What a SCOOP!

[ArAich]

And since Bob is still at work every day and sitting right down the hall from me, I've never understood this whole idea that somehow he's been locked in a closet while "we" at Gemstone "use" his name. Weird.

 

For some reason...this creates a vision of George Castanza, from "Seinfeld", when he made it so that he could sleep under his desk while at work...

[valiantman]

For some reason...this creates a vision of George Castanza, from "Seinfeld", when he made it so that he could sleep under his desk while at work...

 

Actually, it's probably more like Costanza's boss, Steinbrenner...

sitting in the biggest office. Waiting for his calzone from Paizano's!

(Or, the soup in the bowl made out of bread... "because there's nothing

more satisfying than looking down after a meal, and just seeing the table".)

[Ares]

If he left the company to strike out on his own and decided to start a new grade. Could he call it overstreets guide since that is his name?

[read_em-migration]

I just PM'd Steve to discuss this and here was the reply. I'm not sure what the announcement really meant, nor have I spoke to him yet, but I get the feeling from that short reply that the grading standard is not changing. It didn't make sense anyway.

 

 

From: sborock

There is NO NEW GRADING STANDARD . You can quote me on that. Call you later............

 

What does that mean? That CGC's standards were always the same as Overstreet's, or they're not really adopting Overstreet's standards? If their grading standards are the same as Overstreet, why didn't they just say so in the first place? They could've avoided this confusion and the appearance that anything slabbed up until now is incorrectly graded.

[fantastic_four]

If their grading standards are the same as Overstreet, why didn't they just say so in the first place? They could've avoided this confusion and the appearance that anything slabbed up until now is incorrectly graded.

 

My assumption is that CGC think their standards are similar Overstreet's standards, but that their own experience makes them tighter graders than the general dealer or collector who doesn't focus much on collecting, even the ones who have studied the guide a bit. And I'm pretty sure that's a fair assessment of their acumen as graders. Not many people have spent the time or done the type of collaborative grading that they have.

 

I also think they value their skill and look at it as a trade secret. I asked Jeniffer Levitt a few years ago whether page whiteness was incorporated into the numerical grade and her initial answer was "our standards are proprietary and we don't give them out." The word "proprietary" means to me that they viewed the standards as a trade secret and an asset that CGC feels they need to protect. However, they've gotten hammered so much for not disclosing their standards, it could be that they've decided that the Overstreet standards are similar, yet not revealing enough, to go ahead and associate themselves with. In other words, the Overstreet standards get you halfway to being a tight grader, but they don't give you the experience to get all the way there.

 

They very likely didn't associate themselves with the Overstreet standards at the beginning because it didn't occur to them that they could do so without compromising or revealing the "juice" (focused study and experience) that gives them an edge. This should definitely be a good move for them; it legitimizes their standards and gets the detractors off of their backs without truly giving away their strengths.

 

Obviously, I could be wrong about what they're thinking since I'm not their "right hand man" like Hammer used to infer I am, but as someone who has aspired to become an extremely tight grader over the last few years, this is the angle that both makes sense and seems to be the most likely in part, if not in full.

[read_em-migration]

FF, I think that was an excellent dissection/answer to the question I posed. I didn't really think of it from that angle, and it does make sense. I just wish CGC had alluded in some way to these points (if indeed your assumptions are correct) or expanded on the announcement they made in the Scoop.

 

Since this is the CGC Board, your points may seem obvious to some, but maybe only to the hardcore CGCers. Most reactions I've read on several other Comic boards (including the Ebay boards) from your average "joe collector" (many pro-CGC) is that all the comics previously slabbed are now incorrectly graded. CGC needs to officially make an announcement/comment on this or risk losing some of those people on the fence about CGC.

[BronzeBruce13]

NEWS: CGC SAYS NO CHANGE IN GRADING STANDARDS

 

While Comics Guaranty LLC recently announced that the company would be adopting Overstreet’s grading standards, President Steve Eichenbaum and CGC Primary Grader Steve Borock have told CBG that the adoption will not affect the company’s original grading standards.

 

“We have not changed our grading standards,” Eichenbaum told CBG. “From the beginning, we have always worked closely with the fine folks at Gemstone, adopting the Overstreet standards combined with the consensus of many of the collecting community’s top dealers’ and collectors’ interpretations for those standards to derive CGC’s own overall grading standards.”

 

The question then arises that, if CGC is using Overstreet’s standards but not changing its own standards, wasn’t the company using Overstreet’s standards all along?

 

Registered users can read the full article here: http://www.collect.com/interest/article.asp?id=8244

 

 

 

 

[Darthdiesel]

Ahh the plot thickens...next thing we'll have the unwashed masses crying for the Colonel's secret recipe...

[garthgantu]

Don't forget "7X," the secret ingredient in Coca-Cola... (Okay, we all know it's real, refined cocaine hydrochloride in great heaping spoonfuls, but they claim they'll never tell! Funniest part is, the Sherlock Holmes story "The Seven Percent Solution" is all about cocaine...)

 

If it's true that CGC has been using the Overstreet grading standards "all along," then I see some serious disparities, beginning with the mis-wrap 'defect'.

 

I think CGC finally realized that they were 'safe' in copping to the fact that their grading is done along "industry standard" guidelines, and that their real "competitive edge" lies solely in the accuracy, precision and consistency of their official graders.

 

The problem now is, if those graders depart for greener (or less green) pastures, there's nothing to stop them from setting up shops that are perceived to be identical to CGC in terms of grading quality.

 

Another problem is, CGC's own grading is sufficiently inconsistent as to render their "value proposition" very arbitrary... let's see if they start hanging their hat more on the quality/security of the slab itself...

[supapimp]

Ahh the plot thickens...next thing we'll have the unwashed masses crying for the Colonel's secret recipe...

 

don't you know it's crack!

[fantastic_four]

If it's true that CGC has been using the Overstreet grading standards "all along," then I see some serious disparities, beginning with the mis-wrap 'defect'.

 

How do you know Overstreet deducts more for miswraps than CGC?

[Darthdiesel]

The problem now is, if those graders depart for greener (or less green) pastures, there's nothing to stop them from setting up shops that are perceived to be identical to CGC in terms of grading quality.

 

The graders all wear Scanners-type collars so if they even think of leaving CGC, it'll get real messy, real fast

 

If it's true that CGC has been using the Overstreet grading standards "all along," then I see some serious disparities, beginning with the mis-wrap 'defect'.

 

How are miswraps a defect? It is an aesthetic judgement call from what I remember. It is MISCUTS that you may be thing about as defects where the comic is more of a rhomboid shape than a rectangle due to the blade slicing a misangeled book at the printers?

 

 

I think CGC finally realized that they were 'safe' in copping to the fact that their grading is done along "industry standard" guidelines, and that their real "competitive edge" lies solely in the accuracy, precision and consistency of their official graders.

 

The competitive edge lies mainly in their accurate interpretation and application of grading standards both as put forth in the OS 2002 Grading Guide and from the input regarding grading gathered from members of the collecting community back during the inception of CGC?