments (spill potential) - bags and boards handy to slide them into once you are done with a quick prescreen. and lots of time 893frustrated.gif

 

Keep in mind the CGC'd stuff you see on eBay or Heritage via scans and that are brought to the attention of forumites here whereby we'd all shake our head s and cry out "What was CGC smoking when they gave that a 9.8, 9.6, etc." are digitally magnified, photoshop touched or adjusted for maximum presentation. Some scanners are just terrible and darker than others and contain "artifacts" that are not on the book. I have to admit - My scans make my books look bad becuase I am lazy and I use an autofix program after I scan, then compress it into a jpg with all different resolutions and sizes...I give a fairly accurate representation, but I have to say my books look so much better in hand than they do on screen confused-smiley-013.gif

 

Very good post thumbsup2.gif893applaud-thumb.gif Thanks smile.gif

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