Making Sense of Trimming

[kc120us]

Trimming isn't in a league of its own. There are people here that don't mind trimming. There are people here who don't like trimming.

 

Trimming came about as a way to make a not so new looking book look new again by cutting part of it off. Trimming is not a restorative measure. It is not a conservative measure. It doesn't matter how small or large the piece trimmed.

 

I think you are over thinking it. Plus, I don't understand how you are confused. You either believe something to be or you don't. Trimming in itself is neither good or bad. It is how someone uses it. The intent of the person doing the trimming. As a matter of fact, that can be said for all forms of restoration and conservation.

 

You have to decide what is acceptable to you and work from there.

 

 

[awe4one]

Plus, a disassembled book with garner a PLOD or GLOD label as there really isn't any way to get those staples back into their pre-disassembled position.

 

That's not true. Steve came out and said CGC doesn't consider disassembly a resto procedure nor will it get the GLOD...

 

Jim

[mtlevy]

Interesting debate...but I do not like trimmed books at all to me it is amateur restoration...I mean does a professional ever trim a book?

 

That said my beat copy of FF1 is trimmed....but that's why it was so cheap!

 

-- Mark

 

 

[homerwannabee]

For me color restoration and trimming are just as bad.

[DrWatson]

Plus, a disassembled book with garner a PLOD or GLOD label as there really isn't any way to get those staples back into their pre-disassembled position.

 

That's not true. Steve came out and said CGC doesn't consider disassembly a resto procedure nor will it get the GLOD...

 

Jim

Well, I be kiss my azz. I could have sworn that I read differently here. That if CGC finds a book where the staples do not match up with the indentions then they assume they were replaced and label the book GLOD with replaced staples.

[kc120us]

Plus, a disassembled book with garner a PLOD or GLOD label as there really isn't any way to get those staples back into their pre-disassembled position.

 

That's not true. Steve came out and said CGC doesn't consider disassembly a resto procedure nor will it get the GLOD...

 

Jim

 

That is correct and I would agree. Disassembly and reassembly by itself does not constitute restoration. Why? Because, disassembly is not destruction. There is a big difference. Disassembly is a careful process of separating the comic into its constituent elements. Destroying is reducing a comic to useless parts beyond repair. Tearing a book up is destroying it.

 

Destroy:

1. to reduce (an object) to useless fragments, a useless form, or remains, as by rending, burning, or dissolving; injure beyond repair or renewal; demolish; ruin; annihilate.

 

Disassemble:

1. To take a part

 

 

[Sal]

if a comic is trimmed in the woods, and no one is around, does it still reduce the value by 90%?

 

 

wait, that's not how it goes...

 

 

let me get back to you guys, i have to brush up on my existentialism

[jimjum12]

I don't believe they are ruined. That is a majority stance taken by the hobby but I disagree with that stance (go figure). I would rather have a book with a slight trim than a book with chunks added. The book is nearly 99 percent original even after a trim. That's how I look at it.

 

I do dislike a poor trim job where the book looks miscut just like a dislike a poor factory miscut though. If it's trimmed it needs to look factory original.

 

 

R.

 

 

 

Trimming is the last item on the resto menu that holds stigma for me....but there are instances of trimming that is SO slight that even the experts have trouble detecting.Susan Ciccone has publically stated that pro trimming is the MOST difficult proceedure to detect.If this is true...how horrible can it really be .I would probably not be interested in a book that was slid into a paper cutter and the whole book's edge sheared off flush and square but pro resto usually deals with covers only.A recent Clink auction featured a JIM 89 in 9.2 that was trimmed and sold for a few hundred dollars.I regret not getting it.I don't expect retored books to ever equal unrestored...but I do believe the current level of hysteria is VERY illogical...as are most forms of prejudice.My opinion has slowly changed over the years, by taking the time to make my OWN opinion after carefully examining books with slight to moderate pro resto.They're not that horrible.I had an FF 13 Slight P(trimmed ) in CGC 8.0 that I sold to a board member a while back that we both believed was NOT trimmed.I've owned a bunch of FF 13's and thre are a few different"cuts"...this copy was a miscut one but not unlike many others I had owned.It WAS graded shortly after the Ewart fiasco,which may have contributed to the PLOD.Those of you out there who are still undecided about all this....do yourself a favor....if it is a book you've always wanted and you probably won't sell anyway, at least give the INDIVIDUAL book an examination and make your own decision...you may save yourself a bundle of money.GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[sborock]

Here's the rub.........

 

Let's say the hobby embraces trimming. How much is o.k.?

 

Micro trim? 1/10 of an inch? 1/4 inch? 2 inches? Will a comic be much smaller than others when it is "not allowed"?

 

My biggest problem with many of the trimming jobs I have seen is the the book looks un-natural.

[Mr. Zipper]

While I am not "pro-trimming", it does seem to be the big bad boogeyman de jour. "Destructive", "removing the book", insert talking point, etc. etc.

 

The fact of the matter is many trimmed books have MORE paper than factory trimmed books, and 99% of collectors would never know they were trimmed if the CGC label didn't say so.

 

As we all know, collective attitudes change, the pendulum swings, and books with minimal trimming will someday not be so stigmatized.

 

I'd be happy to buy sweet Silver Age books with minimal trimming for 10% of guide all day long.

Ok Steve, you have been in this hobby much longer than I, but what has the traditional opinion be in regards to trimming?

 

Have I been around longer than you? I thought we were around the same age.

 

I don't think trimming (or any other procedure) has ever been embraced. However, it seems in the last 8 years it's broken away from the pack and landed on the far end of the "taboo" spectrum.

 

I will say that a significantly trimmed book is pretty bad and just doesn't look or feel right. Especially when it is a whole book "chop cut." Yuck.

 

Slight trims of the cover only seem to have been hammered disproportionately hard.

[General Zod]

Here's the rub.........

 

Let's say the hobby embraces trimming. How much is o.k.?

 

Micro trim? 1/10 of an inch? 1/4 inch? 2 inches? Will a comic be much smaller than others when it is "not allowed"?

 

My biggest problem with many of the trimming jobs I have seen is the the book looks un-natural.

 

I am of the mind that trimming should never ever be done. "Give them an inch, and they'll take a mile."