HR #7 2nd - I would say 9.6, but I’ve submitted worse and have them turn a blind eye and grade at 9.8, it may be down to what kind of a day the grader is having.
HR #1 - personally, I’d just clean that off with a soft eraser before submitting.
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I called CGC with a question today, they were helpful. My friend has a really beat-up Fantastic Four 5 basically being held together with staples that were added after the fact. CGC told me any staples will count as restoration. I could’ve sworn if staples were added to help keep a comic from completely falling apart it would still get a blue label with a conserved note or something. Maybe I’m just tripping. Anyways, CGC being reachable by phone is always nice.
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If the old staples were replaced w new staples it could count towards resto or conservation. If additional staples were added it’s def. neither resto or conservation. They’ll just note staples added after production and I’m not even sure it’ll be on the label anymore. They’ll grade the book as if the cover is detached though, kinda like with tape.
Neither “should” grade higher or lower than a 9.6. However I just got back two 9.8s with spine ticks…so….there’s that.
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Thanks! And after checking a couple HR1 back covers I can now better appreciate when you say something like “this book will be hard to get in 9.8 with all this black on the cover/back cover”…
So I am looking to do some CGC submissions at an upcoming show and CGC will be present. I want to get a custom Spawn label on my copy of the McFarlaneToysStoree.com exclusive Gunslinger 1 signed by Todd… but I don’t see it as a current customer label or a retired label. Was this an exclusive label for the McFarlane signing?
Also, I see that only Marcel and Image have custom labels. Is this an exclusive deal with CGC or does DC not see the appeal?
Thanks in advance for your knowledge!
I believe so. And yeah, for whatever reason, DC hasn’t let CGC do labels. You would think that given his dealings with CGC, Jim Lee of all people could push some buttons internally, but so far nada.
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I would love to get some of my Bat-Keys slabbed with a Batman label.
Just be sure to look at an example before signing up for one of these Special labels.
CGC slaps their hologram over the design, then all the relevant information about the issue goes in the back of the label, rather than the front.
For these reasons I do not care for these fancy labels.
Seems like a good way to charge for something that likely costs them literally zero to do as well.
They tend to increase resale value if the label matches the book
I find the little additional logo things annoying, myself. I actually avoid comics with them. Everyone has their own preferences tho and that’s fine!
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I personally don’t like vanity labels. Don’t like CGC. I don’t like Slabs. In fact, personally, I despise vanity labels. Talk about a Rhinestone on a pile of subjective crap
But if others are willing to pay a premium for the above mentioned, then I care alot.
It’s never about “buy what makes me happy”; its about “buy what others want and sells for a premium”
Vanity labels do sell for a premium, so as a seller for $5 extra, I love them. Even though I hate them. If that makes sense
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Makes sense to me. I typically don’t care either way but I recently ended up with a Venom vanity label as part of my wife’s to me. It made me think of CGC coming to town and I possibly having an opportunity to get my Gunslinger 1 graded… then I wondered if the Spawn labels are still around.
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It’s like adding the pinstripe to a car… in the end, it really adds zero value to the car.
If you buy a slab because they spent a few fractions of a penny on ink to add a character on the label, then you’re not buying the comic inside of the slab but rather the slab with an overpriced label instead.
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It’s eye appeal. Sexy sells, that’s why fancy restaurants dress up their plates to look like pieces of art and sell for well above the cost of ingredients + labor + adequate profit.
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Eye appeal.
Sexy as all hell
Flowering aromatic
And yet it is still… yep… CGC … woops … that slipped
Well, beauty helps with the sale but if it tastes like dog shit, I"m not ever going back… CGC shits on it’s customers day in and day out yet some just keep returning to be punished… 
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Fortunately I don’t know what that tastes like.
Same