Bindery Tears as Production Related Flaws

[Michelangelo]

Hey I have a really nice copy of Sandman 1 that has been pressed.

 

There are two bindery tears in the top and bottom left corners off the front cover.

 

Will these be considered production related defects?

 

I know CGC does view them as such, but how bad is too bad?

 

- or -

[Michelangelo]

What is the best grade I can expect on this book if submitted?

 

I've seen books with bindery tears reach 9.8 before, is this too far gone?

[Michelangelo]

I was able to take a small pin and tuck the flap in a bit

 

 

[Jaydogrules]

I had a copy with similar looking bindery tear come back a 9.8.

 

-J.

[grayzr]

That size of tear might cause a slight grade decrease but you could get lucky and still hit 9.8 if the rest of the book is flawless.

[mschmidt]

Bindery tears like that are super common on 80s DC/Vertigo books - particular Sandman #1s. They're treated as production defects and will only affect the grade if they're very severe. Yours look pretty standard for this book, so shouldn't take it out of 9.8 contention.

[Michelangelo]

thanks for the replies gents!!

[Kevin76]

It's caused from the book being trimmed, because the book goes through a trimmer down a conveyer belt (and no, not a hand trimmer like Ewert did) much like if you hand saw a piece of wood, you don't get a super smooth cut at the start and finish.

[kthuluu]

I had a Sandman 1 pressed with almost the same corner defects as yours, and it came back as a 9.6. I couldn't find any other defects aside from the corners.

[loadstone]

Turning into a PGM thread but I'm calling it a 9.6.

 

Yes I've seen a bunch of 9.8's with bindery tears and some this bad but the rest of the book has to be immaculate. The bottom corner also has some severe bindery issues. I think I see what appears to be at least 2 spine ticks which appear to break color on the far left of the 3rd photo and 1 other that doesn't. Might just be the zoomed photo and angle of light but if those are apparent in-hand then this puppy could be fated for a 9.6. The bindery tear also appears to propagate into a slight spine split up to 1/8" but again, could just be the zoomed in photo. Maybe a 9.8 on a very good day.