CGC Issue Resolved

[RockMyAmadeus]

Give someone time, Roy - they'll find one for you.

Oh, I'm sure they're circling ideas via PM as we speak.

You want purple labels to be accepted so that you can buy a bunch quickly and then maximize profit.

 

I want restored books to be accepted because...as was said before...they are often quite lovely books, and sometimes the work is so minimal, the difference in value is simply unjustifiable. Yes, color touch is a pain, but on an otherwise gorgeous book, is a couple of dots of color touch on the spine really worth the 50-90% price deduction?

 

Not really.

 

And no, I don't own many. I think I may have 3 PLODs.

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

By the way...I recently saw a very lovely Batman #6 that was...I don't remember, a 6.5 or something. Anyways, it was a very lovely book...except that it had the color touch scraped off of it, and it looked like a termite trail on the cover, from the top edge down to the logo. It was most unsightly. But the reality of the market is, the book is worth more as a "blue label" 6.5, than a "purple label" 8.0.

 

:shrug:

[Unca Ben]

 

I want restored books to be accepted because...as was said before...they are often quite lovely books, and sometimes the work is so minimal, the difference in value is simply unjustifiable.

 

+1000

[Prince Namor]

 

I want restored books to be accepted because...as was said before...they are often quite lovely books, and sometimes the work is so minimal, the difference in value is simply unjustifiable.

 

Yep.

 

 

 

[VintageComics]

By the way...I recently saw a very lovely Batman #6 that was...I don't remember, a 6.5 or something. Anyways, it was a very lovely book...except that it had the color touch scraped off of it, and it looked like a termite trail on the cover, from the top edge down to the logo. It was most unsightly. But the reality of the market is, the book is worth more as a "blue label" 6.5, than a "purple label" 8.0.

 

:shrug:

 

The discrepancy in price simply comes from a lack of education and people being uninformed.

 

My logic for theoretically changing labeling standards a while back was so that people would be forced to pay closer attention to the books, thereby educated them better thereby being more reasonable about how they value their books.

 

 

[thunsicker]

By the way...I recently saw a very lovely Batman #6 that was...I don't remember, a 6.5 or something. Anyways, it was a very lovely book...except that it had the color touch scraped off of it, and it looked like a termite trail on the cover, from the top edge down to the logo. It was most unsightly. But the reality of the market is, the book is worth more as a "blue label" 6.5, than a "purple label" 8.0.

 

:shrug:

 

The discrepancy in price simply comes from a lack of education and people being uninformed.

 

My logic for theoretically changing labeling standards a while back was so that people would be forced to pay closer attention to the books, thereby educated them better thereby being more reasonable about how they value their books.

 

 

+1 Given the choice of a comic with minor color touch and that same comic with the color touch scraped off I'd take the one with the color touch. My problem is I don't know what the grade with the color touch scraped off would be. If I knew "This book is a purple label 8.0 that would be a blue label 6.5 if it didn't have restoration" I'd probably pay more than blue label 6.5 price but less than blue label 8.0 price. But all we get is this book is a purple label 8.0. Since I'm not an expert at restoration I just pass.

[easyt63]

I think I'm going to start buying minimal color touched PLODS and cracking them out for my personal stash. Good way to fill gaps and save 70%.

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

By the way...I recently saw a very lovely Batman #6 that was...I don't remember, a 6.5 or something. Anyways, it was a very lovely book...except that it had the color touch scraped off of it, and it looked like a termite trail on the cover, from the top edge down to the logo. It was most unsightly. But the reality of the market is, the book is worth more as a "blue label" 6.5, than a "purple label" 8.0.

 

:shrug:

 

The discrepancy in price simply comes from a lack of education and people being uninformed.

 

I think that's what I've been saying all along.

[VintageComics]

By the way...I recently saw a very lovely Batman #6 that was...I don't remember, a 6.5 or something. Anyways, it was a very lovely book...except that it had the color touch scraped off of it, and it looked like a termite trail on the cover, from the top edge down to the logo. It was most unsightly. But the reality of the market is, the book is worth more as a "blue label" 6.5, than a "purple label" 8.0.

 

:shrug:

 

The discrepancy in price simply comes from a lack of education and people being uninformed.

 

I think that's what I've been saying all along.

 

I've been agreeing with you but I can't let you have all the fun! I want some attention too!

[USArmyParatrooper]

Relax I was just joshing with you. You had one at comic con 2011, and I figured you had sold it by now. I didn't mean anything by it. Sheesh!

 

Oh, I know you were kidding. I was just clarifying in case someone else didn't know you and me well enough.

 

And I forgot about that one! That was a gorgeous copy. Wish I could have kept it.

 

Holy . Oh how I long for the day when I can just forget about having a Marvel Comics 1 in my possession.

[VintageComics]

Relax I was just joshing with you. You had one at comic con 2011, and I figured you had sold it by now. I didn't mean anything by it. Sheesh!

 

Oh, I know you were kidding. I was just clarifying in case someone else didn't know you and me well enough.

 

And I forgot about that one! That was a gorgeous copy. Wish I could have kept it.

 

Holy . Oh how I long for the day when I can just forget about having a Marvel Comics 1 in my possession.

 

 

I forgot about it because my mind jumped to a specific time frame.

 

I thought you were talking about my personal copy. I had one that was restored in my personal collection years ago when the whole resto discussion was going on. The one you saw was inventory and it slipped my mind because I jumped to remembering my personal copy when you made your comment.

 

 

[blazingbob]

And what about the unrestored books that are would now be color touched if the wide price difference narrowed?

 

The difference in price is to discourage restoration, not encourage it.

 

And before you uneducated go off I'm not against conservation type restoration.

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

By the way...I recently saw a very lovely Batman #6 that was...I don't remember, a 6.5 or something. Anyways, it was a very lovely book...except that it had the color touch scraped off of it, and it looked like a termite trail on the cover, from the top edge down to the logo. It was most unsightly. But the reality of the market is, the book is worth more as a "blue label" 6.5, than a "purple label" 8.0.

 

:shrug:

 

The discrepancy in price simply comes from a lack of education and people being uninformed.

 

My logic for theoretically changing labeling standards a while back was so that people would be forced to pay closer attention to the books, thereby educated them better thereby being more reasonable about how they value their books.

 

 

+1 Given the choice of a comic with minor color touch and that same comic with the color touch scraped off I'd take the one with the color touch. My problem is I don't know what the grade with the color touch scraped off would be. If I knew "This book is a purple label 8.0 that would be a blue label 6.5 if it didn't have restoration" I'd probably pay more than blue label 6.5 price but less than blue label 8.0 price. But all we get is this book is a purple label 8.0. Since I'm not an expert at restoration I just pass.

 

Removing color touch is a tricky proposition, as you are dealing with layers of paper pulp at a microscopic level. How far does the color bleed? Is it sitting on the surface, or is it all the way through, or somewhere in between? Is it sitting on the gloss of the ink (which is relatively easy to deal with), the ink itself, the sizing, or is it down into the fibers themselves? How great is the surface area that is affected? Since color touch is nearly always used to deal with areas broken all the way down to inner fiber (having broken off the ink and the sizing), CT removal almost always involves removal from all the different strata of the printed cover.

 

And, as you scrape, you have to be careful to leave enough molecules of paper to not leave a hole, or as insignificant of a hole as is necessary. It's a very fine detailed process, and certainly not for the amateur. It's akin to mowing your front lawn with a combine harvester.

 

I suspect, as technology improves, the ability to snip away fibers at a molecular level, thus removing as little unaffected paper as possible, will be a much appreciated advancement. Even then, though, it may simply not be aesthetically pleasing to attempt to remove all instances, since by necessity it creates a fairly unnatural looking area, including holes in some cases, on an otherwise decent looking book.

[USArmyParatrooper]

And what about the unrestored books that are would now be color touched if the wide price difference narrowed?

 

The difference in price is to discourage restoration, not encourage it.

 

And before you uneducated go off I'm not against conservation type restoration.

 

 

I don't think the difference in price is "for" anything. It's merely happenstance that results from having a bright purple neon sign that announces, "Hey, everyone! This comic has slight professional restoration done to it!"

 

I would think the big price hit would be the A vs P designation, but it seems to be any kind of purple is a euphemism for pariah.

[blazingbob]

Ah, the more or less argument.

 

Lets not forget tiny to large amount of color touch the book is still RESTORED.

 

Amateur or Professional it is still RESTORED.

 

Slight/moderate/Extensive it is still RESTORED.

 

If the market decides that restored sell for less than so be it.

 

If more educated buyers step up to buy slight professional color touched books for more than current market than the price differential will shrink.

 

 

 

 

[USArmyParatrooper]

Ah, the more or less argument.

 

Lets not forget tiny to large amount of color touch the book is still RESTORED.

 

Amateur or Professional it is still RESTORED.

 

Slight/moderate/Extensive it is still RESTORED.

 

If the market decides that restored sell for less than so be it.

 

If more educated buyers step up to buy slight professional color touched books for more than current market than the price differential will shrink.

 

 

For the record I don't own a single book with any restoration. What I am saying is there should be a lot more consideration for how much and by whom the work was done. There isn't much discrepancy, if any, between a professional doing slight color touch and some knuckle dragger drawing on the cover with colored markers. That's a far cry from other collectibles like guns, antique furniture, musical instruments and even literary books.

[RockMyAmadeus]

And what about the unrestored books that are would now be color touched if the wide price difference narrowed?

 

The difference in price is to discourage restoration, not encourage it.

 

 

If the value of an unrestored book is still greater than a restored copy, then there won't be masses of people breaking out their magic markers again. It's all about degrees. If the book that is an apparent 9.0 that started out as an unrestored 7.5....well, the market will decide if the unrestored 7.5 is worth more than an apparent 9.0 (currently, it certainly is.) CT, after all, isn't magic. No one is going to be taking a 4.5 unrestored book and coloring it all the way to an apparent SA 9.0, right? And if a color dot takes a book from an 8.5 U to an apparent 9.0, it's not going to be worth the time...after all, the book was a nice book to begin with, and the CT added virtually nothing.

 

If the market decides it wants color touched books over unrestored books (an unlikely scenario), then who can stop it? If you choose to price your unrestored books to "discourage restoration", you might end up with few sales. If you choose to price your restored books at much lower prices to "discourage restoration", you may run out of restored books in inventory.

 

No one can "protect" the market from itself, after all.

 

There's a happy middle between "this book is worth 15% of its unrestored counterpart in the same grade" and "here, let me just color in those three spine stresses, and it'll add 30% to the value of the book."

 

[Ditch Fahrenheit]

It's akin to mowing your front lawn with a combine harvester.

 

 

I love that.

[blazingbob]

I'm missing your point.

 

The label notes slight/moderate/extensive

 

Amateur or Professional.

 

If I am looking at a Restored book I would prefer a slight professional.

 

Whenever I look at Professional versus amateur I can generally tell which type of restoration I prefer if I were collecting that type of book. In almost all cases I prefer professional.

 

The more natural the book looks the better.

 

And that is with very little in the way of education on what was done to it.

 

 

 

 

[thunsicker]

Relax I was just joshing with you. You had one at comic con 2011, and I figured you had sold it by now. I didn't mean anything by it. Sheesh!

 

Oh, I know you were kidding. I was just clarifying in case someone else didn't know you and me well enough.

 

And I forgot about that one! That was a gorgeous copy. Wish I could have kept it.

 

Holy . Oh how I long for the day when I can just forget about having a Marvel Comics 1 in my possession.

 

 

I forgot about it because my mind jumped to a specific time frame.

 

I thought you were talking about my personal copy. I had one that was restored in my personal collection years ago when the whole resto discussion was going on. The one you saw was inventory and it slipped my mind because I jumped to remembering my personal copy when you made your comment.

 

 

Oh, that's much better. "I was just confused over which of my many Marvel Comics #1 you were talking about."