Pencil Removal 0

[tomdruz]

Recently bought a low to mid grade copy of Avengers 1. At some point in its life, a child wrote their name on the cover in pencil. Can pencil be removed from a cover without being branded as restoration? 

[faster friends]

Yes. But send it to a professional.

[Tony S]

With dry cleaning techniques, you risk removing printers ink from areas of the cover that have color. White areas are usually safe. Dry cleaning methods are not considered restoration. 

A restoration professional can clean a cover with solvents and remove a lot of defects - like pencil markings. Cleaning a cover/interior pages with solvents may well get a restored grade from CGC. 

There is no financial reason to consider removing a name written in pencil from a low to mid grade copy of a comic. The name isn't going to have much of an impact on the grade of a comic at that level. Dry cleaning is likely to result in an obvious erasure that removed ink and looks worse/grades worse than the name on the cover. Solvent cleaning is going to be expensive and may result in a restored/purple label grade. The smart choice is to leave it alone and consider it part of the comic's history.  

Welcome to the boards! 

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by Tony S

[tomdruz]

Thank you for the advice!