2024 Grading Contest Spring Edition Season 3 (#10) Round 4 11 11

[musicmeta]

I had the worse round of grading ever.  Last three books were very far off.  I'm pretty sure I have the worse score of anybody this round.  Blew it on the Web of Spiderman.  15pts total.  
I've been banished to the neither worlds.  Please send me good food. 

Edited May 5 by musicmeta

[WilliamLunt]

On 5/5/2024 at 2:59 AM, zzutak said:

Hence, any player with a total score of 20 or less in any single CGC Contest is almost certainly an outstanding grader -- as good as most of the individuals CGC currently has on staff.

This may be self-evident to some but I'll say it anyway, this is also without having the book in hand.

[Supa-Bad-Mofo]

On 5/5/2024 at 6:11 AM, musicmeta said:

I had the worse round of grading ever.  Last three books were very far off.  I'm pretty sure I have the worse score of anybody this round.  Blew it on the Web of Spiderman.  15pts total.  
I've been banished to the neither worlds.  Please send me good food. 

Nope, lol. I win!

[Cman429]

On 5/5/2024 at 2:59 AM, zzutak said:

My experience with CGC convinced me that CGC's "system" (the precision of its condition grading rubric, and the skill of the individuals who are tasked with properly interpreting and applying that rubric) is only reproducible to + or - one grade increment, at best.  Hence, any player with a total score of 20 or less in any single CGC Contest is almost certainly an outstanding grader -- as good as most of the individuals CGC currently has on staff.

I’ve always said I consider 20 a “perfect score” so it’s nice to see that backed up by actual numerical data. I suppose people want grading to be an EXACT science but I wish more understood it’s somewhat subjective and it’ll always be subjective as long as humans are involved.

Which comes back to why I’ve said I found this particular edition of the contest the least enjoyable. In my experience, the higher the grade, the more subjective grading becomes. It’s why I’ve seen dealers on IG submit literally 20 copies of a new “hot” book to CGC. They know 5 will come back 9.8, 5 will be 9.4 and the rest will be 9.6s despite for all practical purposes they all look the same. 

[Supa-Bad-Mofo]

The SW8 and Web of Spidey were my worst books. I think their actual grades should be swapped.

Edited May 5 by Supa-Bad-Mofo

[Supa-Bad-Mofo]

On 5/4/2024 at 5:12 PM, CGC Mike said:

I'm going to give this to you guys for fun.  You can post grades in the thread.  I'll post the actual grade tomorrow night.   No PM's LOL  May the force be with you.

 

 

9.2

[Old Fashion PB and J]

On 5/4/2024 at 8:08 PM, Doctor Dositheus said:

How did I miss that crease in Web of Spider-Man?  Too many near mints in a row blinded me.

The other 4 I consistently graded 1 point lower.

Same exact thing I did

[trmoore54]

On 5/5/2024 at 5:11 AM, musicmeta said:

I had the worse round of grading ever.  Last three books were very far off.  I'm pretty sure I have the worse score of anybody this round.  Blew it on the Web of Spiderman.  15pts total.  
I've been banished to the neither worlds.  Please send me good food. 

I for one saved you from worst score...did OK on 3 books for a total of 4 points...but for whatever reason I blew the XM87 at 8.0 (5 points) and completely missed the crease on the WOSM51 at 9.4 for 8 points...   But on a positive note I had the winner and exacta in the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby for a nice little pay day! 

As usual thanks again to Mike and Jay/Zzutak as well as all participants (enjoy all the discussion) for the contest, always fun and always very much appreciated!  

[skypinkblu]

On 5/5/2024 at 8:11 AM, musicmeta said:

I had the worse round of grading ever.  Last three books were very far off.  I'm pretty sure I have the worse score of anybody this round.  Blew it on the Web of Spiderman.  15pts total.  
I've been banished to the neither worlds.  Please send me good food. 

Alexa is waiting for your order, so I can add it to my shopping list;)

[skypinkblu]

I was not that far off on the Secret Wars because I GUESSED the CGC grade and bumped it up, the same way I was only off 1 on the Web of Spidey, I would have called that book a 5.0 with the crease. I originally used a 6.5 because of the grading guide, but bumped it up...pure, GUESS the cgc grade.

We keep going around with this guessing thing. When CGC started, there were some very strong graders in the groups of 3, the grades seemed to be a moving number, part of the "secret sauce" but it was understandable as the service was brand new and perhaps it was baked in that way, to allow them to make changes. 

I never heard of comic book grading until I found eBay....Pages? they needed to have a certain number of pages? who knew? I just read them and put them in piles to give to my friend's kids.

But with CGC, there was supposed to be a sense of security. The rust inside that SW really bothers me, almost as much as it bothered me to open a PGX book and find 1/2 a page was missing in a GA GL or the time I bought a Shield Wizard 1, that was CGC slabbed with "cream/OW pages" only to find that every wrap inside was split.

The video we saw last week, with the young woman talking about not having formal training was also concerning.  I'm sure most collectors didn't have "formal training" ...although I treasure the forum I attended in Chicago one year when Bedrock and Matt explained how to find restoration. However, maybe "professional"  graders, grading books potentially worth a year's salary SHOULD have formal training?

I don't consider myself an expert grader,  I am OK with low grade GA, because that's what I collected, but there are some fantastic graders of all kinds of books,here, in this contest. Their input is very valuable.

Maybe @CGC Mike could suggest some kind of focus group where collectors could suggest some additions to the grading guide (which is not terribly specific regarding the defects that are described) and CGC could actually agree to train their graders with at least some of the guidelines regarding hidden defects.

I used to go to focus groups for all kinds of stuff...that was in the days before zoom. It was an easy way of earning a few extra $$ and hearing about new products, or suggesting changes to old ones. Doing one now (with some kind of compensation to encourage the really good graders to join) might be fairly simple.

Edited May 5 by skypinkblu
I should learn to proofread before posting;)

[CJ Design]

^ Agree...Staple Rust and Tape Pulls are very tough for me

[musicmeta]

On 5/5/2024 at 9:29 AM, trmoore54 said:

I for one saved you from worst score...did OK on 3 books for a total of 4 points...but for whatever reason I blew the XM87 at 8.0 (5 points) and completely missed the crease on the WOSM51 at 9.4 for 8 points...   But on a positive note I had the winner and exacta in the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby for a nice little pay day! 

As usual thanks again to Mike and Jay/Zzutak as well as all participants (enjoy all the discussion) for the contest, always fun and always very much appreciated!  

Fantastic on the 150th Kentucky Derby.  Was hoping for "Forever Young"..No money on the line just wanted that horse to win.  What a race though! I've never seen a closer race of three horses ever. 

[Mr. Zipper]

My key takeaway is that I almost can't overgrade, even when I "round up" one increment to what I think it likely is. 

Silver Surfer #10 - 7.5 +1

X-Men #87 - 9.2 +2 (Seriously... 9.6 with a freaking scuffed top spine corner?!?)

Jungle Action #21 - 9.0 +2 (Not a 9.4 I would accept in my collection)

Web of Spidey #51 - 7.0 +1 (I debated between 6.5 and 7.0.. the one time in entire contest I overgraded)

Y: The Last Man #1 - 8.5 +1 

[paqart]

On 5/4/2024 at 7:12 PM, CGC Mike said:

I'm going to give this to you guys for fun.  You can post grades in the thread.  I'll post the actual grade tomorrow night.   No PM's LOL  May the force be with you.

 

9.6

[paqart]

On 5/5/2024 at 8:11 AM, musicmeta said:

I had the worse round of grading ever.  Last three books were very far off.  I'm pretty sure I have the worse score of anybody this round.  Blew it on the Web of Spiderman.  15pts total.  
I've been banished to the neither worlds.  Please send me good food. 

You only barely beat me. I got 14, and had 1 bulls-eye. The Web comic got me big time. This contest is my worst ever, so it's pretty embarrassing to admit I scored 36 in total, an average of  9 per round. Normally I get around 22 or so. Oof.

[Vince G]

On 5/5/2024 at 12:57 AM, Superman2006 said:

There were a couple of books this contest where I felt a bit disadvantaged by not having a copy of the CGC grading guide. I missed one of the two books by 1 point, but missed the other (SW #8) by 4 points!

I for one do have the grading guide, and I undergraded 16 of the 20 books, some by a ton - including the MSH 8 as a 6.0.  In my opinion, the guide provides way to wide a grade range for many defects.  That staple rust with migration ranges from 6.0 to 9.6 I believe.  Personally, I found it to be a horrible defect on a modern book so graded it 6.0.  I was way off.

[Vince G]

On 5/5/2024 at 11:02 AM, skypinkblu said:

I was not that far off on the Secret Wars because I GUESSED the CGC grade and bumped it up, the same way I was only off 1 on the Web of Spidey, I would have called that book a 5.0 with the crease. I originally used a 6.5 because of the grading guide, but bumped it up...pure, GUESS the cgc grade.

We keep going around with this guessing thing. When CGC started, there were some very strong graders in the groups of 3, the grades seemed to be a moving number, part of the "secret sauce" but it was understandable as the service was brand new and perhaps it was baked in that way, to allow them to make changes. 

I never heard of comic book grading until I found eBay....Pages? they needed to have a certain number of pages? who knew? I just read them and put them in piles to give to my friend's kids.

But with CGC, there was supposed to be a sense of security. The rust inside that SW really bothers me, almost as much as it bothered me to open a PGX book and find 1/2 a page was missing in a GA GL or the time I bought a Shield Wizard 1, that was CGC slabbed with "cream/OW pages" only to find that every wrap inside was split.

The video we saw last week, with the young woman talking about not having formal training was also concerning.  I'm sure most collectors didn't have "formal training" ...although I treasure the forum I attended in Chicago one year when Bedrock and Matt explained how to find restoration. However, maybe "professional"  graders, grading books potentially worth a year's salary SHOULD have formal training?

I don't consider myself an expert grader,  I am OK with low grade GA, because that's what I collected, but there are some fantastic graders of all kinds of books,here, in this contest. Their input is very valuable.

Maybe @CGC Mike could suggest some kind of focus group where collectors could suggest some additions to the grading guide (which is not terribly specific regarding the defects that are described) and CGC could actually agree to train their graders with at least some of the guidelines regarding hidden defects.

I used to go to focus groups for all kinds of stuff...that was in the days before zoom. It was an easy way of earning a few extra $$ and hearing about new products, or suggesting changes to old ones. Doing one now (with some kind of compensation to encourage the really good graders to join) might be fairly simple.

I agree 100%.  This is an excellent post.

[Yorick]

On 5/4/2024 at 4:12 PM, CGC Mike said:

I'm going to give this to you guys for fun.  You can post grades in the thread.  I'll post the actual grade tomorrow night.   No PM's LOL  May the force be with you.

 

9.3 

[Yorick]

I tried to be the first to grade this last round of books.  I believe I had my grades to Mike within 10 minutes of them being posted (I happened to be logged in when they went live).  I may have whiffed one or two there... 

[Kramerica]

On 5/5/2024 at 6:38 AM, Cman429 said:

It’s why I’ve seen dealers on IG submit literally 20 copies of a new “hot” book to CGC. They know 5 will come back 9.8, 5 will be 9.4 and the rest will be 9.6s despite for all practical purposes they all look the same. 

Most of those dealers will use the pre-screening service so that they only get 9.8's. It may cost $8.00 or whatever for a book that doesn't make the prescreen it but it's better than getting a 9.4 or 9.6 and losing money. I'm seeing 9.6's losing money straight up as well. And then having to pay taxes on the sale. It's the whole "Manufactured Collectible" process being used on variants, first apps that never hit and CGC Sig Series books (those are the worst). People just haven't learned and they're going to lose their on these manufactured collectibles.