10.0 vs 9.8 vs 9.6

[Carnage]

Hi All,

 

I am very new to the whole CGC'ing of comic books, as I have just sent my first box of comics to be graded (I'm as giddy as a school-girl....). I understand what drops comics to grades like 4.0 or 7.5, but the 10's the 9.8's and 9.6's I'm less clear on.

 

What differentiates at the very top? I'm just trying to learn the differences and I know a lot of modern ones look perfect to me, but in reality I know 10's are very few and far between.....any help would be greatly appreciated....

[worldsbestcomics]

Welcome to the Boards!

 

I have owned several 10.0s, many 9.9s and more 9.8s than I can remember and telling the difference is darn near impossible.

 

Usually, if you examine a 9.8 closely, you can find a visible, albeit very minor, flaw. But, I have sent in some books without any visible flaw at all and they still came back 9.8.

 

I have never seen a "perfect" paper cover book. But some types of production defects will not affect the book's grade if they are minor. My 10.0 copy of X-Men 197 is not "perfect" in my mind. My 9.9 copy of Wolverine mini 4 looks virtually flawless - why not 10? I am told the difference btween 9.9 and 10.0 is more subjective than the difference between 9.8 and mint.

 

Modern cardstock and foil covers seem to have a higher percentage of 9.9 and 10.0 copies than the paper covers.

 

The easiest flaw to find that will bump a book out of the 9.8 range down to 9.6 or lower is stress on the spine. I have seen bronze books with a 1-3 non-color-breaking stress marks get a 9.6. I have seen a bronze book with one very small color-breaking stress mark get a 9.6. But usually any color-breaking stress mark bumps a book out of 9.6, especially moderns.

[rjpb]

9.8/9.9/10.0 are all the same grade (except for the ones that are really 9.6s)

[jokersrevenge]

If they gave out too many 10's, the grade wouldn't be that special, now would it. Grades of copies where many, many are submitted seem to fit the bell curve....

[Sal]

i think you'd be hard-pressed to find a 10.0 with a miswrap. although i couldn't say for absolute certainty.

 

things like miswraps, staple placement, QP and the like are what to me differentiate the 10 from the 9.8s of the world