Question on page color...

[rshale]

I have a primo looking X-Men 135 I'm thinking about getting slabbed - I'm thinking it's a 40% chance of 9.6 and 60% chance of 9.4 (which probably means it's a lock 9.2 right?) - anyway - I'm not clear on how the page 'grade' works. If you look at the pages from the top of the book they look Off-White at best, from the bottom they look White. How is the page color 'grade' determined? If the top of all the pages are OW and the bottoms W would it likely be OW/W or what? Thoughts?

[Zanarkand]

Like anything else, it depends on the grader's mood that day. I recently got back two Star Wars #1s, both White pages (view 'em in Marketplace. ). I could've sworn one was a little off-white toward the edges, but apparently not enough to get the ow/w. On the other hand, my ASM #300 got ow/w and it looked just about the same.

 

Just take two whiteness readings. Around the edges of the pages, and in the center on the pages. Pages tan towards the edges first and stay whiter longer in the middle. I don't think you would get ow/w unless you had an easy 1/8" of continuous off-white at the edges, fading to white 1/4" inch in. Just smidges off possible off-whiteness should still score "white".

 

And as always, be pessimistic. CGC will be.

[uclapeterg]

that sounds like a off-white to white page book

[blowout]

CGC have explained in the past that the first color relates to the edge of the page and the second to the inside.

[rshale]

Ah - thanks. So technically is it possible (as in if the laws of physics, paper aging and CGC grading specificity all perfectly align) to have 'Tan to White' pages? Just curious.

[Zanarkand]

Ah - thanks. So technically is it possible (as in if the laws of physics, paper aging and CGC grading specificity all perfectly align) to have 'Tan to White' pages? Just curious.

 

Yes, but don't expect to see it on a CGC label. Their progressions, and their meaning (as near as I can tell) are:

 

White: Original page color (some paper starts out kind of non-white). No tanning on the edges, or just a teeny tiny bit.

 

Off-white to white: Mostly original page color with just a little light tanning on the edges, maybe 1/8" inch, fading to original page color ("white") after 1/4" in.

 

Off-white: Light tanning on the edges maybe 1/4" and fading to white after 1/2" in.

 

Cream to off-white: Darker tanning on the edges up to 1/8", fading to light tan after about 1/2" and white after that.

 

Cream: Darker tanning about 1/4", fading to lighter tan after about 1" towards the center, only technically original white in the center.

 

Tan to cream: Solid tan 1/8" at the edges, fading progressively to cream and off-white towards the center. Maybe only original white in a patch at the center.

 

There's also at least a "Tan" designation, "Brown", "Slightly brittle", and "Brittle". Maybe a "Tan to brown", but I've never seen it. "Slightly brittle" seems to show up on books that retain overall page suppleness but have brittle edges, and Brittle seems to mean pages that are brittle for 1/4" or more. Brittle pages can be any color.