Pricing Restored Books

[Cosmic Boy]

Howdy Folks,

 

Forgive me if there is already a big, long thread on this somewhere, but I don't have much experience with slabbed "restored" books, and was wondering if there is a general rule of thumb or consensus out there regarding how to price them?

 

And also is there a difference in pricing EP and EA books?

 

Any help or insight you can provide is appreciated. Thanks! (thumbs u

 

--CB

 

 

[Buzzetta]

To me it depends on the extent of restoration.

 

I would gladly take a so called purple label of doom book of a Batman 1 5.5 Restored with a slight color touch over a blue label 4.0 knowing that they might be priced the same.

 

However I would not take anything that is trimmed, extensive restoration and things like that.

 

It really comes down to conservation vs restoration and how invasive is the work that was done on the book?

 

Then it is really up to what the market will support. No one would want a restored X-Men 300 Foil cover... however someone just paid (I think) $3500 in the forums for a copy of Avengers 1 with a color touch. That was a decent deal.

[Tony S]

Howdy Folks,

 

Forgive me if there is already a big, long thread on this somewhere, but I don't have much experience with slabbed "restored" books, and was wondering if there is a general rule of thumb or consensus out there regarding how to price them?

 

And also is there a difference in pricing EP and EA books?

 

Any help or insight you can provide is appreciated. Thanks! (thumbs u

 

--CB

 

 

Rules of thumb don't exist on this subject. People with restored books for sale love to say they sell for about 1/2 of unrestored, but that is only true at lower grades. At high grades the ratio can stretch out to 1/4 to 1/20th of unrestored.

 

Professional is preferred over amatuer. The less restoration, the better.

 

gpanalysis.com lists recorded sales of restored books, which can be of some help. But often times there just aren't many or any recent sales. Matt Nelson with classicsincorporated.com has a section about when it is worth it to restore a book - and how much restoration is worthwhile. He has a chart or two on the cost/benefit ratio. I'm not sure where he got the numbers but at least it's logical and more information.

 

Hope this helps

 

[bababooey]

Matt Nelson with classicsincorporated.com has a section about when it is worth it to restore a book - and how much restoration is worthwhile. He has a chart or two on the cost/benefit ratio. I'm not sure where he got the numbers but at least it's logical and more information.

 

Hope this helps

Here's the link for above.

http://www.classicsincorporated.com/services_restoration.htm#what_standards

 

[Cosmic Boy]

Thanks for all the input! (thumbs u

[Max Carnage]

However I would not take anything that is trimmed, extensive restoration and things like that.

 

Really ? Doesn't this depend on the book ?

 

What if it was an Action 1 or TEC 27 that had extensive restoration and trimmed ?

 

I would (thumbs u

[Tony S]

However I would not take anything that is trimmed, extensive restoration and things like that.

 

Really ? Doesn't this depend on the book ?

 

What if it was an Action 1 or TEC 27 that had extensive restoration and trimmed ?

 

I would (thumbs u

 

I certainly agree. I've bought a few trimmed books (actually, cover only trimmed) of late as they are often the cheapest of restored books. I am not speaking well of trimming. It's bad, we all agree But if you step back and think about it, a trimmed book has had a very small amount of paper removed. Not good, but jeez is it really that much worse than the same amount of paper missing elsewhere on the cover?

 

I find high grade trimmed books to be good choices for further restoration. They already look good, they are already considered restored. They sell (relatively speaking) cheap. With a bit of color touch on a VF+ trimmed book you can have a shot at 9.2/9.4. If it really, really bugs you a good restorer can leaf cast the missing paper back on and color touch the whole thing.

 

My two cents....

[miraclemet]

But if you step back and think about it, a trimmed book has had a very small amount of paper removed. Not good, but jeez is it really that much worse than the same amount of paper missing elsewhere on the cover?

My two cents....

 

but you would agree that "removed" is different than "missing" yes?

 

All other restoration acts are either

• conservation (to stop further deterioration/damage) like tear seals.
  or
  
• restoration: (adding to a book to improve its appearance) by adding either leaf casting in the case of paper, or color touch in the case of ink loss.
  

neither of those acts subtract from the book material

 

Trimming subtracts from the book (literally, there is less there than when you started).

 

As a result I think it gets a (reasonable) further downgrade vs its non-trimmed restored counterparts.

 

I have a trimmed/restored Wonder Woman #199. It cost plenty less than just a regular restored WW#199 (say with slight color touch) would have cost.

 

I dont mind owning them, but they are definitely the lowest rung of restoration in my mind.

[the blob]

but you would agree that "removed" is different than "missing" yes?

----------

 

why does the intent make a differenence? if 2% of the cover is missing via a trim or little joey ripping the corner off 60 years ago?

 

why is a tiny amateur black CT treated differently in the grading that a stray magic market mark on the cover?

 

 

what kills me is the case of a 3.0 - 4.5 book where a small tear has been sealed. it gets a PLOD and is now "worth" 50% or so of the 3.0 - 4.5 price to many buyers when if the small tear had been left alone it likely would not have impacted the grade (and, let's say, there was an equal amount of "shmutz" on the back cover to the amount of glue used to seal it). i got the results on a book that had a spine split nobody bothered trying to fix, but some insufficiently_thoughtful_person 20+ years ago (because I have owned the book almost 20 years) apparently decided to seal a tiny tear on the back (which I didn't see and neither did a very reputable fellow who also handled the book en route to CGC), so now it has gone from a $400 book to a $200 book? you literally could have cut the piece of the back cover off (I assume it was on the back because i can't fathom it on the front) where the tiny sealed tear was and the book would probably still be worth $350, but the "intent" of the sealer knocks it down $200? here, unlike a trim job, nothing has been removed and it could probably be unsealed.

[Maccai3]

is there no formula? like take the price guide figure divide it by 6, multiply it by its issue number and subtract 10 dollars canadian

[miraclemet]

Seems to depend on the grade, the value of the book and the market (some books are so rare that even owning a restored book is desirable).

 

A quick glance of a Bronze key (GL#76) shows:

 

a SA CGC7.0 selling for about 50% of an non-restored 7.0, and close in price to a non-restored CGC 5.5 (so you could either go 50% of or see the value of a book 1.5 grades lower).

 

a SA 5.0 sold for about 75% of a non-restored 5.0, and priced between a 4.0 and a 4.5 . So less of a price drop for a lower grade restored book.

 

a SA Trimmed 9.0 sold for about 22% of a non restored 9.0 (but that trimmed book sold back in 2008)

 

so for a key the drop for trimming (vs non-trimmed restoration) was not that great.

 

but that was just looking at one sample book.

[buuduh]

we should me a price guide for resto books

[Tony S]

is there no formula? like take the price guide figure divide it by 6, multiply it by its issue number and subtract 10 dollars canadian

 

Funny. But no - there is no formula. The only trend I see is restoration hurts less price wise in lower grades than high.

[Tony S]

But if you step back and think about it, a trimmed book has had a very small amount of paper removed. Not good, but jeez is it really that much worse than the same amount of paper missing elsewhere on the cover?

My two cents....

 

but you would agree that "removed" is different than "missing" yes?

 

All other restoration acts are either

• conservation (to stop further deterioration/damage) like tear seals.
  or
  
• restoration: (adding to a book to improve its appearance) by adding either leaf casting in the case of paper, or color touch in the case of ink loss.
  

neither of those acts subtract from the book material

 

Trimming subtracts from the book (literally, there is less there than when you started).

 

As a result I think it gets a (reasonable) further downgrade vs its non-trimmed restored counterparts.

 

I have a trimmed/restored Wonder Woman #199. It cost plenty less than just a regular restored WW#199 (say with slight color touch) would have cost.

 

I dont mind owning them, but they are definitely the lowest rung of restoration in my mind.

 

Yes, I agree. Removed is worse than missing.

 

It's a matter of intent. Someone that trimmed the top edge of of the cover of a comic was TRYING to make it look better - trying to give it the appearance of a higher grade. A corner torn off - or Marvel chipping - wasn't done to try to make the book look better. It happened by accident or it was crappy paper stock.

 

But it's still, when all is said and done, just a bit of missing paper regardless of how it happened.

 

The boards here are chocked full of collectors that would consider owning restored books as long they are not trimmed - which is thought of the same as the plague. Fine with me, lets me buy them cheaper still...

[c-mack]

so many deals to be had if you can live with Resto ...the more and more Im getting into GA the more it seems like Purple Label books are the only way for me to get a copy i can afford ( for now ) but 40-60 % is what i look to pay...good luck in your buying or selling

[Illustrious]

so many deals to be had if you can live with Resto

 

+1000000