GRADE BACK FF 12 (this most likely will be at CGC soon) 2 2

[Bomber-Bob]

37 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

What the West Coast Constaza does to books it's applied to that aren't spine rolled is to reverse spine roll them! You turn them over and the roll is now on the back! As if the book was read in inverted retrograde, from back to front and upside down, lol. That's useless as far as I'm concerned, but it did help an Avengers 1 reholder as a 9.2 from 8.5! So while not that aesthetically pleasing to the discerning hobbyist's eye, it did result in a huge value increase for the vendor who sold it and performed the Constanza.

Yes, the grade did increase and CGC took a lot of criticism for it. I don't think the book would get a 9.2 today. Here is an article on CGC's website about the reverse spine roll. Please note they now consider this technique to be a defect. They also mention this technique is controversial.  

https://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=3501&CCS-pressing-defects-reverse-spine-roll

[James J Johnson]

27 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Yes, the grade did increase and CGC took a lot of criticism for it. I don't think the book would get a 9.2 today. Here is an article on CGC's website about the reverse spine roll. Please note they now consider this technique to be a defect. They also mention this technique is controversial.  

https://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=3501&CCS-pressing-defects-reverse-spine-roll

Thank you for pointing out that link. I wasn't aware of the CGC publishing material on the subject! Odd though, that there's many of them in CGC slabs with a bumped grade to at all call the technique controversial! Especially that the lion's share of them, I imagine, after reading that page you linked, up to a certain point in time, slabbed higher than before, just like the Avenger 1. I don't know exactly when that cutoff took place whereby the CGC views the Costanza as a detriment rather than a benefit, but based on what I saw of before Constanza and after Constanza grades, the sellers generating these enjoyed a huge windfall from reverse spine rolling books that started out with very normal spine alignment.

[Bomber-Bob]

7 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

Thank you for pointing out that link. I wasn't aware of the CGC publishing material on the subject! Odd though, that there's many of them in CGC slabs with a bumped grade to at all call the technique controversial! Especially that the lion's share of them, I imagine, after reading that page you linked, up to a certain point in time, slabbed higher than before, just like the Avenger 1. I don't know exactly when that cutoff took place whereby the CGC views the Costanza as a detriment rather than a benefit, but based on what I saw of before Constanza and after Constanza grades, the sellers generating these enjoyed a huge windfall from reverse spine rolling books that started out with very normal spine alignment.

Yes, I'm sure many sellers benefited from this technique early on. I know for a fact, it's still done, though I think a little more sparingly and a little less obvious. Here's an example of a less is more reverse spine roll....

 

[James J Johnson]

From a 6.5 to a 6.5 under an 8.0 label, the lion's share of flaking defects now hiding in plain sight on the edge of the spine. It's all about optics and at first, the 8.0 version looks like a superior books to the pre-roll revision.

[Primetime]

On 1/31/2018 at 6:28 PM, Point Five said:

Lovely book and the color strike is awesome, but there's a small gnawed area on the bottom FC edge, and a faint stain top of BC cover. I'd guess 4.5, maybe 5.0 with press and clean. The eye appeal is great, but I don't see the technical grade jumping much higher.

 

agreed Jon. 

[Ahsoka Tano Jedi Apprentice]

Bob ...what suburb r u from ?

[makeminemego]

4.5 as is.  

Enjoy it for what it is.  Good looking book, but I'm not sure body work gets you much of a bump in this case.

[badback83]

4.5

[3319comics]

Guys stop arguing about woulda,coulda,shoulda...just sell me the book for $1 and be done with it. Its to much hassle for you to keep this controversial book in your collection. Let me help with the pain

[comicquant]

The stains along with the readers creases will likely keep the book at a 5.0 max; even if you press or fix the spine roll.  Such a cool book! 

[Spawn1709]

On 2018-01-31 at 5:26 PM, Ahsoka Tano Jedi Apprentice said:

5.0

Agreed.

[joeypost]

On 1/31/2018 at 10:56 PM, James J Johnson said:

To the best of my knowledge, although the CGC doesn't consider this type of press that literally creates a new spine, a spine being nothing more than where the leaves are folded, their pressing service does not offer this type of press, but I may be wrong and possibly just haven't heard of any instances of CGC pressing doing this more radical type of pressing.

I do know that there are sellers who do this that also are very adept at all phases of restoration, even though I must once again stress that this press does not garner a purple or green label.

I am not aware of any of the sellers who do this being, at present, in the resto business.

That stated, it's not that difficult a fix. Anyone with a heat press could do this. The book is opened to the centerfold, pressed flat, the spine now gone as the pages are not folded into book form. Then a fold is carefully worked by hand folding a spine in the new position, in this case the new fold at the edge of the spine being the flake line immediately to the right of the staples (the staples will now be on the back cover when the new spine fold is established), and then the fold is first flattened by hand and then further flattened by the heat press. If done deftly, the staples do not have to be removed. In this case, the staple placement is ideal that you will likely not loosen their grip on the paper and pull or show any more wear than the paper surrounding them does now.

Now , that "spine wear" on the front cover will all be shifted to the back cover near the spine, the wear still there, but not as evident from the front! "Costanza", it is done!

Someone like Joey Post here could do this beautifully in his sleep if you have qualms about do-it-yourselfing it.

What is this sleep you speak of?

[James J Johnson]

3 hours ago, joeypost said:

What is this sleep you speak of?

It's a figure of speech, "Do it in his sleep"; meaning that a talented comic conservateur could execute a West-Coast Costanza procedure quite easily and with dramatic results. You haven't heard that figure of speech before, "Do it in his sleep"? That's the manner of figurative, metaphoric slumber I referenced.

[creaturefan95]

5 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

It's a figure of speech, "Do it in his sleep"; meaning that a talented comic conservateur could execute a West-Coast Costanza procedure quite easily and with dramatic results. You haven't heard that figure of speech before, "Do it in his sleep"? That's the manner of figurative, metaphoric slumber I referenced.

[James J Johnson]

2 hours ago, creaturefan95 said:

[ROBTOTHEC]

On 1/31/2018 at 11:32 PM, Point Five said:

In honesty, I wouldn’t recommend the described technique. Most of the examples of this had their pages peeking out along the right edge, i.e. the ‘shifting’ had altered their structures significantly and for the worse. This book has bang-on centering and a very nice natural structure. I’d leave it as is.

 

I agree completely.  This was a dizzying thread to go through, wow!  I think I am looking at a 4.0, possible 4.5 with any luck.  And I don't know why it would go any higher than a 5.0 with a press IMHO. 

[Dark Knight]

4.5/5.0

[fast eddie]

Yup,,,,,,4.5 methinks.

[mdean2437]

bump

[CCComics]

4.5