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Grading shenanigans at CGC?
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Started by 0r0d,

387 posts in this topic

Timed

Timed

Posted
Posted
On 10/19/2024 at 12:52 PM, Silver Surfer said:

There is a tough BA book in 9.8 currently at auction with a glaring mid page spine tick. Either the damage is post slabbing or it’s a gift grade. 

Where at? Would like to take a look..

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Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer

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Posted

If I was the dominant grading company and wanted to manufacture a 9.9 market, and with the help of major auction house who gladly will take the increase in consignment revenues, this is exactly how I would go about it (hold back grades then whammo).  But when 1 submission has a dozen 9.9’s (and the census funny business doesn’t help either - maybe they were going to quietly amend it months later?) then it sure looks like an inside job. 

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Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 10/19/2024 at 1:22 PM, LordRahl said:

This is a joke right? All due respect to RMA but you really think he's the only person on earth that can spot the difference between a 9.9 and a 9.8?

I don't believe that CGC suddenly got a mass influx of graders who can all recognize the difference between a 9.9 and 9.8 in the past few months - as per the graphs cited in the GSX1 thread. The point being that RMA is one such person who can recognize those minute differences, and how unrealistic it is to think that CGC managed to hire and/or train a bunch of people that can do the same all within an incredibly short amount of time - the massive amount of 9.9s in this short timeframe is sketchy at best, and is probably the result of CGC manufacturing a 9.9 market. At least IMHO.

Edited by Dr. Balls
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lou_fine

lou_fine

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Posted
On 10/19/2024 at 12:17 PM, LordRahl said:

It sucks that I lost out then, it sucks that I now feel like I could have just waited and would now probably get the grade they deserved but it sucks less than continuing to see perfect books get only a 9.8 just because CGC is too lazy to grade properly.

Well, if you feel that your books are truly worthy of 10's, wouldn't you still be losing out if you submit them now since they have upped their grading only to their newest CGC 9.9 business agenda level and have yet to implement their new and much improved CGC 10.0 threshold level?  hm  :devil:

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namisgr

namisgr

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Posted (edited)
On 10/19/2024 at 5:27 PM, Dr. Balls said:

That is one soft URHC.

Years ago when this 9.9 comic came up for sale, there was a lot of sentiment on these boards that it wasn't any nicer than most 9.8 graded copies, and even a few of the sharpest looking 9.6s.

So while I don't question that some comics are clearly distinguishable from 9.8 and lesser graded copies, and so are deserving of even higher grades, there also seems to be a soft line in many other cases in which the reason(s) why one copy receives a 9.9 and another a 9.8 is unclear.  The recent data indicating that a far higher percentage of submitted books are now receiving 9.9s than a year and a half ago and longer calls into question whether this soft line has been shifted by the grading company.

Edited by namisgr
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Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

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Posted
On 10/19/2024 at 3:44 PM, namisgr said:

Years ago when this 9.9 comic came up for sale, there was a lot of sentiment on these boards that it wasn't any nicer than most 9.8 graded copies, and even a few of the sharpest looking 9.6s.

So while I don't question that some comics are clearly distinguishable from 9.8 and lesser graded copies, and so are deserving of even higher grades, there also seems to be a soft line in many other cases in which the reason(s) why one copy receives a 9.9 and another a 9.8 is unclear.

I don't know the history of this book, but I had mentioned earlier that the difference between a 9.8 and 9.9 is one hard bump of the shipping box it's in - and this could easily be the case.

Sharp corner upon submission, soft corner upon shipping back to the subby.

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LordRahl

LordRahl

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Posted
On 10/19/2024 at 2:25 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I don't believe that CGC suddenly got a mass influx of graders who can all recognize the difference between a 9.9 and 9.8 in the past few months - as per the graphs cited in the GSX1 thread. The point being that RMA is one such person who can recognize those minute differences, and how unrealistic it is to think that CGC managed to hire and/or train a bunch of people that can do the same all within an incredibly short amount of time - the massive amount of 9.9s in this short timeframe is sketchy at best, and is probably the result of CGC manufacturing a 9.9 market. At least IMHO.

My opinion is quite the opposite of this. I think it's easier to train someone to tell the difference between a 9.8 and 9.9 than it is to tell the difference between a 6.0 and 6.5. There's not much to it at the 9.9 and 10 level really. And the "massive" amount of 9.9s in a short time frame is attributable to them correcting what I feel was an intentional mistake to begin with in artificially holding back 9.9/10s for the sake of expediency.

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BlowUpTheMoon

BlowUpTheMoon

Posted
Posted
On 10/19/2024 at 5:44 PM, namisgr said:
On 10/19/2024 at 5:27 PM, Dr. Balls said:

That is one soft URHC.

Years ago when this 9.9 comic came up for sale, there was a lot of sentiment on these boards that it wasn't any nicer than most 9.8 graded copies, and even a few of the sharpest looking 9.6s.

I remember the thinking was it suffered from SCS. 

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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Posted
On 10/20/2024 at 5:05 AM, LordRahl said:

My opinion is quite the opposite of this. I think it's easier to train someone to tell the difference between a 9.8 and 9.9 than it is to tell the difference between a 6.0 and 6.5. There's not much to it at the 9.9 and 10 level really. And the "massive" amount of 9.9s in a short time frame is attributable to them correcting what I feel was an intentional mistake to begin with in artificially holding back 9.9/10s for the sake of expediency.

How are they going to do that though, when they themselves (CGC) don't seem to have a consistent standard on what a 9.8 is?

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