Condition grading explained, catalog by catalog

Condition is the field most often filled in wrongly, and the one that changes what a copy is worth more than any other. Almost nobody overgrades on purpose. People grade the copy they remember buying rather than the one on the shelf, or they bring a scale across from another hobby, or they round up because the flaw feels minor.

The scales here are not invented. Each catalog offers the one its own trade already uses, because a book dealer says "Near fine", a comic collector says "Very fine", and someone selling an amplifier says "For parts". All three are right in their own room, and a collector should not have to translate into a house scale nobody uses out loud.

The scale in each catalog

Best grade first, in the exact words the form offers.

What the ends of a scale mean

The top grade claims the object is as it left the bindery or the factory. **As new** on a book means it looks unread and unshelved, with no bumped corners and no sunning along the spine. Mint means the same thing elsewhere, and it is much rarer than it gets used: a disc played once is not mint.

The bottom grade still means complete. Poor is a copy that has been badly used — shaken binding, tape, water staining, tears, writing — and is worth having for the content, or because nothing better exists. It is not a polite word for broken.

Gear ends somewhere different. For parts says the thing does not work and is worth buying only to repair it or strip it. That is a real grade, and better used than avoided.

Where the scales disagree

Watch Fine. On the books scale Fine sits near the top, one step under As new: a copy with no real faults. On the comics scale Fine sits in the middle, below Mint, Near mint and Very fine: an issue with obvious wear that still presents well. Calling a book Fine says it is excellent. Calling a comic Fine says it is average. Same word, four steps apart, and it is the trap people fall into most.

Very good is the other one. In both book and comic usage it means real, visible wear, well below where the plain English of the phrase lands. In a dealer's catalogue, very good is not a compliment.

So read the list in the catalog you are in, not the one you learned elsewhere.

Completeness is a separate field for games

For a boxed game, condition and completeness are two different questions, so video games asks them separately. Completeness is Sealed, Complete in box, Game and box, or Loose. A loose cartridge in mint condition and a complete-in-box copy with a scuffed sleeve are not the same object to a buyer, and collectors look at completeness first. See catalog your video game collection.

Grading honestly

Grade the copy in front of you. Take it off the shelf and look at it under good light, including the parts you never look at: the bottom edge, the back board, the inside of the case.

Grade down when you are unsure. Between two grades, pick the lower one. A buyer who expected Very good and unwrapped something better is pleased; the other way round is a dispute.

Put the specifics in the notes rather than fudging the grade. A cracked case, a price-clipped jacket, a previous owner's signature, a missing manual, a ring mark on a cabinet top — all of that belongs in the notes on your copy. Notes with detail in them make a grade believable. A grade nudged up one step to cover a flaw does the opposite.

Grade the whole object, packaging included, and do not forgive a flaw because every copy has it. If every copy of a poster has pin holes, every copy is graded with the pin holes.

Condition lives on your copy

Condition is never part of the shared catalog entry. The entry describes the object as it was published, and everyone who owns one edits the same entry. See editions and pressings.

Your copy sits underneath it and holds what is true of yours alone: how many you have, condition, notes, where it is, what you paid and when you got it. The last three are yours only, whatever a list's privacy setting says.

If you list a copy for sale, the listing reads the condition straight off the copy, so fixing the grade on your copy fixes the listing. And if the difference you are describing was issued that way — a variant cover, a second pressing, a signed run — it is not condition at all. See variants and limited editions.