How to determine if a book has been trimmed? 0

[finalfan7asy]

I’ve purchased a few Silver Age comics in the past and I was wondering if there are ways to tell if a comic had been trimmed other than sending it to CGC?

Some of the ones I own have either a very slight angle to them or are straight but have part of an image missing compared to other comics; e.g. Uncanny #11, top of Angel’s wings are clipped, no pun intended.

Edited November 16, 2017 by finalfan7asy

[Pizzafist]

Check if the size of the comic measures correctly and search for cgc copies of the same book on ebay and look at the covers to see any differences.

[Lazyboy]

6 hours ago, Pizzafist said:

Check if the size of the comic measures correctly and search for cgc copies of the same book on ebay and look at the covers to see any differences.

No.

Printing cheap things like comics wasn't an exact science. You will see a large variance in wraps and cuts (not to mention things like inks which aren't relevant to this question) within a print run. Comparing your copy to other copies is useless, as is measuring.

[Bomber-Bob]

27 minutes ago, Lazyboy said:

No.

Printing cheap things like comics wasn't an exact science. You will see a large variance in wraps and cuts (not to mention things like inks which aren't relevant to this question) within a print run. Comparing your copy to other copies is useless, as is measuring.

+1 Agree . You cannot detect trimming by comparison.

[Bomber-Bob]

On 11/15/2017 at 9:09 PM, finalfan7asy said:

I’ve purchased a few Silver Age comics in the past and I was wondering if there are ways to tell if a comic had been trimmed other than sending it to CGC?

Some of the ones I own have either a very slight angle to them or are straight but have part of an image missing compared to other comics; e.g. Uncanny #11, top of Angel’s wings are clipped, no pun intended.

Trimming is probably one of the hardest restorations to detect. Occasionally it is obvious but sometimes it is subtle. There is even such a thing as micro trimming. No good answer for you. The only thing I would advise is if it looks suspicious, then pass.

[Philflound]

Most pages will have nubs along the edges, so checking for those along with there should be nubs on the covers. If it's really amateur you'll see jagged cuts, but watch for Marvel chipping as that could be deceiving. Also, aged books, ones with off-white or cream pages should also have darker page edges so if they look solid white, that could also be a sign. 

Measuring and comparing is probably not going to help much, but I would personally look at the art on the cover. If a cover say has a character's feet almost toward the bottom, look at the top and see how far the title logo is away from the top. Logic should tell you that the art would shift meaning the closer the feet to the bottom, the further the title should be from the top and vice versa. If the feet are close to the bottom and the title seems closer to the top, then possibly the top/bottom has been trimmed. Hope I wasn't too confusing.

Edited November 19, 2017 by Philflound

[Kevin76]

If the edges are "too good to be true"  they probably are   

[finalfan7asy]

On 11/18/2017 at 8:34 PM, Philflound said:

Most pages will have nubs along the edges, so checking for those along with there should be nubs on the covers. If it's really amateur you'll see jagged cuts, but watch for Marvel chipping as that could be deceiving. Also, aged books, ones with off-white or cream pages should also have darker page edges so if they look solid white, that could also be a sign. 

Measuring and comparing is probably not going to help much, but I would personally look at the art on the cover. If a cover say has a character's feet almost toward the bottom, look at the top and see how far the title logo is away from the top. Logic should tell you that the art would shift meaning the closer the feet to the bottom, the further the title should be from the top and vice versa. If the feet are close to the bottom and the title seems closer to the top, then possibly the top/bottom has been trimmed. Hope I wasn't too confusing.

I never thought to check the edge for color discrepancies. Also, the art shift makes complete sense. Two really good suggestions!

Thank you everyone for your input, it is greatly appreciated.

[finalfan7asy]

I compared my copy to another online and you can see more of Jean’s hair and less of Angel’s wings in the one I own (the Angel above the X-Men title). However, the purple truck on the right edge is missing compared to the online image. You can see the cover slant with mine too.

Edited November 25, 2017 by finalfan7asy

[Philflound]

Your book definitely looks short on the right edge and top/bottom. It doesn't look good, but without it in hand, I can't say for sure. Does the whole edge look very white compared to the page color?

[finalfan7asy]

16 hours ago, Philflound said:

Your book definitely looks short on the right edge and top/bottom. It doesn't look good, but without it in hand, I can't say for sure. Does the whole edge look very white compared to the page color?

I took some photos of the cover and page edges. Can anyone tell if it’s been trimmed?

It is quite an eyesore in its bag/board.

[Philflound]

There seems to be a lot of space on the bottom before printing, so the bottom may be ok. Right edge to me doesn't look good and I can't tell the top. Thing is, most Silver Age had overhang on the cover, so it's possible the cover is trimmed but not the pages.  Sorry, can't help you without it being in hand. Maybe someone else has an opinion.  You should probably send it in to be graded and find out for sure.

Edited November 26, 2017 by Philflound

[finalfan7asy]

2 hours ago, Philflound said:

There seems to be a lot of space on the bottom before printing, so the bottom may be ok. Right edge to me doesn't look good and I can't tell the top. Thing is, most Silver Age had overhang on the cover, so it's possible the cover is trimmed but not the pages.  Sorry, can't help you without it being in hand. Maybe someone else has an opinion.  You should probably send it in to be graded and find out for sure.

Sending it for grading is not a bad idea, I paid a decent amount for the book. Can you send just one book? If so, how much is it?  I’m assuming this question was asked many times before, but I read some mixed information. The CGC website says you need to upgrade your memebership to submit, however, I read somewhere that you can get sponsored by a recognized dealer and send it in without upgrading.

[Philflound]

If your local lcs has membership, you can probably use them. Possibly even one of the online dealers. Not sure how sending through a middle man goes nowadays. Like you said, question has probably been asked a thousand times, but if you have any questions you can't find on the chat boards, call customer service and ask them. Do you have other books you want to slab?

[Lazyboy]

On 11/24/2017 at 7:18 PM, finalfan7asy said:

I compared my copy to another online and you can see more of Jean’s hair and less of Angel’s wings in the one I own (the Angel above the X-Men title).

Like I said, large variance in wraps and cuts between copies.

On 11/24/2017 at 7:18 PM, finalfan7asy said:

However, the purple truck on the right edge is missing compared to the online image.

Look at the greenish bystander next to the staple on the spine. He basically isn't visible on the other copy because he's wrapped to the back cover.

On 11/24/2017 at 7:18 PM, finalfan7asy said:

You can see the cover slant with mine too.

It looks like the two copies you posted have opposite diagonal miscuts on the right edge.

10 hours ago, Philflound said:

You should probably send it in to be graded and find out for sure.

You think CGC can perfectly detect trimming? That's cute.

[finalfan7asy]

4 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

Like I said, large variance in wraps and cuts between copies.

Look at the greenish bystander next to the staple on the spine. He basically isn't visible on the other copy because he's wrapped to the back cover.

It looks like the two copies you posted have opposite diagonal miscuts on the right edge.

You think CGC can perfectly detect trimming? That's cute.

Do you think I should treat this one as an unrestored copy? Not sure what to consider it as.