What is common practice to determine “low, medium, high” grade classification? 1 1

[Spyder!]

Is it OK for me to agree with both sides here?

I think that grades are and should be absolute and not relative. A 9.0 is a 9.0, doesn’t matter if that’s the highest grade on census or if there are thousands higher. This is (more or less) the CGC model.

I think the way we describe high/medium/low grade for a given book is relative.  I work a lot with statistics and tend to think of things through that lense. The quality of all remaining copies of any given book is a distribution. The minimum, median, maximum, etc. of that distribution will be book specific. “High” grade for a book for which the maximum grade is 5.0 is the appropriate label. It is the highest of all known copies, so how could you not call it high? Is it a 9.0? No! But it is high given its own distribution. 

So, I think number grades are great for keeping things absolute, but what one calls high/medium, etc. should be relative to the book in question.

[Jeffro.]

9 hours ago, Spyder! said:

I think the way we describe high/medium/low grade for a given book is relative.  I work a lot with statistics and tend to think of things through that lense. The quality of all remaining copies of any given book is a distribution. The minimum, median, maximum, etc. of that distribution will be book specific. “High” grade for a book for which the maximum grade is 5.0 is the appropriate label. It is the highest of all known copies, so how could you not call it high? Is it a 9.0? No! But it is high given its own distribution. 

Highest graded known copy of any one comic is not the same as the concept of 'high grade'. Grades are based on the number of defects that a comic book has. A comic that has enough accumulated defects to result in a grade of 5.0 is not, nor has it ever been, high grade. Can it be the highest known graded copy of that comic? Can it be as you say, "high given its own distribution" Sure, it can but that doesn't make it high grade. If it were high grade, it wouldn't have enough defects to knock it down to 5.0. 

[comicdonna]

A 5.0 is a mid grade book.  No if's, and's or butts.

[marvelmaniac]

1 hour ago, comicdonna said:

A 5.0 is a mid grade book.  No if's, and's or butts.

Not to be a Smart A** but...

NO DUH!!! Since 5.0 is directly in the MIDdle of the grading scale...

11 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

I think the OP should make an effort and learn how to grade. That way if I buy one of his books and I think the grade is pretty close I am comfortable buying more books from him. Saying "this book is mid grade and might be a 4.5-7.5" doesn't fill me with confidence to make a purchase. I would likely have to assume all mid grade books are VG's and pay accordingly.

You should never depend on someone else's perception of a grade or defects/flaws on a book.

The grading standards are "literally" in black and white and there are even pictures/illustrations depicting/explaining defects/flaws on books and how they affect grade.

It is up to you as the buyer to look at the pictures of the book, ask questions and determine a grade for yourself, then you can make an informed decision as to weather you should purchase the book or pass on it.

We tell my Grandkids all the time..."Stop making excuses and blaming everyone else for things that did not go right or were not done or done correctly and take responsibility for yourself and your actions".

All this Hub Bub over he said it was a 9.6 and it came back a 9.4, it is a comic book, who cares???!!!

I DON'T GET IT AND I NEVER WILL!!!   

 

[comicdonna]

1 hour ago, comicdonna said:

A 5.0 is a mid grade book.  No if's, and's or butts.

 

18 minutes ago, marvelmaniac said:

Not to be a Smart A** but...

NO DUH!!! Since 5.0 is directly in the MIDdle of the grading scale...

 

There are multiple people in this thread, (and in past threads on this topic) claiming a 5.0 can be a high grade book.

[marvelmaniac]

17 minutes ago, comicdonna said:

 

There are multiple people in this thread, (and in past threads on this topic) claiming a 5.0 can be a high grade book.

And I am agreeing with you that 5.0 is mid grade, just trying to get a point across that since 5.0 falls right in the middle doing the math is not that difficult.

Edited November 2, 2018 by marvelmaniac

[Artboy99]

47 minutes ago, marvelmaniac said:

Not to be a Smart A** but...

NO DUH!!! Since 5.0 is directly in the MIDdle of the grading scale...

You should never depend on someone else's perception of a grade or defects/flaws on a book.

The grading standards are "literally" in black and white and there are even pictures/illustrations depicting/explaining defects/flaws on books and how they affect grade.

It is up to you as the buyer to look at the pictures of the book, ask questions and determine a grade for yourself, then you can make an informed decision as to weather you should purchase the book or pass on it.

We tell my Grandkids all the time..."Stop making excuses and blaming everyone else for things that did not go right or were not done or done correctly and take responsibility for yourself and your actions".

All this Hub Bub over he said it was a 9.6 and it came back a 9.4, it is a comic book, who cares???!!!

I DON'T GET IT AND I NEVER WILL!!!   

 

Yes I agree. 

That said:

Example: you go to a show, and look at a book and you grade it as a VF at best an 8.0. The seller grades it as a NM /9.4 and has it priced as a NM. What happens? You put the book back and probably never go to that guys booth again and likely never buy from him either because he is an over-grader and over-pricer.

The seller needs to learn how to grade as well.

[kimik]

My rule of thumb is this for all ages of comics:

9.0+ = high grade

5.0 - 8.5 = mid grade

4.5 and lower = low grade

And yes, that applies to GA books, especially since CGC and the other companies are a bit more lenient with them to begin with.

 

[marvelmaniac]

2 minutes ago, Artboy99 said:

Yes I agree. 

That said:

Example: you go to a show, and look at a book and you grade it as a VF at best an 8.0. The seller grades it as a NM /9.4 and has it priced as a NM. What happens? You put the book back and probably never go to that guys booth again and likely never buy from him either because he is an over-grader and over-pricer.

The seller needs to learn how to grade as well.

Yes I agree with that to a point.

Sellers are there for one thing and one thing only...$$$, and if they start at a high price and someone is willing to pay that price, no questions asked, well then...

If you are at a show or your LCS and see a book that appears to be overgraded/overpriced and you are armed with your Overstreet Price Guide and/or Overstreet Grading Guide then you can legitimately ask the seller how he arrived at that grade and that you see certain defects/flaws on the book that are specifically listed in the "black and white" grading standards that dispute his grade.

If you are armed with the proper info and come across as  knowledgeable and "polite" about it you may be able to get the price down, if he is unwilling to accept what you say or come down on the price then you probably do not want to buy from him anyway.

I have not been to any show since 2009 but weather it was a large con like Wizard World Philly or a Local Show I very seldom came across a seller who was not willing to come down on price if you were reasonable about your request.

[Artboy99]

34 minutes ago, marvelmaniac said:

Yes I agree with that to a point.

Sellers are there for one thing and one thing only...$$$, and if they start at a high price and someone is willing to pay that price, no questions asked, well then...

If you are at a show or your LCS and see a book that appears to be overgraded/overpriced and you are armed with your Overstreet Price Guide and/or Overstreet Grading Guide then you can legitimately ask the seller how he arrived at that grade and that you see certain defects/flaws on the book that are specifically listed in the "black and white" grading standards that dispute his grade.

If you are armed with the proper info and come across as  knowledgeable and "polite" about it you may be able to get the price down, if he is unwilling to accept what you say or come down on the price then you probably do not want to buy from him anyway.

I have not been to any show since 2009 but weather it was a large con like Wizard World Philly or a Local Show I very seldom came across a seller who was not willing to come down on price if you were reasonable about your request.

my stance is it isn't my job as a buyer to educate a seller. If I really want the book I will make my offer and if it is rejected I will move along as the book is available somewhere else. If the book is truly rare and hard to find I will likely think the seller is justified in his higher price.

 

[shadroch]

3 hours ago, comicdonna said:

 

There are multiple people in this thread, (and in past threads on this topic) claiming a 5.0 can be a high grade book.

Really? Whom?

[Zolnerowich]

2 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

Yes I agree. 

That said:

Example: you go to a show, and look at a book and you grade it as a VF at best an 8.0. The seller grades it as a NM /9.4 and has it priced as a NM. What happens? You put the book back and probably never go to that guys booth again and likely never buy from him either because he is an over-grader and over-pricer.

The seller needs to learn how to grade as well.

This. The more information a seller can provide about the grade/quality of the book, the more content the buyer and seller will be with the transaction. And so it is important for the seller to know how to grade. This is one advantage of CGC and those kinds of companies, where the seller and buyer can have general confidence with the grade, irrespective of what the seller and buyer know about grading.

It's fine to refer to books as low (<4.5), mid (4.5-8.5), and high (>8.5) grade, but these ranges provide a very coarse estimate of the quality of the book, and provide very little useful information to a buyer. The difference between a "mid-grade" 4.5 and a "mid-grade" 8.5 is vast, in terms of quality and especially value (though not always in terms of the cover sheen!).  If I bought a "mid-grade" book that turned out to be an 8.5 (say, at CGC), I'd be thrilled, as opposed to a 4.5. 

Yes, grading is very subjective, but erring on the side of being overly inclusive (that is, lumping everything between 4.5 and 8.5 together), can be misleading in its own way.

Using a narrow grade range to describe the book, e.g., 4.5 to 5.0, or vg+ to vg/fn, brings a lot more transparency to the buying process, assuming that the seller is comfortable grading books.

[Lazyboy]

15 hours ago, Spyder! said:

but what one calls high/medium, etc. should be relative to the book in question.

That requires complete knowledge of every copy. Good luck with that.

[Ride the Tiger]

On ‎10‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 4:38 PM, Jerkfro said:

So why have grades at all then. It's all subjective!!

 

Exactly. Enough of this NM, FN and VG gibberish already.

[Ride the Tiger]

No one will ever argue that a NG isn't a low grade or a 10 isn't a high grade. I suppose that if there are an odd number of grades between NG and 10..... that one particular grade would be mid grade.

[shadroch]

How is a book that C G C doesn't assign a grade to, thus the NG , a low grade book?

[the blob]

low, 3.5 or worse, mid 4.0 - 7.0, high 7.5 up

I say this because I have seen really nice looking books in 4.5 slabs, and 7.5s where I wondered why it wasn't a 9.0-9.2, but, of course, have seen many a slab where I couldn't believe CGC gave it a 5.0 or whatever.

[Artboy99]

1 hour ago, the blob said:

low, 3.5 or worse, mid 4.0 - 7.0, high 7.5 up

I say this because I have seen really nice looking books in 4.5 slabs, and 7.5s where I wondered why it wasn't a 9.0-9.2, but, of course, have seen many a slab where I couldn't believe CGC gave it a 5.0 or whatever.

yes. I saw some Avenger #1's lately from a friends submission that I can't believe the grades he got.