How big of a deal is a stain? Have a chance to buy X-Men 94 1 1

[KCode98]

Well it’s a hole in my collection and this copy of 94 is pretty nice except for a small corner stain on the lower right hand side. I’m new to collecting and I’m curious how big of a deal is staining to both collectors and cgc when grading.

[WernerVonDoom]

On 4/10/2022 at 7:46 PM, KCode98 said:

Well it’s a hole in my collection and this copy of 94 is pretty nice except for a small corner stain on the lower right hand side. I’m new to collecting and I’m curious how big of a deal is staining to both collectors and cgc when grading.

A book with a stain has the highest grade of 7.5.  If it otherwise higher than that, it will be a 7.5.  Good luck.

[KCode98]

Hmmm what is a fair market value for a 7.5 X-Men 94? This one looks very nice. 

[revat]

On 4/11/2022 at 10:07 AM, KCode98 said:

Hmmm what is a fair market value for a 7.5 X-Men 94? This one looks very nice. 

there is a service called GPA analysis that most people use to get sales history on graded comics.  It's a pay service.  Otherwise, one can just take sales data from ebay and extrapolate/interpolate their own price estimates to get in the range.

Good luck.

[MisterX]

There are many copies of this book out there. I don't recommend buying a stained copy, when there are plenty non-stained copies available.

Will your eye always be drawn to the stain? Some down day the road, will a potential buyer only notice the stain?

It's not a tough book. You may find it harder to find another buyer willing to accept what you overlook.

[ninanina]

On 4/10/2022 at 10:42 PM, WernerVonDoom said:

A book with a stain has the highest grade of 7.5.  If it otherwise higher than that, it will be a 7.5.  Good luck.

I've got a key with a real ugly chocolate milk stain on the cover...it's about 3/4" round. Other than that...almost perfect. May I assume then, based on your post I have a 7.5? I wanted to scan it, but can't remember which copy it was. 

[alexgross.com]

whatever you do, don't include a picture here in your thread so we can see it. 

[WernerVonDoom]

On 4/11/2022 at 3:11 PM, ninanina said:

I've got a key with a real ugly chocolate milk stain on the cover...it's about 3/4" round. Other than that...almost perfect. May I assume then, based on your post I have a 7.5? I wanted to scan it, but can't remember which copy it was. 

He said small stain. I'm sure an ugly large stain would go lower, but 7.5 is the max.

[KCode98]

On 4/11/2022 at 8:03 PM, alexgross.com said:

whatever you do, don't include a picture here in your thread so we can see it. 

I don’t want to be rude and ask the store to allow me to take detailed pictures of their book without buying it. 
 

It’s the lower right hand corner and about 1/2 an inch or 3/4 max.

Edited April 12, 2022 by KCode98

[alexgross.com]

On 4/12/2022 at 6:33 AM, KCode98 said:

I don’t want to be rude and ask the store to allow me to take detailed pictures of their book without buying it. 
 

It’s the lower right hand corner and about 1/2 an inch or 3/4 max.

i appreciate your wanting to be polite, but i don't think it's rude for a prospective buyer to want to take a few pics of a pricey book, to show one's collector friends. stains are a big deal. how dark it is and how visible certainly matters. check out the AF15 thread in silver age for a recent sale of AF15 that went for under market, possibly because it has a pretty noticeable stain right in the middle of the image. 

[Qalyar]

Stains hammer grades, and CGC has been increasingly strict about them. From the standpoint of a purely technical grade, stain intensity matters some, and the total area of the stain matters a lot. Big stains end dreams. Penetration is a big factor, too; a surface stain is bad, but a stain that penetrates to the interior cover or subsequent pages is much worse. Also, since many stains began their life as liquids, it's important to evaluate the book for whether the stained area also demonstrates signs of moisture damage.

From an aesthetics standpoint, location and visibility matter a lot too, even if those aren't reflected in the number at the top of a slab.