Has ANYONE Dealt With Joe Nacca At Golden Age Comics ????

[comicwiz]

Sounds like it, doesn't it? However, it's quite the opposite! This was during the time I had far more disposable income than knowledge about comics...it was a few months after I got back into collecting. It might sound like a shocking purchase, but getting hosed on this copy is the primary event which transformed me into the aggressive sponge for knowledge about grading and restoration that I have become today!

 

 

I take it you paid unrestored premiums for the DD 1? I know what you mean about shocking purchases; my lesson was a restored AF 15; actually, that, and an ASM 1 which pretty much ramsacked my confidence, and silver and golden age pursuits for a few months. Technically, I'm much better at detecting restoration now than I was then, and I'm still somewhat apprehensive about dropping serious coin on a high-premium, high-grade book. Part of that reluctance is found in my suspicions about any dealer/collector selling high-grade, high-premium books unslabbed.

[JohnBull]

Sounds like it, doesn't it? However, it's quite the opposite! This was during the time I had far more disposable income than knowledge about comics

 

Ah, but weren't those days far more fun ?

[fantastic_four]

Ah, but weren't those days far more fun ?

NO! I bought the book, got it in, and then the amount of money I paid coupled with the following fact hit me--I couldn't grade worth a hoot and I had no idea how to detect restoration. So I asked Nacca whether it was restored or not AFTER I got it. He said no, that he had bought it from a local shop around 1980, and that the local shop had bought it from the original owner.I have no real reason to think Nacca was lying, but the book is definitely trimmed. Check out the URC; if you know what to look for, it's quite evident from the scan:

Click for larger image

Buying this book was the beginning of the road that led me to the realization that almost nobody, dealers included, can detect restoration very well. Nacca's not much different from most other dealers, and the primary problem is that there is NO great material written on detection. PovertyRow's thread in the "grading and restoration" forum here is the best I've ever seen.

[drice6900]

It might sound like a shocking purchase, but getting hosed on this copy is the primary event which transformed me into the aggressive sponge for knowledge about grading and restoration that I have become today!

 

web page

[JohnBull]

Yeah, but ignorance is bliss. I bet you did have more fun in those days, after all, what's your chance of buying a NM DD 1 nowadays ?

[fantastic_four]

 

Yea, it's turned me into a huge geek!!! Ah well, since I'm a computer programmer, I was already one to begin with.