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An In-Depth Comparison of Green Label and Blue Label Grading
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150 posts in this topic

Category 7 is an interesting one. I wish that the CGC still did list significant (hidden) defects on the label (or, as has been talked about much in the past, on-line notes).

 

These would probably go a long way to helping people understand the vagaries of grading and provide some additional security when judging a book by its scan.

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Thanks for the post. Well thought out. (thumbs u

 

I really wished CGC would get rid of the green label and just consider the defect in their grading - at least for books that are otherwise complete. I could see keeping GLODs for incompletes.

 

If not, then I wish that CGC would post both grades on the label. My book below falls into your category 2. I know I could have requested the grade to be considered when I subbed it and had it encapsulated in a universal holder (at least that is my understanding).

 

After receiving the book, I called and had one person at CGC tell me that it wouldn't grade over a 4.0 with the defect. (I do not think there were any other noted flaws). I guess a 4.0 is possible but I also have a blue label FY (Below) with the same defect as a 6.5. I may have wanted the Thrilling in a blue 6.5 but maybe not a 4.0.

 

So in my world, I'd like a couple of options:

 

1. CGC put both grades on the label, or

2. CGC give the subber the option during the grading process of which grade/label they want. Seems like that would be good customer service to contact the owner and ask them - may be an unviable option for CGC customer service, but it is a thought.

 

Thrilling42.jpg

 

700f418b.jpg

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Thanks, all. And thanks, telerites, for another good example.

 

I purposely avoided including personal opinions in my lead-off post. However, at this point, I’d like to say that I was quite surprised by many of the things I saw. Here are some examples of Blue Label books with a detached centerfold (the Aquaman #46), a blown staple, or a completely detached cover:

 

th_B2-1.jpg th_B2-2.jpg th_B2-3.jpg th_B2-4.jpg

th_B2-5.jpg th_B2-6.jpg th_B2-7.jpg th_B2-8.jpg th_B2-9.jpg th_B2-10.jpg

 

According to these examples, a pristine book with a detached centerfold can receive a Universal Grade as high as 9.4, a lightly worn book with a blown staple can grade as high as 9.0 to 9.4, and a book with a completely detached cover can grade as high as 4.0. WTF? In my world, a book that's essentially flawless aside from a blown staple has always been a FN/VF. No wonder I have so many repeat buyers!

 

doh!

 

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Thanks, all. And thanks, telerites, for another good example.

 

I purposely avoided including personal opinions in my lead-off post. However, at this point, I’d like to say that I was quite surprised by many of the things I saw. Here are some examples of Blue Label books with a detached centerfold (the Aquaman #46), a blown staple, or a completely detached cover:

 

th_B2-1.jpg th_B2-2.jpg th_B2-3.jpg th_B2-4.jpg

th_B2-5.jpg th_B2-6.jpg th_B2-7.jpg th_B2-8.jpg th_B2-9.jpg th_B2-10.jpg

 

According to these examples, a pristine book with a detached centerfold can receive a Universal Grade as high as 9.4, a lightly worn book with a blown staple can grade as high as 9.0 to 9.4, and a book with a completely detached cover can grade as high as 4.0. WTF? In my world, a book that's essentially flawless aside from a blown staple has always been a FN/VF. No wonder I have so many repeat buyers!

 

doh!

 

 

The Superman #172 and Aquaman #46 books above should be a QUALIFIED 9.2 and 9.4, respectively.

 

The key visual being that the defects on the label are described in ALL CAPS, which is only for Qualified defects.

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th_B2-1.jpg th_B2-10.jpg

The Superman #172 and Aquaman #46 books above should be a QUALIFIED 9.2 and 9.4, respectively. The key visual being that the defects on the label are described in ALL CAPS, which is only for Qualified defects.

(thumbs u (thumbs u

 

Thanks for chiming in, Bradley. This is an incredibly helpful contribution. I was not aware of the ALL CAPS convention (and I don’t believe the copy writers at Heritage were either, because both of these mislabeled books were touted as near-top copies, and the hammer prices were awfully strong for books that would garner Blue Label grades of 6.5 or 7.0). Your contribution explains a lot and brings CGCs treatment of detachment defects back in line with the benchmarks I’ve used for the past 30+ years. Because I want this thread to be as instructive and easy to follow as possible, I’m going to revise the Blue Label Equivalents for Category 2 section of my original post as follows:

 

th_B8-1.jpg th_B8-2.jpg th_B8-3.jpg th_B8-4.jpg th_B8-5.jpg th_B8-6.jpg

th_B8-7.jpg th_B8-8.jpg th_B8-9.jpg th_B8-10.jpg th_B8-11.jpg th_B8-12.jpg th_B8-13.jpg

 

On this basis, it appears that: a lightly worn book with a cover detached at a single staple will have a Universal Grade of 7.0 to 7.5; a book with a completely detached cover will have a Universal Grade of 4.0 or lower (depending on the severity of its other defects); a pristine book with a centerfold detached at a single staple will have a Universal Grade as high as 9.2 or 9.4; and a lightly worn book with a completely detached centerfold will have a Universal Grade of 6.5 to 7.0.

 

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Since I kind of started this recent discussion on Green Labels, with my question about unwitnessed sigs, I thank you very much for putting this whole thread together.

 

I would think they could put unwitnessed sigs in a blue label as well, just note that it was verified by a third party with a COA.

 

I suppose COA's can be forged though hm

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The Superman #172 and Aquaman #46 books above should be a QUALIFIED 9.2 and 9.4, respectively.

 

The key visual being that the defects on the label are described in ALL CAPS, which is only for Qualified defects.

Go call CGC and complain. Good luck with that!

 

Oh wait..... :blush:

 

 

:baiting:

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