bapowell

F/VF 7.0

Awesome book. Looks like an 8.0 to me.

6.5

Detached cover is worse. Take this with a grain of salt, but Eta Nick's cheat sheet is based on known positive samples: . This discussion might also be of interest:

Thanks. Are you saying it's maybe deliberate?

Hi all, just got my first-ever slabbed book in the mail today, and I noticed several small specks visible on the front of the slab. These are not on the surface (but not on the book either), so perhaps on some interior layer of the slab. I've tried to capture them in the photos below. Has anyone seen these before? Know what they are? Thanks for looking!

Hi all, This book is in pretty nice shape except for the obvious chipping (though it looks as if it's been eaten by some kind of animal, I do believe this is chipping, albeit in an odd pattern). Nice colors and gloss.

Hi all, Book is in pretty nice shape. A few spine ticks, and a spot of rust on the top staple, but otherwise nothing of note. Cover is glossy and corners are in good shape. Thanks for looking!

Good, I'm happy that my abject misery can be a source education for others

Hi gang, This book has a couple spine ticks, a 1/4" crease bottom right corner, and the corners are slightly worn. There are two small cuts on the bottom edge that I've seen on several other 361's and so I think is a production issue. The big issue is the fact that this book is basically broken, see bottom pic. There is a severe bend that has broken the fibers of the spine such that the book just flops over when held. Cosmetically, this just looks like a spine tick and associated non-color breaking stress on the back cover.

I believe it could be that the reserve was never met on this item. I had thought several of the AS 300 lots had sold, but now I can't seem to verify this. So, I'm going to chalk this up to me jumping the gun and not being careful. Surely don't wish to drag Pristine Auction through the mud unnecessarily. Apologies.

Pristine Auction (https://www.pristineauction.com/) has weekly comic auctions. These generally include CGC-graded books, but every week there tends to be one or two raw Amazing Spider-Man 300's up for auction. The strange thing is that the photos for the AS 300's are always the same, even though the website states "Due to the uniqueness of each item, please refer to the photos provided in this auction" suggesting that these are intended to be the photos of the actual item. Evidently they aren't, and when I asked them, Pristine Auction brushed me off with an irrelevant reply about how auctions are conducted on their website. So, has anyone dealt with them? Thanks!

Thanks. I've pressed hundreds of books this way with nice results. I've had books that I've taken out after only 3 hours that needed more time. Pressed them again for longer and had better results. But, for sure it depends on the condition of the book.

The top edge looks a bit darker than the leading or bottom edges. I've also compared it with an Iron Man 2, 18, an 22 and it's shorter (in the long direction) than all of them (though they are not all the same size, either). Not even the staples are in the same places on any two copies. It really was the wild west back then...

Perhaps. But a press shouldn't do that anyway, since the entire book is pressed (corners, edges, everything).

Here is the description from the seller: "Cover is trimmed close to logo as it came from the newsstand". Any idea what that means? Seems like they are saying it just came this way.

Not that I'm aware of...what looks "odd"?

I see. Yes, it does appear that way, and is maybe 1 mm shorter than other Iron Man comics I own from the same timeframe. Man, that sucks.

Are you saying that someone trimmed them, or that this is a manufacturing defect?

Hi All, One of my favorite silver age Iron Man covers. This book is in good shape, a couple light spine ticks and some general discoloration here and there (see photo of bottom right corner, FC, where it might be most noticeable). It almost resembles foxing, and I can't remove it with a gentle eraser. Also, there is some writing in pen on the BC. Thanks!

So for sure I've never noticed this happening (the conversion of small non-color breaking stresses to ticks), but then again I don't have much experience with pressing high grade books (to go from 9.2 to 9.4, for example) where this kind of thing would be a killer.

FWIW, the following prescription has worked well for me: 165 degrees F for 15 minutes, then shut off the machine and leave the book in for 4-24 hours.

Of course, by definition I suppose if it's done incorrectly all manner of things can go wrong. I was wondering if the process itself -- done by the best presser in the biz -- might result in this. Thanks everyone for helping!

Thanks guys! So I just found out from the seller that this was previously CGC graded and removed from the slab. What was it graded?? Ding ding ding: 7.5

Hi all, This book is in pretty good shape: sharp corners and a couple small spine ticks. My concern is the 1" crease BC, bottom left corner. Also, the oxidation shadow across the top is odd for a comic of this age. Thanks for looking.