Would you guess color touch removal? 2 2

[Aman619]

to me its about a sliding scale.  Id scrape off any color touch because I dont want a restored book, and agree with the market that unrestored is worth more. There cant and shouldn't be an incentive to "correct" defaults to achieve parity with books that dont need it. (I know the pressing analogy is just hanging there, but thats all baked in at this point.) So IMO color touch has to be identified as such, and severely penalized in value to discourage it.  But there comes a point where there is so much to remove that it affects eye appeal. This book with its black cover is borderline..the result is pretty ugly. However, there was a LOT of color touch. Do most of you really prefer a heavily color touched copy?  Is it the lower price for one that "looks" the same? You aren't really getting a nicer (unrestored) copy, just the illusion of one.

I suppose CGC could grade books with color touch by ignoring it, and assigning the grade it would have gotten with its color breaking creases visible.  That would be interesting. But the guesswork entailed probably makes this impossible. And further encourage a lot more places to be colored in cause, maybe CGC font notice or not lower the grade even more.

Some 

[D84]

People damaging books to receive a blue label is making me consider getting out of the hobby.

[Ryan.]

27 minutes ago, D84 said:

People damaging books to receive a blue label is making me consider getting out of the hobby.

I understand that viewpoint. Physically scraping away a piece of the cover to obtain a different color of the grading company's label means, to me, that the hobby officially has its head so far up its own ace that it can no longer see what it's doing.

[SuperBird]

[MrBedrock]

1 hour ago, Aman619 said:

to me its about a sliding scale.  Id scrape off any color touch because I dont want a restored book, and agree with the market that unrestored is worth more. There cant and shouldn't be an incentive to "correct" defaults to achieve parity with books that dont need it. (I know the pressing analogy is just hanging there, but thats all baked in at this point.) So IMO color touch has to be identified as such, and severely penalized in value to discourage it.  But there comes a point where there is so much to remove that it affects eye appeal. This book with its black cover is borderline..the result is pretty ugly. However, there was a LOT of color touch. Do most of you really prefer a heavily color touched copy?  Is it the lower price for one that "looks" the same? You aren't really getting a nicer (unrestored) copy, just the illusion of one.

I suppose CGC could grade books with color touch by ignoring it, and assigning the grade it would have gotten with its color breaking creases visible.  That would be interesting. But the guesswork entailed probably makes this impossible. And further encourage a lot more places to be colored in cause, maybe CGC font notice or not lower the grade even more.

Some 

All valid points. But the problem with "severely penalizing" color touch is that it incentivizes someone to severely correct the problem, thus creating consequences that cannot be corrected. The Batman 9 actually had paper removed in multiple locations on the spine to eliminate the color touch.  There are now holes where there was paper with ink bleed through. The book was permanently damaged to correct a past misguided correction. The concept of further damaging a book to increase its value is ludicrous. Unfortunately that is the market we are a part of.

[SuperBird]

@MrBedrock have you seen any recent trend regarding acceptance / pricing of restored books?

[Ryan.]

It wouldn't be surprising if, at some point, the unintended consequence of color touch removal practices is that books with minor color touch get a price boost. 

[Crowzilla]

16 hours ago, batman_fan said:

 I attached one of my copies of the same book.  It is definitely worn but I think it has better eye appeal that the 6.0 with the scrapped off restoration.

 

That got graded a 6.0? That's also a crime.

And yes, your book has much more eye appeal.

[MrBedrock]

1 hour ago, SuperBird said:

@MrBedrock have you seen any recent trend regarding acceptance / pricing of restored books?

No change at all with silver age. In fact restored silver age books are tremendously difficult to sell. As for golden age, it really depends on the scarcity of the book and the quality of the resto, but in general the market is becoming more accepting. Pricing varies dramatically from book to book.

[Inaflash]

Get that color touch removed folks! 

 

[Mr bla bla]

2 hours ago, Ryan. said:

I understand that viewpoint. Physically scraping away a piece of the cover to obtain a different color of the grading company's label means, to me, that the hobby officially has its head so far up its own ace that it can no longer see what it's doing.

I could not have said it better myself.

[The Lions Den]

18 hours ago, Dr. Love said:

I learned to look for beautifully presenting appropriately discounted books, particularly  A-1

The "new" grading scale really lets a buyer zero in what kind and extent of resto they're willing to buy

Well done Doctor, well done...  

[Gotham Kid]

Yet another scrape 'job'

Edited April 22, 2020 by Gotham Kid

[Tri-Color Brian]

I wish slight color touch was not considered resto.  Why can't it have a blue label that just states there is slight color touch.  It's really nothing...just like rice paper for support.  It's dumb to put those in the same category as a book that's had large pieces replaced...

and, as long as I'm ranting...why are "cleaned" books considered conserved or restored?  cleaning just removes dirt...it doesn't add anything...

I think this is just a scheme invented by people who want to get more money for their unrestored books.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Tri-ColorBrian

[comicdonna]

1 minute ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

I wish slight color touch was not considered resto.  Why can't it have a blue label that just states there is slight color touch.  It's really nothing...just like rice paper for support.  It's dumb to put those in the same category as a book that's had large pieces replaced...

There are several GA books in a blue label with the notation, "Small amount of color touch" 

[batman_fan]

1 hour ago, Gotham Kid said:

Yet another scrape 'job'

Looks like it could be.

[Tri-Color Brian]

5 minutes ago, comicdonna said:

There are several GA books in a blue label with the notation, "Small amount of color touch" 

They should all be in blue labels, along with rice paper support and water cleaned books.  Let the market determine the prices, not a label color...

Of course, as one who owns a few books like that I might have a vested interest...

Edited April 22, 2020 by Tri-ColorBrian

[Tri-Color Brian]

1 minute ago, batman_fan said:

Looks like it could be.

Someone might have accidentally scraped that book with a razor blade while reading it...who knows ...

[batman_fan]

1 minute ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Someone might have accidentally scraped that book with a razor blade while reading it...who knows ...

I hadn't considered the, you may be right.  

[badback83]

At the risk of starting an argument, I have a question.  Take the Detective 36 in this thread. It is currently sitting in a blue holder because color touch has been scraped off.  Why is it necessary for the seller to state color touch has been removed?  Of course I agree that restoration should be disclosed with raw books.