I'm still in shock on this recent purchase

[Artboy99]

Impact dents take comics down from possible higher grades.

IMHO the #3 is the best copy.

 

Any evidence of trimming on the right edge of these books?

Is hard to tell from the scan.

 

Nice pickups! Issue 3 is one of my all time faves

 

Artboy99

[sfilosa]

Once again....

 

The whole spine on the Avengers #1 is wrinkled. Front and Back.

 

Even without those wrinkles, the spine stress alone would pull that book into the Fine (and I don't mean FN/VF range). Look at the top of the book. There is clearly color loss / fading in the red area.

 

Plus you can see wrinkles going in two inches into the book (look at the bottom of Loki's face).

 

I just don't see that type of damage getting the book above a VG grade.

 

One thing to remember is that there is NORMAL wear and tear and then there is UNNATURAL wear and tear. CGC downgrades a lot more for unnatural wear, and the wrinkling is seriously unnatural.

[ft88]

I think this is caused by humidty as there is no staple rust, stain marks or other "waves" that come from water (but not humidity) damage. I do disagree with the amount CGC would downgrade for this, though they definitely would to some degree. Also, the fading in the red area is from my scanner - if I don't tone down the reds then it looks "smooshy" in the image.

 

Plus if this is downgraded so significantly, it almost forces the issue for having the book pressed. Once the waves go away it then becomes a 7.0 (or thereabouts) book. That is kind of unfortunate, as it's the same sort of feeling that lead to unnecessary restoration both in the past and currently.

 

Back in the 80's an otherwise Superman 2 with a dirty cover would be cleaned. Now any book with the slightest non creasing dents or non-flatness immediately becomes a pressing candidate.

 

No right or wrong here, but it would be a shame to have any grader (third party or otherwise) to downgrade for something that is removable through a, basically, undetectible process.

 

Anyway, I'll probably hold on to them and if I do send them in, I'll post the results. Out of curiousity, what would a good value be for the 4 books.

 

[sfilosa]

Back in the 80's an otherwise Superman 2 with a dirty cover would be cleaned. Now any book with the slightest non creasing dents or non-flatness immediately becomes a pressing candidate.

 

No right or wrong here, but it would be a shame to have any grader (third party or otherwise) to downgrade for something that is removable through a, basically, undetectible process.

 

CGC downgrades for non-color breaking creases all the time, of which many can be removed 100%. And humidity damage I believe, will downgrade book a lot.

 

I seriously doubt that the humidity damage on your Avengers #1 could be removed fully without damaging the book.

 

As I said the Avengers #2 looks very nice and probably could be pressed into a higher grade.

[divad]

5.5 on the #4

[divad]

Back in the 80's an otherwise Superman 2 with a dirty cover would be cleaned. Now any book with the slightest non creasing dents or non-flatness immediately becomes a pressing candidate.

 

No right or wrong here, but it would be a shame to have any grader (third party or otherwise) to downgrade for something that is removable through a, basically, undetectible process.

 

CGC downgrades for non-color breaking creases all the time, of which many can be removed 100%. And humidity damage I believe, will downgrade book a lot.

 

I seriously doubt that the humidity damage on your Avengers #1 could be removed fully without damaging the book.

 

As I said the Avengers #2 looks very nice and probably could be pressed into a higher grade.

 

The whole thought of pressing turns my stomach inside out . . .

 

I don't care what anyone else does to their books, but I'll never press one of mine . . . certainly not to "improve" the grade for resale.

[ft88]

Divad,

 

I appreciate you taking the time to offer your opinion and I am sure I initially overgraded these books first time around, but do you really think the Avengers 4 is the same as the Strange Tales 142 you have up on ebay? BTW I agree with your grade of the 142 and could see a 6.0 on it as well, so kudos. I guess I more disagree with the #4 above.

 

Divads 5.5

 

[B-Smooth]

Spine creases or stresses that dont break color can actually be removed with pressing? No wonder the entire collecting community is in an uproar.

[divad]

Divad,

 

I appreciate you taking the time to offer your opinion and I am sure I initially overgraded these books first time around, but do you really think the Avengers 4 is the same as the Strange Tales 142 you have up on ebay? BTW I agree with your grade of the 142 and could see a 6.0 on it as well, so kudos. I guess I more disagree with the #4 above.

 

Divads 5.5

 

 

Hey ft,

 

Funny you should pick that one . . . Yes, I do. Black cover vs. white cover. The ST #142 is a very solid, fresh book. Yes it has several spine creases, and yes it has what appears to be a large crease to the upper left FC, but there is no corresponding bend or dent, so it is better described as a scratch. Tell you what, I'll even stop the auction and send it along to you.

 

I had a Avengers #4 which CGC totally trashed on it's grade, so I know that are relatively unforgiving on this book. My observations on your copy will follow. My first impression was there is a lot of fraying at the edges and corners. They are really tough on white books. I have a CGC 6.0 Cap #109 (old label) that no one here would grade under an 8.0 by scans.

 

More to come . . .

 

btw, those are 4 very nice books, that I would have snapped up in a minute - kudos for your collecting diligence! If you paid less than a grand for the 4 of them, I'd say you stole them.

[divad]

ft,

 

I viewed the scans at 200% and revise my grade to 6.5 Here's what I see (in no particular order):

 

1. Tiny bit of Crud at Thor's hammer;

2. 1/4" tear BEFC;

3. Tanning at spine;

4. Frayed LLFC;

5. Minor spine creasing;

6. Damaged interior pages at URFC;

7. Possible trimmed RE; (obviously, this is only a guess)

8. Series of small creases to ULBC; (look pressed out - again pure speculation);

9. 1/4" Impact dent LLBC;

10. Overall light wear, consistent with a FN 6.0 grade.

 

I don't have a graphics program at work, can anyone post the negative of the images? Thanks.

 

-David

[uclapeterg]

I called it a 7.0. Why did you originally think it was 5.5?

[divad]

I called it a 7.0. Why did you originally think it was 5.5?

 

From the smaller scans, I thought the edge and corner wear was more significant than it appears to be