Re: [MOPO] Am I Crazy

[JR]

I personally prefer grading systems that use numbers like "7 out of 10" because all of these adjectives... good... very good... fine... mint... near this or near that... have different meanings to different people.   We all know that in movie poster collecting these days that "very good" can mean just about anything, from "man, this poster is in great condition" to "folded badly by Freddy Kruger..." Grading on a scale of 1 to 10 (or C1 to C10 if you want to emulate comic-book grading), isn't perfect, but it does seem to add a bit more impartiality to the process. But most sellers still cling to the adjectives.   Personally, I have never liked seeing of the word "mint" used in descriptions of anything except food.   Mint originally comes from coin collecting (I think, or perhaps stamp collecting?), where coins are actually "minted" at the U.S. Mint. A coin which is never put into circulation but purchased by the collector directly from the Mint was termed in "mint" condition (meaning it was never out there bumping around in the real world in people's pockets, not even for a few minutes).   Now the term is applied to all kinds of collectibles and for practical purposes means "in like-new condition" because there are very few collectibles around whereby you can truly know they came straight from the source without going through some handling and use, even if minor -- so almost all collectibles have been in circulation at least a little bit, at one time or another.   But I suppose "mint" will always have that cachet.. that allure... that je ne sai quois which entices some bidders to pony up for a big premium. It also goes good on roast lamb.   -- JR (send PayPal donations to the MOPO fund pool using this address: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) ----- Original Message ----- From: William A Brent To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2005 20:26 Subject: Re: [MOPO] Am I Crazy try buying records from people who don't have turntables and grade vinyl as mint if it only have a few noticeable scratches.  Or pre-recorded open reel tapes, again from people who can't play them - but tell you they look nice - at lease with posters a good description can clear up the grading problem - unless the seller can't actually see the poster and is grading it by smell. At 08:42 PM 9/10/2005, you wrote: > >I think they meant "near-mint plus" rather than not merely > >mint but nearly mint plus.  But even near mint (with or without > >a plus) shouldn't include tears, should it?          Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com    ___________________________________________________________________               How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List        Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]             In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L     The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.