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Mint is word badly abused in the collecting world and since the advent of eBay the word has been butched constantly. Mint as Defined by RealPriceGuides means completely unblemlished since leaving the point of manufacture.
This means if a toy such as a Marx truck from the 1930s is listed as "in mint condition" then the paint should have no blemlishs, the metal should have no dents and the tires and rims should be perfect as a normal person could expect.
Since most items will not fit into this category RealPriceGuides Grades on a Near Mint to Mint rating for all of the prices posted on this website.
Now we look at the term Near Mint. In this condition a item should be close to mint with only a very few minor flaws, scratches or possibly a minor dent as a stand alone defect. Since this page will be posted throughout the site we need to look at what is considered mint or near mint in the different categories of guides we are featuring.
POTTERY:
Pottery considered mint should have no defects on the shape, glaze or foot of the piece.
What about the minor glaze defects that accompany a lot of pottery pieces from the mold such as air bubbles, scratches in the glaze, or places on a piece where there was no glaze placed.
Remember Mint is defined as completely unblemlished since leaving the point of manufacture. A piece may have a factory defect as mentioned above and still be considered mint but may have a lower value contributed to the defect.
Near mint would be a piece with no chips, cracks, or crazing with some minor dirt or dust problems appearing on the foot or within the piece. Toys:
Toys remain in mint condition as long as they do not appear to have been played with or are in any way changed or defaced since leaving the point of manufacture.
Near mint would be a toy long out of the original box but still not played with and having very few paint or structural problems.
There are going to be exceptions to the standards we are setting for our grading scale and we understand that but there has to be a starting point on any grading scale and this is the one RealPriceGuides has defined as our value system.