Bomber-Bob

I was also a naysayer about casting Gal Gadot but I was wrong, she was great. However, I disagree with you on Chris Pine and the chemistry. I didn't see or feel any chemistry.

I don't think the designation of 'amateur' has anything to do with the quality of work. I think it's more a designation for the type of ink used. Amateur usually means it cannot be removed. Of course it can be scraped off but I hate that look.

This has always been a gray area, is the pressing service responsible for any damage that may occur from their services. That doesn't seem like adequate compensation ?

Another Clink win, just tonight. I never had a copy of this book before though I always liked the cover. It used to be a pricey issue but it has cooled off.

Please understand, historically, these pressing discussions can become pretty 'heated'. My desire to keep the thread on track was simply to keep the conversations civilized and avoid conflicts. I appreciate your civil responses and your examples turned out to be valuable, though as mentioned above, not in the way you intended. Regarding your presser, I am sorry but I still don't think he is doing a good job, adequate maybe, but not good. He has a press, knows how to turn it on, but his skill set appears to stop there. Thanks again for being a good sport about all this.

Seemed like most books I was chasing went for insane prices. I 'settled' for these two tonight. Very happy.

Got this in tonight's ComicLink auction. I think it's a cool book at a reasonable price. Don't see it too often.

I got this in tonight's ComicLink auction. Seemed like a reasonable price in light of most other books I was looking at. I love being a DC collector.

I'm sorry but I don't think this was a good press job at all. This looks like a quick press, high heat, with no attention to detail at all. Those spine creases should have been spot pressed or minimally had another press applied a while later. I may be wrong but in the Before I see a smudge next to Batgirl's left knee. In the After, the smudge is 'gone' but appears to have been smeared and distributed resulting in a broader darkened area. Sorry but I would use a different presser in the future.

I'm not sure why you are showing us these pressing examples ? Some books will improve with pressing, so what ? The discussion, per the OP, was about detecting pressing, how can you tell if a book has been pressed ? BTW, not sure who is doing your pressing but all the after results look wavy to me.

Yes, I think we need clarity on this. I've been waiting 10 days now . I just re-entered it again. The message says a 'few' days. By definition a 'few' is 3 days. I always thought it was 5 days. In any case the message should be more accurate. This cert number is already owned by another user. The comic will be transferred to you in a few days unless the other person says they still own it.

I would think it depends on if this was a common flaw on most copies of this issue = does CGC see this often. In that case they are probably more lenient. I once submitted a SA book with a crease like this across the whole book. The rest of the book looked 9.2 but CGC gave it an 8.5 . Questions like this are difficult to answer because, basically, who can say for certainty unless you submit it.

I don't think I understand your comments. Are you defending the practice of spine realignment ? I realize that, according to the rules of restoration, it is 'legal' but I don't think it belongs in our hobby. The Avengers 1 was not an example of a spine roll flattened out. I remember seeing BC scans but I don't have them. I keep hearing that pages sticking out is 'normal' but not as exaggerated as this example.

For your first ever post you opened up a 5 year old thread to slam CGC ?

I don't think there is an easy way to cross reference the census. Maybe CGC has some search tools available to them. Assuming a 9.8 has no major flaw, what would the resto be covering up that would allow it to be a 9.8 ?. Even the slightest CT touch would be covering up something color breaking. If it exists, maybe a 9.8 with resto was graded when tape didn't count against the grade.

In all honesty, the book is in pretty rough shape. Probably in the 3.0 range as mentioned above. Assuming a blue label 3.0 the book would only be worth about 200.00 . If CGC found something wrong, detached staple, color touch, anything, it would be worth a lot less. IMO, it's not worth getting slabbed. Sorry.

I don't do the SS thing but as an observation wouldn't the best procedure be to get the second signature and then get it pressed and regraded ? Maybe I'm missing something but why would you even consider getting it pressed before the second signature ? There is always a chance the book can be damaged during the whole SS process. This is like taking a shower before a workout.

It looks like the exact same book, before and after the scan. I can see no visible improvements. IMO, the book looks great as a 3.0 but way overgraded as a 5.0 . IF this were in the PGM thread I would say 4.0 is about right. Sorry.

You can't necessarily tell if a book has been trimmed by measuring it. The fact that the bottom edge is razor sharp is suspect.

I would NOT press this book. Much too risky. That spine may tear apart.

The OP also has to realize that, unlike the Qualified grade, a Restored grade does not ignore the defects that are covered up by restoration. So, if the CT is covering up a crease, the crease is counted against the grade. In my personal experience, a restored book usually looks undergraded. BTW, a 9.8 with resto, hard to believe.

Yes, I think you are absolutely correct. BTW, I don't think you are moving the thread off target. IMO, making the public aware of bad pressing examples is beneficial. I just didn't want to see us turn the corner to a debate on pressing, per se. Pressing is here to stay, no debating that. And Quicksilver was correct, the bad press examples ultimately were given higher grades. For that, I am very disappointed in CGC. I would hope that today, with the tighter grading supposedly in place, these examples would not have resulted in higher grades.

The title and point of this thread is 'how do you tell if a book has been pressed'. Please don't try to turn this thread into a debate on pressing itself. That has been discussed ad nauseam.

I suspect he hasn't purchased it yet and wants to get opinions on grade so he can make an offer. Smart strategy. If so, I am suspicious about the bottom edge also. It is indeed razor sharp. You usually can't tell if a book is trimmed by comparing it to another book.

Wow. Great looking book. I see a small tear or pre chip on the right edge. Depending on the severity of that, maybe 9.0 but probably 8.5 .