What would cause the census to lag almost 5 months behind a comic's grading date? 0

[Tnexus]

So this is a bit of a random question, but a submission had its comics graded in July, but the census didn't update until the end of December. (Based on CGCData.com archives) I was under the impression the data was automatically was updated a week or two after the grading process.

[valiantman]

On 3/15/2022 at 8:47 AM, Tnexus said:

So this is a bit of a random question, but a submission had its comics graded in July, but the census didn't update until the end of December. (Based on CGCData.com archives) I was under the impression the data was automatically was updated a week or two after the grading process.

CGCdata.com is showing 6-month windows of CGC Census updates and then the most recent 9 weekly updates.  There are still about 50 date listings on the (shortened) history page.

http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/273/6mo

Click on the "Show all CGC Census History" link at the top of the 6-month results to see all 600+ possible CGC Census dates.

http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/273

Edited March 15, 2022 by valiantman

[Tnexus]

I should clarify that the data only confirmed what I was following. The December weekly's have since rolled off the chart, but I confirmed they appeared between December 20th and Jan 3rd updates when I still had access to them.

The books were definitely graded late July, and I was watching the census on and off from July through Jan for updates. (This was a book I preordered from a third party and was waiting to get back.)

Edited March 15, 2022 by Tnexus

[valiantman]

On 3/15/2022 at 9:55 AM, Tnexus said:

I should clarify that the data only confirmed what I was following. The December weekly's have since rolled off the chart, but I confirmed they appeared between December 20th and Jan 3rd updates when I still had access to them.

The books were definitely graded late July, and I was watching the census on and off from July through Jan for updates. (This was a book I preordered from a third party and was waiting to get back.)

I can investigate more if I know what book you're talking about.  There are a number of things that could happen.

Once in a while, CGC data entry people create a new entry for a book that's been in the system forever. 

When the duplicate record is discovered, sometimes they update the duplicate record with all the historical census and delete the original.

At that point, it looks like books were suddenly graded recently... when they actually could have been graded 20 years ago.

The biggest example of this is Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), which looks like CGC suddenly graded 4,273 universal copies on April 15, 2014.  http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/129155

In reality, CGC just switched over and included all the historical data from the old (original) record.  http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/19/

CGC grades comic books, they're not data experts.  Some of their decisions about data are "less than optimal".

[Tnexus]

On 3/15/2022 at 11:11 AM, valiantman said:

I can investigate more if I know what book you're talking about.  There are a number of things that could happen.

Once in a while, CGC data entry people create a new entry for a book that's been in the system forever. 

When the duplicate record is discovered, sometimes they update the duplicate record with all the historical census and delete the original.

At that point, it looks like books were suddenly graded recently... when they actually could have been graded 20 years ago.

The biggest example of this is Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), which looks like CGC suddenly graded 4,273 universal copies on April 15, 2014.  http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/129155

In reality, CGC just switched over and included all the historical data from the old (original) record.  http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/19/

CGC grades comic books, they're not data experts.  Some of their decisions about data are "less than optimal".

Radiant Black #1 Foil B Edition Signature Series. (I am aware 5 were also added recently which was an entirely different submission.)

[valiantman]

On 3/15/2022 at 10:17 AM, Tnexus said:

Radiant Black #1 Foil B Edition Signature Series. (I am aware 5 were also added recently which was an entirely different submission.)

Skipping past the blue universal numbers, there are 17 yellow signature series which showed up in August 2021, matching the graded in late-July you expect.

http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/246411

Another 17 yellow signature series were added in the first week of January 2022.

I'm not sure what you're asking about the CGC Census, since there are 17 books that match the date (late July) that you expected and they've always been in the CGC Census since early August 2021. 

The additional 17 books in January 2022 may have nothing to do with those late-July books.

[Tnexus]

On 3/15/2022 at 11:25 AM, valiantman said:

Skipping past the blue universal numbers, there are 17 yellow signature series which showed up in August 2021, matching the graded in late-July you expect.

http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/comicid/246411

Another 17 yellow signature series were added in the first week of January 2022.

I'm not sure what you're asking about the CGC Census, since there are 17 books that match the date (late July) that you expected and they've always been in the CGC Census since early August 2021. 

The additional 17 books in January 2022 may have nothing to do with those late-July books.

The January 2022 books are the ones in question. I can see all 34 or so were graded in July 2021. I do not know when they were delivered though.

Edited March 15, 2022 by Tnexus

[Robot Man]

The CGC data entry folks are probably having to step into grading to keep up…

[valiantman]

On 3/15/2022 at 10:35 AM, Tnexus said:

The January 2022 books are the ones in question. I can see all 34 or so were graded in July 2021. I do not know when they were delivered though.

That's interesting. How can you see all 34 were graded in July 2021?  Only half of them showed up on the August 2021 CGC Census, so there's got to be more to the story.  Were half of them held back for an additional signature to be added closer to December?

The CGC Census is updated based on when the books were returned to the submitter (usually within a couple weeks of the grade date), but if the books were held by CGC on purpose after grading, they wouldn't update the CGC Census while they still held the books.

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 3/15/2022 at 11:37 AM, Robot Man said:

The CGC data entry folks are probably having to step into grading to keep up…

[Tnexus]

On 3/15/2022 at 11:38 AM, valiantman said:

That's interesting. How can you see all 34 were graded in July 2021?  Only half of them showed up on the August 2021 CGC Census, so there's got to be more to the story.  Were half of them held back for an additional signature to be added closer to December?

The CGC Census is updated based on when the books were returned to the submitter (usually within a couple weeks of the grade date), but if the books were held by CGC on purpose after grading, they wouldn't update the CGC Census while they still held the books.

I got bored and found a few of the certification numbers. They all got submitted in just a couple back to back submissions, so I just checked each number in the group until I found them all.

If they only update when they are shipped, I wonder if half of these were held at CGC for months for pickup?

Theres more to this story, but that's coming later in another post down the road.

Edited March 15, 2022 by Tnexus

[valiantman]

On 3/15/2022 at 10:57 AM, Tnexus said:

I got bored and found a few of the certification numbers. They all got submitted in just a couple submissions sent in at presumably the same time, so I just checked eat number in the group until I found them all.

If they only update when they are shipped, I wonder if these were held at CGC for months for pickup?

Theres more to this story, but that's coming later in another post down the road.

That's my assumption.  We usually say that the CGC Census is updated within a couple weeks of CGC grading and that's true most of the time, but it's actually updated after the books are returned to the submitter. That's usually the same as "within a couple weeks of CGC grading" but if books were held by CGC on purpose, perhaps to add another signature in a future signing opportunity, they wouldn't be shipped right after grading and shouldn't be on the CGC Census yet.