Why do Anti-Pressers HATE pressing?

[Old Fashion PB and J]

Some of you are not capable of any worthwhile discussion, you come here and mock what others believe, just because you don't agree. Stop being jerks, put in some decent responses. Just unreal that people cant discuss things without the jackassery from the peanut gallery.

 

Just havin' a bit of fun. I agree that worthwhile discussion is well..worthwhile. Unfortunately the pressing argument has been done to death for years and years, and then some, ad nauseum. I doubt if anything can be brought to the table on this one that hasn't already been said and re-cycled many times over. It's a bit tedious, just like the infinite ebay threads and the ever favorite, 'What scanner should I pick to walk my dog?'

Well, there are other things you could do with your time. But there will be noobs who come through and would like to be somewhat educated. People really have no clue about pressing, they just hear it thrown around all the time.

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

Some of you are not capable of any worthwhile discussion, you come here and mock what others believe, just because you don't agree. Stop being jerks, put in some decent responses. Just unreal that people cant discuss things without the jackassery from the peanut gallery.

 

Just havin' a bit of fun. I agree that worthwhile discussion is well..worthwhile. Unfortunately the pressing argument has been done to death for years and years, and then some, ad nauseum. I doubt if anything can be brought to the table on this one that hasn't already been said and re-cycled many times over. It's a bit tedious, just like the infinite ebay threads and the ever favorite, 'What scanner should I pick to walk my dog?'

Well, there are other things you could do with your time. But there will be noobs who come through and would like to be somewhat educated. People really have no clue about pressing, they just hear it thrown around all the time.

 

That is a fair point. FWIW I personally believe the genie is out of the bottle on pressing, and there is no getting him back in. Is it resto? After all these years I still don't know.

I used to be against it. Now I will buy a pressed book. As long as sellers declare it (if they know) then that's all you can ask. It's all down to personal choice.

[namisgr]

FWIW I personally believe the genie is out of the bottle on pressing, and there is no getting him back in. Is it resto? After all these years I still don't know.

I used to be against it. Now I will buy a pressed book. As long as sellers declare it (if they know) then that's all you can ask. It's all down to personal choice.

Unfortunately, as the proportion of high grade SA comics that have been pressed continues to increase exponentially, the opportunity to make that personal choice disappears for those who prefer unpressed books.

[jcjames]

Some of you are not capable of any worthwhile discussion, you come here and mock what others believe, just because you don't agree. Stop being jerks, put in some decent responses. Just unreal that people cant discuss things without the jackassery from the peanut gallery.

 

Just havin' a bit of fun. I agree that worthwhile discussion is well..worthwhile. Unfortunately the pressing argument has been done to death for years and years, and then some, ad nauseum. I doubt if anything can be brought to the table on this one that hasn't already been said and re-cycled many times over. It's a bit tedious, just like the infinite ebay threads and the ever favorite, 'What scanner should I pick to walk my dog?'

Well, there are other things you could do with your time. But there will be noobs who come through and would like to be somewhat educated. People really have no clue about pressing, they just hear it thrown around all the time.

 

That is a fair point. FWIW I personally believe the genie is out of the bottle on pressing, and there is no getting him back in. Is it resto? After all these years I still don't know.

I used to be against it. Now I will buy a pressed book. As long as sellers declare it (if they know) then that's all you can ask. It's all down to personal choice.

 

I know that if it's done poorly, pressing is obvious. There are some clear signs of pressing done wrong.

 

But if it's done properly by experienced pros, can pressing usually be detected?

 

 

 

 

 

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

I am of the opinion now, and it is only my opinion, a feeling if you will, that pressing is now so widespread and prevalent, that when I come across an unpressed book that is genuine, I am not only pleasantly surprised but a little shocked. (I am of course talking about a high grade book that's escaped the iron)

[oakman29]

FWIW I personally believe the genie is out of the bottle on pressing, and there is no getting him back in. Is it resto? After all these years I still don't know.

I used to be against it. Now I will buy a pressed book. As long as sellers declare it (if they know) then that's all you can ask. It's all down to personal choice.

Unfortunately, as the proportion of high grade SA comics that have been pressed continues to increase exponentially, the opportunity to make that personal choice disappears for those who prefer unpressed books.

 

I , like you have basically been moving away from Superhero books for the reasons you expressed here. I have moved to Creepy and Vampirella comics, to get that old feeling of finding that beautiful unpressed book in the wild.

[BarryAllen]

I am starting an "un-pressing" service. Send me your high grade pressed books and I will return them pressable defects restored and in lower grade (some restrictions may apply).

 

Who is in?

[southerncross]

Pressing Ha, pro pressing mob nut up and press that church copy of det 27 as it is not aligned as good as the Allentown copy. Seriously if the owners of the big books are ok with pressing their high grade multi million dollar book then it's ok to get that 1 point bump up on that Aquaman 11 for the quick flip

[VintageComics]

Without reading into this thread too deep, I think almost every base about pressing has been covered 1000 times over. But I'll just share my thoughts as I probably haven't posted them in years for the various pressing arguments.

 

I find that most pressing arguments become more about emotional arguments than about actual pressing facts, and that is fair. Sometimes there is a lot of money involved going in either direction. Unfortunately, because we are all emotionally attached to our books (and are possibly the most emotional of all collectors ) sometimes it's hard to face the facts.

 

1) Pressing damages books

 

So does reading them.

So does shipping them.

So does storing them in a Fed Ex truck in 130 degree Arizona heat.

So does throwing them across the room in a USPS box.

So does showing them to your friends while eating a Hershey's bar and sipping a soda.

 

The reality is that the only thing that doesn't damage books is leaving them sitting on the newsstand after they are released. From that point forward, it's all about damage mitigation. Ultimately, since the benefits outweigh the risks for most people, and the risks are reasonably small, properly pressed books have a very small chance of being damaged.

 

2) Pressing weakens the paper.

 

This has neither been proven or shown.

 

Yes, it will damage weak books, just like anything else will damage a weak book, but in general, pressing has now shown to be damaging. In fact, when Joeypost ran a test on a pressed vs. a non-pressed book, the pressed book fared better, presumably because the humidification process introduced some suppleness and tensile strength into the paper that the unpressed book did not have.

 

It's important to note that paper, as it is being formed, printed, etc, goes through various stages of both high heat and extreme pressure. Saying that pressing damages paper completely ignores the fact that paper, over it's life is exposed to heat and pressure multiple times before it ends up as a comic book in someone's short box.

 

3) People who press books are greedy.

 

And people who play the stock market or that make calculated business decisions are not?

 

Let's face it, each person is going to do what feels right for them. Collectors like nice books, dealers like to sell nice books. Pressing a book is no more 'greedy' than asking top dollar for your car when you are ready to sell it.

 

4) Pressing is restoration

 

Ah yes, the 'booger flick' or 'wiping dust', slippery slope analogy.

 

The reason I don't consider pressing as restoration (even though you are actually, actively changing the book) is because pressing is so benign (when done properly) to the actual paper, and because you are using naturally occurring principles, and because nothing is really added or taken away.

 

Pressure is a naturally occurring phenomenon. It operates first with gravity, and then with man made, mechanical advantages and inventions (like a press).

 

Moisture is also naturally occurring on planet earth.

 

Heat is also naturally occurring.

 

Pressing can happen naturally under the right conditions. I picked up an original owner SA collection a few years ago that were stored in tall stacks and in a humid environment. Every book looked 'pressed' because the gap at the spine (a 'tell' for some board members) was missing. Vehement 'anti-pressing' proponents would have passed on the books even though they were never actually 'pressed'.

 

This showed me that sometimes a pressed book is not actually a pressed book.

 

So,

 

i) since it's using natural occurring principles (in man made models of course),

ii) it's difficult to prove or detect (when done properly) and

iii) it's not actually harmful or at least not any more harmful than anything else that happens to a book

 

I decide to stop tilting at that windmill and just realized that if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, it's irrelevant.

 

It's invisible, it's not harmful and so it's not an issue.

 

5) Pressing increased the census and caused a drop in prices.

 

There are so many factors that affect prices that I believe this is only one facet of the discussion. I don't think it was the actual census numbers that affected the market as much as fear and knowledge.

 

When people realized that there were more books available than they originally thought, they realized that they can wait for the next comic to show up. Other people just decided to try and press a cheaper copy up. We also have a massive economic collapse in 2007-2008 where entire countries went bankrupt. We also had several Pedigree collection finds (Twin City, Billy Wright, Mound City, Suscha News - am I forgetting some?) bring massive amounts of fresh books to market. We also had several large collectors sell their collections off and actively stop pursuing books. Some owned multiples copies of runs. We also had many collectors lose their jobs and were forced to sell their collections.

 

All of the above happened at the same time frame between roughly 2007 and now.

 

So as you can see, there are a zillion factors that affect prices. Not just one.

 

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It's my opinion that a lot of people don't like pressing, but why they don't like pressing and what pressing actually is are not the same things.

 

Did I miss any points?

 

 

[topofthetotem]

I'll add my

 

I don't care.

[jsilverjanet]

I can't wait to get an action 1 and press it

[kav]

You hit all the points. That's the last word on pressing IMO.

Either pressing is not restoration or almost everything else is restoration including stacking your books in a gravity field.

[oakman29]

You hit all the points. That's the last word on pressing IMO.

Either pressing is not restoration or almost everything else is restoration including stacking your books in a gravity field.

 

whatever gets you through the night.

[kav]

-is alright. Alright.

[BarryAllen]

Pressing isn't restoration because CGC (and other grading companies) says its not. They are the grading experts as recognized by the hobby and they make the rules. It really is as simple as that.

 

You want pressing to be restoration, convince them otherwise.

[kav]

yep

[Hulksdaddy1]

I'm a fan of making things look better if you can.

 

As one poster said, this hobby is young, so ideas about what's right and what's wrong are always changing, developing. I remember when restored was the way to go.

 

Look at it this way. Some don't like that you use moisture and pressure to fix a fixable flaw on a comic book. You're not taking anything away from the book.You're doing something to it which in all likelihood could have been done to it before(in the basement, bottom of a stack), you're just directing it now.

 

I helped a buddy buff out a Ferrari GT SWB 250. For those not familiar, buffing involves removing paint, to take out any oxidation and damage to the paint surface, to bring back an unmarred, reflective surface. That's how you get a shine. But, you are removing paint from the car.

 

That car is probably a $5-7M vehicle. Would take the two of the highest graded Action #1s to trade for it straight up(if anyone was so inclined).

 

Personally, don't see a problem with pressing done right.

 

 

[VintageComics]

Pressing isn't restoration because CGC (and other grading companies) says its not. They are the grading experts as recognized by the hobby and they make the rules. It really is as simple as that.

 

You want pressing to be restoration, convince them otherwise.

 

CGC does not consider pressing restoration because if it was considered restoration, they'd have to be able to detect it with accuracy.

 

Since pressing is technically 'invisible' and can't be accurately detected with any real accuracy, they opted to not include it under the restoration banner.

[FineCollector]

I helped a buddy buff out a Ferrari GT SWB 250. For those not familiar, buffing involves removing paint, to take out any oxidation and damage to the paint surface, to bring back an unmarred, reflective surface. That's how you get a shine. But, you are removing paint from the car.

 

When someone sells such a car, the work done is documented and disclosed, isn't it? Car people can look at the work and judge if it was done properly. Pressing a comic should be the same, but it's often not disclosed. The buyer may not know the work was done, but claiming ignorance can attract CPR people who think a book may still be improveable.

 

Another thought from earlier in the thread... if you don't like pressing, it was recommended that you stick with raw books. That's not ideal:

1 - we lose the resto check from CGC

2 - pressed books that come back restored could definitely be cracked and find their way back in the raw market

[BarryAllen]

Pressing isn't restoration because CGC (and other grading companies) says its not. They are the grading experts as recognized by the hobby and they make the rules. It really is as simple as that.

 

You want pressing to be restoration, convince them otherwise.

 

CGC does not consider pressing restoration because if it was considered restoration, they'd have to be able to detect it with accuracy.

 

Since pressing is technically 'invisible' and can't be accurately detected with any real accuracy, they opted to not include it under the restoration banner.

 

The reason why really is immaterial, you may very well be right. However, my statement still holds true. Whatever the reason, pressing isn't restoration because they say so.