It looks like water damage, but it ain't!

[HeyMoe]

I've seen one or two posts concerning what looks like water damage on covers of modern Marvels (a wavy, rippling effect on the cover), but has anyone seen a similar thing on Silver Age Marvels?

This is the cover of Strange Tales 128:

 

And the section of the spine that shows this wavy, rippling effect:

 

This isn't water damage. There's no stain and nothing on the inside pages.

Any ideas what caused it?

What would the effect on grade be?

Thanks.

[CAP Freak]

Have it pressed.

[HeyMoe]

Have it pressed.

 

I'll then need to keep telling people it's restored, and I can't be bothered with that.

[Gone Phishin']

I am not here to spark an argument, but I dont think people would mind. I think they would rather have it pressed out than have the waviness. Look at the polls that Mcmiles posted in General. Most people dont care about pressing at all as long as it is disclosed, and I for one could care less if a book is pressed. If pressing would take that out, Id do it in a second

[Point Five]

I've seen one or two posts concerning what looks like water damage on covers of modern Marvels (a wavy, rippling effect on the cover), but has anyone seen a similar thing on Silver Age Marvels?

I'd venture a guess that the rippling comes from exposure to moist storage conditions of some kind...maybe only that one area near the spine was completely exposed, or maybe some water ran across the cover but was wiped clean before it could really stain.

 

The rippling effect on those moderns you refer to seems to have something to do with the paper stock used, and "seems to be" common to most or all copies of that era. I don't think one can make quite the same case with a silver age book.

[Mutant Manatee]

I've seen one or two posts concerning what looks like water damage on covers of modern Marvels (a wavy, rippling effect on the cover), but has anyone seen a similar thing on Silver Age Marvels?

I'd venture a guess that the rippling comes from exposure to moist storage conditions of some kind...maybe only that one area near the spine was completely exposed,

 

That's it exactly, in my opinion. I think the rippling is the result of comics being stored in a stack in very humid or damp conditions.

 

There was a dealer at the Chicago Comicon in the mid-1980's that was selling Robert Bell's old warehouse stock for $1 per book. Almost all of them had that moisture damage to the edges, you could tell they had been stored in stacks with only the edges being exposed to the dampness. Sometimes it was the spine with the damage, sometimes the open edge of the comic, depending on how the book was situated in the stack. There was no water staining or bad smell, just that rippling along the edge. Otherwise the books were unread and in beautiful condition with original gloss. I ended up buying a stack of about 65 silver age Marvels, and many of them have edges that look very similar to that Strange Tales.

[HeyMoe]

I've seen one or two posts concerning what looks like water damage on covers of modern Marvels (a wavy, rippling effect on the cover), but has anyone seen a similar thing on Silver Age Marvels?

I'd venture a guess that the rippling comes from exposure to moist storage conditions of some kind...maybe only that one area near the spine was completely exposed,

 

That's it exactly, in my opinion. I think the rippling is the result of comics being stored in a stack in very humid or damp conditions.

 

There was a dealer at the Chicago Comicon in the mid-1980's that was selling Robert Bell's old warehouse stock for $1 per book. Almost all of them had that moisture damage to the edges, you could tell they had been stored in stacks with only the edges being exposed to the dampness. Sometimes it was the spine with the damage, sometimes the open edge of the comic, depending on how the book was situated in the stack. There was no water staining or bad smell, just that rippling along the edge. Otherwise the books were unread and in beautiful condition with original gloss. I ended up buying a stack of about 65 silver age Marvels, and many of them have edges that look very similar to that Strange Tales.

 

Thanks guys.

So this isn't any sort of production flaw with the paper, and therefore needs to be graded as such.

 

One other thing I forgot to ask:

Does the right edge looked trimmed?

[Mr. Zipper]

Does the right edge looked trimmed?

 

Nope.

 

[JazzMan]

I'd still have it pressed...it will look a whole lot better and it'll probably be better for the book in the long run.

[divad]

I've seen one or two posts concerning what looks like water damage on covers of modern Marvels (a wavy, rippling effect on the cover), but has anyone seen a similar thing on Silver Age Marvels?

This is the cover of Strange Tales 128:

 

And the section of the spine that shows this wavy, rippling effect:

 

This isn't water damage. There's no stain and nothing on the inside pages.

Any ideas what caused it?

What would the effect on grade be?

Thanks.

 

looks like someone sat on it . . .

[Mr. Zipper]

I've seen one or two posts concerning what looks like water damage on covers of modern Marvels (a wavy, rippling effect on the cover), but has anyone seen a similar thing on Silver Age Marvels?

This is the cover of Strange Tales 128:

 

And the section of the spine that shows this wavy, rippling effect:

 

This isn't water damage. There's no stain and nothing on the inside pages.

Any ideas what caused it?

What would the effect on grade be?

Thanks.

 

looks like someone sat on it . . .

 

And had a really wet fart.

[HeyMoe]

I've seen one or two posts concerning what looks like water damage on covers of modern Marvels (a wavy, rippling effect on the cover), but has anyone seen a similar thing on Silver Age Marvels?

This is the cover of Strange Tales 128:

 

And the section of the spine that shows this wavy, rippling effect:

 

This isn't water damage. There's no stain and nothing on the inside pages.

Any ideas what caused it?

What would the effect on grade be?

Thanks.

 

looks like someone sat on it . . .

 

And had a really wet fart.

 

Great to see some toilet humor at last.

[divad]

I've seen one or two posts concerning what looks like water damage on covers of modern Marvels (a wavy, rippling effect on the cover), but has anyone seen a similar thing on Silver Age Marvels?

This is the cover of Strange Tales 128:

 

And the section of the spine that shows this wavy, rippling effect:

 

This isn't water damage. There's no stain and nothing on the inside pages.

Any ideas what caused it?

What would the effect on grade be?

Thanks.

 

looks like someone sat on it . . .

 

And had a really wet fart.

 

Sounds par for my dorm room in college . . .

[the blob]

i've always assumed, as well, that this sort of thing is a result of too much humidity at some point, not actual water damage, and have described it as such in ebay listings

[nochips]

It's likely caused my moisture. Which is not the same as water damage. The paper absorbers the humidty and it can cause it to wave...It's likely pressable and no one would know but you and the presser.....

[Paratrooper]

Have it pressed.

 

I'll then need to keep telling people it's restored, and I can't be bothered with that.

 

No you don't.

[ArAich]

Have it pressed.

 

I'll then need to keep telling people it's restored, and I can't be bothered with that.

 

 

Pressing isn't restoration...