Subtle Star Wars #1 reprint with absolutely no warning from CGC? 0

[CK-1]

Hello all, I stumbled across an eBay listing (from an honest seller who clearly mentioned it being a reprint and priced accordingly) for a CGC graded Star Wars #1 reprint, here is a side-by-side with a genuine copy on the right and a reprint on the left:

 

As you can see there is not a single difference in the CGC slabs, and the only difference in the comic is a small "REPRINT" text on the top left that is not very noticeable. I had known about the 35 cent Whitman reprint but this one seems to be less common. On some of the CGC graded copies "REPRINT" is clearly shown on the label but this copy seems to have been graded recently.

I could see someone with moderate knowledge falling for an unscrupulous seller listing a slab like this at a discount price and not having any recourse when/if they ever notice as the item might technically be as described.

Thoughts?

Edited August 29, 2021 by CK-1

[kav]

Label should absolutely say reprint.

[Lazyboy]

CGC is really, really bad at properly identifying/labeling later prints/reprints.

The worst example was the 9.8 "first print" TMNT 1

[jcjames]

Definitely a mistake. 

I wonder.... my uncle used to work at Ford on the assembly line back in the '70s, and he used to say never buy a car built on a Monday or a Friday (you can tell the day of production in the VIN label info). On Monday's many workers are still a bit hungover from the weekend and on Friday everyone just wants to get the hell out of there for the weekend, so cars built on those two days have significantly higher errors than cars built on other days of the week. 

For as much volume of books passing through graders day in and day out at CGC (it's basically an assembly line), I wonder if the same is true for books graded at CGC on a Monday or a Friday. Maybe this is a "Monday Slab" book and the graders had a little too much fun the weekend before? 

Edited August 30, 2021 by jcjames

[BrooksR]

I know they’re swamped, but they’re supposed to be experts, the authorities on a comic’s authenticity. If they’re missing something as obvious as this how do we know they’re not missing subtle restoration?

I wonder if in the future slabs from this year will be valued less by collectors?

[oldmilwaukee6er]

On 8/29/2021 at 4:19 PM, Lazyboy said:

CGC is really, really bad at properly identifying/labeling later prints/reprints.

The worst example was the 9.8 "first print" TMNT 1

They've been hit / miss on underground comix printings since the beginning, not to mention the whole 'the absence of a printing notation equals first printing' convention on the label

[felixthecat]

On 8/30/2021 at 10:44 AM, oldmilwaukee6er said:

They've been hit / miss on underground comix printings since the beginning, not to mention the whole 'the absence of a printing notation equals first printing' convention on the label

I cracked a Zap 2 that I assumed was a first print because of the absence of a printing notation on the label. It wasn’t. 

[Robot Man]

Sounds like something that company up in the Pacific Northwest would do. Are they even still in business? 

[CK-1]

On 8/30/2021 at 1:33 PM, BrooksR said:

I know they’re swamped, but they’re supposed to be experts, the authorities on a comic’s authenticity. If they’re missing something as obvious as this how do we know they’re not missing subtle restoration?

I wonder if in the future slabs from this year will be valued less by collectors?

I'm not sure that graders are the ones handling the labels (since the title/date shows up before grading starts) but they definitely should notice this sort of stuff.

Though if conditions are such that the "receivers" are messing up this badly it would make sense graders are under similar conditions or are comprised of more new or lower quality hires.

[kav]

On 8/30/2021 at 9:22 AM, jcjames said:

Definitely a mistake. 

I wonder.... my uncle used to work at Ford on the assembly line back in the '70s, and he used to say never buy a car built on a Monday or a Friday (you can tell the day of production in the VIN label info). On Monday's many workers are still a bit hungover from the weekend and on Friday everyone just wants to get the hell out of there for the weekend, so cars built on those two days have significantly higher errors than cars built on other days of the week. 

For as much volume of books passing through graders day in and day out at CGC (it's basically an assembly line), I wonder if the same is true for books graded at CGC on a Monday or a Friday. Maybe this is a "Monday Slab" book and the graders had a little too much fun the weekend before? 

Also people tend to call in sick mon and fri so you get people put on a line they dont typically work on and that can lead to screw ups.  My last new car i bought I made sure it was not manufactured on a mon or fri.

[revat]

On 8/30/2021 at 12:21 PM, CK-1 said:

On 8/30/2021 at 10:33 AM, BrooksR said:

I know they’re swamped, but they’re supposed to be experts, the authorities on a comic’s authenticity. If they’re missing something as obvious as this how do we know they’re not missing subtle restoration?

I wonder if in the future slabs from this year will be valued less by collectors?

I'm not sure that graders are the ones handling the labels (since the title/date shows up before grading starts) but they definitely should notice this sort of stuff.

Though if conditions are such that the "receivers" are messing up this badly it would make sense graders are under similar conditions or are comprised of more new or lower quality hires.

Obviously the goal is to be perfect, but at the same time since everyone is human (for now) at every point in the submission process, that's a lot of opportunity for error.  Anyone expecting zero errors should not submit comics.  They have graded millions of comics (and now cards and video games, etc), there's gonna be errors, occasionally significant ones.  If there's too many or they become too high profile it could be a problem, but its also a monopoly...

[Poekaymon]

On 8/30/2021 at 3:53 PM, revat said:

Obviously the goal is to be perfect, but at the same time since everyone is human (for now) at every point in the submission process, that's a lot of opportunity for error.  Anyone expecting zero errors should not submit comics.  They have graded millions of comics (and now cards and video games, etc), there's gonna be errors, occasionally significant ones.  

This.  And I'm not even convinced it's remotely common relative to the overall #s when CGC has graded something like ten million comics.

Just like every time you ship a slabbed book, there's a chance it comes out the other side with SCS.  Yet in the hundreds of slabs I've shipped it's only happened to me once, so the risk is fair outweighed by the convenience of shipping.  Some risks are inherent and you do what you can do minimize them on your end, but at the end of the day you're always going to have a small chance that your comic is damaged in shipping, lost, mislabeled by CGC, whatever.  

[THE_BEYONDER]

Is this the new CGC apologist thread?

[Qalyar]

On 8/31/2021 at 6:16 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Is this the new CGC apologist thread?

Honestly, my problem isn't that CGC makes occasional mistakes. There are humans involved. Mistakes will occur. I don't consider acknowledging that to be apologetic.

My problem -- because there's an obvious solution -- is that CGC doesn't do anything about known-defective labels in the wild. There's no question about this book. CGC screwed up. But here's the deal. They already have a mechanic available to deal with that: the certification lookup system. When a book is identified as a clear QA failure -- I'm not talking about a scratched case or encapsulated debris or a questionable grade, but obvious, unquestionable mistakes in labeling -- the certification has text amended to it that indicates it is a Known Mislabeled book.

That doesn't get the book out of circulation, of course. But neither does CGC's requests that people send in books that are mislabeled in their favor (sure, that's the ethical choice but I bet it doesn't happen often). What it does do is gives a way for buyers to become aware of the error. To be really effective, it would require the collecting community get in the habit of checking certifications on CGC books before acquiring them, but, hey, that's not a bad habit anyway, and it's one that can absolutely be taught.

The tools are available, the manpower required is minimal, and the benefit is substantial. But... it hasn't happened, and that makes me sad.

[Poekaymon]

On 8/31/2021 at 7:16 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Is this the new CGC apologist thread?

Certainly enough complainist threads.

Edited August 31, 2021 by Poekaymon