Resto: Proposed Definition

[seanfingh]

I want a "VIRGIN" label or its equivalent. Perhaps just blue universal with the word VIRGIN stamped on it. I can't believe pressing is not detectable. Not with your eye or a loop but perhaps at the microscopic or even subatomic level. Not that I expect cgc graders to start using scanning electron microscopes or spectrometers but ok yeah maybe I do. And while they are at it, use a quantifiable algorithm to calculate all the variations on defects and resto-conserv-optimo. mess if we can use a fast Fourier transform to accurately map the icy rocky strata of Jupiter's moon Europa from earth with nothing but a low gain antenna and a satellite probe at 128k bitrate on an anemic NASA budget, surely cgc could hire a math/physics intern for a summer to develop and program a tool to do this using high resolution scanners attached to microscopes.

sigh. For now I am starting to lose faith in the universal label as a means of certifying no tampering.

 

I like turtles.

[Racer-X]

I want a "VIRGIN" label or its equivalent. Perhaps just blue universal with the word VIRGIN stamped on it. I can't believe pressing is not detectable. Not with your eye or a loop but perhaps at the microscopic or even subatomic level. Not that I expect cgc graders to start using scanning electron microscopes or spectrometers but ok yeah maybe I do. And while they are at it, use a quantifiable algorithm to calculate all the variations on defects and resto-conserv-optimo. mess if we can use a fast Fourier transform to accurately map the icy rocky strata of Jupiter's moon Europa from earth with nothing but a low gain antenna and a satellite probe at 128k bitrate on an anemic NASA budget, surely cgc could hire a math/physics intern for a summer to develop and program a tool to do this using high resolution scanners attached to microscopes.

sigh. For now I am starting to lose faith in the universal label as a means of certifying no tampering.

 

I like turtles.

 

Some turtles get their flippers bitten off and have them replaced with plastic flippers by scientists. Do you like those turtles?

[miraclemet]

I want a "VIRGIN" label or its equivalent. Perhaps just blue universal with the word VIRGIN stamped on it. I can't believe pressing is not detectable. Not with your eye or a loop but perhaps at the microscopic or even subatomic level. Not that I expect cgc graders to start using scanning electron microscopes or spectrometers but ok yeah maybe I do. And while they are at it, use a quantifiable algorithm to calculate all the variations on defects and resto-conserv-optimo. mess if we can use a fast Fourier transform to accurately map the icy rocky strata of Jupiter's moon Europa from earth with nothing but a low gain antenna and a satellite probe at 128k bitrate on an anemic NASA budget, surely cgc could hire a math/physics intern for a summer to develop and program a tool to do this using high resolution scanners attached to microscopes.

sigh. For now I am starting to lose faith in the universal label as a means of certifying no tampering.

 

I like turtles.

 

I like the idea of a con full of comic book collectors clamoring for virgins...

[lscomics]

I want a "VIRGIN" label or its equivalent. Perhaps just blue universal with the word VIRGIN stamped on it. I can't believe pressing is not detectable. Not with your eye or a loop but perhaps at the microscopic or even subatomic level. Not that I expect cgc graders to start using scanning electron microscopes or spectrometers but ok yeah maybe I do. And while they are at it, use a quantifiable algorithm to calculate all the variations on defects and resto-conserv-optimo. mess if we can use a fast Fourier transform to accurately map the icy rocky strata of Jupiter's moon Europa from earth with nothing but a low gain antenna and a satellite probe at 128k bitrate on an anemic NASA budget, surely cgc could hire a math/physics intern for a summer to develop and program a tool to do this using high resolution scanners attached to microscopes.

sigh. For now I am starting to lose faith in the universal label as a means of certifying no tampering.

 

I like turtles.

+1

[jimbo_707]

I wish THIS were CGC's accepted definition of comic book restoration - whaddaya think?:

 

BLUE LABEL:

Given to any comic that has had no foreign substance added to it, or original material removed from it, ON PURPOSE FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING IT'S APPEARANCE

-- Stains, al la coffee ring: not added on purpose...gets Blue

-- Tape: added on purpose, gets Purple (see below)

-- Doodles...decreased grade, but Blue (not done to improve appearance)

-- Date stamp...possible decreased grade, but Blue (not added to improve appearance)

-- MVS/coupon missing...Blue, but downgraded & noted on label (not removed to improve appearance)

-- 1/2 page or less missing...Blue but downgraded and noted on label

-- More than 1/2 page missing...Incomplete designation

-- Pressed...Blue (no material added or removed)

 

PURPLE:

Given to any comic that has had a foreign substance added to it or original material removed from it in order to improve it's appearance:

-- Tape...Purple

-- Color touch...Purple

-- Glue...Purple

-- Trim: Material removed in order to improve appearance...Purple

 

QUALIFIED:

Lose this label: downgrade all "qualified" flaws under a Blue/Purple label, and note on label

 

I would agree with you on most things. (In terms of getting rid of the green label, I assume "married" centerfolds, etc., would move to purple?)

 

However, I would give pressed books a purple label because they do have hidden defects. (Those creases are all still there at the microscopic level - they're just not visible to the naked eye.)

 

At the same time, I'd like to see purple-label books lose some of their stigma. Sealing tears may prevent those tears from spreading, cleaning (or replacing) rusty staples may prevent the rust from staining the cover, etc. I'm not convinced a book should lose 75% of its value because someone sealed a spine split or replaced a rusty staple.

[Bookery]

I want a "VIRGIN" label or its equivalent. Perhaps just blue universal with the word VIRGIN stamped on it.

 

It wouldn't matter if anybody has restored this comic or not... there is no way this issue will ever get a Virgin label. No way!

 

 

I can't believe pressing is not detectable.

 

Then you do it. Why are you turning down the millions of dollars you'd make offering this simple service?

 

Not with your eye or a loop but perhaps at the microscopic or even subatomic level. Not that I expect cgc graders to start using scanning electron microscopes or spectrometers but ok yeah maybe I do. And while they are at it, use a quantifiable algorithm to calculate all the variations on defects and resto-conserv-optimo.

 

New CGC service fees:

 

Grading service ........................ $22.00

Holder and handling fees ...... $3.50

Restoration check ........... $11,350.00

Shipping & Insurance ................ $15.00

 

Total (1 book ) = $11,390.50

 

[bluechip]

I wish THIS were CGC's accepted definition of comic book restoration - whaddaya think?:

 

BLUE LABEL:

Given to any comic that has had no foreign substance added to it, or original material removed from it, ON PURPOSE FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING IT'S APPEARANCE

-- Stains, al la coffee ring: not added on purpose...gets Blue

-- Tape: added on purpose, gets Purple (see below)

-- Doodles...decreased grade, but Blue (not done to improve appearance)

-- Date stamp...possible decreased grade, but Blue (not added to improve appearance)

-- MVS/coupon missing...Blue, but downgraded & noted on label (not removed to improve appearance)

-- 1/2 page or less missing...Blue but downgraded and noted on label

-- More than 1/2 page missing...Incomplete designation

-- Pressed...Blue (no material added or removed)

 

PURPLE:

Given to any comic that has had a foreign substance added to it or original material removed from it in order to improve it's appearance:

-- Tape...Purple

-- Color touch...Purple

-- Glue...Purple

-- Trim: Material removed in order to improve appearance...Purple

 

QUALIFIED:

Lose this label: downgrade all "qualified" flaws under a Blue/Purple label, and note on label

 

I would agree with you on most things. (In terms of getting rid of the green label, I assume "married" centerfolds, etc., would move to purple?)

 

However, I would give pressed books a purple label because they do have hidden defects. (Those creases are all still there at the microscopic level - they're just not visible to the naked eye.)

 

At the same time, I'd like to see purple-label books lose some of their stigma. Sealing tears may prevent those tears from spreading, cleaning (or replacing) rusty staples may prevent the rust from staining the cover, etc. I'm not convinced a book should lose 75% of its value because someone sealed a spine split or replaced a rusty staple.

 

The stigma is 75% or more of the purple label's reason for existing.

 

Is the "I want a 'VIRGIN' label" a joke or somebody just being more honest about what they really want the label for, instead of agenda non-disclosing dodges such as "people at cons need to be able to tell from across the room that it's restored, so they don't waste their time inquiring about it."

 

For some, it is all about hating certain things that might have been done to a book, and being dissatisfied with the way that not everybody hates it as much as they do. And, one way to make people avoid the book, whether or not they hate it, is to stigmatize it.

 

And that tends to blur CGC's reason for being, making it less of a grading company and more of a stigmatization company.

 

[Cat-Man_America]

YELLOW (gold) LABEL:

 

Signature Series (category opened up to include submissions of collectibles authenticated by handwriting experts to document historic signatures, thus eliminating the self-serving appearance of CGC controlled signings)

 

No, thank you. And it's never going to happen either.

So you wouldn't want a Kirby, Simon, Kane, etc. signature to be able to be authenticated in a CGC case, just hammered as a defect or a GLOD? Never understood this opinion. There are professionals who are supposedly good at this and well-respected in other hobbies. Why not ours?

 

Because the beauty of the SS program is that it's completely black & white - the signature was either witnessed by a CGC employee or CAW (= yellow label) or it was not (= green label).

 

After-the-fact signature verification is spurious at best - with the way the SS system is set up right now, there's zero guesswork or uncertainty when you're buying a yellow label book.

I totally disagree. So professionals who authenticate George Washington's signature are spurious because they weren't there? Or JFK, or Marilyn Monroe, etc. etc.? These people's sigs are worth a heck of a lot more money than dead comics professionals, but there are trusted authentication processes people can go to, and they are generally accepeted. The SS system is a nice monopoly for CGC, but by your logic the most valuable signatures are impossible to authenticate because the signer is dead. Heck, signature authorities are used in court to establish paper trails, but, since the signings weren't witnessed by CGC, I guess they should be treated as dross and tossed aside.

 

Here is the thing, if you want after-the-fact authentication, go get it. We get this sort of shoe-banging indignation in the Sig Room all the time. That is not what CGC is providing. They never have, and hopefully they never will.

 

The Yellow label is one thing and one thing only - A CGC authorized witness saw the person sign. No one is saying that marginalizes older signatures, or that they are dross, or that they should be tossed aside. They are simply not eligible for the Yellow label. CGC doesn't want to hire or train authenticators. I would imagine it might be lucrative to be an expert on presidential signatures. Not so much for Bronze comic artists.

 

[font:Times New Roman]But it does, by relegating older signatures by well known albeit deceased comic creators to a lesser status. Either unintentionally or by design the Signature Series contributes to CGC's bottom line at the expense of historical accuracy. I'm not criticizing the Signature Series, but rather the appearance of providing a profitable side-service that only benefits those who obtain celebrity signatures from a CGC sponsored events.

 

To my way of thinking (call me crazy, if you like ), it's unconscionable to dismiss potentially valuable, historically relevant autographs from noteworthy now-deceased comics creators as anonymous writing without providing some option for the owner to obtain acknowledgement of the fact by CGC.[/font]

 

So go get your certificate of authenticity, no one is stopping you.

 

[font:Times New Roman]Before or after submitting and to what end? After the signature is in a blue holder and downgraded for writing being on the cover it would only cause more confusion to add third party certification.

 

If CGC accepted outside certification from well established handwriting experts as gospel there would be no issue. CGC could still reserve the yellow/gold label for witnessed signatures, but the authentication would be listed on the blue label and grade not discounted for anonymous writing on cover or interior.

 

My[/font]