Severity of flaws in VF- NM grades

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Let's discuss the severity of flaws allowed in Very Fine - Near Mint grades. What flaws irritate you the most? I find tiny corner creases on otherwise Near Mint books to be quite frustrating. What irritates me the most though is probably suface flaws/wear. A new/unread book that has been handled improperly, or a new book that has been flipped through carelessly. I don't allow any surface marks/flaws/wear in a Near Mint book. I will allow maybe one or two almost invisible marks in VF/NM 9.0 if the book is otherwise nearly perfect. By invisible marks, I'm talking about ones that are only noticeable looking at the surface at the right angle under light. So what flaws do you allow in Near Mint grade? How much surface wear does it take to lower a book down to F/VF? How much spine stress do you allow before you grade a book down to F/VF?

 

I am interested in your opinons and thoughts...

[COI]

ANY stress on the spine irritates me, probably more than anything else(besides writing on the cover). I buy mostly silver age books, and there's mothing that irritates me more than an amazing NM looking book except for several minute stress lines. Unfortunetly, it is almost impossible to find a silver age book without at lease 1 minor surface stress on the spine.

 

Excessive overflash also bugs me, especially with impact creases.

[murph0]

date stamps, and the spots where the cover is like bent over the rest of the book b/c it overlaps.

 

Brian

[COI]

"and the spots where the cover is like bent over the rest of the book b/c it overlaps"

 

Yep, that's overflash.

[comicinvestor-migration]

Writing, date or store stamps, white-border covers, and noticeable distributor ink.

 

No way any of these should be present in strict NM-and-higher comics.

[murph0]

eww distributor ink and overspray suck too.

 

Brian

[BachelorOfComix]

My goodness you guys are a picky lot. Do you manage to buy any comics???

 

Cheers,

 

Bachelor of Comics

[murph0]

Unfortunately, I usually have to pass..but sometimes I get some

 

Brian

[Goliath-migration]

This seems to me to be one of the main reasons for the low prices that the VF+ and below are fetching. I've bought and recieved VF/NM's with 1/4 inch creases, and submitted two ASM #51's one with a 1/4 inch crease (8.5) and another with no creases whatsoever, a far nicer book structurally and received a 7.0.

 

Most VF raw books I've bought at local shops over the last 10 years have virtually all received VF/NM to NM+ from CGC. Very few have received less. Tight graders in my area at the comic shops.

 

Page quality seems to me to be an extreme measure that drops my grades to well below VF. MOst yellowed to tan pages seem to get FN to FN/VF.

[aardvark88]

I can live w/ corner creases on front or back cover as long as the spine is near perfect. Cgc deducts more points for soft corners or slight/moderate corner creases than I would hammering what u thought was a 9.0 down to a 7.5 silver bk.

[Guest]

Spine stresses bug me as well as tiny corner creases. Im slightly more tolerant of date stamps and overspray. I collect early 80s Joes so I usually dont have to worry about common Silver and Bronze age problems. Slight thumb or finger creases that are usually very light still bug the out of me because they turn a high NM book into a useless 8.5-9.0. By useless I mean for my Joe collection, not for Silver and Gold books that would still be fantastic in that same crappy 9.0 grade.

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Thanks for your post and input, I thought this might be an opportunity to advance the discussion maybe??

 

Spine stresses bug me as well as tiny corner creases.

 

Yep, I think we can all agree with that. However, there are degrees of severity for each defect. For example a 1/16 inch corner crease does NOT irritate me nearly as much as a 1/2 inch corner crease. If both books were otherwise perfect, I would give the one with a 1/16 inch corner crease a NM 9.2 - VF/NM 9.0 grade. The book with a 1/2 inch corner crease would be graded down to a VF 7.5 - F/VF 7.0 because the defect is larger and much more noticable. Another factor to throw into the corner crease is if the crease BREAKS color. If that 1/2 inch crease breaks color, the book is definitly a F/VF 7.0. We can go into the same discussion with spine stress because there are degrees of spine stress. Some spine stress marks are barely visible, others are visible but not without looking at the book at the right angle under light, while other stress marks are easily noticable, and might appear to have been the front book on a spinner rack. I despise stress marks that break color.

 

Im slightly more tolerant of date stamps and overspray. I collect early 80s Joes so I usually dont have to worry about common Silver and Bronze age problems.

 

It's much easier to be tolerrant though, when the defects don't apply to the books you collect. Again there are factors for these defects too. While most of us would prefer books without date stamps, I for one would "settle" with a date stamp for the right price, and another thing is date stamp placement, that is where the date stamp is located, and the size of the date stamp. Overspray is a printing defect, and too much overspray is not a good thing.

 

Slight thumb or finger creases that are usually very light still bug the out of me because they turn a high NM book into a useless 8.5-9.0.

 

ROFL and I though I was picky about the grade of books. I "settle" for those "useless" grades on Bronze/Modern books. I mean think about it, we are talking about a 1-10 scale, not a 9-10 scale. I'm quite satisfied to own books that grade 8.0 and higher, and I'll settle for commom books in 7.5, when the grade of a Bronze/Modern book is F/VF 7.0 I tend to get grumpy. The funny thing here though is that my F/VF 7.0 is as good as an overgraders VF 8.5! If I were to grade some of these people's books, they would probably rather CGC grade them.

[blowout]

"The book with a 1/2 inch corner crease would be graded down to a VF 7.5 - F/VF 7.0 because the defect is larger and much more noticable."

 

not neccessarily, i have a book with a 1 1/2 inch (slightly breaks color) corner crease that received a cgc 8.5 grade.

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Your referring to CGC's grading, I'm referring to my own personal grading based on OverStreet definitions. Let's keep CGC's UN-disclosed grading standards out of the discussion, that is unless you know what CGC's grading standards are, then please do tell.

[Guest]

Like I said above, I personally consider 8.5 to 9.0 GI JOEs to be useless because they will probably NEVER sell in any grade lower than a 9.6 unless its a more popular issue. I was not saying that I find OTHER comics to be useless in the lower grades. SEE ABOVE POST!

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Want to sell me some GI JOE's in "crappy" 8.5-9.0 condition?

[Guest]

actually i have some of my "lower" grade Joes for sale. #3,7,8,9,14,20,26....all range from 8.5 to 9.4...most being around 9.2. I have mostly 9.8s and some 9.6s now so i can part with the others. I also have a guaranteed 9.4-9.6 copy of #1 and #2. I think they will both grade a 9.6 but you never can tell. Definitely NO lower than a 9.4.

[fantastic_four]

i have a book with a 1 1/2 inch (slightly breaks color) corner crease that received a cgc 8.5 grade

Can you post or send me a scan of that 8.5 with a 1.5" crease? That is by FAR the longest crease I've ever heard of on an 8.5