OT: Totally Unrelated to Vintage Cards - Mastronet Americana

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

Okay.......sorry for anyone who doesn't want to read this.......

The Mastronet Catalog has two parts-Americana and Sports. Being a former comic book collector (still have my X-Men collection), and seeing this CGC grading that's done of comic books, how can a book with pencil/pen on the cover be graded 9.0.........

See.......
http://www.cgccomics.com/gallery/details.asp?IDComic=134

Is it generally accepted that since this book is from the 1940's that it might have a mark on the cover. Most of the books I collected were from the 1970's, so maybe the parameters are different. Anyway, can someone with comic knowledge weigh in?

Sorry for the question but just wondering......

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Posted By: runscott

or a crack in the slab (if that's possible) - there would have to be an indication if it were a mark on the magazine

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Posted By: petecld

Tom,

I still have over 2500 comics from my childhood and the standards for grading comics is different than cards.

There a so many more elements on comics that affect grade - such as up to 64 lower-right corners(one per page) as opposed to one lower-right corner of a card so that some allowance can and should be made for books. Another BIG factor is that a small imperfection detracts from a larger item much less than the same size imperfection will a small item like a card.

I know CGC standards for Golden-Age books(1939-1955) are different (less strict) than standards for Modern Age(Post-1980) comics. Comic collectors and grading standards are more relaxed (and more realistic in my opinion) on such little things like a small pencil mark or publisher's date stamp and comic collectors actually APPRECIATE it when a book is graded and labeled as restored/altered because they know exactly what they are buying.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

advantage that I see to grading the books. They are clear to elaborate the amount of work done to a book and they sell for significantly less (10-15% maybe of full book value). I would love to have an X-Men #1 and really wouldn't care if it had some restoration cause I don't want to pay $5K for it in even decent shape. Fortunately, I sold my books. I was really just buying them 10-15 years ago in BULK quantities for investments. I did okay but they have dropped SIGNIFICANTLY unless it's old stuff like Mastronet has in their auction.