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POLL: Would you press or restore a pedigree comic? I would not...
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Pedigree and provenance comics. Would you press them?   

56 members have voted

  1. 1. Pedigree and provenance comics. Would you press them?

    • Yes. For any reason.
      23
    • No.
      34


24 posts in this topic

I feel like these are improper modifications for a book from an original collection. I feel like it's important to maintain the integrity of the book as it came from the pedigree collection. I feel the same way about provenance books.

I'm not saying my feelings are superior, I'm just throwing them out there. I'm asking for your response and reasoning. What are your thoughts on the matter?

 

Edited by newshane
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2 hours ago, newshane said:

I feel like these are improper modifications for a book from an original collection. I feel like it's important to maintain the integrity of the book as it came from the pedigree collection. I feel the same way about provenance books.

I'm not saying my feelings are superior, I'm just throwing them out there. I'm asking for your response and reasoning. What are your thoughts on the matter?

 

I don't think I would crack one out of its case to press it but I really don't care about most pedigree's. I have some pedigree books but only because they met the criteria I was looking for and not the pedigree itself.

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I am against pressing a pedigree. IMO, it is loses it's provenance, it is no longer 'original'. However, CGC and the marketplace don't seem to care and all the new to market pedigrees for many years now have arrived pressed so this ship has sailed.  

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I really do not own any pedigree of any significance and I've only had one book pressed and that was a ASM #129 prior to being slabbed.  I will admit I've contemplated having it done to some of my original books that I submitted years ago before pressing seemed to be commonplace, but at the same time the old collector that I am is torn about it as to the "restoration"(real or unreal)aspect of it.

My question is how much is it revealed on a regular basis? I know most if not all here do when selling a book, if they have the knowledge it was done, but just curious how much out there is not mentioned during a sale and in good conscious shouldn't it be?

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I'm against the pressing of pedigreed and noted books, for the sake of integrity, but as bomber-bob mentioned, that ship has sailed. It also saddens me to see really special books from the Church and Larson pedigrees for example with a purple label. Then there are the pedigree examples with yellow labels... This is actually difficult for me to type as there are several books in my collection that have probably been pressed, yet I'm ignorant of which ones. 

One of my prized Rocky Mountain examples is also an example of why it is difficult for me to state my reservation on pressing. The book looks amazing and does not show the obvious signs of pressing, like cover shrinkage, but the proverbial writing is on the wall. The book was certified years after the collection was brought to CGC, and the same book of the same pedigree was once in a holder that was a grade lower, with a cert number that is no longer valid. However, the book is one of my top pieces.

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I know that there are many here that get their books pressed , and many notable board members who do press. I  for one do feel that pressing is a form of restoration . Although it pained me I got rid of a Showcase 22 with white pages, because it was pressed. If I want a high grade book , I will seek it out. I will not have a manufactured one. Isn't that part of the fun in collecting,  finding those perfect examples  in the wild?

By the way, when I say pained on that Showcase 22. Guys who have seeked out a Showcase 22 know how hard it is to find them with White  pages.:sorry:

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I'd never press a pedigree (any era)

I'd never SS a pedigree.

I have a few raw GA pedigrees and while I might get them stabbed, I'd never get the pressed.

Why? Cause they are unique and hold a special place in the hobby, and it's not my place to mess with them, since at best I am just the temporary owner of the book.

I'd also not mess with a rare GA book for fear of damaging it....

Now if it's one of hundreds of copies of a book that's plentiful on the market? (looking at you Silver Age and newer)

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1 hour ago, oakman29 said:

I know that there are many here that get their books pressed , and many notable board members who do press. I  for one do feel that pressing is a form of restoration .

 

Hasn't it been said that a book can revert to it's pre pressed state while in the slab?

I'd rather not risk it for that biscuit

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17 hours ago, newshane said:

I feel like these are improper modifications for a book from an original collection. I feel like it's important to maintain the integrity of the book as it came from the pedigree collection. I feel the same way about provenance books.

I'm not saying my feelings are superior, I'm just throwing them out there. I'm asking for your response and reasoning. What are your thoughts on the matter?

 

I don't care about the pressing issue one way or the other, but from a logical standpoint I'd say there is a fallacy in the original premise.  Unless the original collection just surfaced very recently and is being sold directly by the original owner, none of these pedigrees still has their original "integrity".  No matter how careful a chain of owners are, things happen over the years and decades... especially so with older pedigrees that were sold and re-sold in the pre-slab era.  Every Church copy that left the relatively dry climate of Colorado and was moved to a far more humid state was immediately and irrevocably altered.  Every pedigree mailed across the country in hot trucks and train cars has been altered.  Every book passed through half a dozen collectors and handled by a series of graders has been altered.  Are you preserving the integrity of a corner bump that the original owner placed there, or one that occurred years later?  Is that an Edgar Church fingerprint... of one from somebody in 1997?  Again... everyone should make up their own mind how they want their collection to be treated... but it's probably good to remember that none of these items is sealed in a time vacuum.

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Here's an example of what can happen with a pressed Pedigree. If you are not familiar with the Winnipeg pedigree the SA books had the owner's signature neatly written on the top. The first image is of it's original state. Look at the signature on the second, pressed image. The ink is now smeared and ugly. How can anyone consider this an original pedigree anymore ? BTW, CGC did not care and actually gave the smeared fugly copy a higher grade. Sad.

 

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