Fantastic Four #451/ Vol. 3, #22 1 1

[Mclintoc]

I'm trying to improve my grading skills. The comic in the photo is nearly flawless except for a crease running the length of the cover on the left-hand side, nearly 1/2 inch from the spine. I'm not sure what caused the crease. It's almost certainly not a fold. It appears to be pressure caused.

Assuming the comic would otherwise be a 9.8 or 9.6, what grade would you give it?

Or, put differently, what is the highest grade a comic with a defect like this could get?

To me, the defect has little effect on the comic's eye appeal. Even so, it is quite noticeable. And just to clarify, I'm less interested in the specific grade for this book than I am in understanding the effect of one significant defect like this.

Thanks!

Edited Friday at 07:36 PM by Mclintoc

[One Shot Comics]

It looks like it could be a really extreme stacking crease, from to many books stored on top of it horizontally. What's odd, however, is that it looks almost like a curved trough- and stacking creases are usually more like one depth of line. So other ideas could be pressure from a display display case, or even too much pressure from other books inside a comic box.

Usually this board would like to see more high-res images outside of a bag and board before offering a grade, but with a crease like that, assuming the book is not flawed in other ways, IMO it would top out around 9.0-9.2. I would not recommend submitting without a press, which should significantly reduce or remove it.

Worth reviewing the "Spare A Grade" guidelines here- there are some helpful tips for submitting images that will help you get more responses. Good luck and welcome to the boards!

 

[Gaard]

 

[marvelcollector]

9.2

[Mclintoc]

Thank you for the replies. I appreciate it. I've been using the Overstreet Guide to Grading Comics to improve my grading skills, and I didn't find any guidance on a peculiar defect like this, so thanks for the insight.