How To Grade A Card - Comic Book Trading

What Grade Can You Expect From CGC

Now that you’ve decided to grade your comic, what grade can you expect to get from CGC?

Well, likely 1 or 2 grades less than you think is the easy answer!

The hard answer is comparing apples to apples. You have to be very thorough in examining your comic to determine the grade accurately. They are paid to find defects, your mindset is to hide them from yourself. Not because you’re a born liar, but because as we pointed out, it’s simply human nature! You’re just like everyone else it turns out!

So, with that in mind, once you rid yourself of that dreaded love affair you have with your own comics, you first start by looking at the overall condition of the cover. Does it lay flat? How do the corners look? Any wear on them? Now we look at the spine, any tics? Literally every and any tiny flaw you find the graders at CGC will likely find – and often then some – and each one downgrades your comic by at least .2. Assume your perfect newborn comic is a 10 of 10, so as you discover new tiny flaws each one deducts at least that .2, some flaws deduct even more! If the comic has a stain throughout the entire book, well, you can kiss anything better than a 5.0 area grade on it. A large crease across the cover? You’re likely deducting at least 1.5 – 2.0 grades, if not more in some cases. Being brutally honest and harsh on your own comics is key to accurately grading your comics.

Keep in mind, when you go to sell your comics, whether its to us or someone else, no one is going to assume your comic will be a “10” or “9.8”, doesn’t matter how nice it looks, because if its then less than those stellar grades, the buyer will get slaughtered. If you feel your comics are super high grade and expect those kinds of prices, well, you’ll have to grade them yourself and find out! Not because the buyer is trying to undergrade your comics (though we understand some dealers do this – we don’t), but because it just isn’t easy to get those kinds of grades, period.

The Hunt for Defects (Some Things To Look For)

Any Wear On The Corners
Tics On The Spine
Stains On Front, Back
Creases on Cover
Warping (comic doesn’t sit flat)

TALES OF SUSPENSE 52

This is a KEY Marvel comics issue from the 1960s, it’s the first appearance of Black Widow (you know, the character Scarlett Johansen plays in the movies!). One comment, or belief, I get often is “it’s in great condition for it’s age!” That may very well be, but graders don’t grade on an age curve, in order for your comic to get a very high grade it has to look as though it is just as fresh off the newsstand as the comic you’d actually buy on the newsstand today! This is a nice, solid copy of this key comic, and at first glance you might think it should grade higher than a CGC 6.0, but if you look closer – which graders are paid to do – you’ll see that 3 of the 4 corners have significant wear, the lower left one being the worst culprit. There’s also some spine wear, though the corners are what do the most damage grade wise here. If that lower left corner alone was much cleaner and undamaged this comic might have graded a 7.5 – 8.0. That’s a significant upgrade both grade and price/value wise.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #5 – CGC 4.0

This is a KEY issue, as it’s the 1st appearance of Doctor Doom in the Spider-Man series of comics. It’s also a very early issue of Spider-Man from the early 1960s! As you can easily tell, this comic has lots of issues, it’s got corner issues, it’s got spine issues, and it’s got the major and most glaring issue of paper loss on the cover. That’s what really did this comic in and made it destined for a lower grade. The other things wrong with it would have condemned it to a mid-grade, llikely a CGC 5.0 to maybe a 5.5, but the tear on the cover makes that impossible to attain. Once a comic has a major defect it’s impossible for it to recover and garner a high grade – even if the rest of the comic looks stellar! And, as we’ve mentioned, it doesn’t matter that it’s a comic from the 1960s, there is no sliding scale, frankly a 4.0 on this book is the perfect grade, and had it graded a 3.5 I’d have had no complaints either. Remember that grading isn’t a science, there is always a degree of subjectivity, so grades do fluctuate, and there are times when we do resubmit comics, but we hardly ever do it because it usually isn’t worth the money or time to do so. There is no way this comic could ever grade higher than this unless the grader was, well, at least partially limited in their ability to see.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #301 – CGC 7.0

Here’s a very good example of why no one can possibly guarantee their comics will be graded a certain grade, let alone grade “MINT 9.8 or 10” which I often here. If you look at this comic very closely you can see a couple of very small “spine ticks” that break color. These are tiny creases/indentations on the spine (hence, SPINE ticks) and each tiny one can take off a small % of a grade (usually up to .2, though as with all grading it is not an exact science!). But, be honest, did you really notice them? And, if you’re looking at your own comics and no one pointed it out, are you likely to notice them? Let’s put it this way, I submitted this comic for grading, so I missed it and I’ve been grading for decades! I tell clients, and it’s true, if anyone were to pay for raw ungraded comics based on “Mint” prices they’d be homeless in a very short period of time! It’s just not possible, so if you really believe your comic is indeed “perfect” we always suggest you actually grade them before selling them, because that’s the only way anyone can reasonably pay you based on a particular grade. Basically, compare Apples to Apples.

SECRET WARS #8 – CGC 9.6 NM

KEY Issue, 1st Spider-Man Black Suit.

This is a popular issue, and for a modern comic has some value because it’s the 1st (technically it’s tied with Marvel Team-Up #141, but who’s counting!), and this particular copy is very nice, BUT again, it’s still not that perfect MINT copy even though I can’t find any discernible issues that would downgrade it. And, that’s the point here, isn’t it? Comic books, unlike other collectibles, like sports cards say, aren’t always what they appear to be. A card all you have to look at is the front and back of it. With a comic they scrutinize the front and back covers AND they go through ALL the pages inside. They check for page quality as well. And, the price difference between a 9.6 and what is typically the highest grade (10.0’s are extremely rare, much rarer than with cards) a CGC 9.8 can be dramatic. Often times it can be DOUBLE the value. While this is a beautiful “Minty fresh” looking comic, it’s NOT MINT, but most people would look at it and think it was.

About Comic Book Trading

My partners (Jeff Weisenberg and Mike Parness) and I have been buying comic and card collections for a combined 100+ years. Over those years, we’ve bought some very large and complex collections worth many millions. We can help you maximize the value of your collection. In some cases, that means getting your high dollar value comics graded before you sell them.

We are different from many other dealers because of our capital base. We don’t need to sell a collection at a discount in order to get the money to buy another collection. We sell comics at retail prices. We never flip a collection to another dealer. Almost 100% of our buyers are collectors. That allows us to pay more for collections. It is very rare that another dealer will outbid us, but we encourage you to get multiple offers. Competition keeps us sharp.

If you have a large, valuable collection, we can come to you. We can wire money to your account or bring you a certified check. If you have cases of comics, we’ll bring a truck and do all the loading.

We’ve bought collections from many large collectors and dealers. To my knowledge, all have become satisfied customers. Referrals are a good part of our business and we work hard to keep them coming.

We have locations in NY/NJ, MA and FL. My partner, Mike, travels all over the US for large deals.

Please note, at this time, we are only buying large collections.

We look forward to working with you.

Doug Koval

Comic Book Trader