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Certified Collectibles Group (CCG) Acquires Classics Incorporated
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Started by bgraves-migration,

1,496 posts in this topic

fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
Surfing ebay I see lots of raw books advertised with numerical grades.

 

If I am not mistaken, doesn't the majority of raw collectors use OSPG as a reference for value?

 

If so, OSPG uses a alpha/numerical grading system now. I would bet money in a couple of years it will be a numerical grading scale only.

 

I'll take that bet any day of the week.

 

I've just searched through 200 Fantastic Four books on eBay...not one of them had solely a numeric grade.

 

A percentage (around 25%) had a numeric grade in parenthesis, with the alpha grade leading.

 

CGC have been using a numeric grade since inception, and solely a numeric grade since what, 2005?

 

Not exactly catching on in the overall market, is it?

 

The whole number versus letter for grades debate is serious hair-splitting with no payoff. Who cares? It matters so little that endlessly debating what amounts to personal preference is fruitless. :ohnoez: Borock was changing the label to make the grades easier to read from a distance and chose the numbers instead of the letters...big schmeal. Not worth all the grief.

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MCMiles

MCMiles

Posted
Posted (edited)
As far as an "opinion" on defects. Well in many cases a 9.0 (or VFNM for many) can have a light crescent crease from an impact in considerable length. The fact is a 9.4 (NM) absolutely will not. That's just one example out of thousands of possible spine ticks or color flecks that differentiate between 9.0 and 9.2 and 9.4 and so on.

 

But no one's arguing that a 9.0 is the same as a 9.4 (the 9.4 would simply be a 9.5 in my scenario). Can you give me an absolutist example, instead, of the unarguable difference between a 9.0 and a 9.2, or a 9.4 and a 9.6? That's what I'm talking about.

 

Yes, there is a difference between 9.2 and 9.4. Even easier to discern between 9.6 and 9.8. I'm not saying there aren't thousands of examples where the difference is nearly indiscernible. There are even examples where grades seem to be assigned assbackwards.

 

However, one vey small defect at the high end does make one book better than the other. It's not logical to me to group them in the same numerical (or letter) grade.

 

 

Just to add. I get where you are coming from, but I can't give a 9.6 a 9.5 when I just gave a 9.4 a 9.5. They are two different books. Even in with the grades currently used. The term Strict or soft are often used. I definitely can't see giving a strict 9.6 a 9.5 and a soft 9.4 a 9.5...and before you say it - The strict 9.6 isn't quite a 9.8 and doesn't deserve it. The soft 9.4 is just too nice to give a 9.2.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by MCMiles
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Flaming_Telepath

Flaming_Telepath

Posted
Posted
Surfing ebay I see lots of raw books advertised with numerical grades.

 

If I am not mistaken, doesn't the majority of raw collectors use OSPG as a reference for value?

 

If so, OSPG uses a alpha/numerical grading system now. I would bet money in a couple of years it will be a numerical grading scale only.

 

I'll take that bet any day of the week.

 

I've just searched through 200 Fantastic Four books on eBay...not one of them had solely a numeric grade.

 

A percentage (around 25%) had a numeric grade in parenthesis, with the alpha grade leading.

 

CGC have been using a numeric grade since inception, and solely a numeric grade since what, 2005?

 

Not exactly catching on in the overall market, is it?

 

The whole number versus letter for grades debate is serious hair-splitting with no payoff. Who cares? It matters so little that endlessly debating what amounts to personal preference is fruitless. :ohnoez: Borock was changing the label to make the grades easier to read from a distance and chose the numbers instead of the letters...big schmeal. Not worth all the grief.

 

Thank you for telling my that my opinion is not only worthless, but the whole debate is too. Who knew?

 

Now, we best get back to debating the 9.6-9.8 split, where the addition of one only-visible-through-a-microscope spine tick can spell disaster.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
Thank you for telling my that my opinion is not only worthless, but the whole debate is too. Who knew?

 

Now, we best get back to debating the 9.6-9.8 split, where the addition of one only-visible-through-a-microscope spine tick can spell disaster.

 

At varying points in time pretty much everyone involved in or reading the debate knows, but adults do often love to debate over trivialities and it's easy to get lost in that. The grading precision debate is quite worthwhile though and results in lots of grief and real monetary gain and loss.

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mysterio

mysterio

Posted
Posted
Except for those 9.8s that have 2-3 color breaking spine ticks.

 

Whoa, I have yet to see that. :o Have any recent examples been shown I can reference somewhere?

 

I've had a couple that I bought online through various venues with the intention of cracking for SS, then resold them uncracked because I knew they would never hold the 9.8. The couple that I have cracked did indeed come back 9.6.

 

I'll see if I can pull examples up, but of course the scans I have wouldn't show the defects as well as you can see them in hand.

 

And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has gotten 9.8s with obvious color breaking spine ticks.

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Dale Roberts

Dale Roberts

Posted
Posted
Except for those 9.8s that have 2-3 color breaking spine ticks.

 

If CGC would release its grading standards to the public, this could be resolved.

 

The simple answer is this....

 

A 9.8 is NOT a perfect book. Obviously, some combination of defects is allowable in 9.8 that is not allowable in 10.0. Maybe the 9.8 with 2 tiny stress lines is perfect in every other way. I don't think CGC discerns where the defect is to be important, simply that they are present somewhere on the book.

 

There is no reason to believe that a 9.8 can't have spine ticks. Most don't, because you are talking about 2 small defects which occur somewhere on an otherwise perfect book. Clearly you notice them more on the spine.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
All this talk of hard and soft just makes it clear that my Professional Opinion Service is definitely a need in this hobby.

 

POS's opinion of a hard 9.2 - http://www.highgradecomics.com/images/catalog/as48gmwfc

 

That's a catchy little mascot you've adopted for your service! :applause:

 

If you ever go live, I recommend having him wear a t-shirt with your POS grade printed on it. :idea:

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
Except for those 9.8s that have 2-3 color breaking spine ticks.

 

If CGC would release its grading standards to the public, this could be resolved.

 

The simple answer is this....

 

A 9.8 is NOT a perfect book. Obviously, some combination of defects is allowable in 9.8 that is not allowable in 10.0. Maybe the 9.8 with 2 tiny stress lines is perfect in every other way. I don't think CGC discerns where the defect is to be important, simply that they are present somewhere on the book.

 

There is no reason to believe that a 9.8 can't have spine ticks. Most don't, because you are talking about 2 small defects which occur somewhere on an otherwise perfect book. Clearly you notice them more on the spine.

 

Now that you mention it, it does depend upon how long they are. Three tiny ticks that are 1/32" in length may be consistent with their standard.

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Dale Roberts

Dale Roberts

Posted
Posted
Except for those 9.8s that have 2-3 color breaking spine ticks.

 

If CGC would release its grading standards to the public, this could be resolved.

 

The simple answer is this....

 

A 9.8 is NOT a perfect book. Obviously, some combination of defects is allowable in 9.8 that is not allowable in 10.0. Maybe the 9.8 with 2 tiny stress lines is perfect in every other way. I don't think CGC discerns where the defect is to be important, simply that they are present somewhere on the book.

 

There is no reason to believe that a 9.8 can't have spine ticks. Most don't, because you are talking about 2 small defects which occur somewhere on an otherwise perfect book. Clearly you notice them more on the spine.

 

Now that you mention it, it does depend upon how long they are. Three tiny ticks that are 1/32" in length may be consistent with their standard.

 

That falls under the combination of defects. Of course, we don't know exactly what that combination might include.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
Now that you mention it, it does depend upon how long they are. Three tiny ticks that are 1/32" in length may be consistent with their standard.

 

That falls under the combination of defects. Of course, we don't know exactly what that combination might include.

 

Some of us might...I may have a few years ago but have forgotten by now. :blush: Of course I don't mean I have magic access to their standards, I just mean people have figured out their standards. The top end of CGC's scale is the easiest to reverse-engineer since far fewer defects are allowable there to have to weigh.

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sterlingcomics

sterlingcomics

Posted
Posted
All this talk of hard and soft just makes it clear that my Professional Opinion Service is definitely a need in this hobby.

 

POS's opinion of a hard 9.2 - http://www.highgradecomics.com/images/catalog/as48gmwfc

 

That's just not right! (tsk)

Is that book for sale? Cause the sticker just made it worthwhile... :baiting:
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