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Whipples Simplified Comic Grading Guide

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  • Mr.Grimm | Male | 57 years old | British Columbia, Canada

March 2024

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Here is Overstreets Number of defects per grade Graph

 



Whipples Simplified Comic Grading


This is simplest way to educate yourself on grading your comics. Best and easiest Grading guide for alot of people in this industry

**One tiny flaw = 0.1 grade deduction


Interior Pages___________(Refer to OWL Card for page whitness)

Paper Whitness..(interior pages)...................Max. Grade

White, Like New..............................................10.0 (Gem Mint)

Off-White to White..........................................9.6 (Near Mint Plus)

Off-white........................................................9.4 (Near Mint)

Off-White to Cream, or slightly yellow..........9.2 (Near Mint Minus)

Cream..............................................................9.0 (Very Fine to Near Mint)

Cream to Tan.....................................................8.0 (Very Fine)

Tan...................................................................7.0 (Fine to Very Fine)

Tan to Brown......................................................6.0 (Fine)

Brown................................................................5.0 (Very Good to Fine)

Brown with Brittle edges......................................1.0 (Fair

Brown Brittle.......................................................0.5 (Poor)

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tears..(interior pages).........................................................Max. Grade

None......................................................................................10.0

Small tear 1/4" or less...............................................................9.4

Moderate 1/2" or less................................................................9.0

Moderate to Large Tears 1" or less...............................................6.0

Large Tears 2" or less.................................................................2.0

Extensive tears..........................................................................1.0 

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stamps/Writing..(Interior pages).........................Max. Grade

None.................................................................................................10.0

Small Date Stamp or Initials...........................................................9.4

Large Stamps/Initials.....................................................................8.0

Minor writing or scrawling on one page.......................................4.0

Extensive writing............................................................................2.0

If Extensive writing compramises readability...............................0.5

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Cut outs/Missing Coupons (Interior pages).....Max. Grade

1/8th of page or 12.5% of Page..............................................2.0

Large coupon.............................................................................1.0

More than doll size/multiple cut-outs.....................................0.5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

General Grading:

Printing Quality..(Production Flaws)................................Max. Grade

Perfect...............................................................................10.0

Very minor defects (no tears)..............................................9.6

Small Printing defects up to 1/8" tears..................................9.4

Small to Moderate defects 3/16"...........................................9.0

Moderste printing defects 1/4"..............................................8.0

Moderate to Major defects.....................................................4.0

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Corners..(Cover).........................................................Max. Grade

Perfect Square...........................................................................10.0

Ever so slight blunting permitted..................................................9.6 

Minor blunting permitted...............................................................9.4

Small Blunting..............................................................................8.0

Small/moderate blunting...............................................................7.0

Blunting.......................................................................................6.0

Rounded......................................................................................2.0

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Surface Wear..(Cover)..............................................Max. Grade

none.........................................................................................10.0

MinimaL....................................................................................8.0

minor........................................................................................6.0

Moderate(possibly loose).............................................................4.0

Extensive (cover maybe detached)................................................2.0

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gloss..(Cover)............................................................................Max. Grade

High.......................................................................................................10.0

Very Good..............................................................................................8.0

Moderate...............................................................................................6.0

Low..........................................................................................................4.0

No Gloss.................................................................................................2.0     

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Staple Tears (not cover tears or interior tears)......Max. Grade

none............................................................................................10.0

Minor 1/8" or less........................................................................8.0

1/4" or less..................................................................................6.0

1/2" or less...................................................................................4.0

1" or less.........................................................................................2.0

2" or less............................................................................................1.0

Extensive Tears................................................................................0.5

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stamp / Writing (cover)..................................................Max. Grade

none....................................................................................................10.0

Nearly unnoticable date stamp or initials........................................9.4

Small date stamp or initials.............................................................8.0

Large Stamps or Initials...................................................................6.0

Extensive Writing...............................................................................2.0

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soiling (cover).......................................................................Max. Grade

none.....................................................................................................10.0

Minor Foxing........................................................................................9.4

Minor Staining Foxing..........................................................................6.0

Slight Soiling/Staining/Discoloration..................................................4.0

Moderate fading/discoloration/soiling...........................................2.0

Significant Fading/discoloration/soiling.........................................1.0

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tape (cover)............................................................................Max. Grade

none.....................................................................................................10.0

Small 1/2" total or less....................................................................4.0

Less than 2" in total some yellowing...............................................2.0

Extensive tape and very discolored.................................................0.5

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bends..(On Spine)....................................................................Max. Grade

none......................................................................................................10.0

1/16" or less with no color break........................................................9.4

Very Small 1/4" or less........................................................................8.0

1/2" or less with possible color breaks................................................6.0

2" or less with color breaks..................................................................4.0

Large creases and bends.....................................................................2.0

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Creases (Cover).............................................................................Max. Grade

1/16" max................................................................................................. 9.6

1/4" max....................................................................................................9.4

3/8" max...................................................................................................9.2

1/2" max....................................................................................................9.0

1" max.........................................................................................................8.0

1-1/2"max..................................................................................................7.5

2" max........................................................................................................7.0

6" max........................................................................................................6.5

 

Tears (cover tears).........................................................................Max. Grade

1/4"..............................................................................................................9.2

1/2"..............................................................................................................8.5

3/4".............................................................................................................8.0

1".................................................................................................................7.0

1-1/4"..........................................................................................................6.5

1-1/2"..........................................................................................................6.0

2"..................................................................................................................5.0 

2-1/2"..........................................................................................................4.5

3"..................................................................................................................4.0

3-1/2"..........................................................................................................3.5

4"..................................................................................................................3.0

 

Stains & Moisture...................................................................Max. Grade

none..........................................................................................................10.0

1/16" by 1/16" or less............................................................................9.2

1/4" by 1/4" or less................................................................................9.0

3/8" by 3/8" or less...............................................................................8.0

1" by 1"or less...........................................................................................7.5 

1-3/8" by 1-3/8" or less........................................................................7.0

1-3/4" by 1-3/4" or less........................................................................6.5

2-1/2" by 2-1/2" or l;ess.......................................................................6.0

3-1/4" by3-1/4" or less.........................................................................5.5

1/4 (25%) of page on one side (front or back)...................................5.0

1/3 (33%) of pages on one side...........................................................4.5

Half of one page (front or back)...........................................................4.0 

2/3 (66%) of page on one side.............................................................3.5

Full Front or Back cover.........................................................................3.0

Full front page with Extra water damage on otherside........................2.0 

 

Edge Wear.....................................................................................Max. Grade

Very light.....................................................................................................9.2

Light.............................................................................................................8.0

Light-Moderate............................................................................................7.0

Moderate.....................................................................................................6.0

Moderate-Hevey........................................................................................4.0

Hevey............................................................................................................2.0

 

Spine Roll...........................................................................................Max. Grade

none.............................................................................................................10.0

Nearly Flat....................................................................................................8.0 

Mild................................................................................................................6.0

Moderate.......................................................................................................4.0

Severe...........................................................................................................2.0

 

Staples..........................................................................................Max. Grade    

Original  and perfect.............................................................................10.0

Original staples, well centered, with slightly tarnished........................9.4

Original Staples disscoloured, replaced staple.......................................6.0

Damage, rusted or replaced staples.......................................................3.0

Missing one or more staples...................................................................1.0

 

***In some rare cases, a comic may not have been stapled at the bindery and therefore has a missing staple; this is not considered a defect. Any staple can be replaced on books up to Fine, but only vintage staples can be used on books from Very Fine to Near Mint. Mint books MUST have original staples***

 

Splits................................................................Max. Grade

none.........................................................................10.0

Minor Color break......................................................8.0

color break up to 1/4" split.......................................6.0

Color break up to 1" split.........................................4.0

Color break up to 2" split........................................2.0

Cover split..............................................................1.0

Completely Split....................................................0.5

 

Max....Allowable defects per Grade....imperfection = - 0.1

Grade:..........Max. # of Defect(s)

Gem Mint (10.0)...................0

M.T (9.9)...............................1 

N.M/M.T (9.8).....................2  

N.M+ (9.6)............................4

N.M. (9.4).............................6

N.M- (9.2)............................8

V.F/N.M (9.0)......................10

V.F+ (8.5)..............................15

V.F (8.0)................................20

V.F- (7.5)...............................25

F/V.F (7.0)............................30

F (6.0)....................................40

V.G/F (5.0)............................50

V.G (4.0).................................60

GD/V.G (3.0).........................70

GD (2.0)..................................80

GD- (1.8).................................82

FA/GD (1.5)...........................85

FA (1.0)...................................90


**One small flaw = 0.1 grade deduction

  • Jul 6, '15 by Mr.Grimm's avatar Mr.Grimm
  • I am not going to trying to accommidate this useless text/word program....Good luck with the editing
  • Jul 6, '15 by Mr.Grimm's avatar Mr.Grimm
  • I will no longer er do any blogs...piece of shit software
  • May 30, '16 by brucifer's avatar brucifer
  • Important stuff to know, thanks. I know I wouldn't read the whole book as I still find one guys 8.0 is another guys 7.5. Not much difference between 9.4 and 9.9 to most people (except ridiculous prices!). Good to see another Canadian here.
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