Some day, it'll be one of those things that guys tell their great-grandkids about, like ivory-billed woodpeckers: "When I was your age, Sonny Boy, there used to be some comic books that wasn't all flattened out and creased along the spine, almost like they didn't bother to iron 'em after they was printed. I saw one myself back in aught-nine at Wizard World. Some say a few might still exist somewheres..."
Pressing has been around long before CGC existed. On page 472 of the 17th edition of Overstreet ( 1987 ), there's an advertisement from Fantazia ( Danny Dupcak ), that lists pressing/spine-roll removal among other things. So are these beautiful spines in the old label slabs you're referring to truly untouched or were they pressed 15-20-25 years ago? Can you tell?
Depending on the nature of the flaws that are being removed, I think that it's possible to press a book in a way that does not flatten the spine. For example, I've seen books pressed by Matt Nelson in a way that left the spine in its original rounded condition. But, unfortunately, there are a lot of less skilled pressers out there who simply smash the book. And it's become so prevalent that books with spines like Sarte's are becoming as rare as hen's teeth.
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Bad presses and poor judgment in respect to which books are suitable candidates for the process are the likely reasons pressing is held in such low esteem by so many folks.
OTOH, I have as much respect for the care Matt takes with books as I have for the quality of sartre's collection. Both are first class.[/font] (thumbs u
Here's an example of a bad press job. (I have no idea who did it.)
http://comics.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7073&lotNo=93045
The book was a 9.2 before the press (no tear near the upper staple):
http://comics.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=804&lotNo=5126
Ouch!