opinions welcome

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 08-01-2021 21:08:06

[img]Hello,
new to this site, but i have to ask the question that's been consuming me since my ill-fated experience at rebagging my books resulted in my defacing one of the prides of my collection: Thor 134, the first appearance of the High Evolutionary. . I'll spare the gritty details, let's just say it was tape related. But if there is anybody out there that would like to venture an opinion as to what the book may have been graded at before the disaster, and what it would be now, i'd appreciate it. I don't think it lost that huge amount of value, because i doubt it was much more than a 6.0 to begin with, but i'd still like to know. guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

Hi joelbeers and welcome. So many of us have had this happen, it's a terrible feeling. IMO this would knock the grade down a full notch from FN 6.0 to VG/FN 5.0. A serious hit for sure but as you inferred, being mid-grade already not necessarily a huge hit in value. While we all know it was tape related, for grading purposed the defect is generalized as a cover scuff, and the hit varies by severity. Still a super cool book!

Thanks, StarMan! My real fear was that i had grossly guess under-graded the book and it was higher than my initial 6.0-6.5. Do you think this would be a good candidate for pressing, or because of those scuffs, nothing would get it higher?

Well, I'm looking at the Nosto trend chart and the book is definitely very hot, but... the big value jumps occur from 8.5 and up. I think in this range it's on the edge and even if pressing popped it a grade, it might not justify the cost. Looks like you'd pick up $60-$75 in this range. Without the scuffs, it would definitely be worth a closer look. Just my 2C of course.

If it makes you feel better, one trip to Chicago-Con many years ago, my buddy asked a dealer if he could look closer at mid-high grade ASM #14. This was not a time to mess around and the dealer should have completely removed the tape before pulling the book out. You know what happens next. The dealer was so bummed, and all we could do is say "sorry about that" and slowly wander off. I used to do this move I called the "quick pull" and it drove my friends nuts. It was essentially gambling but I figured if I pulled the book out fast enough, the tape had no chance of adhering, no "time to grab on". I finally stopped that practice, I think I mainly did it because it made my friends nervous.