Blacklight and detecting restoration.

[rabidwolf]

I bought a black light about 6months ago. I can spot obvious restoration on my own but wanted to buy it for things that are hard to detect like minor color touch. I dont think its working. I dont know if its because the light is cheap(I paid about 15$) or if I am doing something wrong. So i bought a cheap cgc purple lable book at a con(with small amount of color touch). Ran it up and down the cover and did not notice anything. I thoroughly looked at the book without the light(keep in mind I knew the restoration was there) and finally saw a couple of pinhead size touches, because it had bled through the cover. Any suggestions in what I should be looking for when running the black light or is the light I bought a piece of junk? Any help would be appreciated.

[nik]

I gave up with my cheapie blacklight, after I missed another one ( and I was doing so damn good) Just got to be more cautious when buying.

Now I use mine to scare the kids

[Stronguy]

You're going to need something like a Woods Lamp to see it clearly.

[nik]

You're going to need something like a Woods Lamp to see it clearly.

Care to enlighten me a little

[lighthouse]

Most color touch can be detected without a black light... and the guys at CGC will tell you that it is best to only use a light to confirm what you already know... leaning on it too much will hinder your grading...

 

Something I strongly recommend is going and destroying a few of your cheapest comics... go trim them yourself, color touch them yourself... look at the results and see what the clues are that show the restoration...

 

If you don't have any cheap comics, go raid a quarter bin... Try to stick with newsprint comics (pre1984) since those are the books you are more likely to see restoration on... And most of the resto you are likely to see won't be any more sophisticated than what you can do yourself in an afternoon. Get to where you can spot that level of work consistently and you'll be way ahead of the majority of collectors.

[PovertyRow]

Most color touch can be detected without a black light... and the guys at CGC will tell you that it is best to only use a light to confirm what you already know... leaning on it too much will hinder your grading...

 

Something I strongly recommend is going and destroying a few of your cheapest comics... go trim them yourself, color touch them yourself... look at the results and see what the clues are that show the restoration...

 

If you don't have any cheap comics, go raid a quarter bin... Try to stick with newsprint comics (pre1984) since those are the books you are more likely to see restoration on... And most of the resto you are likely to see won't be any more sophisticated than what you can do yourself in an afternoon. Get to where you can spot that level of work consistently and you'll be way ahead of the majority of collectors.

 

You beat me Light! I was gonna say the exact same thing. Use the BL as a confirmation. And raid that quarter bin and an art supply store and get some acrylics paints, magic marker type markers, some liquid watercolors etc. A few fine width brushes. Then be as careful as you can in attempting to color touch the quarter bin books. You can learn loads this way!

[Stronguy]

You're going to need something like a Woods Lamp to see it clearly.

Care to enlighten me a little

 

A Woods Lamp is a device used primarily by dermatologist to detect defects in the skin. Basically it's a black light looped around a magnifying glass. The black light is usually pretty intense and will show up lots of defects -- especially under magnification.

 

But like POV and House said. Just practice looking for it yourself. I used to have friends "fix" cheap books just to see if I could find it. Eventually you get the hang of it.

 

Practice, practice, practice -- the $20 you spend on cheap books and ink today could save you thousands of dollars down the road.

[nik]

Thanks

[Calamerica]

The cheapos don't do the trick. Get a Shortwave UV 254 NM 115 Volts 60 Hz. That will pick up ANY color touch and yes, I use mine quite often.

 

CAL

[rabidwolf]

Hi Cal,

Where can I get one of those and how much do they cost? The one I picked up was a cheap homemade deal I get off ebay

[Calamerica]

Try UVP from Upland, CA.

 

Let me look to see if I can get a link for you! I always try to help out Comic Book Collectors when I can!

 

CAL

[Calamerica]

Here is where I get my Ultraviolet lights from: UVP, Upland, CA.

 

CAL

[Calamerica]

Under "Compact" link from the drop-down menu "Handheld" - the UVG-11 series - great U.V. Lamp!!!!

 

CAL

[Ze-man]

Am I not correct that the Black Light you use, also have to be UV?

 

The one i used to take the photos of my JIM #114 is one I got from a company that sells ultra violet activated glues,, and is a handheld black light, but also UV.. and I still think color touch is not made that apparent even with a BL.

 

When I got my JIM annual #1 back, and it was plod, 2 small dots of color touch on spine , I called CGc and was handed over to the resto guy.. (name? not sure.. sorry)

 

Anyhow.. he said he does not really use the Black light much at all.

 

He uses High grade bright bright lights.. and a loupe to get a super close up view to dectect resto work.

And said That is the best way.

 

anyhow.. good luck. and experimenting on a few readers is the best way to see what you can see ..

 

 

Zeman

[Ze-man]

Hi, well I did an experiment myself.

I took an old FF reader.. took out my trusty Sharpie.. and started to color touch.. this is a really beat up copy.. and I tried to make it easy to spot my touches..I took this photo with lights out, and my Black light as only light source.

 

I think at least in this scenario you can see where I dabbled with my pen..

Can you see them? count how many before scrolling down to see my outlines of where I touched book with pen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will shoot a photo of this in normal light to show how it looks in daylight as comparison.

 

Zeman

[Ze-man]

Here is the same color touched comic in normal light.

 

While you can easily tell in some spots where I did it, others are not so easy.

The "Thing" has black sections/segments all over his body, and I only color touched a few.. and if this copy was not so beat up, and inks were darker, and glossy. I imagine it would be alot harder to spot a sharpie color touch at first glance.

 

[rabidwolf]

Hi Cal,

Thanks for the info and the links.

[rabidwolf]

Thanks for the info Z.

Someone also told me that a magnifying glass is a good way to detect restoration(especially color touch) The inks on the cover are dots close up and inconsistencies in these dots when looked at close up indicate color touch.

[fantastic_four]

Someone also told me that a magnifying glass is a good way to detect restoration(especially color touch) The inks on the cover are dots close up and inconsistencies in these dots when looked at close up indicate color touch.

 

That's the main way I've been able to find CT. Taking a very high-resolution scan gives you an extremely similar effect. I suspect a stereoscope is easier to use than the magnifying glass, but I haven't tried one yet.