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3rd Annual Grading Contest Final Round (Results are In)
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Started by William-James88,

185 posts in this topic

Funnybooks

Funnybooks

Posted
Posted
On 1/23/2022 at 3:02 PM, Point Five said:

Yeah, this one was probably the biggest surprise to me. I can see the rest of the book is lovely, but in broad strokes I would have thought rust migration was enough to take a high grade to a midgrade.

 

On golden age comics, I've seen rusty staples with very minor rust migration grade as high as 8.5 and so I figured this copy was so nice that it was at least 8.0. I changed my mind from submitting an 8.5 to submitting an 8.0 just as I was about to hit Submit Reply.

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grendelbo

grendelbo

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On 1/23/2022 at 1:08 PM, Wolverinex said:

I don't have many golden age but whenever I do I grade it normally and then I add three points.

I'm at a point where it's an automatic grade bump from what I think it is. Sometimes it's more. A lot is forgiven because GA books have survived for so long and because of the conditions they were printed in.

I'm starting to do the same with SA too. Not consistently but more with those books that present very well.

Looking at CGC graded examples, it's not a bad practice.

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William-James88

William-James88

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On 1/23/2022 at 2:44 PM, Wolverinex said:

What if they choose the same grade?

Then they just decide together on which prize they want. One may have a preference and the other may not care. They both can still opt for this option.

On 1/23/2022 at 3:02 PM, Point Five said:

Yeah, this one was probably the biggest surprise to me. I can see the rest of the book is lovely, but in broad strokes I would have thought rust migration was enough to take a high grade to a midgrade.

 

It got struck pretty hard. The pic may not show it, but this book is as fresh looking as something from the Church collection. I was so stunned when I saw this book just accumulating dust at a con. Like how could someone not want this? (well, easy answer, people avoid rust like the plague, so I get it) It's the prettiest GA book I have ever seen in my life and any defect outside of the rust would have been pressed making this the highest graded copy known to exist... if not for the rust (which does not look like rust). Still I don't think CGC took points off, I think the grader simply said "books with this defect can't be above 8.0" and that's the grade it got. It's how I grade as well, and how you are taught to grade with overstreet standards. I sent it to CGC hoping for a GA bump since staple discoloration is allowed between 8.0 and 9.6, so I was curious where it would land. But alas, it went with the lowest grade possible. Granted, if they wanted to go super super strict, they could have gone as far down as 7.0 which is where overstreet allows rust migration.

On 1/23/2022 at 3:10 PM, grendelbo said:

Please do.

I'm there consistently anyways.

Grading books is one of the ways I enjoy the hobby now that I've been largely priced out of adding to my collection. I hope to be useful to PGM posters while adding to my knowledge.

You can join me as a Golden Age collector for books people don't care about. Prices are still the same they were 20 years ago for many GA books. 

On 1/23/2022 at 3:16 PM, grendelbo said:

I'm at a point where it's an automatic grade bump from what I think it is. Sometimes it's more. A lot is forgiven because GA books have survived for so long and because of the conditions they were printed in.

I'm starting to do the same with SA too. Not consistently but more with those books that present very well.

Looking at CGC graded examples, it's not a bad practice.

I disagree strongly here, but more in the logic used to get to the same conclusion. As we have seen in this contest, there is no GA bump. Many sent in grades thinking the GA books would be higher than what they got, but they got the same treatment as any book from any era. What is different about a GA compared to a book from a later date is how much more common production errors are. With stamps and coins, production errors lead so fun variants that are worth more, but with GA comics, it's more common you get a book with some kind of flaw than a perfectly centered book with no printing defects. These were made as cheap disposable rags, hence why so few of them are left even though more comics were made then than in any era after. So there was no QA, and the flaws ranged from miscuts, to printing defects to lack of staples or lack of staple attachment. And then you have the added issue of what time does to a book, like dust shadow and extended exposure to light, and loss of gloss. And all these flaws are not considered by CGC to affect the grade just as they wouldn't affect the grade of a modern book. But because modern books don't have those production or "time passing" flaws, the Golden Age books look worse for a similar grade, even though they are graded on the same principle of wear and tear.

 

Edited by William-James88
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frozentundraguy

frozentundraguy

Posted
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On 1/23/2022 at 2:11 PM, Funnybooks said:

On golden age comics, I've seen rusty staples with very minor rust migration grade as high as 8.5 and so I figured this copy was so nice that it was at least 8.0. I changed my mind from submitting an 8.5 to submitting an 8.0 just as I was about to hit Submit Reply.

My thoughts on that book were similar. With the rusty staples I first thought 7.0, Then I moved it to 7.5 figuring the rust spot wasn't very large and then I added 1/2 point since it was a GA book.

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Funnybooks

Funnybooks

Posted
Posted
On 1/23/2022 at 3:10 PM, grendelbo said:

Please do.

I'm there consistently anyways.

Grading books is one of the ways I enjoy the hobby now that I've been largely priced out of adding to my collection. I hope to be useful to PGM posters while adding to my knowledge.

you always do a great job of helping out on pgm

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Funnybooks

Funnybooks

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On 1/23/2022 at 2:55 PM, Funnybooks said:

@Funnybooks and @Croatbag, my tie breaker question is the following: What was the original grade of that DD168 book?

Happy to privately send William my guess if that's what everyone wants to do...let's wait for @Croatbag to catch up on the thread

@Croatbag

let's send in our guesses privately by tonight?

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William-James88

William-James88

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On 1/23/2022 at 8:29 PM, Croatbag said:

Sorry just getting on the boards this weekend.  Thank you for the kind words everyone.  I'm fine with doing a grade off, let do it :highfive:

Alright, so here is the question:

My DD 168 was originally in a CGC case, those are the pics I posted. We know the final result of my CPR attempt was 9.4.

 

What was the original CGC grade?

@Funnybooks and Croatbag, send me your guess privately tonight.

Edited by William-James88
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