No More Grades, Just BIG NUMBERS!

[BronzeBruce13]

Please...

 

did I say "blow me" or use...

 

c'mon... give me credit for a creative post.

 

I give you credit for being observant.. I do proof my posts for typos and fix them. Its harder to see in the "live text box" for some reason. I wish I would have learned to touch-type

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

Please...

 

did I say "blow me" or use...

 

c'mon... give me credit for a creative post.

 

I give you credit for being observant.. I do proof my posts for typos and fix them. Its harder to see in the "live text box" for some reason. I wish I would have learned to touch-type

 

 

You're right Bruce....

 

You are much more creative than greggy

[Joanna]

do you feel this is an across the board raw issue?

 

 

I feel that mid and lower grade collectors will be the most affected. And if you look at the census, it's not only high grade that is being slabbed -- there are a range of issues. I've had 6 books graded so far, and 7.5 is my highest grade. There are people who are just as anxious to own a professionally graded book as the BSDs but they don't want to pay high grade prices. I'm not talking modern or bronze, rather silver and especially gold.

 

That said, I'm guessing that ultra high grade collectors (near mint to mint) are probably the most aware of the numbers, while the awareness dwindles the farther down the scale you go. There is a thread here where someone is exclaiming about a 1.8 grade. How many of you knew about that grade? Now how many recognize the term Good-?

 

I also think it might have something to do with how our brains work. I'm a language-centered person. I can barely remember my own phone number, but yet I took a language test once and scored the only 100% in the test's history. My life is built around words, not numbers. So give me a number and an alpha, and the number will be invisible to me. The alpha is all that matters.

 

-- Joanna

[BronzeBruce13]

9496 9 989898 9498 96989 98988 9 989898 9 698 696869

 

oh sorry.. I lapsed into code again... sometimes I forget words.

Its a residual effect from typing 9.4, 9.6, 9.8 in so many emails.

 

[Joanna]

9496 9 989898 9498 96989 98988 9 989898 9 698 696869

 

oh sorry.. I lapsed into code again... sometimes I forget words.

Its a residual effect from typing 9.4, 9.6, 9.8 in so many emails.

 

You see what happens??? Bruce, quick, say "Near Mint" and "Very Fine" without thinking about its companion number. Do it now, or lose your soul!!!

 

-- Joanna

[THE_BEYONDER]

9496 9 989898 9498 96989 98988 9 989898 9 698 696869

 

oh sorry.. I lapsed into code again... sometimes I forget words.

Its a residual effect from typing 9.4, 9.6, 9.8 in so many emails.

 

You see what happens??? Bruce, quick, say "Near Mint" and "Very Fine" without thinking about its companion number. Do it now, or lose your soul!!!

 

-- Joanna

 

It might be too late.....

[joe_collector]

It might be too late.....

 

Might?

[musicmeta]

Another great post by Joanna! Again, why take away something that added clarity to the label. BRING BACK THAT ALPHA GRADE!!

[lighthouse]

Can anyone describe the sceanario start to finish how a misunderstanding would transpire?

 

It's all about knowing the alphas but not the numbers. Let's say Dexter has been a collector for years, but buys mostly raw books. This means he's well acquainted with alpha, but is pretty clueless about numbers. He needs this book and it's CGC'd. He doesn't know what the number represents exactly, but knows enough that 9's are high grade. The seller says 9.2 means NM. Dexter doesn't own a guide and has no idea how to get to CGC's website (it's not like you type www.cgc.com and get to the site. Nope, you get a lawyer's site instead), so he has no way to look up the parallel grade/number things. He buys the book assuming he's buying a NM comic. The auction says it's NM, the number is in the 9's -- everything looks kosher. Yet Dexter is not the proud owner of a NM book.

 

To a lot of people (not on this board, but in the general collecting population) the numbers on the book are meaningless. Only the alpha has meaning. I looked at the example and thought, "what's wrong?" I never memorized the numbers. It took another post to clue me in that maybe 9.2 equals NM- and not NM.

 

-- Joanna

 

Great post Joanna...

 

But, since I love this thread more than greggy loves pie, I'll have to play Devil's Advocate here...

 

Dexter's been a collector for years. He's very familiar with the alpha grades from buying raw books from all sorts of dealers at shows and via mail order and on eBay. He needs this comic, and buys the 9.2 he sees up for auction thinking it's a NM book. When he gets the book in, he sees that it is in FAR better condition than the rest of the NM books in his collection. He has books from ten years ago that were described as Mint that aren't even close to as pretty as this one. He realizes that CGC must grade a lot tougher than he is used to, and understands why that book went for so much money on eBay...

 

The "Dexter"s of the world will not be affected if sellers describe a 9.2 or even a 9.0 as NM. A properly graded VF/NM book is better than the books any casual collector has bought as NM in the last twenty years. I don't care who you were buying from... To most old-time collectors, a book with eight spine stresses and two soft corners is NM... The old-time collectors who do grade like CGC have been described as anal-retentive freaks their whole life, standing there at shows looking for tiny marks on otherwise perfect books. And those collectors already know what 9.2 means, since they were among the first to embrace CGC grading because it allowed them to finally get books that were good enough for them...

 

The greggys of the world already know that 9.2 is not NM. So they won't be duped by a seller saying otherwise. And the Dexters of the world will discover that the 9.2 book they just got in the mail is better than almost every book in their collection, including all of their "Near Mint" books... "Dexter is not the proud owner of a NM book," but I bet he'll be happy with his purchase, because any dealer who would have sold him that book raw would have called it "NM"...

 

And now if you will excuse me, I have to go wash my hands. Playing Devil's Advocate is fine, but suggesting there is more than one greggy made me feel all dirty...

[joe_collector]

Hey Lighthouse, give Dexter a royal beating for me, will ya?

[greggy]

but suggesting there is more than one greggy made me feel all dirty...

[musicmeta]

Hey Lighthouse, give Dexter a royal beating for me, will ya?

 

ROFL!

[fantastic_four]

I took a language test once and scored the only 100% in the test's history

 

I find your description of what you scored on your language test to be extremely confusing. What does 100% translate to? A+, A++, or just A? You'll have to forgive me, but I have trouble thinking about things like that in terms of numbers.

[joe_collector]

I find your description of what you scored on your language test to be extremely confusing. What does 100% translate to?

 

You were home-schooled, right?

[jonnydouble]

I find your description of what you scored on your language test to be extremely confusing. What does 100% translate to?

 

You were home-schooled, right?

 

You know what the worst thing about being home-schooled was??.. Sex Education,...we didn't get those high budget films like you kids at public school did,...me and my brother had to settle for grainy 8mm reels of our parents pointing out their genitals....sure they blacked out their faces,...but you knew it was them just the same....God I hated my childhood.

 

J.D.

[drbanner]

You know what the worst thing about being home-schooled was??.. Sex Education,...we didn't get those high budget films like you kids at public school did,...me and my brother had to settle for grainy 8mm reels of our parents pointing out their genitals....sure they blacked out their faces,...but you knew it was them just the same....God I hated my childhood.

 

J.D.

 

(...sit in chair, cross legs, put notepad on lap, remove top to pen...)

 

How long have you been fascinated by woman in skimpy, tight-fitting clothes JD?

 

When is the first time you were exposed to bondage?

 

Tell us how you feel about all this?

 

(...draw pictures of nekked woman on notepad...)

[ArAich]

I feel this thread taking a sudden turn for the worse...

[OldGuy]

I feel this thread taking a sudden turn for the worse...

 

WORSE? Oh I don't think we need to worry about that at this point. There was nothing worthwhile posted here after the second page. Is not! Is to! Is not! Is to! Not a single mind was changed and no one learned a thing. Totally worthless.

[ArAich]

I feel this thread taking a sudden turn for the worse...

 

WORSE? Oh I don't think we need to worry about that at this point. There was nothing worthwhile posted here after the second page. Is not! Is to! Is not! Is to! Not a single mind was changed and no one learned a thing. Totally worthless.

 

Check out Arnoldts' post....he clearly had a change of heart...

 

You seem somewhat jaded...did you not learn how other people view grading standards....methinks you should review this entire thread..but this time with an open mind...

[OldGuy]

I feel this thread taking a sudden turn for the worse...

 

WORSE? Oh I don't think we need to worry about that at this point. There was nothing worthwhile posted here after the second page. Is not! Is to! Is not! Is to! Not a single mind was changed and no one learned a thing. Totally worthless.

 

Check out Arnoldts' post....he clearly had a change of heart...

 

You seem somewhat jaded...did you not learn how other people view grading standards....methinks you should review this entire thread..but this time with an open mind...

 

You got me on that one. There was one person that had their mind changed. That was worth it.