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Trimmed or not? Atlas war books on the Bay
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40 posts in this topic

I bought this copy of War Action a month or so ago on the Bay from a leading seller of books and it was starkly obvious it was trimmed. It's over an 1/8 inch shorter than ANY other Atlas book I compared it to, and the "fuzz" on the top edge had to be tamped down as the static of being in the bag had it standing up on end. Not only that, the book had sharper corners on the upper back cover than a modern variant. The book pictured is the one I received, even though it's a mix-up of sorts and still listed as the seller has multiple copies.

When I messaged them my concerns, I got the terribly generic response: "We are sorry to hear that you disagree with the grade of the comic. Please initiate a return through eBay's return system and we will happily refund you for the item and the shipping..." I thanked them for just that, a generic response, and asked if they had the book pictured in the description of the copy I purchased, at which point they said it was sold (it's not; it's still listed with them).

I had bought books from them before without incident, but the lack of any sense of priority on their part to address the possible trimming or send me the book I PURCHASED is disappointing in the least. At least lie to me and tell me you'll look into it... 

Below is the number 6, as well as a few suspicious examples of books for sale. Of course it's more difficult to tell from a cover scan than having the book in hand, but what do you think? Is there something amiss with these books?

 

War_Action_6.jpg

War_Action_9.jpg

Battle_Action_6.jpg

Edited by PopKulture
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Years ago I had a trimming psychosis. Every book with sharp edges I was suspicious of.

Points that hints against trimming: Those books were almost worthless a couple years ago so why would someone bother to put the work into. If there is no other resto like tear seals or ct it also speaks against resto imo bc if someone takes the effort of trimming this book it is likely he doesnt stop there. And not few of those books have been cut weirdly at the printer.

Edited by GermanFan
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6 hours ago, GermanFan said:

Years ago I had a trimming psychosis. Every book with sharp edges I was suspicious of.

Points that hints against trimming: Those books were almost worthless a couple years ago so why would someone bother to put the work into. If there is no other resto like tear seals or ct it also speaks against resto imo bc if someone takes the effort of trimming this book it is likely he doesnt stop there. And not few of those books have been cut weirdly at the printer.

I don't disagree, but it is possible these were used as practice for trimming as less valuable books, OR some OCD person (or kid) did them a long time ago, more for OCD purposes than nefarious purposes.

FYI I'd be suspicious, but I lack the skill to say for sure.  But it'd probably keep me from buying.

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7 hours ago, GermanFan said:

Years ago I had a trimming psychosis. Every book with sharp edges I was suspicious of.

These are the first book I am pretty certain is trimmed, mostly because as you mention it is a comparatively inexpensive book, and those are the kind I tend to dabble in these days. 

If you look at zooms of the largest scans posted on the Bay, you might be otherwise persuaded. 

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21 minutes ago, revat said:

FYI I'd be suspicious, but I lack the skill to say for sure.  But it'd probably keep me from buying.

I'm glad I'm getting some opinions to the contrary, but as you state, it will be enough to keep me from buying.  (shrug)

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17 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

You're OK here, IMO. I don't see any tells for trimming on all three. (thumbsu

What else should I be weary of? My book has razor sharp corners on the back cover, small dimple lines that run parallel to the suspicious, straight top edge, and is smaller than any other books from this era?  

I'm not saying it was very well done, and as suggested, it could have been done by a collector who liked to clean up a few ragged edges on his books.  :/

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1 hour ago, PopKulture said:

What else should I be weary of? My book has razor sharp corners on the back cover, small dimple lines that run parallel to the suspicious, straight top edge, and is smaller than any other books from this era?  

I'm not saying it was very well done, and as suggested, it could have been done by a collector who liked to clean up a few ragged edges on his books.  :/

You posted front cover perspectives, but are addressing concerns about back cover characteristics. Are you able to post the images of the back covers? Because based on the images thus far shown, I can't see any suspicious tells. Not without back cover features that I may be able to correlate to front cover characteristics.as being indicative of possible trim.

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1 hour ago, PopKulture said:

What else should I be weary of? My book has razor sharp corners on the back cover, small dimple lines that run parallel to the suspicious, straight top edge, and is smaller than any other books from this era?  

I'm not saying it was very well done, and as suggested, it could have been done by a collector who liked to clean up a few ragged edges on his books.  :/

This is why we have to see the back covers, so far not shown. These are far from razor sharp edges:

 

War_Action_9_thumb_jpg_70578912bb96046f9201b9aa3c811e46.jpg

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3 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

This is why we have to see the back covers, so far not shown. These are far from razor sharp edges:

 

War_Action_9_thumb_jpg_70578912bb96046f9201b9aa3c811e46.jpg

Thanks for the responses. For the above book, I don't have the book. The above is the seller's image from the current listing. They do not have a back cover scan. 

The above book shows a fanning of pages on the right margin, and a spine shear - shouldn't that mean the pages on the top and bottom edges should also fan out with the spine twist? They don't: they're straight and in-line.

It's even more pronounced as you zoom in on the scan of the War Action 9 as listed on the Bay.  

Below is a scan of the back corner of the book I received:

 

War_Action_6_corner.jpg

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5 minutes ago, 1950's war comics said:

not trimmed , Atlas notorious for mis-centered cuts , your comic has much more on the bottom and also on the right side than this CGC blue label

I appreciate the input. Being mis-cut is one thing - and I own plenty of books that appear miscut - but it is over an eighth of an inch shorter than ANY other Atlas I own from that era. If it was just a miscut, I would have not suspected as much if it didn't also sport a "fuzzy" top edge (which doesn't necessarily show up in the scan as much as in hand).  

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1 hour ago, PopKulture said:

Thanks for the responses. For the above book, I don't have the book. The above is the seller's image from the current listing. They do not have a back cover scan. 

The above book shows a fanning of pages on the right margin, and a spine shear - shouldn't that mean the pages on the top and bottom edges should also fan out with the spine twist? They don't: they're straight and in-line.

It's even more pronounced as you zoom in on the scan of the War Action 9 as listed on the Bay.  

Below is a scan of the back corner of the book I received:

 

War_Action_6_corner.jpg

Which of the three books does this back cover image correspond to? And it would be far more helpful to see an image of the entire back cover if possible.

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1 minute ago, PopKulture said:

I appreciate the input. Being mis-cut is one thing - and I own plenty of books that appear miscut - but it is over an eighth of an inch shorter than ANY other Atlas I own from that era. If it was just a miscut, I would have not suspected as much if it didn't also sport a "fuzzy" top edge (which doesn't necessarily show up in the scan as much as in hand).  

i have an Atlas war comic that is 3/8 inch LARGER than any other i own lol 

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6 minutes ago, 1950's war comics said:

in this lower condition it is worth the same regardless even if it is trimmed... but i have seen many Atlas war that looked similar....

 

Without seeing the entire back cover of that War Action 9, I can't fully assess if what appears to be a spine roll seems normal, as to be expected on both front and back cover. It would be great to have front and back covers for all of these. Seeing just one side without the other paints only half the picture.

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1 minute ago, James J Johnson said:

Which of the three books does this back cover image correspond to? And it would be far more helpful to see an image of the entire back cover if possible.

This is the back cover to number 6. I'll post a full scan of the back cover tonight.  

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