I don't think glue or touch up would be "acceptable" on any big collectible, but through ignorance or malice it happens anyway and hopefully the grading companies catch it when it does. That $350k Jordan card that recently sold had a trimmed edge, but it was still graded, noted, and hella valuable. When you want the thing, you want the thing.

Does Wata need it's own Restored Label line with a different color label?  

Glue mottling, which is commonplace on essentially every NWC and characteristic of most cartridges, is very, very, very different from gluing the end label down with post-market glue. Further, it has vastly different characteristics than aftermarket glue and can be properly identified as such.

If one is assessing condition an unlicensed Myriad 6 in 1 the same way he/she is grading a licensed NES game, then something may be flawed in that assessment. A similar comparison is applying the same principles of grading and assessing condition on a comic book from the 1940's as you would for a comic book from the 2010's.

When the NWC cartridge is compared to a regular NES cartridge's condition or grading, it is an imperfect comparison. That is the key to understanding how grades are applied -- if every sealed game were treated as a piece of cardboard wrapped in shrinkwrap or cellophane, just as if every coin were simply treated as a piece of metal, every card as a small piece of cardstock paper, or every comic as a miniature booklet, then grading could be a simple science accomplished by computers. The practices used to manufacture the NWC cartridges were not those that were used for your standard NES cartridge. Wear and usage that cause damage, which may not be differentiable to those viewing a photo of an item, are treated differently on an assesment of condition than an uncontrolable condition surrounding the circumstances in which something was manufactured, and/or for the state in which an item may come 'off the press.'

The images provided on this particular item do not demonstrate any of the damage/aftermarket glue that is being discussed in this thread.

Prototypes don’t receive a number grade, just a “PRO” label, which makes perfect sense, given some of them were cut into, no label, etc. A bunch came without an exterior cart, in fact. Hard to grade that!

And just to reassure you all touching up is punished, my Donkey Kong box got hammered for a prior owner touching up the white “creases” with black marker. As it should have. So they’re watching.

A little sandpaper can easily remove that ugly magic marker ! 
 

Too late lol. 

Thanks, good to know for next time, though! I was fully informed and aware of the issue, I just didn’t know what to do, so this helps! 

 

I was wondering about that.    

So, in this case, was the grade higher, lower or the same before the aftermarket glue?   

I.e. as an example let's say someone brings in a NWC that looks like a 7.5 but has a loose end label so it would get a 6.5.

Owner glues down that loose end label and sends it in.

Does it get 7.5 (apparent grade), 6.5 (grade it was before with no penalty), or 5.5 (grade it was before with penalty)?

 

what's the general stance on restoration then?

No "colored" labels right? Just penalties for poor restoration? Or something else?

I would look at it on a case-by-case basis instead of an automatic penalty (if that's what's being applied to begin with)

If modifications are irreversible, and are in some way damaging then I think they should be considered a penalizing factor (e.g. applying glue or ink that can eventually, years or maybe even decades down the line can cause deterioration where there normally wouldn't have been)

If modifications are reversible, then I think things should be given a grade as if the modifications weren't there to begin with.

If modifications are not reversible, but wouldn't make sense to reverse (e.g. odor, stickers, glue residue, scratches, yellowing) then as long as actual damage wasn't sustained (e.g. retrobrighting) then I think they should be given a standard grade. For example, would it be considered a mod if I brushed some dust off? no, then why should a sticker.

I'm sure they've put thought into it. Just hard to follow how what the conclusion is by the information currently available.

So having sent in probably 20 CiB or so games with grades now, I can comfortably say that finding a 9.2 box is INCREDIBLY difficult, and finding manuals above a 9 is also very hard. It’s a very harsh grading standard, imo, but it also
seems to be consistent. 

If you really wanna get a 9.0 or above, it’s probably gonna take something like a completely unused game or spending time and effort to Frankenstein stuff.

 

Well, it has to be that way.    If a used game is a 10, what's an unused game?  A 12?   Perfection should be perfect.

If you took sections of.3 comic books and mashed them up into 1 then had a limited run of 100 given away at comic con it would be considered a rare comic book. 
 

Not saying a used game should be a 10, but stuff most collectors would say would rate a 9 is coming up 7.5 because WATA is taking these are examining them at a level most collectors never will. 

My point is that when someone says “Oh, I saw an item sell that would easily be a 9,” he/she is probably not understanding the level of scrutiny these (appropriately) receive.

 

Second rounds of Signtures start this week btw! I believe Friday. They end May 16-18.

yeah, this should be a really interesting set of auctions

Well, in general, you don't ever "see an item sell that would easily be a 9" until you hold it in hand.  It's no different than VGA scrutiny.  Most "MINT" sealed games sold on eBay are probably in the 80 to 85 range, especially when coming from non-collectors.  So unfortunately when buying Mint ungraded you have to expect somewhere in the VGA 85 range and maybe Wata 9.0-9.2 range or you'll inevitably be disappointed almost every time. 

Good point

The only thing I'm a little on the fence about with the CIBs is how the main numerical grade is determined.  The WATA 7.0 SMB sticker seal CIB on HA is an example of this.  The box is graded 5.5, but the manual is 9.4 and the cart is 8.0 and brings up the overall grade to 7.0.  The obvious problem with this is the box is the main attraction here.  I realize the cart and manual need to be graded too but when the value is almost entirely in the box, shouldn't the box be the main numerical grade and the manual and cart grades just be noted?  I have a few CIBs I want to send in but now I feel the need to find the nicest carts and manuals to go along with the box to bring the grade up as much as possible, as opposed to just keeping the original components together.  
 

It's a weighted average of 50% box, 30% game, 20% manual and I'm sure too much work has gone into that ratio to change it now. I don't see a problem with piecing together better manuals and carts to get a better grade. The only way to for sure know it hasn't been pieced together is if you opened it yourself. It's same as back swaps. People don't like the idea of back swaps because it's no longer the original artifact of a cartridge, but ultimately if it's an identical match for the original piece you can't tell, so there's not much anyone can do about it.

IMO, if the theoretically "matched" part that shipped with the original game matters that much to you, NIB games is the only way to be happy.

I get both sides as I expressed similiar opinions in the past.  The problem is that they need to have as much transparancy and uniformity as possible, so they need a one-size-fits all type of weighting convention.  Which works great most of the time... but then extreme outliers throw it off entirely.  Early hangtab boxes are the perfect example, since the box can make up 90% (more?) of the value of a CIB when the box is pristine.   DK Math was one of the most famous examples even back when it was $2k+ Mint and still below $100 as a cart or even with manual.  

Like you illustrated, DK Math, (also Sqoon, Chubby Cherub, and FFF: Athletic World) are nearly completely valued on the box. So grading the box with the lions share is fair for them.

But how do you grade something like Sculptors Cut? The manual is the real meat and potatoes of the game. The box is nice and so is the cart...but if there's a ripped to shreds manual in there then I don't really care what grade the box and cart have...

One size fits all is not reasonable.

Well if the manual is all you want you can see the grade right on it. There's really no other way to do it that makes more sense than what is being done now imo. You can't start changing it up for certain items and not others, with the exception of protos and autographs, if and when that happens.

For what it's the worth, the grade on the smb box in HA is very hard to see why it hit a 5.5. It had some tearing at the top where the hangtab goes into the top flap like you see so often on hangtab games. Otherwise it is super super nice. Same goes for the donkey Kong Gloss listed. Wata grades heavy on tears like this. The Zelda TM box up got a 7.0 - I was confident it'd get an 8.0 but must have missed something.

Hell, even mint sealed *from collectors* are going to be VGA 80-85 95% of the time. Playing the raw --> graded game can be exhausting.

I’ve found with WATA, sealed games are hitting the scale basically exactly where I thought stuff would end up. I personally prefer the scale better than VGA, too.