grading help, please

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 4:28:51 pm

Ahhh, the wonderful world of eBay buying!. I thought I got a great deal when I found a $15.00 BIN on the Cassaday Astonishing X-Men #1 Variant. Now that I have the book, I don't think it was such a great deal. Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 2253016776

and here's a picture of the book I received (big picture):

What the heck is all the white crap near the spine. It looks like the color was worn off or chipped off or something. Is this a printing defect or wear? The auction described it as Mint, I was basically hoping for NM, but I don't think this book would even qualify for that. Even at $15, I think I'm going to have to try to send it back. Grading opinions wanted, thanks!

DawgPhan · Post by **DawgPhan** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 4:42:00 pm

I would say if you are unhappy ask to send it back...If you cant send it back neg his butt and deal with it. I never expect a book to be NM when I get it fom ebay of course condition does not matter that much to me...I am much more interested in eye appeal which this book doesnt really have either...I say send it back...if you can...

whetteon · Post by **whetteon** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 4:51:21 pm

It's the same comic that he showed in the auction. The "scratch" of white that shows up above the "X" in "X-Men" also shows up in his auction. It's clearly not mint or even nm. I would probably pay you $15 for the comic. Dunno.. was that much help?

greg · Post by **greg** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 4:52:51 pm

It looks like the books might have gotten too hot while they were stacked.
The white spots on the spine would be a normal "rub spot" in a stack...
and there are even a few white "flecks" on the right side...

I've seen that happen often when books get too hot and stick together.

Check out this comment from the last feedback he got:
"Not quite "mint" as described, but still great condition. Thanks! RECOMMENDED!!"

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 6:08:45 pm

Thanks for the help, guys. I've got an e-mail in to the seller, and for once I can feel free to leave him a neg if things go wrong because he already left me feedback. Hopefully it won't come to that, though. I guess I should have known something was fishy with that low of a BIN, and I didn't see the damage in the picture AT ALL. I'll take a closer look. I really would like a copy of that book, but I'm not willing to pay more than $25 or so for it, and that would be for a NM copy.

EDIT: I did take a look at the scan again and I can see a very small white mark about the X like whett saw, but that darn scan is so small, you almost can't be sure if that was damage or glare. The other spots don't seem to show up at all.