CGC Grading Scale

CGC uses a highly accurate, industry standard 10-point grading scale to evaluate comic books, magazines, concert posters and lobby cards. Additional scales are used to define Page Quality and Restoration Grading.

Standard | Page Quality | Restoration

Page Quality Scale

White	Paper that appears the same or very near the same as the day it was printed. Only the slightest traces of aging are allowed to a small area, such as the corner. Most comic books printed after 1990 exhibit white pages due to the discontinued use of pulp paper in printing comic books at that time. Only a white page designation is allowed in the 10.0 grade.
Off-White to White	Paper that is still white, but exhibits very slight aging to the outer edges. A significant number of comic books from the mid ‘70s to late ‘80s exhibit this page quality. This designation is the lowest allowed in the 9.9 grade.
Off-White	Paper that exhibits very light aging through the middle of each page, or white pages that exhibit light aging to the outer edges. With rare exception, comic books considered for the grade of 9.8 or better must achieve at least an off-white page designation.
Cream to Off-White	Paper that appears white or off-white in the middle with aged outer edges, or exhibits an overall aged color that is more close to brown than white. This page quality is most prevalent in comic books from the ‘30s, 40’s and ‘50s, but also includes a significant number of Silver Age comic books as well.
Cream	Rarely given, this designation is for pages that are a uniform cream in color from the edges to the middle of each page. Early Silver Age DC’s tend to exhibit cream pages more often than other comics from the same time period.
Light Tan to Off-White	Paper that still appears off-white in the middle of each page, but the edges have developed a tanned appearance considerably darker than cream to off-white. This type of page quality is common among file copies, particularly from Dell and Harvey. A comic book cannot achieve a grade higher than 8.5 with this page quality. Light Tan to Cream
Light Tan to Cream	Similar to light tan to off-white, but the center of each page exhibits a cream color, while the edges are darker.
Light Tan	Like cream pages, this category is for interior pages that exhibit a uniform color edges to middle, but are slightly darker than cream.
Tan to Off-White	Similar to light tan to off-white pages, but the edges of the pages are darker. The best grade a comic book can achieve with this page quality is 7.5.
Tan to Cream	The same as tan to off-white, but the center of the pages are darker.
Tan	Dark colored pages that exhibit a uniform tint from edges to middle.
Dark Tan to Off-White	Pages that are very dark on the edges, but still retain off-white color in the middle.
Dark Tan	Pages that exhibit a very dark, uniform tint from edges to middle, but show no signs of brittleness.
Brown to Off-White	Extremely dark pages that still exhibit off-white color in the middle, and yet do not show signs of brittleness.
Brown to Tan	Extremely dark pages with a slightly less dark tint to the middle of each page.
Brown	Pages that exhibit a uniform color of extreme darkness edges to middle, but do not show signs of brittleness.
Brown / Brittle	Pages that are uniformly extremely dark, but are beginning to show slight signs of brittleness, such as corner chipping or edge tears that have formed from handling.

Brittle Designation

Slightly Brittle

This grade refers more to the structural integrity of the interior paper than its color. Slightly brittle pages exhibit slight splitting to top and bottom spine of interior pages or minor chipping to the corners. Both slightly brittle and brittle pages may not necessarily appear brown or tan in color, particularly if the brittleness is relegated to only one edge or corner of a comic book. The highest grade achievable with a slightly brittle page designation is 6.5.

Brittle

This page designation refers strictly to the compromised structural integrity of the interior paper, which exhibits either heavy multiple spine splits, corner and edge chipping, or both. In some cases pages can appear off-white or white, but suffer from an isolated area of brittleness along the spine that has caused heavy splitting. Brittle pages are sometimes impossible to restore because of their fragile nature. The highest grade allowed for brittle interior pages is 3.5.

Pink and Blue Pages

Pink	This page designation is given to a small number of Golden Age comic books that were printed with pink tinted paper, particularly late ‘40s comics published by Fox. Pink is essentially equal to white in this instance.
Cream to Pink	These pages exhibit the same aging as cream to off-white, showing tanning along the edges with a clean pink tint in the middle. Ascertaining the page quality of pink pages is more difficult due to the lack of contrast between the color pink and brown, as compared to white and brown.
Tan to Pink	This designation is similar to cream to pink pages, but the edges are considerably darker.
Blue	Similar to pink pages, this grade is given in those rare instances when comic books were printed on blue tinted paper. Fox publications also occasionally used blue paper when printing their comic books in the late ‘40s.