Which comic would you prefer: a 9.8 W copy or the 9.9 OW/W

[loadstone]

Tried searching for this topic but couldn't find one so here we go.

 

This may seem to be a more relevant question for the OCD collectors who tend to be label chasers or label biased. If there's a comic in your HG focus that has a few 9.8 White copies but only 1 9.9 and it happens to have OW/W pages which would you prefer? Assuming the 9.9 was within your reach even at the typical 3-5x GPA for the 9.8 White copies. I'm curious since the differences between a 9.8 and 9.9 can be almost negligible. Would you feel the White page quality of the 9.8 copy actually exceeds the overall appeal of the copy granted a 9.9? Frankly I feel a bit annoyed that a comic could receive a 9.9 MINT despite OW pages. I would counter that grade to be false since the presence of OW pages would indicate it has suffered some aging/humidity and is thus no longer MINT. On the other hand, CGC determination of page quality of White vs OW does seem so arbitrary that we sometimes see resubmitteded books with OW pages come back with W and vice versa. So if the line between White pages and OW pages is so fine does CGC page quality designations of OW=W? And thus 9.9 OW might as well just say 9.9 W? Or will that OW on the label still bother you? So here's a poll below. Let us know what you would prefer of the 3 options:

 

 

[jimbo_707]

I agree with you that a book should not be getting a 9.9 grade unless the pages are bone white. Right now, the "white" designation is a little sloppy and includes pages that I would label off-white. When I think "white," I think OWL 10 all the way out to the edges.