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Restored Books in Universal Labels
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30 posts in this topic

I have seen blue labels with restoration such as "Tape on cover, interior", "Small amount of color touch", or "Pieces added". Usually it's more common with lower grade GA books, but occasionally I see it in other ages. This X-Men 1 5.0 popped up this morning. It's in a custom label, which I believe there have been issues with citing restoratin but being in a blue label. Can someone confirm whether this should be in a blue or purple label? Thank you.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/X-men-1-FIRST-X-MEN-5-0-CGC-NO-RESERVE/193620608401?hash=item2d14b00591:g:140AAOSw1TFfKWZ-

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So I don't get threatened with a lible lawsuit again :roflmao:

I am NOT implying that any malfeasance was intended by this seller as he clearly stated the accurate condition in the items description.

-bc

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23 minutes ago, ThothAmon said:

Is this a quality control issue or a conscious decision to give a grade as if the piece and glue weren’t there?  In line with how they’ve always treated green or blue label. 

Quality control issue that Brittany with CGC already responded to saying it was a mistake on their part and that they were correcting it (which I'm very skeptical about).

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17 minutes ago, ThothAmon said:

Is this a quality control issue or a conscious decision to give a grade as if the piece and glue weren’t there?  In line with how they’ve always treated green or blue label. 

QC issue, of sorts. If you look up all these books by their slab number, they're all graded as restored (that is, purple label) books. But for whatever reason (hint: cost), CGC decided not to print purple-label versions of their "premium" character labels. What was supposed to happen was that if someone submitted a restored book for a character label, they would get a slab back with a normal purple label and be refunded the extra cost of the character label. What has actually happened in quite a few cases is that they've gotten slabs back with blue character labels that include text describing the restoration (like a purple label would). But too many people just buy the labels on books, and these labels are blue. CGC has said this has been corrected, but I'm also dubious of that claim. In particular, the book in this thread is more recently graded than many of the others we've seen. Is it possible that they've actually stopped this since 06/24? Well, I sure hope so...

The problem has been made worse by at least one person (and, gee, who could that be?) exploiting the issue, almost certainly intentionally, to produce blue-label restored books. That he has been able to do so with some consistency suggests this is (or at least was) a more significant issue than the occasional QC failure. I have no idea what I would want CGC to do at this point (other than, you know, not making there be more of these). Certainly, no one is going to pay to reholder their blue labels into purple labels. Especially not bad actors profiting from this. At the very least, I'd like to see some sort of explicit note added to their certification entry.

I've never had a good opinion of the character labels, but I never imagined this would be the problem with them.

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2 hours ago, Qalyar said:

QC issue, of sorts. If you look up all these books by their slab number, they're all graded as restored (that is, purple label) books. But for whatever reason (hint: cost), CGC decided not to print purple-label versions of their "premium" character labels. What was supposed to happen was that if someone submitted a restored book for a character label, they would get a slab back with a normal purple label and be refunded the extra cost of the character label. What has actually happened in quite a few cases is that they've gotten slabs back with blue character labels that include text describing the restoration (like a purple label would). But too many people just buy the labels on books, and these labels are blue. CGC has said this has been corrected, but I'm also dubious of that claim. In particular, the book in this thread is more recently graded than many of the others we've seen. Is it possible that they've actually stopped this since 06/24? Well, I sure hope so...

We’ve seen this in books graded as recently as 7/10/20.

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6 minutes ago, steveinthecity said:

We’ve seen this in books graded as recently as 7/10/20.

That makes it rather less likely that this has been corrected, sadly. Do we know if the July-graded books have the same, um, source?

Regardless, the more I think about what should be done to correct this problem, the more I think the solution has to be more than just preventative. I suggested that there be a note added to the certification record. But honestly, I'm not sure that's adequate. If I was elected god-king and got to choose the outcome here... I think I would "amend" the certification record for the affected books to state that the certification was revoked, but that any current holder of said books could contact CGC for a shipping label that would allow them to send the book in for a reholder (correcting the label and restoring the certification entry) at CGC's cost.

We all know that the person (or persons, because there might be more than one) who intentionally created these won't do that. But it would at least provide SOME benefit to collectors who get stuck with these down the road, and offer a little bit of warning in the meantime (not that I expect most people look up CGC certifications before buying slabs, but there's only so much possible right now). Of course, I think the chances of any such remedy happening are very, very small.

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From the listing:

" Does read minor restoration but still blue label"

:facepalm:

That implies to me that this seller knows the difference between the label colors and the associated price differences.

Just hate to see someone potentially waste thousands of dollars.

-bc

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13 minutes ago, Mr.McKnowitall. said:

Is this a problem just with the recent labels or could the retired labels have the same problem?

The retired labels could, in theory, have the same issue.

 

Edit: The MS #5 7.0 that was the first book reported here last year is in a retired label for example.

Edited by steveinthecity
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