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What's In A CGC Slabbed Book Anyway?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:00:36 -0600

Last updated Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:05:56 -0600

From the CGC website.

BLUE- This label is applied to comic books that are simply the grade as marked, with no qualifiers or special considerations.

PURPLE – This label is applied to any comic book that has evidence of repair so that it will appear as it did when it was in its original condition. Restoration can come in a variety of degrees, from slight professional restoration (SP) to extensive amateur restoration (EA).

The grading and slabbing of comic books is big business these days and CGC rules the roost when it comes to the accurate grading and preserving of comics, with people more than willing to pay a massive premium for the expertise and certainly of the grade. [Mark adds — in the interest of clarity, it should be noted that the books in question were removed from their original slabs and resubmitted unslabbed by Spider-Dan to CGC]

Posted by Spider-Dan on the Collector's Society boards,

I'm not sure how confident I can be in CGC graded books anymore. I resubbed 2 books for walkthrough grading, and got results today.

Both books were Universal Blue labels

Journey into Mystery CGC 6.0 – book was killer, and I thought it was much better. Came back a 7.0

Avengers 1 CGC 7.0 – book looked nice, but once it was cracked, regret set in as it was not as nice as the assigned grade. Came back a 6.0

Both books came back RESTORED.

How does that happen?? The Avengers has CT, and the JIM is top cover trimmed!!

That is unacceptable. If its in a slab as unrestored, regardless of when its graded, we as buyers, or collectors should feel confident that the book is unrestored.

I called and asked them to please look them over again. They said they would, but they obviously didn't because they were marked "shipped" within 1/2 hr or so

And while people are people, and will grade the same book differently, it might be worth emphasising that the CGC grade isn't the ultimate be-all-and-end-all. Indeed, this fellow was trying to get regrades initially for that very seem reason…

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