Could YOUR books be resto???

[PovertyRow]

Rustystaple (love the name) asked about the grade to the Avengers 10 Annual. I speculated on it being trimmed (check Grading/Resto thread for the post).

 

divadrabnud made a telling comment: "With all due respect, nobody trims stuff like this -- what's the book value $2? No motivation -- It's just bad QP all the way." (nice observation, Diva!)

 

I replied "...Such inexpensive books are EXACTLY what resto-wannabes practice on. And, as their "skills" improve, they WILL gravitate to inexpensive but HG books with an expensive HG book or books in mind." But there was no response to this - beyond diva's. diva!

 

So here is my observation: Why should inexpensive books be precluded from restoration BECAUSE they are inexpensive? Does everyone here think think the amateur "restorer" grabs a Giant Size X-Men #1 and decides to improve it? Or decide to pretty-up a Hulk 181? Or an ASM 129?

 

No - they will seek books of a similar time period and composition in low grade first. Then go on to an higher grqade and finally feel confident to sell a really pretty raw book on ebay.

 

I really have to accept the concept that just because a book is cheap it is not a resto candidate. What I CANNOT accept is that just because a book is cheap it is not a resto PRACTICE book.

 

Thoughts?

[uclapeterg]

Concur.

[NewtSamson]

whoever restored my books did a really [!@#%^&^] job. Just check out some of the scans of my books that I've posted over the last few months. .

[divad]

Pov,

 

About all I've ever done to a book, was replace a rusty staple on a beloved old Daredevil, with another vintage staple from a coverless Avengers. I must admit, that what at first, I thought was going to be a relatively easy task, was much harder than anticipated. Staples vary in width, bend, point of entry, etc.

 

If you were going to do this for fun and profit, you're absolutely right -- you would need to practice. I've never trimmed a book, but my experience with the x-acto blade indicates that this would take a lot of practice too. But, you could just keep trimming one book over and over, until it was only an inch wide!

 

I wonder how many people out there have been buying my MVS-less 9.6's, only to exchange the entire page with one from a lower grade copy of the same issue, with similar page quality?

[fantastic_four]

So here is my observation: Why should inexpensive books be precluded from restoration BECAUSE they are inexpensive? Does everyone here think think the amateur "restorer" grabs a Giant Size X-Men #1 and decides to improve it? Or decide to pretty-up a Hulk 181? Or an ASM 129?

 

It's a risk, but an incredibly minor one. So small that I don't even think it's worth my time to even think about it when buying cheap books. If I buy a 9.4/9.6-looking Avengers Annual 10 and it turns out to be trimmed by a restorer practicing his skills, then oh well, I just got struck by lightning and the next 1000 raw, low-cost books I buy aren't likely to have the same problem.

 

I only worry about restoration where the volume and cost risk is greatest, which is in the $100 and up range. I don't sweat it big time and pull out the portable lamp and magnifier until I get to the $400 and up range.

[sfilosa]

I can assure you that there are tons of "color touched" books in all grades and prices from the 60's and 70's. I know I took magic markers to my books in the late seventies just because I wanted my books to look nicer. They were probably worth 25 cent then, and probably worth 25 cents now.

[divad]

[. . . the next 1000 raw, low-cost books I buy aren't likely to have the same problem.

 

I only worry about restoration where the volume and cost risk is greatest, which is in the $100 and up range. I don't sweat it big time and pull out the portable lamp and magnifier until I get to the $400 and up range.

 

BIG money talks, nobody walks!

[sborock]

We have seen many low priced comics come through here trimmed/chopped and color touched BECAUSE crooked sellers think that no one will notice or get them checked for resto because of the low value.

[greggy]

We have seen many low priced comics come through here trimmed/chopped and color touched BECAUSE crooked sellers think that no one will notice or get them checked for resto because of the low value.

[DoubleCovaBrotha]

I have definitely purchased low value restored comics. I started a thread on how to get my money back on a from a crooked seller on eBay. The books in question were silver age Thors (probably in VG+ condition at best), but definitely trimmed. A low grade Thor only sells for $4-5, but no one would even bid on a VG+ trimmed Thor (I know I definitely would not have paid even half that price if the trimming was disclosed.) How do I know the books were trimmed? The condition of the corners is not consistent with the condition of the book. The books had small tears at all the edges, spine stresses, color breaking creases, you name it. However, the corners were still sharp as a NM book. I still have scans if anyone is interested in seeing it. (Or you could do a forum search for the thread I mentioned.)

 

However, there were 21 books and I paid $115 for the whole lot. Looks like people will even trim books that are worth less than $6 a piece.

[Aces]

We have seen many low priced comics come through here trimmed/chopped and color touched BECAUSE crooked sellers think that no one will notice or get them checked for resto because of the low value.

 

[sterlingcomics]

 

Nuff said.

[fantastic_four]

We have seen many low priced comics come through here trimmed/chopped and color touched BECAUSE crooked sellers think that no one will notice or get them checked for resto because of the low value.

 

When you say "many", you can't mean more than 1%, can you? I can't imagine there are too many people who think it's worthy of their time to work up a book worth only a few bucks.

[PovertyRow]

We have seen many low priced comics come through here trimmed/chopped and color touched BECAUSE crooked sellers think that no one will notice or get them checked for resto because of the low value.

 

When you say "many", you can't mean more than 1%, can you? I can't imagine there are too many people who think it's worthy of their time to work up a book worth only a few bucks.

 

That is my basic point - it is the appeal of the cheap books to use as practice material, allowing one to hone their "skills" before starting on the pricier ones. Such books would certainly be worthy of their time. And especially because, as I mentioned, such cheap books can be found by the same publisher, printed at the same time with the same inks, paper etc.

[FFB]

I can assure you that there are tons of "color touched" books in all grades and prices from the 60's and 70's. I know I took magic markers to my books in the late seventies just because I wanted my books to look nicer. They were probably worth 25 cent then, and probably worth 25 cents now.

 

Me too. I used those crappy felt tipped markers. From ten feet away, the books looked great!