Fantastic Four 48 Sharpie Behind Defect? 0

[HeroDreamer]

Hi guys.  Just finally got my copy of FF48 and was thrilled until I noticed the top right corner.  Apparently (pun intended, the original owner I bought it from didn't like that there was a piece missing and stuck a sharpie in there so that the missing piece wouldn't be as noticeable.  I have never really dealt with restoration and always thought of color touch to be covering up of defects such as color breaking creases.  If this was just colored on the first page I would think this might be considered unrestored but it seems he just stuck the sharpie right through the hole which touched the edges where the piece is missing.  

Really just looking for thoughts.  I paid a fine unrestored price for this book and just want my info straight before I decide where to go from here.  I appreciate your time!

[Bomber-Bob]

It is considered restored which cuts the value considerably. I would try and get my money back. Good luck.

[KPR Comics]

Agree, it's restored.  But it is no where near a Fine.  So ... double-whammy

[Bomber-Bob]

Also, if by the term 'fine' you mean the comic grading term Fine, this is not a Fine, more like VG 4.0 at best. Sorry. You should get your money back. The owner of this book was pulling a fast on on you in both grade and the unrestored claim. 

[James J Johnson]

How odd that is, if deliberate. I'm not so sure that it is. First off, of all the flaking on the cover of this book, to color-touch just one tiny spot in an effort to improve the appearance would make no sense at all. The ink isn't the right color, it's black, faded to dark gray, and it appears to be old ink. It's not a Sharpie or the ink would have permeated the newsprint to a much higher degree than it did. Again, even if someone deliberately color-touched that corner perfectly, it wouldn't affect the overall appearance to elevate the overall grade one iota! In fact, I'm sure that if you were to carefully excise the paper of the cover with that ink and the cner of that page or pages soaked by it, the overall grade wouldn't be impacted by more than 0.5 if that.

[HeroDreamer]

10 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Also, if by the term 'fine' you mean the comic grading term Fine, this is not a Fine, more like VG 4.0 at best. Sorry. You should get your money back. The owner of this book was pulling a fast on on you in both grade and the unrestored claim. 

 

10 hours ago, KPR Comics said:

Agree, it's restored.  But it is no where near a Fine.  So ... double-whammy

Guys, thanks for the responses.  I was in a rush and said "Fine" meaning I paid a price in-line with the grade I believed it to be (3.5 ish).  Can always count on boardies to tell it like it is!  I'm so bummed.  I knew it would be considered restored as soon as I saw that but just wanted to check with everybody first.  I was buying it as a keeper but I will never be happy with it knowing I paid a universal price for a restored book.  Even if it is just minor color touch.  I am going to get in touch with the seller and get the ball rolling.  Just for the record, he has 100% eBay rating with 3600+ feedback.  Apparently he is selling off his original owner FF's (so he would have been the one to do the touch up) but no other comics so I'm inclined to believe he may not have understood he was doing anything wrong.  Not that he gets to keep my money.  Luckily I have never run into this issue before and I'm just disappointed that it's happening with the one book I really want right now.  Thanks again for all the info and helping out a 15 year noob!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/FANTASTIC-FOUR-48-The-Coming-Of-Galactus-Marvel-Universe-Silver-Surfer-Watcher/222829525591?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

[Dick Pontoon]

It also looks like the cover has been hit with an eraser. For that kind of money you can get yourself a slabbed blue label 3.5 that presents better.

[joeypost]

7 hours ago, Pontoon said:

It also looks like the cover has been hit with an eraser. For that kind of money you can get yourself a slabbed blue label 3.5 that presents better.

Very sound advice here. If you wanted a quick fix to remove the color touch simply tear off that top corner (something I really don’t advocate, but it would be less destructive  to do that compared to trying to remove it chemically). On a book like this the impact would be minimal. But it would be better to just buy another copy as the Pontoon man suggested. 

[HeroDreamer]

12 hours ago, Pontoon said:

It also looks like the cover has been hit with an eraser. For that kind of money you can get yourself a slabbed blue label 3.5 that presents better.

 

4 hours ago, joeypost said:

Very sound advice here. If you wanted a quick fix to remove the color touch simply tear off that top corner (something I really don’t advocate, but it would be less destructive  to do that compared to trying to remove it chemically). On a book like this the impact would be minimal. But it would be better to just buy another copy as the Pontoon man suggested. 

Thanks for the responses.  I talked with the seller who really did not seem to understand the idea of "restoration".  I explained politely how even just a little color touch puts a book into that category and can negatively impact the value of a book.  He is 64 and really does not deal with comics but listened to what I had to say and in the end preferred to give a partial refund over having the books returned as "he didn't know what to do with them".  He sold me the 48 and a 50 for $370 plus shipping and insurance and I took a partial refund based on the $300 I felt was the 48 part of the deal.  I have never been interested in owning a restored book but this situation was new.  Based on our back and forth I truly don't think the guy realized he was being deceitful.  I was happy with the book (all I wanted was a full M in Marvel!) except for the color touch and ultimately I paid a price for it I felt was fair while cutting the guy a little slack.  I plan on this being a keeper and although I already had the idea Joey suggested, I think I am going to leave it as is.  I kind of like the idea that a kid just didn't like the hole in the cover of one of his favorite books and had an idea.  Maybe it's true, maybe it's not.  But, I'm gonna go with it.  Thanks guys!

[Dick Pontoon]

If you're happy with the book, that's all that matters. I have an FF#5 with amateur CT. I got it for a good price years ago and it presents very nicely. Given current prices, the CT doesn't bother me as much as it used to.