What is 'CGC' or the 'Certified Guaranty Company'?

What is 'CGC' or the 'Certified Guaranty Company'?

Mark Zaid (Owner of Esquire Comics) gives expert video advice on: What does a comic book certification company do?; What are the pros and cons of comic book certification? and more...

CGC is an independent grading company that was created in 1999. You will submit your comic books to them and they will assess a grade, in this case an 8.5 out of 10, for Blue Ribbon #1 from 1939. They will assess as to whether or not the comic book has any restoration on it and that it is a very significant factor with respect to grading. And if it is encased in a type of plastic that is protective, it obviously still can be impacted by light, but it is helpful for storage. Obviously, the downside is you cannot read the comic book inside. But for the most part, at least with respect to the books I deal with, these are books of intense value and I don't want to be handling these particular comic books, and I want to have them ensured so that I know there is no restoration that I wasn't able to detect. Indeed there are experts down at CGC that have looked at thousands and thousands of comic books over the years to be able to know exactly what this defect means or what that type of colour touch might mean on a particular comic book.