Please Grade this Hulk 181 1 1

[Calidream'n]

[Calidream'n]

What do you guys think about the area on the cover on the edge by Hulk's right leg?

[scburdet]

On 7/13/2023 at 8:24 PM, Calidream'n said:

Hulk's right leg

I'm not seeing what you might be concerned about in the photos. More explanation?

[Calidream'n]

On 7/13/2023 at 7:33 PM, scburdet said:

I'm not seeing what you might be concerned about in the photos. More explanation?

 @scburdetI don't want to say right now, to see if someone else sees what I think I see. I don't want to suggest it if it's not there. Not trying to be mysterious, I just don't want to plant the seed or people might see it by my suggestion. Grade? Thinking of purchasing this.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Calidream'n

[scburdet]

IDK It's always hard to see little things in photos. Maybe it's trimmed? Hell, I miss little things with a book in-hand. I'll go with a9.0/9.2 after pressing, but my grade is in purple text

[grendelbo]

9.0/9.2 with potential for 9.4 after a C&P (if there are no hidden defects like you appear to allude to).

Thanks for posting.

[Mars76]

Are you talking about that small CB crease right below hulks leg? 9.0

Edited July 14, 2023 by Mars76

[Calidream'n]

On 7/13/2023 at 9:24 PM, scburdet said:

IDK It's always hard to see little things in photos. Maybe it's trimmed? Hell, I miss little things with a book in-hand. I'll go with a9.0/9.2 after pressing, but my grade is in purple text

That was my thought/fear. I’m no trimming expert, so once I have it in hand I’d like to know what to look for/how to tell. Considering putting down some serious cash on this so I don’t want to be screwed over. 

[scburdet]

On 7/13/2023 at 11:25 PM, Calidream'n said:

I’d like to know what to look for/how to tell

I'd post in the Grading & Restoration forum. Even at that, it's really hard to tell in-hand and even harder in photos. I've seen people measuring pages, looking at how much the cover does/does not line up with the pages, etc. The CGC book has some suggestions about looking at the edges for unusual indentations and so forth, but they also admit people have gotten more sophisticated over the years so they can avoid detection. I think the most important thing is to figure out what your options are if you drop big bucks and then gets a purple label. This book probably doesn't drop off as others with restoration, but it would still be a big hit b/c of the high price. I got a relatively expensive book recently, sent it almost immediately for grading, but it took so long to be grade it was outside the buyer protection window when it came back with a slight color touch. The seller just told me to go pound sand when I showed the results. Doesn't seem like smart business to alienate a potential repeat customer, but it is what it is.

[Nick Furious]

On 7/13/2023 at 9:42 PM, scburdet said:

I got a relatively expensive book recently, sent it almost immediately for grading, but it took so long to be grade it was outside the buyer protection window when it came back with a slight color touch

Grading has been around almost 25 years now and many of these books have changed hands enough times that someone has either slabbed it previously or decided not to for specific reasons.  These days I treat any high dollar raw book as if there is something about it that makes it worth less in a slab.  Exceptions being when buying from MCS or other trusted dealer that I have history with.  

[Calidream'n]

I just did side by side picture comparisons with this book and another raw 181 on Ebay just now. I think this book has definitely been trimmed. Bummer. You know the saying; “if it’s too good to be true”…

[Poekaymon]

Have looked at thousands of these and it doesn't look right to me.  Can't really explain why.  The paper looks different from every other H181 I've seen.  At this point, I don't think I'd get an H181 raw from anyone without a rock solid rep.

[LowGradeBronze]

It's not sitting flat as a book of this age should, if it has been in a pile of other books or bagged and stored with other books. That seems weird. Then there's the waviness of the right hand edge. Especially visible with cover open. Books from this era, fresh off the stand, didn't have that feature so what was done to it?  Otherwise I'd cautiously say it does appear high grade. Around 8.5 plus. Something is just ever so slightly off about it though. Approach with caution.

Edit: Quick comparison with known genuine copies, I think right hand edge of this copy has been trimmed.

Edit#2: Looks as though it was printed just yesterday, which is suspicious. No apparent age related variance in page colour, just a uniform white right across the pages.

Edited July 14, 2023 by LowGradeBronze

[Eric C M]

My thought would have been a 9.2+ if authentic but everyone makes a good point here, why on earth would you be running around with a very high grade raw copy of this book in this day and age? At a 9.0+ is that a $25K book? 50K?!  It does arise suspicions and I would trust your gut unless there are ways for the seller to make some concrete assurances (like you pay for grading regardless of grade unless it comes back restored). A book of this value would have results in about a weeks time. There would be no good reason not to do that unless you were hiding something…

[Calidream'n]

On 7/14/2023 at 7:07 AM, Eric C M said:

My thought would have been a 9.2+ if authentic but everyone makes a good point here, why on earth would you be running around with a very high grade raw copy of this book in this day and age? At a 9.0+ is that a $25K book? 50K?!  It does arise suspicions and I would trust your gut unless there are ways for the seller to make some concrete assurances (like you pay for grading regardless of grade unless it comes back restored). A book of this value would have results in about a weeks time. There would be no good reason not to do that unless you were hiding something…

@Eric C M you are 100% correct. The guy had this book in the background of some pictures of X-men I was interested in. They were really well priced. (GS Xmen 1 graded 3.0, X-men 2 around 2.0/2.5 and X-men 8, 5.5/6.0, all for $2,000). I inquired about the 181 and he said $5,000, nothing lower. He said he was going to have his "friend" press it, submit it to CGC then send to Heritage Auctions. 

[Ahsoka Tano Jedi Apprentice]

RUN............

[Ahsoka Tano Jedi Apprentice]

  If you ever have any doubt...............

[Lninefingers]

Pretty sure I saw this same book in a facebook thread not too long ago. FWIW, the consensus there was trimmed also.