How Good Are You? posted by bagofleas

[CSJournals-migration]

Be Honest!

 

How good of a grader are you? When it comes to being accurate in my grading abilities as they stand right now, it completely depends on what I'm being asked to grade.

 

To put it all in perspective, let's separate out the varied types of books by AGE and TYPE, and apply a grade to how accurately we feel that we honestly hold up, using the same grading scale as the one given to our lovely treasures. The higher the grade, in this exercise, the better you are at getting the grade of the book exactly right, more often than not. The lower the grade, the farther away your grade of a book is from the experts grade, more often than not.

 

As an example, here's mine (remember, I'm being completely honest here):

 

Golden Age - 9.0

Silver Age - 9.2

Bronze Age - 9.4

Copper Age - 9.8

Modern Age - 9.6

Graphic Novels - 9.9

Magazines and Magazine size Comics - 9.8

Squarebound annuals and specials - 8.0

Treasuries - never tried

 

Actually, now that I really look at it, this is pretty darn good overall. If I had made this list six years ago, the grades would have been far less. Probably more into the 7's and 8's overall. Since then, I have learned a whole lot about what to look for when eyeballing a comic for grade potential. Being a perfectionist by nature also helps, but as you can see by my current list, there is still room for lots of improvement.

 

When it comes to magazines, graphic novels and Copper Age items, I'm in my element. But I still have some improvement to make in being more accurate with Bronze Age and older books. And when it comes to those darn squarebound books, I have not been very accurate with them at all. And if they come from out of a polybag, I'm horrendous with them.

 

While Treasuries are not a "slab-able" item, I would still like to spend some time with them someday and develop the ability to be accurate with them. But those aren't always around in plentiful amounts to really examine closely, so that will be a future goal for me down the road.

 

With modern books, I tend to lean just slightly towards being a little too lenient sometimes, because I'm willing to forgive a little more, as I do with Copper Age books, when I should actually be a little more strict. After all, modern manufacturing technology means that new stuff should be far more perfect right off the press than back in the Copper Age and earlier.

 

So I'm still working to improve myself and become a good enough grader to compare with these awesome guys at the third party grading companies. You never know when you might need to apply for a job right?

 

Someday I hope to have each of these grades be a minimum of 9.6, and preferably all 9.8 or better, but until then I will continue to practice, practice, practice!! I hope to be an even better grader by the end of 2015.

 

So what do you think? How do you stack up if you're being completely honest with yourself? How much more do you feel you could improve?

 

Below is the copy of Fury #1 I found raw in Orlando at Megacon earlier this year. I knew it would get 9.8 and since Sienkiewicz and Palmiotti were both in attendance, I went ahead and had them sign it!

 

See more journals by bagofleas

[newshane]

I think I'm a pretty good grader at the 8.5-9.8 range (modern), because that's where I've had the most practice. It's taken me a while, but I'm about 90% correct when it comes to spotting the difference between a 9.6 and a 9.8.

 

It just takes a lot of practice, and a lot of submissions. I wasted a lot of money in the very beginning, but I think I'm now much better at spotting what the CGC spots.

[surfer99]

I can't really grade myself. I've picked up some Bronze books I thought were 9.6 and they came back 9.2 and I've submitted some thinking they were 9.2 and they came back 9.6 so who knows!?! I just search for the best looking book available and hope for the best.

 

 

[JollyComics]

I can't really grade myself. I've picked up some Bronze books I thought were 9.6 and they came back 9.2 and I've submitted some thinking they were 9.2 and they came back 9.6 so who knows!?! I just search for the best looking book available and hope for the best.

 

 

Use the light and magnifying glass that will help you to find any tiny or hidden defects.

 

Once you know defects in the book, you will know the grade.

[fullerjason]

I think I grade OK but I am still new. If anything I grade too stringent apparently. I have sent in books thinking they would be 9.0 to 9.2 and they came back as 9.6 or 9.8. These were all copper and moderns so I have no gauge for my grading skills for Siver and Gold. Still learning but I love the "Brother Can You Spare a Grade" thread just for some peoples take on how heavy a defect hurts the grade compared to others as just about everyone has more experience grading than I do. I see a tiny spine tick that doesn't break color and I immediatly think 8.5 on a modern so I have a long way to go before I consider myself good at it.

[Lee K]

I guess I'm ok...

 

I'm pretty solid with SA & BA books in the 7.5 to 9.4 range. I really stink in the 4.0-7.0 range though, I think there is a lot more 'subjective' grading in that range.

 

And I honestly think that grades below 4.0 might as well be assigned with a dart & a blindfold.

 

Actually, I might try the dart technique.

 

Lee K

[RockMyAmadeus]

I can't really grade myself. I've picked up some Bronze books I thought were 9.6 and they came back 9.2 and I've submitted some thinking they were 9.2 and they came back 9.6 so who knows!?! I just search for the best looking book available and hope for the best.

 

 

There's little actual difference between a 9.2 and a 9.6, and currently CGC is in ultra tight, ULTRA tight mode, so having grades swing from 9.6 to 9.2 isn't anywhere out of the ordinary.

 

The problem isn't the grading differences...the problem is how the market reacts to those different numbers.

 

A 9.6 doesn't have 2 or 3 more times the wear that a 9.8 does, but the 9.8 sells for 2 or 3 times the 9.6. Or more.

[joeypost]

I guess I'm ok...

 

I'm pretty solid with SA & BA books in the 7.5 to 9.4 range. I really stink in the 4.0-7.0 range though, I think there is a lot more 'subjective' grading in that range.

 

And I honestly think that grades below 4.0 might as well be assigned with a dart & a blindfold.

 

Actually, I might try the dart technique.

 

Lee K

 

I use the dart technique. Have been for years.

[rodan57]

 

A 9.6 doesn't have 2 or 3 more times the wear that a 9.8 does, but the 9.8 sells for 2 or 3 times the 9.6. Or more.

 

I haven't heard it expressed quite this way before. I like the internal logic.

[SW3D]

I believe this is an unfair question, simply because we lack the resources and tools that professional graders use.

 

Given these tools, proper training, and the knowledge and experience we already possess, I am sure all of us would score high as graders.

 

But... I'll play along anyway and say I'm fair to good at grading skills. My accuracy is about 50-60 percent.

 

SW3D

 

[Griff]

I am the absolute worst grader. I constantly under grade and it always costs me cash. for an example I sold a GSX #1 that I had a grade of 6.0 to 6.5 to a guy. he sent it to cgc and sure enough it came back as a 8.0. sigh that killed me

 

I need to get better

[uchiha101]

this is interesting I'll post up some of my results later on