HOW WE RATE MAGAZINE CONDITION

POOR: Magazines in POOR condition look like they belong at the bottom of a birdcage. Their covers are badly faded and/or ripped, inside pages are ripped, stained, crumpled and even hard to read. We don't sell any magazines in POOR condition. NOTE: Any magazine missing any pages should be rated POOR condition even if the rest of the magazine appears to be like-new condition. A magazine missing pages belongs in the garbage, not on eBay. If you get a magazine from us advertised as Very Good or better missing pages (we cannot check every page), please contact us for a refund.

FAIR: Magazines in FAIR condition show obvious signs of distress, including partially torn cover spines, rings where someone used the magazine as a coaster, or maybe even minor handwriting. In most cases these magazines aren't particularly collectible, but they retain enough flatness and readability that someone interested in reading old content would be satisfied. The only time we sell magazines in FAIR condition is when we believe the magazine has a particular collectible value.

GOOD: Magazines in GOOD condition are flat, complete, completely readable and often in great shape. In general, a magazine rated in GOOD condition is one that "looks its age," meaning the pages might be yellowed or slightly stiff from age, there might be some slight fading on cover, and other signs that would make you realize it was an old magazine before even picking it up and seeing the date, but are otherwise in great shape.

VERY GOOD: Magazines in VERY GOOD condition show only minor signs of wear - very minor creasing on a corner, minor aging and fading, and maybe appear to have been read a few times. These would probably be rated by non-collectors as "excellent," but contain a couple of very minor flaws that might catch the attention of a serious collector.

EXCELLENT: Magazines in EXCELLENT (also sometimes called FINE or VERY FINE) condition have been very well preserved, have covers suitable for framing, were probably once owned by a collector who kept them nice, and look like they have been handled very little. Only the very most minor wear is detectible and the magazine looks amazing for its age. Most of the magazines we sell are rated EXCELLENT or better.

NEAR MINT: Magazines in NEAR-MINT condition appear as fresh as the day they were bought. For vintage magazines, anything we rate as NEAR-MINT is about as high a rating as we go. These magazines are rated as 96-99% original condition and you cannot believe they are old when you see them. We have been very lucky to acquire a fair number of NEAR-MINT magazines lately, so please check our auctions.

MINT CONDITION: Magazines in honest MINT CONDITION are very few and far between, despite the fact that many sellers use this term all the time. For vintage magazines, we have sold more than 10,000 editions of LIFE, National Geographic, LOOK, Saturday Evening Post and others - and yet we have probably only rated three or four of those old magazines as full 100% MINT CONDITION - ever! A magazine rated as MINT without any qualification (like "near-mint" or "like mint") should be like a museum piece - so perfect in appearance that you don't even want to flip through it. We also sell "new" magazines - that is, 1999 and later. In this category, you will see many legitimate MINT condition magazines. New magazines can easily be MINT. Anything older than 1980 that claims to be MINT - take a real, close, hard look at both the product and the seller. In the collectibles business MINT is a term used only sparingly.