Is this Wolverine 8 really a 7.0? 1 1

[mephistopheles]

Do the fingerprints hurt the grade that much? The graders notes say staining, are they referring to the prints?.

CGC Cert #

4392091024

Grader Notes

light bends to cover
light creasing to cover
light fingerprints on cover
light spine stress lines to cover
light staining to cover

[Mars76]

Minus the fingerprints this is a pretty solid looking book. I wouldve given it at least a 9.2. They must really not like fingerprints. 

[mephistopheles]

On 3/5/2024 at 8:09 PM, Mars76 said:

Minus the fingerprints this is a pretty solid looking book. I wouldve given it at least a 9.2. They must really not like fingerprints. 

If only I could go back in time and tell 14 year old me to wash my dang hands before reading comics. Honestly I think I got a harsh grader. There was a few head scratchers in this submission.

[Cerebus3000]

There are fingerprints and then there are fingerprints. You have at least a couple of the latter where they have broken through the gloss and ink. Per the CGC grading guide ´most fingerprints lower a grade to between 8.0 and 9.2, but extensive smudging can push the grade even lower.´ Based on the fingerprints alone I would say this book would max out at an 8.0. With the other defects I think a 7.0-7.5 is not unreasonable.

Small consolation though…those are your teenage fingerprints. That’s a Time Capsule and family heirloom now. A 9.8 may have been better but I say…nice book!

[mephistopheles]

On 3/6/2024 at 2:57 AM, Cerebus3000 said:

There are fingerprints and then there are fingerprints. You have at least a couple of the latter where they have broken through the gloss and ink. Per the CGC grading guide ´most fingerprints lower a grade to between 8.0 and 9.2, but extensive smudging can push the grade even lower.´ Based on the fingerprints alone I would say this book would max out at an 8.0. With the other defects I think a 7.0-7.5 is not unreasonable.

Small consolation though…those are your teenage fingerprints. That’s a Time Capsule and family heirloom now. A 9.8 may have been better but I say…nice book!

Those other defects don't exist though. Minus the prints the book was a 9.6 all day long. I figured it would get dropped to an 8.5. I think the grader was harsh as I only got 2 9.8s out of 25 and I pressed 20 of them. All 25 got white pages which is a stretch on some of the books, but I'll take it as a consolation prize. Here's another one that's a head scratcher:

Grader Notes:
light bends to cover
light creasing to cover
light spine stress lines to cover

 

[maraxusofkeld]

Right under the price box, you can see white staining where it looks like color is missing from the cover. What did you think it was going to come back as?

[mephistopheles]

On 3/6/2024 at 5:30 PM, maraxusofkeld said:

Right under the price box, you can see white staining where it looks like color is missing from the cover. What did you think it was going to come back as?

The prints are definitely etched in there, but I would argue it's color rub more than staining. I was hoping for an 8.5. I have 7s plastered with spine tics and corner crunches. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.