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Definition of High Grade

Started by j_scott_o,

121 posts in this topic

j_scott_o

j_scott_o

Posted
Posted

I'd like to get thoughts on what individual's idea of 'High Grade' is? For me, "High Grade" is in the VF+ and above range, with VF+ maybe being a stretch. Anyway, I was scouring eBay looking a various books and it seems a lot of people classify HG for books that appear to be in the 6.5 range. Yeah, I know, eBay sux, blah, blah, blah. But, it does beg the question on what people believe HG to be.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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This discussion comes up every three to six months, and everyone makes up their own idea of what high and low grade are. Whatever you think it might be, just realize that the intent of the term is to simplify the 25-point scale, so don't get too stuck on where the borders of high, mid, and low grade are. For me it's everything above Fine, i.e. 7.0 and up. Above that, put whatever qualifiers on the term "high grade" you like--ultra-high grade, mega-super-duper-coolio-high grade, etc.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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+1

 

I do mainly SA Marvel which for the most part are common as dirt so HG starts at 9.2 for me.

 

Understandable.

 

It's also the most confusing and subjective way to define terms whose entire intent is to simplify the idea of grading. "You think that 9.4 copy of Captain American #100 is high grade, do you? Don't you know how COMMON that is? It isn't high grade at all!" Relating grading terms to population makes the terms more confusing than the 25-point scale, not simpler, and just warps them into something that only another expert in whatever title and issue you're talking about can understand.

 

I used to use the terms like you are until I realized how backwards it is. Now I just use them to do what they're intended to do--describe the grade of a comic, regardless of the title and issue.

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Jeffro.

Jeffro.

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I don't think the commonality of any given book in any given grade should determine that it is or isn't high grade.

 

I don't care if the highest graded known copy of Super Dooper Man is 6.5. 6.5 is mid grade all day long. Some yahoo on eBay may declare it to be high grade, but it isn't.

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Bill1

Bill1

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9.8 and above for me. No sliding scale for gold, silver, etc. If the book is 70's on up, I simply won't buy one graded at less than 9.8. Now, I have plenty of my original raw collection that are not that nice, but I won't actively go out and buy one that isn't 9.8-- they are just not that uncommon.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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I don't think the commonality of any given book in any given grade should determine that it is or isn't high grade.

 

I don't care if the highest graded known copy of Super Dooper Man is 6.5. 6.5 is mid grade all day long. Some yahoo on eBay may declare it to be high grade, but it isn't.

 

Strange how most people's initial intent is to complicate the terms by factoring scarcity into them though. Usually in these threads people do exactly that, factor in population which by its nature means everyone's idea of where the number cutoffs are vary wildly. I used to do it myself until I realized how it overcomplicates terms intended to be simple.

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Mr.Diggler

Mr.Diggler

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I don't think the commonality of any given book in any given grade should determine that it is or isn't high grade.

 

I don't care if the highest graded known copy of Super Dooper Man is 6.5. 6.5 is mid grade all day long. Some yahoo on eBay may declare it to be high grade, but it isn't.

BS, if it's a rare GA in grades above fine, then 7.0 for that book is HG.

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Jeffro.

Jeffro.

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Posted
I don't think the commonality of any given book in any given grade should determine that it is or isn't high grade.

 

I don't care if the highest graded known copy of Super Dooper Man is 6.5. 6.5 is mid grade all day long. Some yahoo on eBay may declare it to be high grade, but it isn't.

BS, if it's a rare GA in grades above fine, then 7.0 for that book is HG.

 

I disagree. Rarity doesn't factor into the definition of high grade. If a book is rare in grades above 4.0 and a copy surfaces in 5.0, that's considered high grade? BS

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the blob

the blob

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VF+ and up for 70s and earlier

 

totally subjective though

 

You will often see dealers use 8.5 as the cut-off for certain levels of discounts at shows, for example...half of 8.0 and below, but only 25% off the 8.5 and better books...totally random though

 

In my mind 8.5 is a pretty darn nice looking book.

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the blob

the blob

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As for whether something is common as dirt...part of that is that the collector base is probably smaller now than it was 20 years ago. would stuff feel as common if there were 3-5X as many SA collectors?

 

of course, maybe i'm wrong and the legit collector base hasn't shrunken all that much while it is more the reader/new comic speculator base that has...it's just that sales of vintage books seem to be a much smaller % of sales at shops...it could be that those purchases are now so much more online and at shows with many collectors ignoring shops

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chrisco37

chrisco37

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VF+ and up for 70s and earlier

 

totally subjective though

 

You will often see dealers use 8.5 as the cut-off for certain levels of discounts at shows, for example...half of 8.0 and below, but only 25% off the 8.5 and better books...totally random though

 

In my mind 8.5 is a pretty darn nice looking book.

 

That's how I feel. 8.5 and up is HG for Bronze and older.

 

Once you get into Copper, I'd lean more towards 9.4.

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VintageComics

VintageComics

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A high grade book is a book that exhibits high grade characteristics and will look high grade at arm's length. Decent edges and corners, spine and decent colours and pages. No major or distracting flaws. For me it usually starts in the VF range, so 7.0/7.5 and up.

 

If it's qualified as "high grade for ______________", well then that's something entirely different.

 

A high grade copy needs to look high grade to everyone. It's less subjective.

 

A high grade for a particular issue just needs to look higher grade than the last copy you saw. It's more subjective.

 

 

 

 

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