When Is the CGC Grade Not the Grade? When This Happens... 1 1

[AndyFish]

I was always in the camp that if you're buying books and they are graded by a reputable grading company like CGC (acetate-gate shall pass) then the grade is the grade-- to the point that I'd confidently buy a book in an old CBG Style ad with little worry-- for those of you who don't remember CBG- it was THE premiere weekly newspaper for comics collectors and many of us paid extra to get our copies shipped quickly so we could be the first to pounce on ads from various sellers-- and those ads never had pics so you saw a DETECTIVE COMICS #38 VG/F you either wrote a check and mailed it in hoping you were first and that the seller's grading matched yours or you called and asked them to describe the defects to you over the phone-- but no pics!  Can you younger collectors even imagine that?   

Well, I have enough confidence in CGC that a 8.5 is a VF+ and like a dealer I'd done business with many times over I would be confident in what I would get- but then I walked into a comic shop on one of my many convention tours this year and saw something like this (and for the sake of not embarrassing the shop I swiped the photo from the WORSTEST EBAY DEALS thread here on the boards, it wasn't the same book but it was one of similar value)...

N

Now I'm not going to argue whether CGC graded it this way-- and if they did my whole world is upside down but said book was displayed up behind the register along with many other prized books and the afternoon sun was casting in on the whole display.   When I asked to look at the book the owner took it down and handed it me and I said "It's a shame it's faded." to which he took it back, looked at it and tried to explain it was likely a printers error.   Well that's not the point of my story-- this is-- as CGC books are graded and then put into circulation I have to imagine this type of thing happens -- an owner stores it improperly essentially destroying the grade.

Myself I grade a book based on condition but then the final look is the color.   Color is extremely important to me.   Recently I ran across a PLANET COMICS #58 a 5.0 with absolutely GORGEOUS color and a 6.5 with slight color fade-- the 5.0 was the same price as the 6.5 but the color was the deal maker for me.

My question to you, my CGC fellows and gals, is how important is fading to you in assigning a grade?  

 

[RSFoster]

Oh wow-- great question and one that I've never thought of.   In this case, though, the fading is the book itself because the label isn't faded.  I would have thought there would eb mention of it in the graders notes.  Color is very important to me.  I assign it at least one full grade deduction if there is fading.

[KirbyTown]

On 8/14/2022 at 8:06 AM, AndyFish said:

My question to you, my CGC fellows and gals, is how important is fading to you in assigning a grade?

Could there have been color finagling on these Heritage scans? Maybe, but still a good example of the predicament!

 

[AndyFish]

Keeping in mind the photo I posted wasn't the specific book I saw- in that case the book had faded and so had the CGC Label-- in the example I have that label is crisp and blue-- so my guess would be this one was faded before it was graded (sounds like the start of a limerick there), but the one I saw DEFINITELY was affected by the afternoon sun.

[KirbyTown]

On 8/14/2022 at 9:43 AM, RSFoster said:

Oh wow-- great question and one that I've never thought of.   In this case, though, the fading is the book itself because the label isn't faded.  I would have thought there would eb mention of it in the graders notes.  Color is very important to me.  I assign it at least one full grade deduction if there is fading.

On 8/14/2022 at 1:24 PM, AndyFish said:

Keeping in mind the photo I posted wasn't the specific book I saw- in that case the book had faded and so had the CGC Label-- in the example I have that label is crisp and blue-- so my guess would be this one was faded before it was graded (sounds like the start of a limerick there), but the one I saw DEFINITELY was affected by the afternoon sun.

Good point about taking the label into account. Kind of similar is when someone comes on here saying that sun-fading is an error variant, my first thought is "flip the book". If the comic is only faded on the front, then...

And yes, nice rhyme 👍

[buttock]

On 8/14/2022 at 12:24 PM, AndyFish said:

Keeping in mind the photo I posted wasn't the specific book I saw- in that case the book had faded and so had the CGC Label-- in the example I have that label is crisp and blue-- so my guess would be this one was faded before it was graded (sounds like the start of a limerick there), but the one I saw DEFINITELY was affected by the afternoon sun.

The person who submitted that IH 181 has already talked about it on the boards.  It wasn't faded when it was submitted. 

[LowGradeBronze]

Maybe CGC could build a sectioned fade-o-meter panel into the label, so you could see by increments how much sunlight has been absorbed. Bit like radiation badges when you visit a nuclear power station. You could then deduct 0.2 from the grade for each section of the fade-o-meter that was revealed. Wonder what the back side of that IH181 looked like. I'm guessing it was not faded. 

[Math Teacher]

On 8/14/2022 at 1:24 PM, AndyFish said:

Keeping in mind the photo I posted wasn't the specific book I saw- in that case the book had faded and so had the CGC Label-- in the example I have that label is crisp and blue-- so my guess would be this one was faded before it was graded (sounds like the start of a limerick there), but the one I saw DEFINITELY was affected by the afternoon sun.

Here's my quick attempt at a limerick:

A book was faded

Before it was graded

The buyer thought it was fine

But paid the price of a 9

In the end, the book was hated.

[grendelbo]

Here's where this issue previously popped up.

Go to page 77.

Edited August 16, 2022 by grendelbo

[KirbyTown]

On 8/15/2022 at 5:20 PM, Math Teacher said:

Here's my quick attempt at a limerick:

A book was faded

Before it was graded

The buyer thought it was fine

But paid the price of a 9

In the end, the book was hated.

MATH TEACHERS, hah! 😀

If I may:

There once was a book that had faded

Had it faded before it was graded?

"No it hadn't!", I said

(and with fervor, I pled)

"Can no board member here be persuaded?!"

Edited August 16, 2022 by KirbyTown

[Engr62]

On 8/14/2022 at 9:06 AM, AndyFish said:

I was always in the camp that if you're buying books and they are graded by a reputable grading company like CGC (acetate-gate shall pass) then the grade is the grade-- to the point that I'd confidently buy a book in an old CBG Style ad with little worry...

 

And you would be wrong.

[PovertyRow]

Fading is high on my list of deal breakers along with rusty staples/rust migration, and tan-brittle pages. 

[MAR1979]

Buy the book not the label. :)

 

[Axe Elf]

A terrible poet was Jenny.

Her limericks weren't worth a penny.

In form they were sound,

But she always found,

That whenever she tried to write any,

She always wrote one line too many.

[LowGradeBronze]

On 8/17/2022 at 5:20 PM, PovertyRow said:

Fading is high on my list of deal breakers along with rusty staples/rust migration, and tan-brittle pages. 

Agree, especially fading, which is why they should change the title to Indelible Hulk....