This will be my last column on the subject of grading, and the recent
decision by the staff of Overstreet publications to "negotiate" a new
set of grading standards with the staff of CGC. While I would like to
rail out indefinitely against this backroom deal that threatens to
devalue the collections of tens of thousands of collectors, I promised
in my very first column that while I would often provoke you, I would
work very hard to never bore you. In reading over my past few columns I
think I can see where I've beaten this horse until it's just about dead,
so it's almost time to move on to a new topic.
Before I move on, however, I want to take a moment to address the issue of
grading standards inflation. In my last column I went to great lengths to
point out all the flaws that were allowable in the Near Mint grade category
in the 1992 edition of THE OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK GRADING GUIDE. While that
list was pretty amazing, I think that the flaws allowed in Very Fine grade
category are even more astonishing. Please bear in mind, that these defects
are all in addition to the long list of defects allowed in Near Mint. Here
is just a partial listing of what Overstreet says is allowable in
Very Fine:
Writing on cover...Repaired corner tears...Missing top staple
Very light soiling on edges...Spine stress...Grease Pencil on cover
Light book-length dust shadow...Light crease line...Small staple tear
Back cover staining...Hole in cover and first 12 pages...Publisher address stamp
Glued price sticker...Cover detached at staple...Off center cover trimming
Edge tears...Small corner crease line...Light corner stain
Clearly this list indicates that comics in the Very Fine grade can have all
manner of minor defects, as long as the sum of the defects leaves the book
looking pretty darn nice. That's the standard that been in effect for the
past 30 years, and I see no reason to change it now.
One issue that inevitably comes up in a public discussion like this one is
about my personal grading standards. To give you an idea of how my grading
stacked up in 1997, I participated in a grading test at the Overstreet
Advisors Conference that year. Four comics were passed around, and all (35?)
of the attending advisors were asked to grade the books. I don't remember
the exact outcome, except that my grading of the four books was a full half
a grade (.5) tighter than anyone else at the conference. If I remember
correctly, the average was about 7.0, and I came in at about 5.8. My score
on the books was so low, in fact, that it wasn't counted. To keep their
numbers more valid, they threw out the highest and lowest grades when
calculating the average. Since my grading was off the scale on the lower
end, it was tossed.
What makes this story interesting is that it would not have the same outcome
today. Defects that were acceptable in 1992, and were still allowed in 1997,
are now being considered far more harshly. As I've already admitted, I was
using a more stringent standard than the rest of the industry in 1997, but
that's because I had to in order to stay in business. As a mail order
dealer, I have to grade harshly, as the greatest cost in mail order is
customer service. Better to err on the side of caution, then to take the
chance of sending a customer an overgraded book.
Where the problem lies is that I see CGC leading a movement to make the
standards for grading comics ridiculously harsh. I certainly haven't
changed my standards since 1997, yet the books we send in to CGC in the
higher grades seldom meet their (unspecified) standards. The same is true
for other dealers, and as a result, the grading of comics for sale at
conventions has become a nightmare. At the nine conventions I attended
this Spring, I repeatedly saw consumers micro-analyzing individual comics
in order to find even the tiniest of defects. Clearly, this exhausting
exercise was being done to try and gain the highest value when submitting
books to CGC.
The question I would pose is: when does this kind of obsessive-compulsive
behavior become harmful to the back issue comics market? CGC has made its
standards so tough that even folks who collect the highest grades of comics
can't tell the difference in the grading. Do you remember that I sold a
copy of WOLVERINE: THE ORIGIN #1 in 10.0 for $1,000 last year? The punch
line to that story is that the buyer wanted to send the book back after
buying it because "I can't see where it looks any better than my 9.8 copy
of the same book." Well, of course it doesn't. Once you take standards to
such ridiculous extremes, then it all becomes fantasy. Face it folks, CGC
is making it up. I'll bet you could submit that 10.0 copy mixed in a stack
of other high grade issues (9.8's) of the same book, and I'm very dubious
if the CGC graders could pick it out of the stack a second time. What's
wrong with this picture?
In case you're wondering, I didn't take back the WOLVERINE: THE ORIGIN #1.
I pointed out to the buyer that his opinion on the grading of the comic was
simply irrelevant. The fact that it had that 10.0 label is all that
mattered. I promised a 10.0 book, and that's what I delivered. If he had
any problems with the grading, he needed to take that up with CGC. What
makes this sad is that CGC is, in effect, printing money. By artificially
restricting the supply of high-grade books through ridiculous grading
standards, they are creating a mania that ultimately benefits only
themselves. The losers are all the fans who had books that previously
would have qualified as high-grade, that are now worth less than what
they paid. Could you be one of those fans?
If you want to object to Overstreet's staff negotiating with CGC about new
grading standards, here is the address:
Overstreet Publishing
J.C. Vaughn, Executive Editor
1966 Greenspring Dr., Suite LLC
Timonium, MD 21093
If you wish to put your comments in an e-mail, send them to me at
chuck@milehighcomics.com,
and I will forward them for you. 'nuff said.
Please send your e-mails to
chuck@milehighcomics.com, and
your letters to:
Mile High Comics, Inc.
Attn: Chuck Rozanski
2151 W. 56th Ave.
Denver, CO 80221
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