There's a Restored 9.4 Tec 33 Blowing up on Ebay

[goldust40]

That conflict led to the third party grading system.

 

I believe the main reason for the 3rd party grading system was to facilitate commerce over the internet with a certain level of confidence. That's why it happened back in 1999, just as eBay and online auction houses exploded. As a side benefit, it leveled the playing field for all buyers and sellers.

 

And that brings is right back around to this thread.

 

The purpose of a certification company is to give an educated opinion on what is in the holder. Qualitatively, quantitatively. That evaluation is made so that a seller / buyer can apply a value to a book.

 

If you can't identify everything done to the book and quantify it you can't identify the value in the book.

 

And I believe that is where the problem lies with CGC. Just my

 

 

 

It's clear in the last two paragraphs of the following letter that commerce was indeed the impetus for the creation of third-party grading. It's interesting that Bob says, "This cannot fail..." Clearly he was worried that there would be no consensus so his strong language was directed at guys like me who had a very difficult time accepting this paradigm change.

 

 

 

Thanks for posting that letter. Learning the history of the hobby is fascinating.

 

I was about to post the same thing. One of the most important letters ever in the history of the hobby / industry - it really did have a pivotal effect.

[*matterus023*]

CGC 9.2 Extensive holder to 9.4 Moderate holder still has me thinking

 

 

Resto standards have changed but so have resto designation standards. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't that old book graded under CGC's old grading standards and the new book under the updated resto designations?

 

Yes old label 9.2 E to new 9.4 M

 

It may be a difference in the perception of "conservation" vs "restoration". That is, techniques now deemed conservation were at one time included in restoration. So with those conservation techniques out of the restoration picture, that could account for a bump down as in Ext to Mod or Mod to Sl.

 

Great point. I might even think that makes sence.

 

It might make Sense

 

Wow, it's simply amazing how we rationalize and try to look for reasons to give CGC the benefit of the doubt when we see inconsistencies or any questions in terms of their grading or restoration rating determinations. Yes indeed, it must be their "new and improved" techniques or more accurate re-definitions.

 

Yet, when we see any inconsistencies or questions with respect to grading or restoration rating issues from the other company, a large number of the board members here immediately accuse them of gross incompetency or what have you. And seemingly, almost to the point of total contempt and disdain, as though they had just committed a fraudulent act with heinous intent.

 

I actually find this rather surprising, considering that many of these were the exact same board members who used to espouse the honesty, integrity, knowledge, and sheer competence of Steve and West when they were both still working with CGC.

 

I like the cut of your jib sir :-)

[*matterus023*]

Winner had fb of 13.

All four of the top bidders have 100% bids with the seller. (Three of them are also current top bidders on a Silver Age book, Incredible Hulk #1 at 9.6 restored, being auctioned by the seller.)

 

Just to clear this up. I contacted the Meyers as was interested about this point.

 

They told me he/she has already paid up

 

So as long as you don't think they are lying the sale went through and all was good

 

Congrats to both seller and buyer

 

[G.A.tor]

Winner had fb of 13.

All four of the top bidders have 100% bids with the seller. (Three of them are also current top bidders on a Silver Age book, Incredible Hulk #1 at 9.6 restored, being auctioned by the seller.)

 

Just to clear this up. I contacted the Meyers as was interested about this point.

 

They told me he/she has already paid up

 

So as long as you don't think they are lying the sale went through and all was good

 

Congrats to both seller and buyer

interesting...since they were willing to confirm payment was made, I am curious the method...

 

sat evenings, no banks are open to wire, and even if they were, wouldn't clear Fed till monday?

paypal (apple pay, google wallet, etc) restricts the amount one can send instantly, so only a bank account transfer could be initiated, and that takes a few days (business) at fastest, to clear?

no way to send a cashiers check in the time from end to now?

I guess the winner could have met them and paid in cash?

 

so, and this is totally from a curiosity stand point, are they willing to divulge how payment was made (as I might like to incorporate the technique myself, in the future)

 

 

[Matt Nelson]

I've been following this thread closely, and have resisted the urge to post many times. I think there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the situation. The only people that really have insight into the restoration involved are the Meyers, Borock and CGC. Considering how this affects and will continue to affect buyers, sellers, the grading companies, and potentially the health of the restored market in the future, I feel it is necessary to seek clarity on the issues we have.

 

Because it appears the Meyers do not perform restoration as a service, and hence do not have any "clients," the onus for validating both the restoration and the grade of their books falls solely to the grading companies. CGC's team is #1 without question. We have multiple restoration experts looking at these books, and a grading scale that offers more detailed and accurate information than anywhere else. Besides the few books submitted to us the first half of this year, we have not been able to evaluate any potential evolution in the Meyers’ work. They have all been subsequently graded by CBCS.

 

While I am flattered by Emily’s post giving me credit for helping them evolve their process, I have to take issue with their declaration that part of the reason they quit using CGC was the other company’s level of “professionalism, honesty, and moral code.” Considering all of the time I spent with them, the information I shared, and the willingness to grade their books in spite of the issues we had, there is nothing that should have given them the impression that we lacked any of those traits, nor that CCS was ever a threat to them using CGC to grade their books.

 

Emily and Matt have been gracious enough to post quite a bit of information regarding their process. For restoration, transparency is paramount to build trust in the industry. I hope they can shed light on the issues we had to insure that the potentially large number of high value books that will be restored by them in the future will be done in an safe, archival manner. There were two particular aspects I hope have been resolved. They were present on the books we graded (hence the B and C notations we gave), which were subsequently cross graded by CBCS, who gave them professional designations and usually a higher grade. One was the large amount of color touch being applied to the covers, and the other was the material used as a glossing agent over that color touch. Together they would create an unnatural look and feel to the book. It masked details of the book to the point where it became very difficult to accurately assess the restoration and grade. And we were concerned about the archival nature of the glossing agent.

 

Matt and Emily are very talented and driven, and very nice people, reasons why I chose to work with them. They made considerable strides throughout our time together, and a couple of the books turned out really great by our standards. I hope they can insure that these issues have been resolved on the books that currently have very high grades and a professional designation.

 

[jimjum12]

I've been following this thread closely, and have resisted the urge to post many times. I think there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the situation. The only people that really have insight into the restoration involved are the Meyers, Borock and CGC. Considering how this affects and will continue to affect buyers, sellers, the grading companies, and potentially the health of the restored market in the future, I feel it is necessary to seek clarity on the issues we have.

 

Because it appears the Meyers do not perform restoration as a service, and hence do not have any "clients," the onus for validating both the restoration and the grade of their books falls solely to the grading companies. CGC's team is #1 without question. We have multiple restoration experts looking at these books, and a grading scale that offers more detailed and accurate information than anywhere else. Besides the few books submitted to us the first half of this year, we have not been able to evaluate any potential evolution in the Meyers’ work. They have all been subsequently graded by CBCS.

 

While I am flattered by Emily’s post giving me credit for helping them evolve their process, I have to take issue with their declaration that part of the reason they quit using CGC was the other company’s level of “professionalism, honesty, and moral code.” Considering all of the time I spent with them, the information I shared, and the willingness to grade their books in spite of the issues we had, there is nothing that should have given them the impression that we lacked any of those traits, nor that CCS was ever a threat to them using CGC to grade their books.

 

Emily and Matt have been gracious enough to post quite a bit of information regarding their process. For restoration, transparency is paramount to build trust in the industry. I hope they can shed light on the issues we had to insure that the potentially large number of high value books that will be restored by them in the future will be done in an safe, archival manner. There were two particular aspects I hope have been resolved. They were present on the books we graded (hence the B and C notations we gave), which were subsequently cross graded by CBCS, who gave them professional designations and usually a higher grade. One was the large amount of color touch being applied to the covers, and the other was the material used as a glossing agent over that color touch. Together they would create an unnatural look and feel to the book. It masked details of the book to the point where it became very difficult to accurately assess the restoration and grade. And we were concerned about the archival nature of the glossing agent.

 

Matt and Emily are very talented and driven, and very nice people, reasons why I chose to work with them. They made considerable strides throughout our time together, and a couple of the books turned out really great by our standards. I hope they can insure that these issues have been resolved on the books that currently have very high grades and a professional designation.

 

[ciorac]

I've been following this thread closely, and have resisted the urge to post many times. I think there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the situation. The only people that really have insight into the restoration involved are the Meyers, Borock and CGC. Considering how this affects and will continue to affect buyers, sellers, the grading companies, and potentially the health of the restored market in the future, I feel it is necessary to seek clarity on the issues we have.

 

Because it appears the Meyers do not perform restoration as a service, and hence do not have any "clients," the onus for validating both the restoration and the grade of their books falls solely to the grading companies. CGC's team is #1 without question. We have multiple restoration experts looking at these books, and a grading scale that offers more detailed and accurate information than anywhere else. Besides the few books submitted to us the first half of this year, we have not been able to evaluate any potential evolution in the Meyers’ work. They have all been subsequently graded by CBCS.

While I am flattered by Emily’s post giving me credit for helping them evolve their process, I have to take issue with their declaration that part of the reason they quit using CGC was the other company’s level of “professionalism, honesty, and moral code.” Considering all of the time I spent with them, the information I shared, and the willingness to grade their books in spite of the issues we had, there is nothing that should have given them the impression that we lacked any of those traits, nor that CCS was ever a threat to them using CGC to grade their books.

 

Emily and Matt have been gracious enough to post quite a bit of information regarding their process. For restoration, transparency is paramount to build trust in the industry. I hope they can shed light on the issues we had to insure that the potentially large number of high value books that will be restored by them in the future will be done in an safe, archival manner. There were two particular aspects I hope have been resolved. They were present on the books we graded (hence the B and C notations we gave), which were subsequently cross graded by CBCS, who gave them professional designations and usually a higher grade. One was the large amount of color touch being applied to the covers, and the other was the material used as a glossing agent over that color touch. Together they would create an unnatural look and feel to the book. It masked details of the book to the point where it became very difficult to accurately assess the restoration and grade. And we were concerned about the archival nature of the glossing agent.

 

Matt and Emily are very talented and driven, and very nice people, reasons why I chose to work with them. They made considerable strides throughout our time together, and a couple of the books turned out really great by our standards. I hope they can insure that these issues have been resolved on the books that currently have very high grades and a professional designation.

 

Precisely the point I took issue with. Hence the "one-way streeter" moniker I handed to Matt M and Emily.

[roulette44]

Winner had fb of 13.

All four of the top bidders have 100% bids with the seller. (Three of them are also current top bidders on a Silver Age book, Incredible Hulk #1 at 9.6 restored, being auctioned by the seller.)

 

Just to clear this up. I contacted the Meyers as was interested about this point.

 

They told me he/she has already paid up

 

So as long as you don't think they are lying the sale went through and all was good

 

Congrats to both seller and buyer

interesting...since they were willing to confirm payment was made, I am curious the method...

 

sat evenings, no banks are open to wire, and even if they were, wouldn't clear Fed till monday?

paypal (apple pay, google wallet, etc) restricts the amount one can send instantly, so only a bank account transfer could be initiated, and that takes a few days (business) at fastest, to clear?

no way to send a cashiers check in the time from end to now?

I guess the winner could have met them and paid in cash?

 

so, and this is totally from a curiosity stand point, are they willing to divulge how payment was made (as I might like to incorporate the technique myself, in the future)

 

 

I'm not taking a side on whether payment did or did not go through, but to the question of "could it" go through, the answer is absolutely yes, had to correct my buddy Rick

 

Once initial limits get lifted, most sellers will have a $10,000 limit per transaction through paypal. However, once enough credibility and history is established, sellers can request to increase these limits. If the seller is approved, Paypal will raise their limit to either $30,000 or $60,000.

 

Let's say someone bought something from me Friday night at midnight local time, and paid instantly with their paypal account. Then the funds would very likely show up immediately in my account.

 

The only exception is when paypal "pends" the payment for review, subjecting it to a (typically 24-hr) hold/review. They do this more often with large dollar payments, so this TEC33 could have easily generated such a pend. BUT EVEN THEN, the seller is notified that the payment has been made, and to hold off shipping until final confirmation is received. The seller's account would then show the funds in the balance, but not make them available to the seller to withdrawal just yet.

 

I truly despise the shilling that is so pervasive on ebay (which is why I rarely do auctions anymore), but we all should remember that when it happens it's not always the seller's fault.

 

Joey

 

 

 

[G.A.tor]

Winner had fb of 13.

All four of the top bidders have 100% bids with the seller. (Three of them are also current top bidders on a Silver Age book, Incredible Hulk #1 at 9.6 restored, being auctioned by the seller.)

 

Just to clear this up. I contacted the Meyers as was interested about this point.

 

They told me he/she has already paid up

 

So as long as you don't think they are lying the sale went through and all was good

 

Congrats to both seller and buyer

interesting...since they were willing to confirm payment was made, I am curious the method...

 

sat evenings, no banks are open to wire, and even if they were, wouldn't clear Fed till monday?

paypal (apple pay, google wallet, etc) restricts the amount one can send instantly, so only a bank account transfer could be initiated, and that takes a few days (business) at fastest, to clear?

no way to send a cashiers check in the time from end to now?

I guess the winner could have met them and paid in cash?

 

so, and this is totally from a curiosity stand point, are they willing to divulge how payment was made (as I might like to incorporate the technique myself, in the future)

 

 

I'm not taking a side on whether payment did or did not go through, but to the question of "could it" go through, the answer is absolutely yes, had to correct my buddy Rick

 

Once initial limits get lifted, most sellers will have a $10,000 limit per transaction through paypal. However, once enough credibility and history is established, sellers can request to increase these limits. If the seller is approved, Paypal will raise their limit to either $30,000 or $60,000.

 

Let's say someone bought something from me Friday night at midnight local time, and paid instantly with their paypal account. Then the funds would very likely show up immediately in my account.

 

The only exception is when paypal "pends" the payment for review, subjecting it to a (typically 24-hr) hold/review. They do this more often with large dollar payments, so this TEC33 could have easily generated such a pend. BUT EVEN THEN, the seller is notified that the payment has been made, and to hold off shipping until final confirmation is received. The seller's account would then show the funds in the balance, but not make them available to the seller to withdrawal just yet.

 

I truly despise the shilling that is so pervasive on ebay (which is why I rarely do auctions anymore), but we all should remember that when it happens it's not always the seller's fault.

 

Joey

 

 

 

that's why I asked (and "?" questioned my understanding of ebay payment methods)...I didn't know how someone could get paid that much, that fast

[Doohickamabob]

Winner had fb of 13.

All four of the top bidders have 100% bids with the seller. (Three of them are also current top bidders on a Silver Age book, Incredible Hulk #1 at 9.6 restored, being auctioned by the seller.)

 

Just to clear this up. I contacted the Meyers as was interested about this point.

 

They told me he/she has already paid up

 

So as long as you don't think they are lying the sale went through and all was good

 

Congrats to both seller and buyer

interesting...since they were willing to confirm payment was made, I am curious the method...

 

sat evenings, no banks are open to wire, and even if they were, wouldn't clear Fed till monday?

paypal (apple pay, google wallet, etc) restricts the amount one can send instantly, so only a bank account transfer could be initiated, and that takes a few days (business) at fastest, to clear?

no way to send a cashiers check in the time from end to now?

I guess the winner could have met them and paid in cash?

 

so, and this is totally from a curiosity stand point, are they willing to divulge how payment was made (as I might like to incorporate the technique myself, in the future)

Plus this doesn't tell us anything about the underbidders, one of whom was a 3-feedback bidder who placed 34 bids in succession. Such behavior does not align with a serious bidder, and could be construed as designed to increase the bid count and thus place the auction higher in a "most bids" search result. The whole thing looks curious, at least. Of course, it is entirely possible that there are four high-end collectors who simply do not participate in eBay auctions on a regular basis, and thus have low feedback scores and 100% bidding activity with the seller. The fact that three of the same bidders are also showing high amounts of activity on another of the seller's books, a Silver Age key, does add to the sense that there is something going on here that raises questions.

[woowoo]

Winner had fb of 13.

All four of the top bidders have 100% bids with the seller. (Three of them are also current top bidders on a Silver Age book, Incredible Hulk #1 at 9.6 restored, being auctioned by the seller.)

 

Just to clear this up. I contacted the Meyers as was interested about this point.

 

They told me he/she has already paid up

 

So as long as you don't think they are lying the sale went through and all was good

 

Congrats to both seller and buyer

interesting...since they were willing to confirm payment was made, I am curious the method...

 

sat evenings, no banks are open to wire, and even if they were, wouldn't clear Fed till monday?

paypal (apple pay, google wallet, etc) restricts the amount one can send instantly, so only a bank account transfer could be initiated, and that takes a few days (business) at fastest, to clear?

no way to send a cashiers check in the time from end to now?

I guess the winner could have met them and paid in cash?

 

so, and this is totally from a curiosity stand point, are they willing to divulge how payment was made (as I might like to incorporate the technique myself, in the future)

 

 

[G.A.tor]

Winner had fb of 13.

All four of the top bidders have 100% bids with the seller. (Three of them are also current top bidders on a Silver Age book, Incredible Hulk #1 at 9.6 restored, being auctioned by the seller.)

 

Just to clear this up. I contacted the Meyers as was interested about this point.

 

They told me he/she has already paid up

 

So as long as you don't think they are lying the sale went through and all was good

 

Congrats to both seller and buyer

interesting...since they were willing to confirm payment was made, I am curious the method...

 

sat evenings, no banks are open to wire, and even if they were, wouldn't clear Fed till monday?

paypal (apple pay, google wallet, etc) restricts the amount one can send instantly, so only a bank account transfer could be initiated, and that takes a few days (business) at fastest, to clear?

no way to send a cashiers check in the time from end to now?

I guess the winner could have met them and paid in cash?

 

so, and this is totally from a curiosity stand point, are they willing to divulge how payment was made (as I might like to incorporate the technique myself, in the future)

 

 

 

let me be clear, I am/was making no insinuation as to the validity of the bidders or even to actual payment....

 

I was/am curious/simply inquiring how such a large sum of money was paid so quickly, given that I have been stymied by such a situation...

roulette posed a possibly explaination that I was not aware of....

 

still curious if that is what happened or if there is another method (as most know, I sell large $ books all the time, but are often concerned over available methods to get paid fast)

[igb-migration]

I've been following this thread closely, and have resisted the urge to post many times. I think there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the situation. The only people that really have insight into the restoration involved are the Meyers, Borock and CGC. Considering how this affects and will continue to affect buyers, sellers, the grading companies, and potentially the health of the restored market in the future, I feel it is necessary to seek clarity on the issues we have.

 

Because it appears the Meyers do not perform restoration as a service, and hence do not have any "clients," the onus for validating both the restoration and the grade of their books falls solely to the grading companies. CGC's team is #1 without question. We have multiple restoration experts looking at these books, and a grading scale that offers more detailed and accurate information than anywhere else. Besides the few books submitted to us the first half of this year, we have not been able to evaluate any potential evolution in the Meyers’ work. They have all been subsequently graded by CBCS.

 

While I am flattered by Emily’s post giving me credit for helping them evolve their process, I have to take issue with their declaration that part of the reason they quit using CGC was the other company’s level of “professionalism, honesty, and moral code.” Considering all of the time I spent with them, the information I shared, and the willingness to grade their books in spite of the issues we had, there is nothing that should have given them the impression that we lacked any of those traits, nor that CCS was ever a threat to them using CGC to grade their books.

 

Emily and Matt have been gracious enough to post quite a bit of information regarding their process. For restoration, transparency is paramount to build trust in the industry. I hope they can shed light on the issues we had to insure that the potentially large number of high value books that will be restored by them in the future will be done in an safe, archival manner. There were two particular aspects I hope have been resolved. They were present on the books we graded (hence the B and C notations we gave), which were subsequently cross graded by CBCS, who gave them professional designations and usually a higher grade. One was the large amount of color touch being applied to the covers, and the other was the material used as a glossing agent over that color touch. Together they would create an unnatural look and feel to the book. It masked details of the book to the point where it became very difficult to accurately assess the restoration and grade. And we were concerned about the archival nature of the glossing agent.

 

Matt and Emily are very talented and driven, and very nice people, reasons why I chose to work with them. They made considerable strides throughout our time together, and a couple of the books turned out really great by our standards. I hope they can insure that these issues have been resolved on the books that currently have very high grades and a professional designation.

 

Thank you Matt for bringing your concerns to the forum's attention. To clear up:

 

We paid you many compliments, and paying CBCS the compliment of having “professionalism, honesty, and moral code” was merely a compliment as well. At no time have I said CGC/CCS lacks those qualities.

 

You shared with us and we are grateful. We've shared with you, and will continue to share with you whatever you want to know. We've never held back and will always be transparent.

 

While we don't have clients per say, we do have partners in many of our books. And they are very big players. They most certainly have a stake in the quality of our work.

 

Regarding your main concerns of gloss and color touch, very glad you brought that up. At your offices you took issue with our gloss. At that time, earlier in our development, we thought a conservation grade reversible "Krylon Gallery Series UV Archival Matte Gloss" was acceptable, whereas you did not, found at Blick - http://www.dickblick.com/products/krylon-gallery-series-uv-archival-varnish/. Since then we made the adjustment and finish a book with methyl cellulose.

 

Your other concern of color touch being excessive was also addressed, as Steve Borock and CBCS had the same concerns. Please see the attached before and after comparison of the Tec 33 in question, you will see we color touched just about the same as what was color touched on the CGC 6.0 B-5, just better. Our goal is to not touch any part of the cover that does not need to be.

 

I guess the last thing I want to be clear about is that we feel most comfortable grading with CBCS because they are not affiliated with a restoration company. I am trying to say this in the nicest possible way - but it just seems like a potential conflict of interest to have a CCS (a restoration company) and CGC (a grading company) under the same roof: Certified Collectibles Group. Also attached - http://www.ccspaper.com/.

 

Matt thanks so much for bringing up your issues, please let us know if we can clear up anything else.

 

And if anyone else has questions and would like to email us directly, please feel free to do so at matthewmeyers1@gmail.com - the email goes to both of our phones and we will always answer:)

 

All our best

Emily & (the other) Matt

 

[woowoo]

Still need a copy of Action 7 between a dealer/collector price. You are the only one. PM me.

 

 

I can send you the money Fast i think it is Sunaday 9.30.am

[Aman619]

As a follow up to Bedrocks comments about the added black spine area, where the finished product no long matches the original comic book design, now having added artwork features... I looked at the Tec 33 just now and see that the left edge of the front spine has been moved 1/8th to the to the left by virtue of added artwork. The "Reg US pat" type used to hug the line, and the bottom staple is now right up against the line, as opposed to its original position with white between it and the line.

 

Clearly the spine work represents issues to the Myers that they feel is best resolved by creating new artwork. But does this pose an acceptance burden to their otherwise impressive work? Or just another kink they will have to solve, if possible.. There must be a technical reason the spines get changed.

 

I'm not a buyer of restored books, but I accept they fill a need for many other collectors collections. Clearly the work here is stunning, and painfully meticulously applied. And they appear willing to learn to tone it down from their original methods which met with grading resistance.

 

But as with many extensive resto jobs I have seen, there's the line between restoration and recreation that these cross, though that might simply reflect the talents of the restorer. The books look so slick in hand that they are the sort of comics that Tiffanys might sell if they branched out into comics!

 

Then too there is supply and demand. I could see them highly valued so long as there were only a limited number of them, Each being the pinnacle of each comic worked on.... Somehow though if the business plan churns out too many, or even 2 copies of the same book, I think the specialness of each will be diluted. Maybe similiar to the syndrome of the first 9.8 that appears.

 

Or perhaps that won't bother collectors, and they do just fine as Bowen Statue type collectibles.

 

 

[ciorac]

I've been following this thread closely, and have resisted the urge to post many times. I think there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the situation. The only people that really have insight into the restoration involved are the Meyers, Borock and CGC. Considering how this affects and will continue to affect buyers, sellers, the grading companies, and potentially the health of the restored market in the future, I feel it is necessary to seek clarity on the issues we have.

 

Because it appears the Meyers do not perform restoration as a service, and hence do not have any "clients," the onus for validating both the restoration and the grade of their books falls solely to the grading companies. CGC's team is #1 without question. We have multiple restoration experts looking at these books, and a grading scale that offers more detailed and accurate information than anywhere else. Besides the few books submitted to us the first half of this year, we have not been able to evaluate any potential evolution in the Meyers’ work. They have all been subsequently graded by CBCS.

 

While I am flattered by Emily’s post giving me credit for helping them evolve their process, I have to take issue with their declaration that part of the reason they quit using CGC was the other company’s level of “professionalism, honesty, and moral code.” Considering all of the time I spent with them, the information I shared, and the willingness to grade their books in spite of the issues we had, there is nothing that should have given them the impression that we lacked any of those traits, nor that CCS was ever a threat to them using CGC to grade their books.

 

Emily and Matt have been gracious enough to post quite a bit of information regarding their process. For restoration, transparency is paramount to build trust in the industry. I hope they can shed light on the issues we had to insure that the potentially large number of high value books that will be restored by them in the future will be done in an safe, archival manner. There were two particular aspects I hope have been resolved. They were present on the books we graded (hence the B and C notations we gave), which were subsequently cross graded by CBCS, who gave them professional designations and usually a higher grade. One was the large amount of color touch being applied to the covers, and the other was the material used as a glossing agent over that color touch. Together they would create an unnatural look and feel to the book. It masked details of the book to the point where it became very difficult to accurately assess the restoration and grade. And we were concerned about the archival nature of the glossing agent.

 

Matt and Emily are very talented and driven, and very nice people, reasons why I chose to work with them. They made considerable strides throughout our time together, and a couple of the books turned out really great by our standards. I hope they can insure that these issues have been resolved on the books that currently have very high grades and a professional designation.

 

While we don't have clients per say, we do have partners in many of our books. And they are very big players. They most certainly have a stake in the quality of our work.

 

 

This is the least surprising part of this whole story line. If there is a buck to made, no matter what methods need to be employed, there are numerous "big players" in the hobby ready to pony up cash to enable those who can extend their already prodigious wealth

[Aman619]

heres what Im talking about.

 

Also, and this may be standard with extensive restoration, most everything looks repainted too, like the Bob Kane sig (which is also repositioned), the lite blue water shapes, and the rule between masthead and artwork. Some of this is no doubt due to the lower resolution of the Pre restoration image they posted.

 

I looked for an unrestored copy for comparison, and added it on the far right.

 

 

[/img]

[Red84]

heres what Im talking about.

 

Also, and this may be standard with extensive restoration, most everything looks repainted too, like the Bob Kane sig (which is also repositioned), the lite blue water shapes, and the rule between masthead and artwork. Some of this is no doubt due to the lower resolution of the Pre restoration image they posted.

 

I looked for an unrestored copy for comparison, and added it on the far right.

 

 

[/img]

 

So it's more reimagined than restored.

[woowoo]

heres what Im talking about.

 

Also, and this may be standard with extensive restoration, most everything looks repainted too, like the Bob Kane sig (which is also repositioned), the lite blue water shapes, and the rule between masthead and artwork. Some of this is no doubt due to the lower resolution of the Pre restoration image they posted.

 

I looked for an unrestored copy for comparison, and added it on the far right.

 

 

[/img]

 

The book was not 9.8 it was 9.4

[Aman619]

well, since all extensively restored books have totally repainted areas, recreation of linework is a necessary evil as id done by eye so slight deviations are to be expected.... And I suppose the standards to date have merely been make type readable and not obviously different from the original printed plates.

 

The Donald Duck cover had a widened black rule that wasn't on the original. The Tec 33 has added color areas plus other mismatching art elements. The restored market will have to decide if any of this matters value wise.

 

 

What Im saying is that much restoration is done "between the lines" filling in areas that need a touchup. But once you obliterate large areas of the covers with opaque paint and other materials, should you be allowed to reposition the elements as you see fit?