COIN COLLECTOR WITH ANOTHER QUESTION

[bohica-migration]

This was my first question(s)

 

What factors are considered when a comic book is graded? I've looked thru some of the thread titles and seen "gloss", "cut", "paper". What are some others? Do the graders look at how the staples appear or other esoteric points? Thanks!

 

PS - I'd appreciate any reading suggestions on general collecting.

[murph0]

Stress around the staples, marks on the spine, marks on the comic, creases, page quality, completeness, tears, centering, corners, writing, date stamps, staple placement, bends, staining, etc etc etc.

 

Brian

[bohica-migration]

Do the printers make any attempt to make their product perfect? (Regardless of subject matter) do any companies take extra steps to ensure quality with an eye on the collector market?

[ninanina]

Do the printers make any attempt to make their product perfect? (Regardless of subject matter) do any companies take extra steps to ensure quality with an eye on the collector market?

 

 

Uh, no.

 

Wasn't laughing at the question, just thinking about the foreman at the printing press making sure all the comics being printed are 10.0's.

[bohica-migration]

Wasn't laughing at the question, just thinking about the foreman at the printing press making sure all the comics being printed are 10.0's. Sort of like the mint making every coin an MS70.

[murph0]

A perfect book off the presses would be a 10.0, people send in thousands of copies of new books and there's still only a couple 10.0's of these new titles. A 10.0 is very hard to attain, even in recently published books.

 

Brian

[joe_collector]

A 10.0 is very hard to attain, even in recently published books.

 

Of course, there are many theories on why this is so.

[PovertyRow]

Do the printers make any attempt to make their product perfect? (Regardless of subject matter) do any companies take extra steps to ensure quality with an eye on the collector market?

 

I have been on hundreds of 4-color press runs in my carreer years in pre-press. The printers usually the best they can to maintain the quality of a run. Ideally you start with someone represting the customer (in my case, it was me represnting our clients) who had color key or chromalin proofs the customer had signed off on. Next the press is setup and some trial runs are done to establish registration. Once registration is locked in the colors are modified - more or less of the color inks in various areas or across the board. When I deemed the result satisfactory I would sample copies. Soe I would keep and some the printer would keep. On short runs (1000 or so) I;'d stay throughout the run. Every so often a pressman would pull a sheet from the stack to verify everything was still ok. Adjustments would be made as needed.

 

The larger the print run, and the more after-printing work applied (for example, a repro of a painting only needs a trim while a comic book needs to be assembled, folded, stapled etc. means the more defects are going to run through. Usually extra copies were made and supplied to compensate for this known phenomenon.

[hammer-migration]

Bohica, There is only ONE way to grade comics. The CGC way. In order to attenuate and fine tune your grading senses, even if inexpensive books, try to buy ONE example of each CGC grade between a set span of years, say 1967 to 1972. Acquire a 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 1.8, 2.0, 2.5, etc, all the way up to 9.8 that should be enough for practical purposes. When the question of assigning a grade to one of your raw books, match it up against your master set and extropulate the closest grade according to the best representative example.

A WORD OF CAUTION:

There will be those that say: "But, CGC lacks absolute consistancy, they're only human and humans make errors. Sometimes a 9.0 looks WORSE than an 8.0". This is utter bologna. CGC does not make mistakes. Every grade assigned by CGC is dead accurate regardless of those that would rather cry and point fingers. Also, you should perform this exercise in grading, using your master set, with the full intent and desire to SEND YOUR RAW BOOK TO CGC for THEIR grading and payment of royalties. Your master set of CGC examples should NOT dissuade you from performing this hobby duty. It should encourage you to submit all your raw books to CGC as often as possible.

[THE_BEYONDER]

Way to HAMMER your point home....