What does it take to get a 9.8?15402
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MrNotSoNice private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I see a lot of 9.8 slabs shown around here, and I wonder how they came to be. I have many beautiful unread comics that look pristine. Glossy finish, no corner dents nor spine ticks, etc. These are books that were purchased 'newsstand-fresh' then bagged and boarded immediately. Of course, I am not including comics with mis-trims, rolls, or visible handling defects that may have been introduced in shipping, placing on the shelf, etc. Do these essentially brand new comics need to be pressed to get that grade? Is it kind of random? Lucky? What's the deal? |
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 Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by MrNotSoNice Most likely. Before getting to your home and bags they probably picked up enough storage/handling dents to keep from getting a 9.8 without pressing. |
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Cover, 8 pages before the staples, 8 pages after, back cover.
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MrNotSoNice private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @EbayMafia Will Press Screen pick that up? For example, If I submit a nice 9.2 to 9.6 book, will they inspect it and decide if pressing will likely take it to a 9.8? I don't think I could tell by looking. These mint-ish books all look perfect to me. Pressing, grading and freight both ways can cost $70 a book. Got to be careful where you spend that. Do people spend like that on all these 9.8 Modern books I see? Most of my mint-ish books are Bronze. |
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 Collector
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CatCovers private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I've seen plenty of unpressed Moderns come back 9.8. However, I've also seen plenty come back 9.6. And we all know about the price difference between a 9.6 and a 9.8. I look at Modern pressing as hedging my bets. The $10 price is nothing compared to the 9.6 to 9.8 gulf on a lot of books. The biggest cost to pressing is time. If there's no rush, there's little reason not to do it. If you're trying to ride the cresting wave of West Coast Avengers 45, well, you have to consider the extra few months you'll be waiting on your books. |
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 Collector
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lawguy1977 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Including Applebee’s gift cards in my submissions seems to help……… Joking aside, I agree with @EbayMafia. There is no guarantee of a 9.8, even with pressing. In the past I sent books in for grading that weren’t pressed and when they came back, I found myself thinking, “what grade would I have gotten if I had pressed it?” Now I have all my submissions pressed, regardless of how perfect I think they are. |
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Cover, 8 pages before the staples, 8 pages after, back cover.
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MrNotSoNice private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by CatCovers Most of my books are Expanded or Consumer, so my pressing cost is typically $25 to $30. Add Press Screen if I am doing that. |
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| Post 6 • IP flag post | ||
 Suck it up, buttercup!!
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KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I tend to add press screen to books I think are perfect - who knows - maybe something happened in the mail! But! I have had books come back in 9.8 with no press at all!! |
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 I'd like to say I still turned out alright, but that would be a lie.
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flanders private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I don't think there's much randomness or luck involved although, I own several 9.6s that I feel should've been graded 9.8s and other 9.6s that look far lower grade. Over 90% of my 9.8s haven't been pressed, but these are also comics I bought between 2018-2020 and never read. I did some amateur cleaning on some myself, just to wipe off the dust and remove some dirt on white parts of the cover and I'm sure that helped a bit. I've had books that already looked like 9.8s pressed for the hell of it, only because it was worth the additional $12 due to the huge difference in fmv between a 9.6 and 9.8. Part of me thinks the presser sent them into CBCS without even touching them, but who knows. Most of the time I just give a good look over the books with light shined on the covers from different angles. Maybe try grade screening at 9.8, if you haven't done so already. I once sent a book in twice that I could see no defects on before it passed the 9.8 grade screen and if my Wolverine #1 CBCS 9.6 Limited Series was grade screened at 9.8 and rejected, I would have a hard time believing it wouldn't get a 9.8 the second time around since even after reading the grader's notes, and looking over the book for any defects, I can't see anything that would warrant it being a 9.6. I've still contemplated having it regraded, but it's a childhood comic for my personal collection so even if it got a 9.8, it wouldn't change much. |
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Cover, 8 pages before the staples, 8 pages after, back cover.
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MrNotSoNice private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by flanders I am not saying the grading is not accurate. But, I am getting the sense that it is a 'try your luck' kind of thing. Sounds like is was in this case. Too hard for the collector to detect the very fine differences between 'high 9.6' and 9.8. People getting 9.8's without pressing is encouraging though. |
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I'd like to say I still turned out alright, but that would be a lie.
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flanders private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @MrNotSoNice I sent in 80 books (one from the early 80s, 5 from the early 90s, and the rest from 2018-2021) recently that were never pressed, all at a 9.8 grade screen, so I'll let you know how that goes around November/December. | ||
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Cover, 8 pages before the staples, 8 pages after, back cover.
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MrNotSoNice private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by flanders I get the strategy, but I hate paying round-trip freight only to get a book back. I submitted a beautiful Daredevil #45 with a 9.6 grade screen and it didn't pass and came back. I ended up just submitting it again. I love that Statue of Liberty cover. |
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Cover, 8 pages before the staples, 8 pages after, back cover.
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MrNotSoNice private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by KatKomics Wow, splendid selection of books. All those 9.X's are great and I have got some 9.0+ books back also. But, 9.8's seem like a different animal. I have three Savage She-Hulk #1's in grading now with no press. They are unread and mint-ish (look darn near perfect to me). I'll post the results when I get them back if people are interested. At least one 9.8 would be nice. |
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Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by MrNotSoNice @MrNotSoNice I would say that age makes it even more likely that a press will be needed. in 1975 books were often sold off racks and not in comic stores. I doubt more than one in 500 could get a 9.8 unpressed, even if unread. I've bought several warehouse books that never even got into distribution beyond the warehouse and I think that everyone of them either improved from a clean/press or could have if I had known better. |
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 Pictures? We don't need no stinking pictures.
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brysb private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I have some 9.4 and 9.6 slabbed copies that look like a 9.8 and I have some 9.8's that I can see minor flaws on that I feel should have been graded lower...so I do not care about the grade assigned, for me it is all about eye appeal. The people grading comics are not perfect and grading standards vary from person to person. Some people have to have that 9.8 copy like it is a status symbol, just not my thing. | ||
| Post 15 • IP flag post | ||
 PLOD
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theCapraAegagrus private msg quote post Address this user | |
| If you know how to grade, then getting 9.8s from CGC or CBCS is relatively easy; No luck involved. | ||
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 I AM... THE Bat-Manuel
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MurrayC private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbayMafia My LCS has a bagging and boarding service as part of their regular pull servic. The cost is the same if you bought the bag and boards directly, they don't even charge extra for the labor |
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| Post 17 • IP flag post | ||
 I'm good with splotches.
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Nuffsaid111 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| 9.6 vs 9.8: Its all witchcraft. Alternatively, it is this  |
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Pictures? We don't need no stinking pictures.
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brysb private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I am sure it is politically incorrect to say this here, but I sure do miss the days before grading services when NM meant just Near Mint...nothing in between to distinguish the comic, no point this or that. The hobby was more fun in those days. | ||
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 I haven't aired it out. It's part of the provenance.
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Galen130 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| It’s very possible to have 9.8 quality books without a press. I purchased a TEC #1000 variant from Third Eye Comics when all the variants started showing up. One of my first CGC submissions…the damn thing came back as a 9.9. I wasn’t familiar yet with comic pressing. As long as all parties take good care handling comics from production to your hands, it’s very possible. Doesn’t seem to be the case as much these days…in my opinion. Matter of fact, I believe it was the first copy to get a 9.9 grade by CGC.  |
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 I live in RI and Rhode Islanders eat chili with beans.
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esaravo private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I have been submitting books to CBCS since 2015, and did not have any of my books pressed until 2020 (Full disclosure: I was “pressured” into selecting pressing for two books that I had signed by Stan Lee several years ago at a convention, but when I got the books back - months later than promised, they didn’t appear to have been pressed and the whole situation left me with a bad taste for the process). I did receive many 9.8’s on unpressed books, but lots of 9.6’s and 9.4’s too (and obviously many lower grades also). Now I wonder how many of the 200+ unpressed books that I submitted would have received better grades if they had been pressed. I haven’t submitted any books recently, primarily because I need to get the majority of them pressed first. | ||
| Post 21 • IP flag post | ||
 Captain Accident
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the420bandito private msg quote post Address this user | |
| my 9.8's come back 9.4 and my 9.4's come back 9.8 - I'm resigned to the fact that I'm not good at HG comic grading. | ||
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 Collector
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sckao private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Honestly, after a while, you can tell. It's just like anything else, it takes experience. (There are ways to accelerate this experience, of course...) Someone could sit you down with examples and in 5-10 minutes probably show you the basic differences in 9.4 - 9.8 actually. 9.9 and 10.0 are always a roll of the dice in my opinion other than that they basically have perfect corners, etc. On the other board across the way, we had grading contests that I think elevated the "grade by scan" acumen of the boardies on there. I sent in 10 books this last round for 2-Day grading all un-pressed and they all came back 9.8. I guess if they were pressed they may have had a small chance of being improved, but I actually have never yet had a comic pressed personally although I have recently started getting some pressed as part of my submission. (Old school I know... but I'm getting on board.) |
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I'm good with splotches.
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Nuffsaid111 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Don't forget the phantom "Light Bends". That's the catch all for when there is nothing else. |
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 It was a one trick pony show but always hilarious.
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GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
You wanna know what it takes it get a 9.8? It takes brass balls to get a 9.8. |
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 The Fifth Golden Girl
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sborock private msg quote post Address this user | |
| This thread is perfect for this moment. I just finished grading a large box of books that were published just a few weeks ago. Must be from a store as there are multiple copies of each book. I am 99% sure these were not pressed as there are still light production bends and a few books were rejected. Out of 79 books sent in for 9.8 grade screen: 3 got 9.9, 5 rejects and the rest 9.8. If you get brand new books and REALLY look them over well before submitting, you could get 9.8's without pressing. That said, pressing can still help many times.... |
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 Collector
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jokioo private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by sborock Just out of curiosity, how many 9.9’s are card stock books? I feel like I hardly see normal books that hit 9.9, likely due to manufacturing disparity and a higher degree of consistency with those kinds of books. Do you regularly get newly released non-card stock comics in 9.9 condition? |
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The Fifth Golden Girl
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sborock private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by jokioo The box I am talking about were not card stock books, though you are correct, easier to get a 9.9 with card stock in some cases. |
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 Beaten by boat oars
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Studley_Dudley private msg quote post Address this user | |
| It takes a keen eye and a sure foot. Just like parallel parking. | ||
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 Collector
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Donnied private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I have had about 70 unpressed comics come back as 9.8's. I don't think it's all that rare. All of my pre-1975 submissions are being pressed. Most of my moderns I don't, unless they have those defects that can be fixed. |
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