TIME MACHINE! Sealed boxes from the distributor. Will I find a 9.9? 1 1

[newshane]

Apparently I was wrong?

 

"A forum dedicated solely to asking forumites to guesstimate the grade of book from a scan. NOTE: GRADING FROM A SCAN IS NOT RELIABLE, it's just interesting."

 

I'm sorry guys. Noob to the boards. Don't know if this thread can be moved but...

[Boboset]

Apparently I was wrong?

 

"A forum dedicated solely to asking forumites to guesstimate the grade of book from a scan. NOTE: GRADING FROM A SCAN IS NOT RELIABLE, it's just interesting."

 

I'm sorry guys. Noob to the boards. Don't know if this thread can be moved but...

 

Ah well, who cares.

 

Now you're obligated to post scans. Scans of ALL OF THEM!

[Peter Loves Gwen]

Apparently I was wrong?

 

"A forum dedicated solely to asking forumites to guesstimate the grade of book from a scan. NOTE: GRADING FROM A SCAN IS NOT RELIABLE, it's just interesting."

 

I'm sorry guys. Noob to the boards. Don't know if this thread can be moved but...

 

Ah well, who cares.

 

Now you're obligated to post scans. Scans of ALL OF THEM!

 

Ditto, but only three per day.

[Twistty1]

Apparently I was wrong?

 

"A forum dedicated solely to asking forumites to guesstimate the grade of book from a scan. NOTE: GRADING FROM A SCAN IS NOT RELIABLE, it's just interesting."

 

I'm sorry guys. Noob to the boards. Don't know if this thread can be moved but...

 

Ah well, who cares.

 

Now you're obligated to post scans. Scans of ALL OF THEM!

 

Ditto, but only three per day.

 

I agree, no need to move it (thumbs u ... Plus I'd like to see what a 9.9 or possibly even a 10 actually looks like...

[newshane]

I am cracking open the boxes this weekend. I'm pretty excited. I will definitely keep in touch! I'm not expecting much...maybe a handful of potential 9.9s.

 

If I can just get one per box I will be thrilled.

Edited August 4, 2012 by newshane

[The-Collector]

Awesome. How do I get a box of those? Google gave me squat.

[newshane]

I cracked open one of the boxes today. I'd like to share the initial result, which only reinforces the reputation of the 9.9 book as a true rarity. I mean, the average collector probably thinks a sealed box of comics from the distributor would contain dozens of perfect copies. This is not so. Thankfully, I realized that finding even a single 9.9 copy, even out of hundreds in sealed boxes, would be a moonshot. Consequently, I wasn't too disappointed or surprised at the things I found inside of the boxes. I will post the full results shortly, with additional pictures...

 

[newshane]

This is what the contents looked like. I started by removing the books from the top, but I quickly discovered this was inefficient. I could immediately ascertain, for example, that the first several copies were total duds. None of them lay flat. At that point, I decided to carefully slit the box down the sides. This afforded the following view, which allowed me to quickly assess which books simply had no possible shot at a 9.9 (and there were many). As you can see, the contents weren't tightly packed and had shifted around quite a bit over the last 18 ( ) years. I was disappointed at the total lack of padding or protection within the distributor's box.

Edited August 5, 2012 by newshane

[newshane]

The shot attached to this post should create in the viewer a sense of sympathy. My heart kind of sank when I looked at the spine wear from some of the books that were packed with the spine edge towards the side of the box. Of course, books that were packed edge-wise against the side of the box had other issues, such as tiny folds or impacts along the far edge of the cover. The good news is that, believe it or not, there were still dozens of 9.8 candidates (especially with pressing) taken from this box. The bad news, for a collector like me, is that I found perhaps 2 or 3 contenders for 9.9...but only one that I feel halfway lucky about and even then it is a shot. One out of 200 copies. A .5% "success rate." I'd give this single issue about an optimistic 45% chance of scoring a 9.9.

[newshane]

The following picture captures something that made my skin crawl. Look at that bulge created by the cardboard! No wonder that murked the first dozen or so copies!

[newshane]

In the end I'd say mainly VF to NM books. Maybe a few dozen 9.8 candidates..just 8 or 9 that might come close to 9.9 and I am likely going to narrow that down to just 2 or maybe 3 that really stood out as "wow" comics...even then it's going to be a moonshot, but the copies I pulled look at least as good as 1 or 2 of the dozen or so 9.9 slabs that I already own.

[newshane]

Continue to wish me luck please! I still have half a dozen other boxes to go through. I may fare better or worse on some of them. My experiment will hopefully give many collectors an idea of how HARD it is to come by a truly MINT book that will stand up the the tightest standards of judgement. Just think of how many times a comic is handled before it even gets in your hands! The people on the press, the packers, the distributors, the comic shop...time itself. I scored sealed boxes from nearly 2 decades ago that have lain in storage and I'm still having a difficult time finding books that would even come close to meeting the standard. That's why I'm truly blown away when I see mint books that are around or over 20 years old. Now there is a market for perfect books and dealers are more cognizant of their ability to squeeze a premium price from the consumer. Just do a quick eBay search for "CGC 9.9" and you will see that a majority of those books are from the last several years (post slab craze). A 9.9 book that is older than your teenage kid? Now THAT is a true rarity.

 

 

[newshane]

UPDATE:

 

Out of the first box of 200, I've found two copies that are solid 9.9 candidates. I just kept narrowing stacks of books down by quality.

 

In my excitement, I forgot to grab pics of the candidates. I will be sure to take pictures if I come across any additional copies.

[seanfingh]

 

This is a cool thread. Have fun and good luck.

[Kevin.J]

I hope that you find some nice 9.9s, I think you deserve it for having to wade through all of these.

[Hado]

The shot attached to this post should create in the viewer a sense of sympathy. My heart kind of sank when I looked at the spine wear from some of the books that were packed with the spine edge towards the side of the box. Of course, books that were packed edge-wise against the side of the box had other issues, such as tiny folds or impacts along the far edge of the cover. The good news is that, believe it or not, there were still dozens of 9.8 candidates (especially with pressing) taken from this box. The bad news, for a collector like me, is that I found perhaps 2 or 3 contenders for 9.9...but only one tShat I feel halfway lucky about and even then it is a shot. One out of 200 copies. A .5% "success rate." I'd give this single issue about an optimistic 45% chance of scoring a 9.9.

It's amazing that this one picture explains 90% of modern book damage. X-Force books must have been packed in sandpaper.

Good luck on your quest, I'd love to see a 9.9

[mysterio]

This is a cool thread. Have fun and good luck.

 

+1

 

Please do keep sharing your results and more photos. The pics you've shown so far are really informative and this is a fascinating exercise.

[rodan57]

The pictures are also of excellent quality.

[newshane]

Okay gang, I took some more pictures! What are you seeing? The comic on the bottom is our reference. It is a 9.9 mint slab of Spawn issue #4 contained in a Mylar envelope. The comic on the top is one of the best candidates from one of the boxes. It is contained in a Mylar bag with a fullback.

 

First, I am going to post detailed comparison pics of the upper left-hand corner of the book. Notice how promising the top three pics look! Now notice what a difference is made when I take pics of the same corner from a different angle. You can clearly see the rub marks along the spine of the top comic. The bottom comic is not effected in this manner! That, my friends, is one of the differences between a 9.8 and a 9.9.

 

The really disappointing part of this exercise has been the sheer number of comics in ALMOST GOOD ENOUGH condition! I've found many books with absolute perfect corners (this was honestly a surprise). Those same books, however, simply have too many rub marks along the spine. You should be able to tell what I'm talking about by looking at the photographs below. I shall return later tonight and we will take a look at the other three corners. I hope this helps everyone understand the differences between a great book and a truly exceptional one.

Edited August 6, 2012 by newshane

[newshane]

I think the first thing a blossoming grader must realize is this - there is more to a book than the corners alone! In the early days, I made the mistake of giving sharp corners too much credit. I think many people attempt to grade books without ever taking them out of the bag! There is a back cover!

 

Is there excess glue on the staples? Do minute splits exist at the binding? Any sign whatsoever in topographical variation? In other words, does the cover have even the slightest dent or riveting?

 

I put a comic in the reject pile because it has a divot the size of a pinhead on the cover! It's so hard to put an otherwise perfect book into the "reject" pile, but I think that's what it takes.

 

Look at the graded 9.8 slabs that you own. Can you detect the flaw? LOOK! They are there my friend. You must examine in every sort of light and from every sort of angle...at magnification!

 

This is how insane you have to be...to try to sub your own 9.9s.

 

As you can see from my experiment, it's not even as easy as getting a sealed book from the distributor!!!

 

I've went through a few boxes now with greater luck. I keep returning to my "candidates" only to find flaws.

 

I'm no expert. I'm learning as I go along...and I've learned by making stupid mistakes.

 

I remember my first submission! I thought that all the books I grabbed at my LCBS when I was a kid back in the early 90s were sheer mint because I bought them new, bagged and boarded, and they were UNTOUCHED! Imagine the furor I felt when most of them came back as 9.4 to 9.6!

 

Now imagine how stupid I felt when I peered very carefully at the book, only to see the tiny flaws that knocked them down in grade...

 

and the shock in realizing...they noticed THAT? You mean that tiny FLAKE at the top corner is the only reason my book is a 9.8 instead of a 9.9???

 

Edited August 6, 2012 by newshane