acceptable defects in low grade golden age 1 1

[Devon70]

Hello. I'm interested in low grade (2-4) GA comics and was wondering what flaws are acceptable to you and ones that are unacceptable. Thanks.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Extensive restoration and/or doodling that ruins the art are the only couple of things that I can think of that would prevent me from buying a G-VG Golden Age comic book.

[marvelmaniac]

That is really an open ended question since everyone's opinion of what is acceptable and what is not is different.

For me, collecting for 40 years on a tight budget and being a completist meant buying higher dollar books that were in the PR 0.5 - FR/GD 1.5 in order to afford the book, a lot of these books are not aesthetically pleasing, I am/was more interested in having the book/story and completing the run as opposed to actual cover attractiveness, you have to determine what you are willing to live with.

Defects you should look for in any book would be, and again some of these things are acceptable to collectors, like me.

Faded cover, brittle pages (not acceptable to me), coupons cut out/filled out, excessive foxing/staining, mold, bug/rodent chew, severely rusted staples/rust migration, spine splits/staple tears, detached cover/centerfold, pieces missing from the front/rear cover, severe spine roll/fanned pages, missing pin-up pages, etc.

Since you are looking for books in the GD 2.0 - VG 4.0 range some of these defects will be there since they are allowed in those grades.

If you are not sure what to look for I would suggest making a small purchase for the...

https://gemstonepub.com/the-overstreet-guide-to-grading-comics-6th-edition/

The book has illustrations of all the defects and which are allowed in each grade, you can probably find pics online also.

Here are the grading standards and a glossary of terms, the glossary site listed has a very good glossary. (Disregard the grading standards on the glossary site, they are outdated)

https://comics.ha.com/tutorial/comics-grading.s?show=comicdefinitions

http://www.teako170.com/grade.html

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 12/6/2022 at 2:02 PM, marvelmaniac said:

Faded cover, brittle pages (not acceptable to me), coupons cut out/filled out, excessive foxing/staining, mold, bug/rodent chew, severely rusted staples/rust migration, spine splits/staple tears, detached cover/centerfold, pieces missing from the front/rear cover, severe spine roll/fanned pages, missing pin-up pages, etc.

Add mold and rust to the list of defects that I wouldn't accept on a comic book.

[ThothAmon]

Water damage and brittle pages are only acceptable at last call. 

[marvelmaniac]

On 12/6/2022 at 2:17 PM, ThothAmon said:

Water damage and brittle pages are only acceptable at last call. 

I forgot water damage, Thanks for posting that. 

[newshane]

Water damage, mold, disintegrating staples, brittle pages, and vermin/insect chew are completely unacceptable to me. 

Yes, that may limit the scope of my collection, but I'm okay with that. If I can't have a decent copy, I'll keep dreaming. 

[KCOComics]

I guess "acceptable" is relative. 

I had an opportunity to buy a big GA key w/ stains and a married centerfold and I bought it. I knew there was no other realistic shot at owning that book. 

Now, if it was an EC book, I would have held out for a presentable mid grade copy. But EC comics are generally more available and affordable. 

There is another GA book I've been looking for, for some time. One came up for sale at Heritage that had extensive resto.  Under normal circumstances I would have looked the other way. But it was scarce enough that I threw a meaningful bid at it and almost won. 

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by KCOComics

[GoldCap]

I accept most types of defects in GA.  So far I have never bought a book that had brittle (or slightly brittle pages), extensive rodent/bug chew or been trimmed but if it was a rare enough book or some huge key that I wouldn't be able to afford otherwise, I would make an exception.

I see some low grade brittle books that are in auction right now that are surprising me with their price!

I am fine with restored books as well and do know that some people would never consider buying a restored book.  It depends on the level of restoration but a lot of that can be removed. 

I'd say unless you're trying to buy to flip, buy what makes you happy!

[LadyDeath]

Not much really bothers me. Maybe heavy water damage or substantial writing on the cover.

I'm pretty lenient on lower grade GA books, mainly because dishing out thousands of dollars isn't feasible for me. So it's usually what I seek out. The highest GA book I own is a 7.0 and the majority are under 5.5; the lowest I have is a 2.5 but it looks pretty nice. It's all about the presentation. Some look better than others and some aren't always graded accurately to begin with.

[skypinkblu]

any kind of 4 legged animal chew...I can handle bug chews, but only if I'm certain they are bugs and worms as long as the worm is no longer present.

Totally brittle spines, brittle with pieces falling off. I'd say all brittle, except that I've submitted books that were not split and not flaking chipping, that came back "slightly brittle", so I'm not sure until I see the book on that one.

Black mold is a no, slight foxing I'm iffy on...depends on how slight. Also really rusty staples is a no, because they damage the book. Once I see rust staining, I stop bidding.

I don't mind writing unless it's black marker everywhere, don't mind nail polish (because I used to do that)...creasing, moderate tears. 

Fading is a no...the color is probably more important to me than most other flaws.

Now this was a placeholder, but my first Wonder Woman 7 (which is a tough book to find) was folded in 4 and had what I hope were bb pellet holes though all 4 corners.

When I found my upgrade years later a friend jumped at the chance to buy the one with the holes.

[Ryan.]

Brittle is an easy pass. Slightly Brittle could be due to a quarter inch flake from one of the corners so that depends on the book.

Restoration i usually try to avoid but that's a broad range to automatically pass on so it also depends on the book.

Not a fan of rusty staples but easy passes for me, no matter the book, are missing pages or chunks of pages, and large pieces missing from the cover.

Presentation ranks above all.