When Did Pressing Become A Thing? 1 1

[VintageComics]

Pressing is by no means new. Pretty sure this was going on, just not as rampantly, back in the 1970s, if not earlier.

 

 

-slym

 

And you'd be pretty wrong.

 

Back in the day, pressing was used almost exclusively in tandem with cleaning, or perhaps to realign a spine roll.

 

The sole action of pressing for appearance was a real rarity.

 

CGC gave pressing its lift-off and happily sanctioned it (even though it was considered throughout the industry as restoration) with Blue label validation.

 

And why wouldn't they? It was an additional income stream for them as the $$$s started stacking up for those 'in the know' and the CPR cycle got really going.

 

While it wasn't mainstream, in the decades before CGC we do know for a fact that

at least 2 big time dealers (Marnin Rosenberg and .... - darnit his name escapes me - ) who brought 2 Pedigrees to market were pressing (and not pressing and trimming) books for profit.

[gaz973]

Yep, as soon as people realised how much money could be made from pressing, they quickly got with the program including many who had initially been against it.

 

Money talks.

[Buzzetta]

I have a pressing question... Is the Walking Dead bubble about to burst?

[jimjum12]

Pressing was an isolated incident with specific books prior to CGC, but it really took off with the slabbed speculation where a even .2 jump could mean thousands of dollars, and probably went mainstream in the early-2000's.

 

If I was to guess where things really went off the rails, it would be in the 2003-2004 era, where guys like Ewert were gaming the system and it really became an epidemic.

 

....I'm not exactly sure if I remember how.... but I had heard about pressing by 2002 and was seriously considering having it done to some of the RJ Long Collection that surfaced here around that time. If I had realized how cheap it was I probably would have..... I certainly should have. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[Randall Dowling]

I think the most troubling thing about how long pressing has been a "thing" is the number of books that have been pressed and repressed over and over again.

 

Not sure how many people saw that coming.

[joe_collector]

Pressing was an isolated incident with specific books prior to CGC, but it really took off with the slabbed speculation where a even .2 jump could mean thousands of dollars, and probably went mainstream in the early-2000's.

 

If I was to guess where things really went off the rails, it would be in the 2003-2004 era, where guys like Ewert were gaming the system and it really became an epidemic.

How does pressing have anything to do with undisclosed micro-trimming?

 

Because when Ewert was taking all those mid-grade books and then selling then in CGC 9.6-9.8 slabs, the "board faithful" kept saying he "just pressed them". That was the answer to his magic for years, and pressing quickly became identified as a "get rich quick" scheme and it exploded overnight.

 

Of course, people like myself and BB were quickly proven right that Ewert was doing more than just pressing, but that doesn't change the fact that his record-breaking sales still drove pressing to unheard of heights.

 

i also have a bunch of these Ewert joke posts I did, all circa 2003-2005, so that was definitely a jumping off point for rampant pressing.

[joe_collector]

Neither can farting on a book and letting it air out.

 

Obviously you've never bought a book from greggy.

[VintageComics]

Even when Ewert was pressing most people weren't.

 

The first I'd heard of it was late summer 2004 (I remember the incident specifically) and the boards were not talking about it much if at all. I didn't hear about it on the chat forun. It was about 2005/2006 when it began to be discussed and known about more openly and then the NOD was formed in early 2006.

 

THAT is when it busted wide open.

 

By then, Ewert was out of the picture.

 

I'm pretty sure the first time I saw those pics posted was after 2005 and some time circa NOD arguments all over the boards.

 

 

[paperheart]

I think the most troubling thing about how long pressing has been a "thing" is the number of books that have been pressed and repressed over and over again.

 

Not sure how many people saw that coming.

 

or the collapse in prices of the majority of high grade books due to the overwhelming supply of "manufactured" examples

Edited April 26, 2014 by paperheart

[joe_collector]

I'm pretty sure the first time I saw those pics posted was after 2005 and some time circa NOD arguments all over the boards.

 

Those files are both dated 8/29/2005, but I have some earlier ones from 2003-2004, so that's why I chose that time period. If I was making satirical JPGs of the phenomenon, then it was a hot topic on here.

[MCMiles]

And the answer to the OP's question, in my hindsight, is when NOD started having lengthy efforts to talk about pressing and disclosure of pressing. I was in there along with them, but it was, IMHO, the main thing that led to the explosion of pressers. At least pressers on these boards.

 

Yep.

[VintageComics]

or the collapse in prices of the majority of high grade books due to the overwhelming supply of "manufactured" examples

 

I know that this is a common theory but it's far to simplistic to explain what actually happened.

 

The 'collapse' (and I wouldn't call it that, I'd call it a correction) happened over several years but was most apparent in 2008 and without question there was more than one factor involved.

 

Supply alone didn't affect prices. It was perception of supply as people were introduced to pressing.

 

There was also a global economic crash in 2008 of literally biblical proportions and an increase in unemployment that nobody foresaw

 

a) bringing more collections to auction as people needed to sell out of necessity

b) reducing disposable income as jobs disappeared

 

Additionally, there were several pedigrees and large collections found all within a short period of time (Rocky Mountain, Sucha News, Mound City and later the Twin Cities).

 

Finally, there were several large collectors moving out of the SA and BA markets, some of which brought to market multiple copies of the same books mostly in higher grades.

 

And all of these books were funneled through the new auction houses that Comiclink and Comic Connect and recently formed at the time, further increasing supply.

 

So it was sort of a 'perfect storm' of several factors IMO.

[VintageComics]

I'm pretty sure the first time I saw those pics posted was after 2005 and some time circa NOD arguments all over the boards.

 

Those files are both dated 8/29/2005,

 

So I was right close!

[Davenport]

I'm pretty sure the first time I saw those pics posted was after 2005 and some time circa NOD arguments all over the boards.

 

Those files are both dated 8/29/2005,

 

So I was right close!

From the get-go Hammer endlessly wailed about pressings, trims and alterations on the ComicsPriceGuide forums . Wild conspiracy theory nutjob stuff about "what's sitting in Blue holders".

 

In Feb 2004 Hammer zeroed in a trimmed Batman 11 that CGC finally had to admit to, same month the CBG Mystery in Cyberspace made the rounds.

 

Dec 2004 the Forbes Top Drawer article came out, which kind of echoed Hammer's relentless "I've seen this all before in coins!!" conspiracy stuff.

 

Whispers of PCS, confirmation, Ewert just "has a good eye" and all that...

 

Sept 2005 Hammer spotted Ewert's Strange Tales 128, the final coffin nail, stripping away any remaining excuses.

 

Much has been scrubbed from the CGC and CBG boards, impossible to link a solid timeline. Changes to Overstreet definitions, those Scoop debates, NOD, PCS scrapped to Dallas, Manufactured Gold...

[Flaming_Telepath]

It's brilliant, isn't it, revisionism?

 

NOD now caused pressing?

 

[batman_fan]

It's brilliant, isn't it, revisionism?

 

NOD now caused pressing?

 

 

+1, just plan crazy

[namisgr]

It's brilliant, isn't it, revisionism?

 

NOD now caused pressing?

 

 

You know, in the way reading racy comics caused juvenile delinquency.

[VintageComics]

It's brilliant, isn't it, revisionism?

 

NOD now caused pressing?

 

 

Who said that?

 

Pressing was around before NOD, it was around before Ewert, before CGC and before the 1990's.

 

What increased the knowledge about pressing more than anything else was the anti-pressing movement trying to make people aware of what was going on.

 

NOD was without question the largest catalyst in that regard since they were basically the largest group of anti-pressers on the planet. It was almost like a religion at the time and people were bickering and arguing on here and on their own forum for months on end. It was dark days.

 

For goodness' sake, I found out about pressing from a NOD member and someone against pressing.

 

But of course it seems that you (and Batman_Fan, and namisgr) obviously only see what you want to see.

 

 

[Bomber-Bob]

I've been collecting comics for near 25 years and I was not aware about pressing until reading on the boards. I also think Borock, via the Boards after he left CGC, made it legitimate. Everyone looked up to Steve and when he said it was perfectly acceptable and he was pressing his Board offerings, we all said it must be okay. PLease note, this is not a derogatory comment against Steve, just the way it went down.

[namisgr]

What increased the knowledge about pressing more than anything else was the anti-pressing movement trying to make people aware of what was going on.

 

 

In my view, what increased the frequency of pressing exponentially was the perfect storm of pressing-related grade bumps that increased sale prices markedly being made public, coupled with CGC's refusal to downgrade for defects introduced by pressing.

 

That you would relate it instead to the discussions within the hobby that surrounded the disclosure of pressing by sellers is bizarre.