Relative Grades on two copies of Iron Man 5?

[cpannell]

I've had these two books for ages and I think it's time to slab one and sell one.

Trouble is, I've never been able to decide which is the superior copy. One has better 'eye appeal' but that doesn't always garner a high number with the folks at CGC.

 

Of course, someone's gonna say I shouldn't slab either one of them.

 

Here are the issues. 1. Copy A has clean cover whites but there's a three and a half inch crease in the front cover that goes up from the bottom edge through Iron Man's trailing boot. Back cover has a diagonal crease too which affects two interior pages, though it doesn't seem to be colour-breaking. (I'm not a presser.) Inside paper is slightly discoloured by a pinky hue here and there on the inside pages. Paper is off-white to white.

 

2. Copy B has no such crease anywhere, but it's marred worse by the pinky hue, and not just on the front cover, but on every one of the inside pages and the back cover too. Paper is creamy to off-white.

 

Thanks for your opinions.

 

 

Herewith, for the pleasure of comparative grading . . .

 

Copy A Front:

 

 

Copy A Back:

 

Copy B Front:

 

 

Copy B Back:

 

[storypapers]

Really tough

 

A crease is going to bring the A book down to a 6.5

 

You may get a higher grade out of B better although be seems to have some kind of moisture stain that shows at bottom of back cover...

Value wise they probably are about the same...IMHO

 

 

 

 

[divad]

You shouldn't slab either one of them.

[timfinz]

Copy A = 7.0 IMHO

Copy B = 7.0 IMHO

Each book has it's own merits! Both books are really nice copies!

[Red84]

Copy B looks like it has water damage throughout (accounting for the pinkish hue and the U shaped water stain on the bottom of the back cover) though it didn't end up wavy.

 

My opinion:

Copy A - 6.0

Copy B - 5.0

 

Personally, I would keep A and sell B.

[cpannell]

Yeah, I know that it looks like water damage on the back cover of Copy B but it's something I've seen on 30+ year old Silver age books before: it's actually the migration of acid as the paper ages. Caused by what, I don't know. The pinky tone seems to be something in the printer's ink that was used, or perhaps it was caused by the aging of cheaper-than-usual newsprint. It's in both copies, just to a lesser degree in Copy A than B.

 

Another book I acquired (and since sold) with this pinky tone problem is Captain America 107 from November 1968 (first app. of Dr. Faustus). My current copy of CA 107, just has bad paper, totally off-white, more like grey than anything cream or tan.

 

But I digress.

 

Thanks for the grades!

[cpannell]

Just found this on ebay.

 

Evidently lots of pinky tone is no obstacle to Near Mint status.

 

 

 

[southerncross]

im 7.0 on both (thumbs u

[The-Collector]

Yeah, I know that it looks like water damage on the back cover of Copy B but it's something I've seen on 30+ year old Silver age books before: it's actually the migration of acid as the paper ages. Caused by what, I don't know. The pinky tone seems to be something in the printer's ink that was used, or perhaps it was caused by the aging of cheaper-than-usual newsprint. It's in both copies, just to a lesser degree in Copy A than B.

 

Another book I acquired (and since sold) with this pinky tone problem is Captain America 107 from November 1968 (first app. of Dr. Faustus). My current copy of CA 107, just has bad paper, totally off-white, more like grey than anything cream or tan.

 

But I digress.

 

Thanks for the grades!

 

How do you know it is the migration of acid?

 

Neither have sufficient value to making slabbing an attractive pecuniary propositions.

 

If however you are slabbing because you like the books in your collection to all be slabbed then I would go with copy A.

[cpannell]

Re: acid.

 

Because the newsprint used for the print runs of 1960s comic books was of highly variable quality and observably unstable over time.

 

Because I've seen that kind of change in edge colour in a significant number of old Marvels. (I collect pre-hero books and have several other examples of this.)

 

Because the discolouration at the back of this copy was not caused by moisture exposure. (There are still some advantages to being able to hold the book in hand.)

 

-- Chris

[rjpb]

That sort of magenta bleed is not uncommon on late 40s early 50s books, so I'm not surprised to see it show up later. Doesn't seem to impact grade much, though the impact on eye-appeal can't be ignored. Yours doesn't look as noticeable as the 9.4 posted.

 

You should be able to tell in hand the difference between uneven yellowing due to age and an H2O stain - - thee does seem to be the faint indication of the stain on the front as well, which would lead to think that it might be water - is there matching discoloration on the bottom of the pages?

 

Slabbed, I don't see copy A going higher than 6.5, and depending on if there is water damage or not on copy B, anywhere from 5.0 - 8.0. Even at the top grade, I don't see much advantage to slabbing for resale.

[cpannell]

Indeed. Copies of Iron Man #5 don't change hands very often to judge by GPA and even at 8.0 there's not a lot of demand.

 

GPA reveals that for 8.0 graded copies there were:

 

No sales in 2014

No sales in 2013

Two sales in 2012: one for $75 and one for $59.

 

 

 

[rjpb]

Indeed. Copies of Iron Man #5 don't change hands very often to judge by GPA and even at 8.0 there's not a lot of demand.

 

GPA reveals that for 8.0 graded copies there were:

 

No sales in 2014

No sales in 2013

Two sales in 2012: one for $75 and one for $59.

 

 

 

I'm sure scores of IM #5's in VF sell every year, just not in slabs.

[SuperiorSpiderMan]

Copy A = 7.0 IMHO

Copy B = 7.0 IMHO

Each book has it's own merits! Both books are really nice copies!

 

+1

 

And what divad said,... I wouldn't slab either copy.