Giant Size X-Men #1 Just Graded 9.9. It Begins..... 7 7

[Gaard]

Sheesh. Those can't even be explained away by that "grading is subjective" mantra that's thrown around here ad nauseam.

[Stefan_W]

On 4/8/2024 at 4:24 PM, Gaard said:

Sheesh. Those can't even be explained away by that "grading is subjective" mantra that's thrown around here ad nauseam.

I was curious about this statement since I rarely see anyone say "grading is subjective" on these boards, let alone seeing it "ad nauseam", so I did a quick search to see if my memory was off. 

Out of millions of posts on these boards that term has been used 460 times, and a lot of those are the lead in for sales posts. A bunch have also been used pejoratively (e.g., people who can't grade say "grading is subjective").

There could be more instances in different forms, such as "we all know there is a subjective side to grading" and other similar wordings, but I feel pretty safe in saying these boards are not some type of echo chamber with people blurting "grading is subjective" every time someone criticizes CGC. 

[AnthonyTheAbyss]

On 4/7/2024 at 4:40 PM, SpineTic said:

 

So he thinks CGC is purposefully giving a 9.8 book a 9.9 to make more money by hyping up the prescreening option.

I think he's coming up with conspiracy theories to get more YouTube views.

 

***A year from now if we see an influx of GSX1 graded 9.9 I'll come back and apologize and admit he's right

[mattn792]

On 4/8/2024 at 4:56 PM, AnthonyTheAbyss said:

So he thinks CGC is purposefully giving a 9.8 book a 9.9 to make more money by hyping up the prescreening option.

I think he's coming up with conspiracy theories to get more YouTube views.

 

***A year from now if we see an influx of GSX1 graded 9.9 I'll come back and apologize and admit he's right

It’s not an outlandish theory.  9.9s are so rare right now that you have to wonder why anyone would pay for a 9.9 pre-screen when a book in that class is likely to be a 9.8 anyway.  But if the 9.9s suddenly see a sizable uptick, driving 9.8 prices down…

I was hoping the Blackstone acquisition wouldn’t lead to money grabs like this, but here we are.  Glad I cashed in all my mints long ago.

[AnthonyTheAbyss]

On 4/8/2024 at 7:20 PM, mattn792 said:

It’s not an outlandish theory.  9.9s are so rare right now that you have to wonder why anyone would pay for a 9.9 pre-screen when a book in that class is likely to be a 9.8 anyway.  But if the 9.9s suddenly see a sizable uptick, driving 9.8 prices down…

I was hoping the Blackstone acquisition wouldn’t lead to money grabs like this, but here we are.  Glad I cashed in all my mints long ago.

I would agree if you're talking about books from (lets say) 1990 to present...then that theory is probable (but without any proof one way or another).

I highly doubt that we will suddenly see an influx of GSX1 9.9 in the near future.  I will even bet we won't see another single one pop up in 9.9 at all.  That's my counter argument to the video.  CGC would lose all credibility if that happens and this whole comic book collecting/grading thing would be a total joke.

 

***But again, if another one pops up I'll gladly admit I'm wrong

[mattn792]

On 4/8/2024 at 7:29 PM, AnthonyTheAbyss said:

I would agree if you're talking about books from (lets say) 1990 to present...then that theory is probable (but without any proof one way or another).

I highly doubt that we will suddenly see an influx of GSX1 9.9 in the near future.  I will even bet we won't see another single one pop up in 9.9 at all.  That's my counter argument to the video.  CGC would lose all credibility if that happens and this whole comic book collecting/grading thing would be a total joke.

 

***But again, if another one pops up I'll gladly admit I'm wrong

Honestly, I do hope you’re right.

[COI]

The market played itself when it decided that paying an average of 5x more for a 9.8 over a 9.6 was reasonable; now that's just shifting to 9.9/9.8. 

If 9.9 is the new 9.8, most 9.8 holders will be too busy playing the 9.9 resub lottery to complain, and when that 1 in 10 lands for big bucks, all will be forgiven.

If you don't like it, stop collecting labels.

 

[Gonzimodo]

BUY THE LABEL, NOT THE BOOK!!!

[Hepcat]

On 4/7/2024 at 11:25 PM, FanBoyOfMarve'nDC said:

if CGC actually starts offering pre-screens for 9.9 and 10's, the demand for 9.8's , particularly in BA thru MA books, will be signifigantly hit.

Any dealer or even collector of such CGC 9.8's

I dunno. But somehow my heart just doesn't bleed for label collectors.

Edited April 9 by Hepcat

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

As I've stated before, I submit for grading and purchase graded for the plastic. Mark my words, plastic will be worth its weight in comic books.

 

 

Or, maybe not.

[TomO1357]

On 4/8/2024 at 8:29 PM, AnthonyTheAbyss said:

I would agree if you're talking about books from (lets say) 1990 to present...then that theory is probable (but without any proof one way or another).

I highly doubt that we will suddenly see an influx of GSX1 9.9 in the near future.  I will even bet we won't see another single one pop up in 9.9 at all.  That's my counter argument to the video.  CGC would lose all credibility if that happens and this whole comic book collecting/grading thing would be a total joke.

 

***But again, if another one pops up I'll gladly admit I'm wrong

That last part is what many people fear.  It's quite possible CGC executives (who are, in all likelihood, not collectors, at least those on the board since the acquisition) are blind to this fact and just see it as a way to make money.  It's not a conspiracy theory, it's a business move.  And yes, long-term, it's obviously bad from our perspective - but large companies of all kinds have a history of coming up with short term gains at the expensive of long term value.  It can easily be argued there is no difference between many 9.8's and existing 9.9's.  Everyone who sends in a lot knows you can send absolutely perfect books and the best you can expect to get is 9.8.  I doubt any of those books before were even considered for a 9.9 or 10.0.  They aren't spending a lot of time looking at these, you realize.  A former CGC grader said he would spend about 30 seconds on each book (modern tier, I would assume).  You couldn't spend more than that because there are too many books coming in.  If you're doing that all day long, and you get a comic that has no flaws, you're going to automatically say "okay, 9.8" and move to the next book.  They should've never even had 9.9's or 10.0's in the first place, since 9.8 was already the established high grade, but there's no going back on that now.  If they're suddenly changing the grading standard and giving out more 9.9's, which they appear to be doing, it will make them more money from re-submissions but devalue all existing 9.8's.

 

[Sigur Ros]

Well, this is going great so far...

 

 

 

[AJD]

On 4/10/2024 at 2:05 PM, TomO1357 said:

.  They should've never even had 9.9's or 10.0's in the first place, since 9.8 was already the established high grade, but there's no going back on that now.

 

Disagree. The 10 point grading scale makes no sense if 9.8 is the highest. FWIW, I think that it would have been much more consistent to have 9.0, 9.5 and 10.0 - where 9.0 includes today's 9.2, 9.5 = 9.4 and 9.6 and 10.0 = 9.8, 9.9 and 10.0 (And get rid of 1.8 while we're at it.)

Of course, there's less money in the whole business of grading if you do that, which is why they don't.

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

Is it still 9.9, or has it become a "10?"

I ask for an enemy.

[TomO1357]

On 4/16/2024 at 4:49 AM, AJD said:

Disagree. The 10 point grading scale makes no sense if 9.8 is the highest. FWIW, I think that it would have been much more consistent to have 9.0, 9.5 and 10.0 - where 9.0 includes today's 9.2, 9.5 = 9.4 and 9.6 and 10.0 = 9.8, 9.9 and 10.0 (And get rid of 1.8 while we're at it.)

Of course, there's less money in the whole business of grading if you do that, which is why they don't.

Well, that's true.  I guess I should've said they should've only had 10.0's in stead of 9.8's from the start.  That makes way more sense.  You're right, why do the increments go by 0.5 all the way up to 9.0 (excluding .3 and 1.8), then suddenly switch to 0.2 increments?  Why wasn't it just 9.5 and 10.0?  Card grading isn't like that.  Everyone wants the vaunted 10.0 in cards.  At least there's not going to suddenly be a new 11.0 grade in cards...

(6 months later, PSA announces the new 11.0) *groans* lol

[TomO1357]

On 4/7/2024 at 5:06 PM, buttock said:

I'm going to send all my 9.8s in for a regrade!

Now you're talking CGC's language!  That's exactly what they want you to do

[Readcomix]

On 4/19/2024 at 11:20 PM, TomO1357 said:

Well, that's true.  I guess I should've said they should've only had 10.0's in stead of 9.8's from the start.  That makes way more sense.  You're right, why do the increments go by 0.5 all the way up to 9.0 (excluding .3 and 1.8), then suddenly switch to 0.2 increments?  Why wasn't it just 9.5 and 10.0?  Card grading isn't like that.  Everyone wants the vaunted 10.0 in cards.  At least there's not going to suddenly be a new 11.0 grade in cards...

(6 months later, PSA announces the new 11.0) *groans*

Can I pay extra and get that with the custom Spinal Tap label?

[Toz]

On 4/16/2024 at 4:49 AM, AJD said:

Disagree. The 10 point grading scale makes no sense if 9.8 is the highest. FWIW, I think that it would have been much more consistent to have 9.0, 9.5 and 10.0 - where 9.0 includes today's 9.2, 9.5 = 9.4 and 9.6 and 10.0 = 9.8, 9.9 and 10.0 (And get rid of 1.8 while we're at it.)

Of course, there's less money in the whole business of grading if you do that, which is why they don't.