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CGC 5.0 Slight C-1 Restoration - Small Amount of Glue on Spine of Cover "Can o' Worms"
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I have a book on my desk that was cracked out of a CGC purple label holder. The book was given an apparent 5.0 grade with Slight (C-1) Restoration - small amount of glue on spine of cover. The only mention of glue in the graders notes was "Glue/adhesive (Non-archival material small amount) Spine C-1"

Here's where it gets a little tricky. C = Poor and 1 = Slight. Right? Turns out the entire cover of the book was split and reattached with glue. Handling the book with extreme caution still resulted in the back cover becoming detached at the top staple (which had been held together with glue). When the book was disassembled glue was found all along the entire inside spine. There was also traces of it along the entire spine of the back cover. There was additional glue on the spine of the outer wrap. I have photos detailing all the glue, but it has since been removed so the book can be properly conserved.

Has anyone else experience anything like this? Can anything be done what so ever on CGC's end once a book is cracked? This seems to me to be a severe oversight on their part. Is a discount/credit on regrading the book wishful thinking? 

Edited by Phill the Governor
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Ouch. Sorry this happened to you. What made you decide to crack it open in the first place ? If you bought it already cracked out, I would be suspicous of the seller doing some funny business. Historically, CGC has taken the posture that their liability stops after the book is cracked open. Now, CGC is very good at accepting responsibility. If the book was sent to them in the slab for review, I'm sure they would have done something for you. Otherwise, I think all bets are off. However, it can't hurt to contact them. Only asking for a free regrade may be something they can live with.  Good luck and keep us in the loop ! 

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13 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Ouch. Sorry this happened to you. What made you decide to crack it open in the first place ? If you bought it already cracked out, I would be suspicous of the seller doing some funny business. Historically, CGC has taken the posture that their liability stops after the book is cracked open. Now, CGC is very good at accepting responsibility. If the book was sent to them in the slab for review, I'm sure they would have done something for you. Otherwise, I think all bets are off. However, it can't hurt to contact them. Only asking for a free regrade may be something they can live with.  Good luck and keep us in the loop ! 

The book is not mine and the case was fully secure when It was opened. It was cracked to remove the "small amount of glue on spine of cover".  There was no way to tell how extensive the restoration was without cracking the book. 

The glue wasn't merely "on the spine" it was holding the entire spine together.It's not merely that there was a little more glue on the cover than was expected. Not to mention the additional glue on the first wrap that wasn't disclosed. Am I wrong to think this should have been notated differently? At least in the grader's notes? I understand you are taking a risk when you crack a book out of a slab, but the actual damage and restoration of the book was not disclosed and I would say the books condition was grossly misrepresented.

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1 hour ago, Phill the Governor said:

The book is not mine and the case was fully secure when It was opened. It was cracked to remove the "small amount of glue on spine of cover".  There was no way to tell how extensive the restoration was without cracking the book. 

The glue wasn't merely "on the spine" it was holding the entire spine together.It's not merely that there was a little more glue on the cover than was expected. Not to mention the additional glue on the first wrap that wasn't disclosed. Am I wrong to think this should have been notated differently? At least in the grader's notes? I understand you are taking a risk when you crack a book out of a slab, but the actual damage and restoration of the book was not disclosed and I would say the books condition was grossly misrepresented.

Was the current owner the person that originally submitted the book ? Since the slab was cracked to remove restoration, I don't see CGC accepting any kind of liability. Not only that, you said the glue has already been removed, correct ? I would say that completely removes them of any responsibility.  I've never heard of CGC being held liable for the accuracy of their notes. It sounds like a resto removal gone bad. The whole crack and unrestore game is a roll of the dice anyway. Sorry.

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25 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Was the current owner the person that originally submitted the book ? Since the slab was cracked to remove restoration, I don't see CGC accepting any kind of liability. Not only that, you said the glue has already been removed, correct ? I would say that completely removes them of any responsibility.  I've never heard of CGC being held liable for the accuracy of their notes. It sounds like a resto removal gone bad. The whole crack and unrestore game is a roll of the dice anyway. Sorry.

The current owner did not submit the book. 

As you said, it is a gamble cracking the book. It's just a shame when a scarce book, worth over 1k, is graded with undisclosed problems hiding within it. 

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2 minutes ago, Mystafo said:

Could the glue have been applied in an attempt to reinforce the spine but since it wasn't archival it deteriorated the spine while in the slab? 

And along the same line of unanswerable questioning...if a tree falls in the woods...

No. I have photos that show light shining cleaning thought the split in the cover wrap. While the glue is causing damage to the paper, the cover was already split before it was applied. It was done well enough to get past CGC as a completely assembled book but it was glaringly obvious once the book was disassembled.

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This may not be a popular statement to make here but, IMO, if you are considering cracking open up a CGC slab for any type of work, submit the book, in the slab, directly to CCS for evaluation. If you go anywhere else and something goes wrong, it's on you. If you need your car serviced under warranty, you take it to the dealership. 

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14 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

This may not be a popular statement to make here but, IMO, if you are considering cracking open up a CGC slab for any type of work, submit the book, in the slab, directly to CCS for evaluation. If you go anywhere else and something goes wrong, it's on you. If you need your car serviced under warranty, you take it to the dealership. 

I 100% agree. I've had CCS review PLODs and be able to reject them for restoration removal without even having to remove the case. So then basically you're only paying them to ship it back.

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On 12/31/2018 at 10:47 AM, oldrover said:

I 100% agree. I've had CCS review PLODs and be able to reject them for restoration removal without even having to remove the case. So then basically you're only paying them to ship it back.

This is useful information.

However in the case of the book I have, the point is that additional restoration was hidden. I shouldn't HAVE to go through the grading company on the off-chance that they initially fudged grading the book. 

In my professional opinion if CCS received the book, they would have determined just by looking at the book in the slab (just like I had) that the "small amount of glue on spine of cover" could be safely removed. Once they cracked the book and examined the book, they also would have determined (just like I had) that the spine was completely split and there was more than a "small amount of glue on spine" as notated by CGCs graders.

Edited by Phill the Governor
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