Let me give you a little prelude to this story. I was searching ebay
a couple of weeks back and came across an X-Men comic that
caught my eye – and from the time I saw it I wanted to find me
a nice high-grade copy of it.
Oh, probably somewhere in the F-VF+ arena.
The cover on X-Men 88 is not only unique, but it is a beaut! and
I’ll show you that in a moment.
The Search For A High Grade X-Men 88 Begins
Anyways, I put in a saved search on ebay to notify me by e-mail
if it finds any items matching X-Men 88. Lo and behold, a couple
of days later, I received an e-mail with a few listing of that very
comic.
I found one in a high grade that I was interested in. Matter of fact
I was going to just purchase it but I looked at the scans a couple
of more times and hesitated, because I saw something on the
comic that looked like a dirt spot (on the back cover).
Of All The Hairbrained Ideas, I Lept Before I Looked
So, ended up e-mailing the seller but before I ever received his
response I went ahead and purchased the comic (my mother
always told me patience was a virtue).
About a day later, I received a response and to my dismay, the
seller told me that the issue I was asking about was not a
dirt spot but a 1/16th inch tear!
My heart sunk…
Why? Because that would prevent this book from grading out in
the high 9’s if I were to CGC it (which I was planning to do).
Well, I thought, hey, I already purchased it and he had already
shipped it out so let’s wait and see how it looks when it gets
here.
About a few days later I received the comic in the mail and
exictedly opened the package to check out my find. Once out
of the protective sleeve, I looked it over and found out that
this was still a very nice comic and I decided to keep it.
The first thing I did with this comic is prep it. Yes, I walk the
talk when it comes to prepping comic books by prepping some
of my own.
Here is picture of the front cover of X-Men 88 after I preppped it:
Look at the white border on the spine (that’s what you want when
you pick up a comic book) and the color on this book. It’s a beauty
I say! Off White to White pages, with only a couple slight creases on
the spine.
Here is a picture of the back cover after I prepped it:
Wow! I couldn’t believe how clean this comic was on the back as I
didn’t have to remove any dirt or marks.
Can you tell me where the slight tear is on the back cover?
The point of this article is to show you that when are looking
to purchase comic books, be patient, and make sure you know
if there are any major defects (like tears, water damage, oil
stains, etc.) that will cause the grade to significantly drop if
you were to grade the comic through CGC or PGX.
Of course, if you really like the comic then go ahead and buy
it and enjoy it – like I did with this one!
One other thing, the main reason I wanted to find this book
in a high-grade is because they are hard to find in those
grades.
It just happens that if it weren’t for that tear, this would be
( in my opinion) one of the highest graded issues, and
frankly I’m going to say that it is.
For now though, I’m going to keep it nicely protected and
enjoy it in my own personal collection.
Have fun out there finding those gems for your own collection
and don’t forget to stop by and tell us what some of those
are by leaving a comment below.
Patrick
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