Mondo Poster News & Rumors

[35mmpaul]

soon people wont frame mondos any more and just slab them. and it'll take a year to get them back from CGC.

[wonkabars7]

CGC grades Mondos?

no

[papaver]

CGC grades Mondos? Today I learned. Do they put them in a case??

heritage is grading them if they are putting a 9.8 next to the condition. smartest thing CGC ever did. money from nothing. don't read it. don't look at it. don't touch it.

[ygolohcysp]

I would slab the drymount out of some prints if that was a thing. Then you frame the slabs!

[papaver]

lets start this up! PCG!!! send in the poster, we'll grade it, put it in a huge slab, and send it back. then you can either hang it or stick it in the closet with the rest of your CGC graded comics and cards! hell yes!

[wonkabars7]

CGC grades Mondos? Today I learned. Do they put them in a case??

heritage is grading them if they are putting a 9.8 next to the condition. smartest thing CGC ever did. money from nothing. don't read it. don't look at it. don't touch it.

HA 'grading' is a complete joke at best. Have purchased and seen first hand stuff graded very fine/fine only to arrive with rips, stains, holes, complete sections of paper missing. They also heavily PS their images, drunk with the highlight tool to bleach out multiple blemishes. I would pour over their supersized imagery with a fine tooth comb, and then if not satisfied, I would ask for new images without effects before bidding.

[papaver]

doesn't matter if their grading is fudge or not. the only thing that matters is that is a reputable auction house. maybe you don't understand grading? fine posters can actually have holes in them + rips in them...

Very Fine (VF): The “cream” of used posters—still great-looking and crisp. This grade may have folds in the corners or light creases in the image area. May have more noticeable tack holes in the corners or margins, but no paper is missing. There might be minor tears in the margins or light, even aging. A poster with an abundance of these flaws will be graded VG. Most of the posters we are offered by collectors are consistent with this grade.

Fine (F): A poster grading Fine might have minor damage in the image area. Or it could have light tape stains, abrasions, tape pulls, or tears. This grade usually exhibits multiple tack holes and may have heavier aging of the paper or noticeable staining.

oh and looks like CGC actually may grade posters:

CGC Certified Posters, Postcards and Handbills
Many of the items on our website have been graded by CGC, a subsidiary of the Certified Collectables Group, the largest authentication and grading company for collectables in the world. CGC uses a numerical grade from 1-10 as well as an adjectival description of the quality.

[charter]

I’m adding CGC9.8 to all my eBay auctions.

[wonkabars7]

doesn't matter if their grading is fudge or not. the only thing that matters is that is a reputable auction house. maybe you don't understand grading? fine posters can actually have holes in them + rips in them...

Very Fine (VF): The “cream” of used posters—still great-looking and crisp. This grade may have folds in the corners or light creases in the image area. May have more noticeable tack holes in the corners or margins, but no paper is missing. There might be minor tears in the margins or light, even aging. A poster with an abundance of these flaws will be graded VG. Most of the posters we are offered by collectors are consistent with this grade.

Fine (F): A poster grading Fine might have minor damage in the image area. Or it could have light tape stains, abrasions, tape pulls, or tears. This grade usually exhibits multiple tack holes and may have heavier aging of the paper or noticeable staining.

oh and looks like CGC actually may grade posters:

CGC Certified Posters, Postcards and Handbills
Many of the items on our website have been graded by CGC, a subsidiary of the Certified Collectables Group, the largest authentication and grading company for collectables in the world. CGC uses a numerical grade from 1-10 as well as an adjectival description of the quality.

I do understand grading. The posters I have seen with the VF grade from HA have tears over 3-5 inches (not 'minor') and that go way past the margin. There is paper missing, in a couple cases I have seen, entire corners missing. More lols: 'light creasing' is beyond subjective too...they have sold 'rolled' posters with several full creases aka folds that were not there as issued by the NSS back in the day. The misleading grading issue was so commonplace with HA, that Grey Smith had to address several frustrated customers in various poster forums over the years.

CGC isn't the universal standard of poster grading, like they are with comics. Not saying that is good or bad, but it is the exception or minority with poster grading/graders.

CGC graded your post 4.2

[papaver]

I do understand grading. The posters I have seen with the VF grade from HA have tears over 3-5 inches (not 'minor') and that go way past the margin. There is paper missing, in a couple cases I have seen, entire corners missing. More lols: 'light creasing' is beyond subjective too...they have sold 'rolled' posters with several full creases aka folds that were not there as issued by the NSS back in the day. The misleading grading issue was so commonplace with HA, that Grey Smith had to address several frustrated customers in various poster forums over the years.

CGC isn't the universal standard of poster grading, like they are with comics. Not saying that is good or bad, but it is the exception or minority with poster grading/graders.

CGC graded your post 4.2

apparently your opinion of HA grading is in the minority if they are closing posters at top market prices...

not saying you are wrong. they must have tons of graders and sounds like there is inconsistency. but at the end of the day as long as buyers see HA as reputable, thats all that matters.

[35mmpaul]

the rich people gotta over spend to really make sure they have authentic mint posters. good for them.

[charter]

9.6
Minimal peen rub

[jvwoodford]

But just in terms of the actual art direction and caliber of artist they work with, Mondo is still the best.

I've always thought this was the key difference. BNG has introduced me to some great artists and occasionally hits a home run, but I typically feel that many of their prints could benefit from better art direction. There's a lot of talent in their stable, but some of it could be wrangled into creating stronger concepts. While Mondo's releases may not always be my cup of tea either, I find most of them inspired and have an original take on the subject matter. Less is indeed more when you can spend the time fostering better ideas.

This guy gets it, I still buy a lot of BNG stuff but am not as attached to them as I am a great Mondo release with a strong concept and good art direction. Simply because their output is much more regular, there is a higher chance of seeing something that tickles my fancy enough to buy and whilst I've very rarely been let down by the quality of any of it I would probably be more inclined to sell it on in a pinch.

Mondo now appeal to me based on how weird and interesting their take is on a certain property, as well as the caliber of new and well known artists they work with. That's not to say I will like all of it, but there is a higher chance I'll get a print I genuinely adore from them. BNG's customer service is second to none, that's another key difference although I think Mondo's has improved lately.

[acidburn]

On the BNG side, if we don’t see something in a print that looks like a penis then it’s fine by us. The art direction is usually just me saying yea that sort of looks like a penis. The artist then usually fixes the penis and then we release.

I know you guys love the term art direction but 95% of the time amongst all businesses, everyone supports whatever the artist submits. Yea ppl might tweek things but It’s kind of weird for me personally to change anything they submit. As Joel said, some things work some things don’t. Ppl just grow from it and learn if a drop does fail.

[ygolohcysp]

and then we release.

Truly an art daddy