NEW SEPTEMBER 2015

"DAN'S VINTAGE GIJOE GRADING SCALE #1 FOR PAINTED HAIR FIGURES"

Each item graded must stand on it's own, regardless of what is previously considered normal, usual, common hobby thinking or even how items were made in the 1960's and 1970's. The grade any item gets is simply adding up all of the details of any particular piece. ANY item must meet ALL of the criteria for each grade listed below. For the present there will be no use of middle grades. The lack of a knowledge base in the hobby has always made GIJoe a very difficult hobby to pursue. These grading scales are an attempt at reducing the amount of confusion in the vintage GIJoe hobby. Having specific condition grades will make it easier for everyone to put a value on their collectables and hopefully allow collectors to enjoy the hobby more.

C10 MINT CONDITION:
Overall slick and shiny appearance of whole figure; perfect hair and eyebrow paint with crisp clean lines on the edges; very shiny hair paint on Patent Pending figures and/or even matte hair paint on Patent Number figures; perfectly painted rivets or perfectly unscratched brass rivets that are either shiny brass or evenly patinated; NO cracks, splits, chips, scratches or scuffs on any body parts; all plastic body parts should match each other perfectly; Elastic is factory tight and figure can stand straight up on it's own; all elbow, hip and knee joints are tight and can be posed at any position; all arm, hip, neck and torso sockets should be free from rust, including the metal connectors inside; All body parts inside sockets are shiny and smooth.

C9 NEAR MINT CONDITION:
Overall slick and shiny appearance of whole figure; almost perfect hair and eyebrow paint with crisp clean lines on the edges with one or 2 very small imperfections; very shiny hair paint on Patent Pending figures and/or even matte hair paint on Patent Number figures; almost perfectly painted rivets or perfectly unscratched brass rivets that are either shiny brass or evenly patinated with 1 or 2 very small imperfections; no cracks, splits, chips, scratches or scuffs on any body parts but may have the beginning or a small knee, thigh, shoulder or hip crack or split; all plastic body parts should match each other perfectly; Elastic is tight and figure can stand straight up on it's own but figure has been posed before and not super tight; all elbow, hip and knee joints are tight and can be posed at any position; all arm, hip, neck and torso sockets should be free from rust, including the metal connectors inside; All body parts inside sockets are shiny and smooth.

C8 EXCELLENT CONDITION:
Overall smooth appearance of whole figure; nearly perfect hair and eyebrow paint with crisp clean lines on the edges with 2 or 3 small scuffs; very shiny hair paint on Patent Pending figures and/or even matte hair paint on Patent Number figures; nicely painted rivets or brass rivets that are either shiny brass or evenly patinated with a few scuffs; minor cracks, splits, chips and a couple of scratches or scuffs on body parts and may have the beginnings of a few small knee, thigh, shoulder or hip crack or split but no repairs of any kind; all plastic body parts should match each other nicely; Elastic is still good and figure can stand straight up on it's own; all elbow, hip and knee joints are good and can be posed at any position; all arm, hip, neck and torso sockets should be free from rust, including the metal connectors inside; All body parts inside sockets show that the figure has been slightly played with and may exhibit some scuffing.

C7 GOOD CONDITION:
Overall smooth appearance but more general play wear; a small amount of hair and eyebrow paint has rubbed off, a few rivets have lost their paint, a few joints are cracking and/or splitting, all body parts match but are scuffed from being handled, elastic is still good so the body still stands on it's own, a very small amount of rust might be present in the hip and shoulder sockets

LOW GRADE FAIR CONDITION:
Completely played with; very little value except as a collection filler, anything lower grade condition than C7 is not gradable!

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NEW SEPTEMBER 2015