Good video. Another thing is the vibrance of cover inks, because comics in the same run can vary wildly, from deep, rich color, to covers that can even look washed out, despite never being bleached by sunlight. Collectors will usually pay extra for vibrant colors.
Cover reversion is usually caused by not leaving the book in the press long enough. Some pressers will try to maximize the amount of books that they process by turning the heat up a bit and removing the book earlier than they should.
Good video. Doesn't make much different to me personally because I rarely pursue 9.8s and would never get into a bidding war for one. On the bindery tear thing - another book that I see that on a lot is ASM 365. And it really stands out because of the black cover !
Incredibly valuable info! Thank you! I am new to this, and it is great to know to look beyond the grade number! I previously thought they were all the same.
Everything you said is one hundred percent accurate in every way that I think when it comes to obtaining an item for my collection...💯✔️ I always go over my options and see what that might be for whichever item is best suited for me in my reasonable means of collecting use...👍🏼 Some factors depend...👌🏼
@@RegieCollects Yep...I have a ASM 238 graded at 9.8 but there's a QES (Quality Evaluation Service) sticker placed near the CGC Holo. Not sure if this is the company you're referring too. It mentions "Criteria that focus on crucial areas of a given comic book such as color strike, spine quality, cover edge quality, and staple placement just to name a few." from there site.
The covers of some books, especially those that were printed early in the production run, have brighter and bolder colors than others. Those books can also command a higher price than a less striking example in the same grade.
Great video, I was never a fan of pressing because IMO, if people can maintain their books properly, then there is no reason to press a book. Many of my original books from the 1980s have never been pressed and many have come back CGC 9.8. Also, I have noticed CGC 9.6 and 9.8 books waving inside the CGC case which could be from reversion, but it is important to buy the book and not the grade for collecting purposes, especially since many collectors will not sell anyway.
First, wow what a great video. I don't know if I'd be that nitpicky, but great info to know as you might resale someday.... I mostly collected old sliver age for the last 20 years, and my old 90s books ... so I don't have a single 9.8, but maybe I might pick one up and I'll some knowledge about something I never thought about. A good thing about old silver age books is like that could like like be in a flood, fire, and torn in half, but there's still so much love for the book, who cares about perfection when your aiming for anything, right? Paper memory is a bit scary, that's a new one on me, I've never heard that before... kind of terrifying to be honest.
All of these videos are designed to entertain and inform. Sounds like we hit the nail on the head with this one. Appreciate you watching and comment. P.S. I'll take my silver age ASM any way that I can get it. :-)
It’s kind of odd that things that are deemed flaws or imperfections by the community aren’t considered defects by the grading companies. In my opinion mis-wraps, off white pages and bindery tears should prevent a book from receiving a 9.8. Even if that means there’s no 9.8 copy in existence due to printing defects. If it’s not near perfect it’s not near perfect.
You could argue that these defects are already counted in because they are generally what prevent books from being 9.9 and 10s. 9.8 is essentially where they start to allow them.
@@Eyrrll True, but it's just odd to think that if these types of minor flaws were made by human hands they would deduct far more than .2. If a book shows sun shadows or tanning that caps it at an 8.5. So off-white pages should also be a bigger hit than .2. And what if a book has all 3 of these types of flaws? Still only .2? Also, we can't forget that CGC let's a few spine ticks slip by in their 9.8s too. It's just very inconsistent which I don't think should be the case at these top grades.
@@Supertomscustoms it’s odd (no argument from me there) but as long as they try to enforce the same rules every time, there is still a level of consistency. In the end we just have to accept (or not accept) whatever rules they use and decide if we spend the money or not. I was a shop owner in the 80s and 90s and I placed a lot more value on the skew of the cover than I did things like “sharp corners”, because a badly skewed cover is visible from a MUCH greater distance than a minor corner rounding… but their standards are completely different. And other than restoration checks, I think it’s also a bit silly to use any sort of magnification for grading, because that is not the natural way to examine books. I also think it’s goofy to have a 25-point grading scale when, for decades of comic collecting, there were 8 (plus one for “coverless”) that worked just fine. But these are the standards now, so I just have to roll with it or ignore it.
@@Eyrrll I totally agree. Crazy to think that a tiny spine tick or blunted corner could drop a book to a 9.6 but a 1/4" miswrap is ok. But you're right, it is what it is. I'm really hoping CBCS expands to a 4 category grading system (similar to BGS with cards). That way these types of errors can be noted in a sub grade, but may not effect the overall average enough to drop a book below a 9.8. Example: Corners: 10, Spine: 9.4, Surface: 10, Interior: 9.8 (white pages) = 9.8 Or if a book scores 9.8s or higher in all categories, it gets a special black or gold label. So then as the video states, not all 9.8s are created equal, but the label (and free graders notes) will specify exactly why.
what do you do if gocollect has no info at all about a comic - there are some back to the future and simpson comics that have no sales in graded version what do you do then. how do you price what value a comic with no data how do you know you are getting a good priced item
There's actually a modeler tool that can be used if you have a premium membership. We plan on releasing a video on the functionality of that tool soon!
Reggie...Great information for those who don't recognize some of the 'major' components that don't change a "grading" but do change a "value". Periodic (and proper) maintenance of your collection always helps a collector achieve the best grade possible and the greatest value out of their collections. What are your thoughts on periodic maintenance (ie. pressings, cleanings, humidification) ??
A good example is Uncanny X-Men 142: a lot of them have a crooked cut and you cant see the artist signature. I would never buy one with a crooked cut, even if it was a 9.8. I accidentally sold a perfect one once (before I knew this) and haven't been able to find a replacement.
How would this reversion happen in a slab? If I'm not mistaken the book is sealed in an air tight cover then incapsulated in the slab..... under this type of pressure how would it revert??? Just critical thinking here.
What does Mercanaut always say? "I am a white suprem acist what it comes to page quality, but I am a black activist when it comes to black covers." Amen.
I kind of like the misrap look myself as long as it’s even. It doesn’t look bad. I wouldn’t knock off points on something like that myself. They stick to grading books on condition which is ok by me. I’ll take all the grace I can get on a 9.8 but I do understand collectors being picky on which ones they select.
good stuff here ... different take on the 9.8 articles i have been writing but all the same point .. thx for sharing also, can you do a video on what GoCollect is doing to avoid shill bids (wins) from being updated in the system and actually being valid. alot of that stuff seems to be going on ,,, ill reach out to my other connects at gpa and see what they are doing/saying too.
That's a great video idea! All of the data on our site is reviewed by an employee to validate the sale. If any user ever sees one they question on our site, they can flag it, and we will go back and double check. We've been wanting to do a video about how we gather data - so expect something soon ;)
Great video. Good insight on grading. Although I think they should do more 9.9‘s to separate the 9.8 off-white pages. That’s probably what’s gonna be going on in the future
Maybe. The grade of a book is generally driven by the covers and not the interior pages. To this end, I'm not sure that we will see that evolution but I could be wrong.
I never knew about cover reversion. Would you just send this book to get repressed by cgc in its holder of course and therefore guarantee the grade? What if this particular presser is not as good?
The challenge is that comic book grading is part art and science. Just like medicine. Well, maybe not as serious but my point is that there are no guarantees. Do you take the risk? Heck, was the book even pressed in the first place? Put another way, unless you owned the book raw, sent it to be graded and watched the reversion it's hard to know for a fact what that book has experienced.
Good to know about the paper memory. Was not aware of that before. Does this mean if a book has been pressed and cleaned, then sent to be graded would revert back to it's original condition? How long would it take to revert back? This would change the mindset of all collectors.
In my experience reversion has happened to me with about 5 books out of 350 books that I've previously cleaned and pressed. The good news reversion can be defeated with 1 or more additional presses. Sometimes you may need to leave the book in the press without heat for several days.
Like others, 'cover reversion' is a new one for me. A great informative and concise video. I know we are talking about 9.8's here but, would the same principles apply to say, an 8.5 ? Is for example, 'centering' not important to its price ?
I think people will always have preferences and will prefer one book over another. When you are talking about lower grade books you're not talking about degrees of perfection like with a 9.8. At those lower grades you are making more trade-offs because there are a lot of things that can result in one book being a 8.5. Put another way, you could be dealing with rust on one book versus a missing piece of the cover on another. Does that help?
@@RegieCollects Thanks for the prompt reply Regie. Much appreciated. For me an off center cover is the thing that visually stands out. Its all about the degree and, as you say on lower grades, their are other pros and cons. I had a recent example where a 1966 key issue in 8.5 was off centre by 3/8 inch. The letter 'M' on the Marvel top left banner was half visible and the missing strip was now visible on the back. However, it was 'white' pages. So you have to think. 1. Does this outweigh the off centred cover. 2. This issue in this grade is not often seen for sale. Still a desirable comic it would seem.
It feels like it's a percentage of impact. If every single page has tanning across the top because the book wasn't bagged, my feeling is that the book will not get white pages. If one or two pages are tanned you might have a good shot. Does that help?
Great video....always so informative. I would love to see you or anyone else do a video on rare variants as I recently went through my collection and discovered a national diamond variant in a older Batman issue 229 and never even heard of this variant. I come to find out that it was a variant that was very similar to mark jewelers. With all of the talk of mark jeweler why hasn’t there been any talk of national diamond and do these books warrant a premium?
I have actually covered little known variants on my channel that could be more rare than MJs and even newsstands. I am talking about Whitmans. Check out the video if you get a chance.
That’s because they are all fake graders they don’t know how to grade a book silver copper bronze present!! The go by who the comic belongs to now it’s discussing , they don’t look the book but the owner🙁