Comics Grading....Need Some Opinions

[Gangleri]

First a little backstory....


Have various DC and Marvel titles purchased in the 1970's (@ the time of publication) from a local News Agency. At the time this stand and local drug stores were my only source for monthly comics.

The owner (a elderly lady) for whatever reason stamped every publication (Even newspapers) that came into the store.
(Paper bags were hardly ever given out. They must have been made of gold...but she loved to tie up purchases in string - No Kidding ).

Alot of my comics from that time have a black ink stamp with the store name and address some where on the back cover (most times on the upper right corner near the spine).

She never stamped the front cover, but always found a open space (back cover) on whatever ad was running at the time (this was before wrap - around covers).

Don't get me wrong ... I have a lot of great memories of the News Agency (I might not have discovered some of the great stuff published back then) but does the "stamp" mean my "memories" have more value than my books??
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How much does a "stamp" affect the grade of a comic??
Does it drop one or two grades?

Would some collectors see "value" in knowing the "history" of a otherwise collectable issue??

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Thanks in advance for giving me some much needed advice/opinions.

[cma3]

if i were truly curious about this, I'd get one professionally graded by the CGC, for example and see the results of this on a NM+ comic (assuming you have one).

IMO a stamp of any kind will severely degrade the book.

[Underdog07]

Back cover is better then front cover, but it will definitely affect the grade.

CMA3 has a good idea - or even just call/email CGC and ask, they may be able to give you an answer on the spot.

[patman]

i think it will severely degrade the comics. if your collection is that extensive, how about passing it off as a pedigree?

[galactus]

Unless you're talking about truly mint books (lets assume 9.8 and above), a stamp on the back of a book from the original retailer shouldn't really affect the grade. If it was some kid stamping the book with something, then it would be worse. But as you pointed out, stamping arrival dates or store names on books was much more common back then and isn't considered as such a horrible thing.

[RichBamf]

Personally I think that it might bring it down a grade point.

So if it was a 9.8 you were submitting, it'd go down to a 9.6, and so on.

[Teague]

Originally Posted by RichBamf

Personally I think that it might bring it down a grade point.

So if it was a 9.8 you were submitting, it'd go down to a 9.6, and so on.

This was my guess too. It will defintely affect it somewhat, but given that it was on the back cover, and in a "blank space" of some sort, it's not a huge deal.

[heirtoasguard]

in my Overstreet #35 is says "stamped or inked arrival dates are acceptable as long as they are in
an unobstrusive location." THAT is for 9.9 MINT (MT)
of course everything is near perect in every way.