Another grading question.... date stamps, etc.

lobo · Post by **lobo** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 1:24 pm

Recently an eBay seller put up a bunch of Gold Key Magnus/solar/Turok books for bid. They were mostly in the F/VF, some very nice looking and I trust this seller's grading. But they all obviously came from the same collection because every single issue had the issue number written in ink or pencil on the covers! Not overly big or obtrusive but I ended not bidding because I did not want these comics because of the issue number 'markings'.

I never came up against this kind of 'defect' before so I consulted the Overstreet grading guide(OGG) and found out that dates/stamps/initials are ALLOWED all the way up to the 9.9 grade!!

This blew my mind! Does somebody writing the issue number on the cover fall under this category? I realize on older newstand only books, that date stamps were common and do not affect grading this much. But a date stamp and ink marks in the NM grades seems a bit much to me.
The OGG also had some CGC samples that were fairly high grade with various ink/pencil marks, so CGC supports Overstreet criteria in this respect.

Riddle me this- if I had a modern NM+ 9.8 for arguements sake and I took a pen and neatly wrote my initals or issue number on the cover and then submitted it to CGC, will the book honestly come back a 9.8 or might it get a qualified grade?

Escaflown4 · Post by **Escaflown4** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 9:28 pm

I have came across this problem many times when acquiring Silver Age X-Men books. Alot of those issues have some type of date stamps, prices or dates written on the covers. As far as I know, CGC will let date stamps slide by and grade them normally. However, if anything is written in pen/pencil, they will grade it as qualified. Normally if I get any books with anything written or dates stamped on it, I usually sell it back out even if the book itself is in Mint condition. For some reason, I see any writing or even the date stamp as defacement of the book and it bothers the heck out of me. So pretty much any books that makes it to my personal collection must pass the following criteria:

- no writings of any kind or date stamps

- no tears or damage of any kind

- no big or significant crease that affects cover appearance

- must be high grade.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 9:37 pm

Escaflown4 wrote: As far as I know, CGC will let date stamps slide by and grade them normally. However, if anything is written in pen/pencil, they will grade it as qualified.

Not so. I have a cgc 9.0 spidey 56 with writing in pencil on the back cover - the date. It received the blue label.

Personally, I'd prefer books without date stamps or date writing on it. However, I'm more willing to accept stamps than pencils. Several of my early ASMs have stamps, because back when I was collecting them, that was all I could find.

If I see an exceptional copy of a book I need with a date stamp or grease pencil mark on it, I'm going to grab it. I personally believe that if the date is placed in an unobtrusive spot, it will not affect even high grade books. Of course, if I were selling dated books, I would always let people know - wish others would do it for me.......sheesh!

lobo · Post by **lobo** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:31 pm

Yea right in the OGG there are CGC samples of books of high grade with pencil marks and some of these marks are not even dates. They seem like random numbers or lettering...

Peter Parker · Post by **Peter Parker** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 10:33 am

Well just to be accurate here...

It wasn't until about 1980 or so that direct market stores came on the scene. Until then, one could only buy Comic books at their local stationary store or newstand. Date stamps/arrival dates were written on comic books 90% of the time until the direct market came to be.

This was done so that store owners/employees could have a visual reference as to when the books arrived and when they should be removed for the next months batch. This was a common and accepted practise for decades actually. Are their Golden age and Silver age books without date stamps or arrival pen?..sure, but they are in low numbers, and garner higher market prices because of such.

There is NO way CGC or Overstreet could possibly punish the book with a lower grade due to this practise, that would be ridiculous given the facts. Its only right and fair that the book be judged for it overall integrity regardless of the purveyors date stamps.

However, ANY other writting WILL be judged as a "black mark" on the books grade, and rightfully so in my opinion, given its actually writing that should never have been there at all. Even aritist sigs and such get a qualified Green label given they cannot prove it was actually signed by the signitory on the book.

Anyway, that's my little pre-Christmas Eve FYI...and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all

ZephyrWasHOT!! · Post by **ZephyrWasHOT!!** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 10:52 am

Without typing a 70,000 word thesis on the subject...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE date stamps. LOVE them. Writing, not SO much, but date stamps rock. They tell me when a book was ACTUALLY PLACED ON SALE, which means a lot to me, historically.

Unless the date stamp is HUGE (say, bigger than 1" x 1" ish) and/or gaudy, I don't grade off for it AT ALL.

Which, as you know, is CGC's take, too.

YAY DATE STAMPS!

So..if YOU have otherwise high grade Silver/Bronze, but don't like that icky, nasty date stamp, I'll GLADLY buy them from you...you know, just to take them out of your sight. Ick!