VALUE | STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY | PAGE QUALITY | GRADE COMMENTS |
100 | Pristine Mint | White only | Perfect in every way with perfect pages |
99 | Pristine Mint | OW, OW/W | Off White or Off White to White minimum |
98 | NM/M | White only | A true 98 only has white pages |
97 | NM+ | OW/W, W | No cream or OW pages. OW/W minimum |
96 | NM+ | CR/OW, OW | Cream/Off White pages are minimum |
95 | NM | OW, OW/W, W | |
94 | NM | CR, CR/OW | |
93 | NM- | OW, OW/W, W | No cream pages or less |
92 | NM- | CR, CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan pages/edges |
91 | VFN/NM | OW, OW/W, W | No cream pages or less |
90 | VFN/NM | CR, CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan pages/edges |
89 | VFN+ | White | White pages minimum |
88 | VFN+ | OW, OW/W | |
87 | VFN+ | CR, CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan pages/edges |
86 | VFN+ | CR | Cream pages minimum |
85 | VFN+ | LT, LT/CR | No tan pages or less |
84 | VFN | White | White pages minimum |
83 | VFN | OW, OW/W | |
82 | VFN | CR, CR/OW | Cream to Cream/Off White minimum |
81 | VFN | CR | Cream pages minimum |
80 | VFN | LT, LT/CR | VFN can't have brown or tan pages |
79 | VFN- | White | White pages minimum |
78 | VFN- | OW, OW/W | |
77 | VFN- | CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan/Cream pages/edges |
76 | VFN- | CR | Cream pages minimum |
75 | VFN- | LT, LT/CR | No tan pages or less |
74 | FN/VFN | White | White pages minimum |
73 | FN/VFN | OW, OW/W | |
72 | FN/VFN | CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan/Cream pages/edges |
71 | FN/VFN | LT/CR,CR | Light Tan to Full Cream range only |
70 | FN/VFN | TAN, LT | No brown pages or less |
69 | FN+ | White | White pages minimum |
68 | FN+ | OW, OW/W | |
67 | FN+ | CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan/Cream pages/edges |
66 | FN+ | LT/CR,CR | LTan/Cream to Full Cream range only |
65 | FN+ | TAN, LT | No brown pages or less |
64 | FN | White | White pages minimum |
63 | FN | OW, OW/W | |
62 | FN | CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan/Cream pages/edges |
61 | FN | LT/CR,CR | LTan/Cream to Full Cream range only |
60 | FN | TAN, LT | No brown pages or less |
59 | FN- | White | White pages minmum |
58 | FN- | OW, OW/W | |
57 | FN- | CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan/Cream pages/edges |
56 | FN- | LT/CR,CR | LTan/Cream to Full Cream range only |
55 | FN- | TAN, LT | No brown pages or less |
54 | VG/FN | White | White pages minimum |
53 | VG/FN | OW, OW/W | |
52 | VG/FN | CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan/Cream pages/edges |
51 | VG/FN | LT/CR,CR | LTan/Cream to Full Cream range only |
50 | VG/FN | TAN, LT | No brown pages or less |
49 | VG+ | White | White pages mimimum |
48 | VG+ | OW, OW/W | |
47 | VG+ | CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan/Cream pages/edges |
46 | VG+ | LT/CR,CR | LTan/Cream to Full Cream range only |
45 | VG+ | TAN, LT | No brown pages or less |
44 | VG | White | White pages minimum |
43 | VG | OW, OW/W | |
42 | VG | CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan/Cream pages/edges |
41 | VG | LT, LT/CR,CR | Light Tan to Full Cream range only |
40 | VG | BR,TN | No brittle pages or less |
39 | VG- | White | White pages only |
38 | VG- | OW, OW/W | |
37 | VG- | CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan/Cream pages/edges |
36 | VG- | LT/CR,CR | LTan/Cream to Full Cream range only |
35 | VG- | BR,TN | No brittle pages or less |
34 | GVG | White | White pages minimum |
33 | G/VG | OW, OW/W | |
32 | G/VG | CR, CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan pages/edges |
31 | G/VG | LT/CR | Light Tan to Cream pages range only |
30 | G/VG | BR,TN | No brittle pages or less |
29 | GOOD+ | White | White pages minimum |
28 | GOOD+ | OW, OW/W | |
27 | GOOD+ | CR, CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan pages/edges |
26 | GOOD+ | LT/CR | Light Tan to Cream pages range only |
25 | GOOD+ | BR,TN | No brittle pages or less |
24 | GOOD | White | White pages minimum |
23 | GOOD | OW, OW/W | |
22 | GOOD | CR, CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan pages/edges |
21 | GOOD | LT/CR | Light Tan to Cream pages range only |
20 | GOOD | BRIT, BR, TAN | Brittle pages = no better than Good |
19 | GOOD- | CR to W | Cream to White pages only |
18 | GOOD- | BRIT to TAN | Brittle to Tan pages only |
17 | FAIR/GOOD | OW/W, W | Off White to White and White pgs only |
16 | FAIR/GOOD | CR to OW | Cream to Off White pages only |
15 | FAIR/GOOD | BRIT to TAN | Brittle to Tan pages only |
14 | FAIR+ | White | White pages minimum |
13 | FAIR+ | OW, OW/W | |
12 | FAIR+ | CR, CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan pages/edges |
11 | FAIR+ | LT/CR | Light Tan to Cream pages range only |
10 | FAIR | BRIT to TAN | Brittle to Tan pages only |
9 | POOR+ | White | White pages minimum |
8 | POOR+ | OW, OW/W | |
7 | POOR+ | CR, CR/OW | No Tan/Light Tan pages/edges |
6 | POOR+ | LT/CR | Light Tan to Cream pages range only |
5 | POOR | BRIT to TAN | Brittle to Tan pages only |
4 | NO GRADE | CVRL, CR-W | Coverless, Cream to White pages range |
3 | NO GRADE | CVRL, BRIT-TN | Coverless, Brittle to Tan pages range |
2 | NO GRADE | PWS, NO CVR | Page wraps/most of the comic/no cvr |
1 | NO GRADE | SPW, CVR | Single page wrap or cover only |
For more than a decade, I have been using my own 100Point™ system for Grading which takes into account the page quality of a comic.
Pages are a big thing with me. After all, they constitute the major part of the comic. A comic with White Pages is clearly superior to a comic with Cream or Light Tan pages. I believe that a more accurate hierarchy of grading can be achieved with the 100Point™ system which is crucial when dealing with higher grade key and super-key issues. The difference between a Very Fine Amazing Fantasy #15 with white pages and one with Light Tan (LT) to Cream (CR) pages is, in my opinion, immense.
Once the Structural Integrity of the comic has been arrived at, ignoring the page quality, the comic can be more accurately graded. Considering the front and back covers, the eye-appeal, the spine and (very importantly) the colour of the inside front and back cover and how the pages are attached to the covers should give you the grade in the conventional 10 Point System. Considering the overall quality and colour of the pages gives you that further refinement.
Try an experiment for yourself. Compare any ten 6.0 Fine graded comics. Lay them out in page quality order, lowest to the left across to highest on the right. When I did this I saw a major difference between a 64 (or 6.4) Fine with white pages and a 60 (or 6.0) Fine with tan pages. One is clearly a better comic than the other and yet they are both graded 6.0 in the current system. CGC does a fantastic job in grading and cataloguing but a further distinction taking into consideration page quality would be helpful.
Certain benchmarks should apply for grading consistency. A true 9.8 Near Mint/Mint should only have white pages, not off white or cream. There are a surprisingly large number of 9.8 graded comics out there and a White Page minimum would help to sanctify the rarity of the grade.
It would make sense, again for grading consistency, for page quality to limit overall grade. Brittle pages should allow a comic to grade no better than a GOOD, no matter how great it looks. Brown pages should allow a comic to grade no better than a VG. Tan pages no better than a FN/VFN. I believe that Very Fine is a very sharp grade and tan pages have no place in that realm.
For a comic to achieve a 90 (or 9.0) grade, the pages have to be at least a uniform cream or cream to off white. There should be no light tan or tan colour or edges.
The same should be said of a Near Mint 94 (or 9.4) grade comic. Cream pages are the minimum requirement.
Beyond Near Mint 94, cream pages have no place. The minimum should be off white.
As has already been stated, a true 98 (or 9.8) Near Mint/Mint should have at the very least pure white pages and nothing less.
A Pristine Mint comic that is perfect in every way apart from off white pages is slightly less than a Pristine Mint comic that is perfect in every way with white pages so a 99 and 100 distinction is suggested.
The 100Point™ system is under constant review. I am looking at Extensions to consider the next most important part of the comic- the spine.
Extension | Grade comment |
.1 | Staples mis-aligned |
.2 | Some noticeable front cover wraparound |
.3 | Tiny front cover wraparound |
.4 | Some noticeable back cover wraparound |
.5 | Tiny back cover wraparound |
The perfection and square-cut of a spine is my next big bug-bear. Spine defects such as a rolled spine, loose staples or spine nicks and tears are all part of the overall assessment of the Structural Integrity grade.
There seems to be no consideration for the small degrees of staple mis-alignment or cover wraparound that you seen on many comics.
You might see two 8.0 Very Fine graded comics. One has a perfectly square-cut spine with staples equi-distant and centred. The other 8.0 may have a tiny amount of cover warparound, a white line showing on the left side of the cover.
Of the two Very Fine issues, the one without “white spine” showing is more desirable, even though that was how each comic was produced at the time.
Without getting ridiculous or unmanageable, I believe this system of page quality refinement and extensions gives the collector a lot more shorthand information.
A 44.2 comic is a Very Good with White Pages with some noticeable front cover wraparound. A slightly better comic is a 44.5 which is a Very Good with white pages and (less intrusive) tiny back cover wraparound.
In the current system, a Very Good 4.0 could have Tan Pages and a significant amount of front cover wraparound or White Pages and a perfectly square-cut spine.
It might not matter to some, but it matters to me.