OK, so I sent my Luke FB Revenge Proof off to AFA along with Leia Bespin for my first grading experience.
I wanted to safeguard these and give AFA a whirl.

I got them back today and both graded 85. I was happy about Leia but thought Luke would have got a 90. He is in visibly better shape than Leia but yet graded the same.

I spent the extra $5 to have the report sent and Luke only had 1 imperfection, a tiny ding to the card.
It was graded lower becuase of marks on the card.
These marks, however, are printing marks. Not pen, marker, ink, water, sticky... there are part of the manufacturing process. Tiny imperfections from the printer itself.

I would never have thought that they would be taken into consideration. They are tiny but there are a few of them.

Do you agree that these should be taken into consideration?

Here is a scan of my card before it was entombed and I circled the areas in green.



I would agree if it was ink drips from a sloppy, unclean printer or roller marks or other physical imperfections, but I don't know.

Thoughts?

cheers!

As far as I know they don't hand out 90s easily. Any flaw, factory made or otherwise should be considered IMO.

I guess to be fair to AFA; they take a base "snap shot" of what the front and back of the item should look like.  So they grade your proof, MOC or whatever else to that base "snap shot".  So if there are any printing errors this will affect the overall grade.  Most likely a lesser hit but a hit never the less.  

When dealing with prototypes, you can't get too hung up on the grade.  Due to limited run on prototypes, a grade doesn't matter much.  Just be thankful you have an example in your collection regardless if it's a 1 know example, 5 known examples, 50 known examples and so on.

Sure one can say; “you could get pickier on a grade for Revenge proofs since it's the most common proof.”  I kind laugh at that perception in the collector community.  There are estimated 50 known examples for each character in the Revenge common proof run.  A known fact is that many characters within the Revenge common proof run are far less than that amount.  It's hard to nail down the exact number on Revenge proofs.  But my point here is a Revenge common proof Luke is far scarcer than a production VC Jawa MOC any way you look at it.  That's one example of the skewed perceptions out there and there are many more.

In the end, enjoy your Revenge Luke proof because it looks fantastic.  A wise note to all collectors new and old… Don’t worry about the grade, just be happy with the preproduction item.

I dont know much but id like to think if AFA can find a sample without a specific blemish that means a blemish is an imperfection. Factory Blemish or not, if they made one without that blemish, it should be graded less. If every sample has that imperfection then it should be considered standard. Yes? No?

Minor defects or not, that is still a fine example.

Thanks for the input guys.

I want to reiterate... I love my proofs!  
 
I was just shocked that those types of marks weighed in and even so heavily.

When you look at the Luke and Leia Bespin ones side by side, anyone would say the Luke looks better but yet they graded the same. I fully expected Leia to grade 5 -10 lower than Luke, but that wasn't the case. That's what I really found weird. It is what it is and I am fine with that.

Regardless, I am very happy with a pair of 85 Revenge Proofs!  

OH... I thought the cases were completely sealed up. If you push in (gently) on the back, near the bottom, the case back isn't sealed to the bottom. It can't get out, but I thought these things were air-tight.
Anyway.......

thanks again!

Yeah not air tight. Maybe the Leia was a 'low' 85 & Luke a 'high' 85  

Jay, 85's are fantastic. Congratulations on a couple of really nice examples. 90's just are not handed out very much with proofs. There is always something to be picky about. I am sure they display awesome!

Don

hender62 wrote:

Jay, 85's are fantastic. Congratulations on a couple of really nice examples. 90's just are not handed out very much with proofs. There is always something to be picky about. I am sure they display awesome!

Don

Oh yeah they are great! Thanks and it is a nod to you too! Nice stuff man!

cheers!