Why No Reply?

[PovertyRow]

Well I asked two simple questions in ASK CGC - last one 3 answers ago.

 

#1) What do you mean by "Restoration includes" and why do you use the word "includes" which can imply not all?

 

2) How do you define a "file copy"

 

I can understand queston 1 being potentially embarrassing but question 2 - how do you define a File Copy??

 

Maybe I should ask "What is that paper you put inside the books?" in order to get...an answer.

[blowout]

........yeah, i really can't understand why cgc are being so secretive about their definitions/ grading standards/ label information criteria..........in the long run it can only hurt their credibility..............

[PovertyRow]

yeah, i really can't understand why cgc are being so secretive about their definitions/ grading standards/ label information criteria

 

Agreed. It is not unlike the problems with restoration. Folks buying apparantly high grade books with not a lot of restoration detection experience and then finding out months or years later that restoration was present.

 

I have to wonder what the upshot of CGC will be if they ever admit their real standards. Or - even worse for CGC - if someone decides to reveal all they have found about the standards to the general collecting populace.

[chrisfuccione]

A few weeks ago I got into a discustion with a few members about the diference between coin grading and comic grading and I also asked CGC about the difference between thier grades, Overstreet grades, and wizards grade. Also I asked what thier standards were and if the comic industry would be better off with one standard like the ANA grading on the coin side. I am still waiting for a responce from them. CHRIS

[blowout]

.........chris, we did point out at the time that there was no way you would get a response to that question..........many have tried asking it, without success........

[PovertyRow]

chris, we did point out at the time that there was no way you would get a response to that question

 

But you know? It IS a good question. And it deserves an answer-especially since folks are paying to have their books graded and slabbed.

[chrisfuccione]

That is the biggest diffrence between NGC and CGC. NGC it seems are more open. I have never heard on the coin board NGC refusing to reply to a question. CHRIS

[blowout]

........of course it deserves an answer...........but will we get one??

[blowout]

........i really can't understand their refusal to reveal their grading practices.........i think it will take a new grading company to enter the hobby to force them into the open..........

.....the problem is they have the monopoly right now in comics grading, with no-one to answer to but themselves...............

[blowout]

.......i don't make a habit of attacking cgc, i think they are doing a great job.........but they really need to open up on this issue...............

[PovertyRow]

Blowout -good points all around. Yes, it will take a new grading company - and I really think another will be coming in a year or two at best. And yes, such questions definitely deserve an answer and the lack of forthrightness on CGC's part is ultimately going to damage their credibility.

[murph0]

This is exactly why I made that thread directed towards CGC asking them to stop fielding what are basically either softballs or independant issues that have no bearing on everyone else...like the one where someone sent in too few books to meet the minimum..it's important to that person, sure..but that's something that shouldn't be used in what's supposed to be a Q and A session about the company. A lot of the other questions are pretty much self-explainatory as well..they don't seem to have any real desire to make that forum anything more then a joke.

 

Brian

[scottish]

It is doubtful CGC will answer any question where they're asked to define a particular standard or grade. Once they do it, it will be thrown in their face time and time again. I'm not saying I wouldn't want to see what their grading criteria is, but I don't think we'll see it anytime soon.

[chrisfuccione]

Why? It is known that NGC uses the ANA standardd and it is not thrown back in thier face. It is common Knowledge that when you sumit something to be graded one person might say ms 65 and someone else might say ms66. CHRIS

[OldGuy]

Because it would make them accountable.

[scottish]

I can't say for certain Chris. From a business stand point CGC isn't hurting for submissions so unless it drops off precipitously I would think they'll keep plugging along 'as is' for now. I'm in the dark when it comes to coin grading, but I would venture that grading a comic is a much more intensive activity (I could be wrong), subject to much more objective opinions than a coin, hence, many more customers would argue that they have a 9.4 instead of a 9.2. Then we'd have the whole 'it isn't color-touched arguement', 'that staple IS original', etc... I think the reason for this is the current price multiples realized for 9.8 vs 9.6. Is the coin market similar? Double price or more for the next higher grade?

 

Just my humble opinion here.

[comicinvestor-migration]

Come on guys, I already outlined this:

 

CGC does not state their grading criteria because then they would have to adhere to them. Their "grading standards" have changed many times since inception, and will likely continue to change in the future.

 

Not having an available set of grading standards gives the company the ultimate freedom in revising them internally, to reflect changing market trends or to fend off a competitor entering the comic grading market.

 

This kind of subterfuge could only happen in a monopoly industry though.

[fantastic_four]

The only file copy I've seen CGC note that wasn't already known as a "file copy" amongst collectors before they started business in 2000 are the Stan Lee file copies. Other than that one, it seems that the industry as a whole has defined what a file copy is, and CGC has just adopted what the industry already established. The file copy question can almost be considered to be a subset, or companion to, the question of which pedigrees CGC decides to recognize and which ones they don't.

 

I've heard that they watch sales results on new pedigrees to determine whether they're well-received; I'd like to hear what criteria they use to determine a well-received collection. I'm a little surprised the "Don and Maggie" collection got the pedigree nod. Does anyone contend that the Stan Lee copies aren't really "file" copies? His extreme fame won him that nod, and most of us would agree with it I think.

[aardvark88]

At least Don & Maggie bought their silver off the rack unlike Conrad E's Edenwald collection/pedigree.

[OldGuy]

CI,

 

Hard as it may be to believe, many of us knew this even before you typed it into law. As a matter of fact, that’s what I just said (again). Thanks for the validation though, I feel much better now.