THE 100 POINT SYSTEM

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.