Just for the sake or understanding, when testing a vacuum tube, there is no such thing as "near NOS" or an NOS reading. I know some who sell tubes on eBay and other venues use such terms but they really don't know what they are talking about.

There is much to say about vacuum tube quality and testing but without going deep into theory & technical details, here's what I have to say in simple terms:

One should always check for shorts and internal element leakage before evaluating the quality of a tube. If a  short or serious leakage is present, discard the tube and DO NOT PROCEED FURTHER (or serious damage to the tube tester may result)! When it comes to evaluating a tube's quality. The way to do so is to measure the Gm (for tubes other than diodes and voltage regulators) on a tube tester that designed to measure such). An additional test (significant in some circuits) is a test for gas.

New tubes (just like used) ones will vary considerably in their Mutual conductance (measured in micromhos) or Gm (for short). Test results will vary depending on the  type and brand of tube checker. Emission type checkers will  only measure  emission and this reading is very unreliable. When testing rectifiers and diodes there's no such thing as a Gm test.

So with this in mind, when a seller states a tube's quality in terms of "NOS" or "Near NOS" (or in terms other than "Gm") is not a knowledgeable seller. I'm not saying he's dishonest, but I'm stating that he does not fully understand his product or the proper way to evaluate his product.

Standards were set up long ago as to what the minimum acceptable readings (or in some models the average) should be. These readings are specified in the testing data for particular tube testers.

I use a Hickok model 539C, one of the most accurate and desirable models there is available to the consumer technician.

Here's an example:

The minimum acceptable reading for a #27 tube is 630 Gm. If you have one that tests 1100 Gm, that's  well above the acceptable reading and is about as good as this particular tube will measure (NOS or otherwise).