PGM already graded Buster Crabbe, should I crack it? 3 3

[Westy Steve]

This one has me stumped.  A couple of tiny chips fell off the top of the cover and they’re trapped in the slab. There is a tear on the back cover, and a tiny chip on the bottom of the front cover. CGC calls the page quality cream to off-white pages. 
 

The grade on the slab does not denote a loose centerfold or a loose staple or Rusty Staples or anything at all.
 

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Westy Steve

[Funnybooks]

Pages may be starting to become brittle. I would leave it or if you decide to liberate the book, keep it in a mylar.

[Galen130]

On 9/25/2021 at 7:02 PM, Funnybooks said:

Pages may be starting to become brittle. I would leave it or if you decide to liberate the book, keep it in a mylar.

Agreed…

[grendelbo]

My grade guess is 3.5 with Brittle Pages.

Leave it be.

Thanks for sharing.

[Westy Steve]

Thanks. Interestingly, the slab says cream to off white.  Could it have fallen that far?  Makes me wonder if they were chips that fell off from rough handling. Check out the grade.  Does that change your opinion?

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2021 by Westy Steve

[zzutak]

On 9/27/2021 at 9:50 AM, Westy Steve said:

Interestingly, the slab says cream to off white.  Could it have fallen that far?

I think you already have answered your own question: the chips are not from the interior pages but from the cover (as you note in your original post).

On 9/25/2021 at 5:52 PM, Westy Steve said:

A couple of tiny chips fell off the top of the cover and they’re trapped in the slab.

And yes, a comic can have a brittle cover (or a brittle/fragile "over-cover" in this case) without having brittle pages.  Because an over-cover, by definition, is not supported by the interior, it's prone to both stress-induced damage (bends, creases, and tiny transverse tears) and accelerated aging of the paper -- both of which can lead to chipping/fraying.

[zzutak]

On 9/27/2021 at 9:50 AM, Westy Steve said:

Check out the grade.  Does that change your opinion?

No.  Both the front and back covers appear to be heavily soiled.  I would not be surprised to see significant toning to the inside covers and multiple short separations along the spine.  Here's an example of the vastly different effects that aging can have on a cover and an interior.

[Westy Steve]

Great info. I feel I learned stuff here. My luck on grading books is almost always bad…I’ll leave it alone. 

[FoggyNelson]

Leave the 2.0 as is , great book