Answer from CGC.........

[blowout]

Restoration is done to make books look better. Pressing makes books look better. Pressing is restoration.

 

[Farkus-migration]

I think the sentence that sealed the deal for me was the following (and I love that you stumbled onto this by accident):

 

"Much restoration is done for owner's own personal collection because they want their books, machines, furniture, cars, paintings, or whatever, to look and/or work better."

 

Restoration is done to make books look better. Pressing makes books look better. Pressing is restoration.

Michelangelo used paint to create masterpieces. I painted my bedroom last week. I am Michelangelo.

[Ze-man]

Was Plato an early prototype for The Watcher?

 

Those eyes.... those eyes.. they see all.

Cannot hide.

 

Ze- <----- runs away screaming..

[Ijiwaru Sensei]

Newbie question: What books are the most likely candidates to be pressed: Golden, Silver, Bronze, Modern? Or are they all candidates?

 

They are all candidates. Although obviously there is much more money to be made with older books.

 

Thanks.

 

I've been reading the postings for this topic and am also wondering how badly this whole issue harms the pure colector.

 

I'm a big, and possibly lone, fan of the Invaders (it was the series that got me hooked on comics as a kid in the 70's). I've managed to put together an entire run of Invaders that have graded 9.6 and above, except for two 9.4's. I've both submitted to CGC and purchased slabbed Invaders from dealers and off of eBay. The actual monetary value of the books doesn't matter much to me, as I collected them because I wanted them. I'll most likely not part with them until I die.

 

From the posts, it seems to me that the people most harmed are those looking to sell graded comics for profit and those collecting graded comics as an investment rather than for the love of the hobby.

 

Is the person who simply wants a sharp collection of comics harmed by pressing?

 

Is the fun that comes from collecting directly tied to the monetary value of the collection?

 

I don't mean to ignore the real financial blow the devaluation of CGC graded comics would bring to sellers and investors, but if as a collector I have to worry constantly about the value of my collection, I think I'd need to find a more relaxing hobby--perhaps watching .

[shrunkenhead]

 

Is the person who simply wants a sharp collection of comics harmed by pressing?

 

Yes, if that collector wants to own a run of books that hasn't been surreptitiously futzed with in order to command a higher dollar value.

 

Is the fun that comes from collecting directly tied to the monetary value of the collection?

 

 

No, and that's exactly why many collectors would like books that haven't been pressed simply to jack up their dollar value. Some of us are more concerned with the preservation of the book than the $$$ attached to the label.

[comicwiz]

An allegorical example... really? What you are doing though is trying to draw an analogy to the CGC situation. Or at least that's what I take away as your point.

 

Joseph, I actually respect what you have to say, although I find this whole thing almost reaching humorous proportions.

 

I know you're not striving for fandom... I really didn't think you were. I just think the use of Plato's Republic is a little misplaced here, that's all.

 

You know Brian, I thought a bit more about it, and then it hit me! Of course, we'd forgotten the infamous Thor-Plato crossover of the late 60's. Took me a while to track it down. I think Joseph is totally right to draw an analogy between philosophy and what is going on at CGC.

 

 

[PovertyRow]

Michelangelo used paint to create masterpieces. I painted my bedroom last week. I am Michelangelo.

 

You are making one of the classic blunders! The first is "never get involved in a land war in Asia." The second is "...never go up against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line."

 

And almost completely unknown is this..."Never confuse the tools with the talent!"

[Forbush-Man]

Michelangelo used paint to create masterpieces. I painted my bedroom last week. I am Michelangelo.

 

You are making one of the classic blunders! The first is "never get involved in a land war in Asia." The second is "...never go up against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line."

 

And almost completely unknown is this..."Never confuse the tools with the talent!"

 

"We didn't give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!"

 

[Norrin_Radd]

Michelangelo used paint to create masterpieces. I painted my bedroom last week. I am Michelangelo.

 

You are making one of the classic blunders! The first is "never get involved in a land war in Asia." The second is "...never go up against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line."

 

And almost completely unknown is this..."Never confuse the tools with the talent!"

 

INCONCEIVABLE!

 

[Norrin_Radd]

Michelangelo used paint to create masterpieces. I painted my bedroom last week. I am Michelangelo.

 

You are making one of the classic blunders! The first is "never get involved in a land war in Asia." The second is "...never go up against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line."

 

And almost completely unknown is this..."Never confuse the tools with the talent!"

 

"We didn't give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!"

 

 

[RS]

Michelangelo used paint to create masterpieces. I painted my bedroom last week. I am Michelangelo.

 

You are making one of the classic blunders! The first is "never get involved in a land war in Asia." The second is "...never go up against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line."

 

And almost completely unknown is this..."Never confuse the tools with the talent!"

 

Funny my girlfriend calls me The Michelangelo of the bedroom

[Norrin_Radd]

Michelangelo used paint to create masterpieces. I painted my bedroom last week. I am Michelangelo.

 

You are making one of the classic blunders! The first is "never get involved in a land war in Asia." The second is "...never go up against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line."

 

And almost completely unknown is this..."Never confuse the tools with the talent!"

 

Funny my girlfriend calls me The Michelangelo of the bedroom

 

Considering he was gay...... maybe that's NOT a compliment.

[sterlingcomics]

Funny my girlfriend calls me The Michelangelo of the bedroom

 

Considering he was gay...... maybe that's NOT a compliment.

 

[BradleyX2]

Post deleted.

[RS]

Michelangelo used paint to create masterpieces. I painted my bedroom last week. I am Michelangelo.

 

You are making one of the classic blunders! The first is "never get involved in a land war in Asia." The second is "...never go up against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line."

 

And almost completely unknown is this..."Never confuse the tools with the talent!"

 

Funny my girlfriend calls me The Michelangelo of the bedroom

 

Considering he was gay...... maybe that's NOT a compliment.

 

Thanks I will get her back for calling me a gay painter from the middle ages.

[sterlingcomics]

Steve's a busy corporate executive

[Forbush-Man]

[THE_BEYONDER]

In the meantime....I guess we could review some of Steve's earlier posts regarding this pressing issue:

 

Steve Borock on pressing:

 

Pressing of books is NOT new. Anyone who tells you any different does not know the hobby as well as they profess to. Books have been being pressed for at least the last 20 years without disclosure because most people did not consider it restoration, a problem, or even care. I still don't care and never did care if a book is pressed correctly, hell, most of the time I can't/couldn't even tell. Look at Susans article in the Overstreet grading guide, she states that pressing (done correctly) is not restoration, most of us in the hobby have always beleived this. Now, I don't want this to turn into a "is pressing or isn't pressing restoration" because that has been done to death here and CGC will not guess about your books. As far as "Lou Fine" saying CGC misses pressing, this is UNTRUE, it is a company decision NOT TO JUST GUESS ABOUT YOUR BOOKS, if we were to list pressing on the label, some books that were kept in stacks will be called pressed from original owner collections while some pressed books will be in holders without a pressing notation because it is impossible to tell in that particular case. Imagine getting your book back saying "Pressed" when you know for a fact it has not been.

 

The reason some people will not talk to you about or tell you if they press books is because a VERY SMALL amount of people on chat boards and at cons will be very vocal and UNFAIRLY put a stigma on their reputation and /or auctions like you are doing here. If you don't like pressed books, go out and find virgin collections because most expensive books ($300 and above) have been or will be pressed at some point once they leave private collections and end up in sellers hands.

 

 

I should have said: "....most expensive books ($300 and above) WORTH PRESSING BECAUSE OF CERTAIN DEFECTS have been or will be pressed at some point once they leave private collections..." Sorry

 

Someone I know very well, correctly and safely, pressed out a light non-color breaking 4" crease and a slight spine roll and got some dirt off of the back cover. The comic moved from a 7.0 to a 9.0. Of course he told me this after CGC had graded the book

 

 

[Tango 'n Cash]

If a woman gets breast implants (something added to replace the original) after having lost them due to cancer, then that is restoration. But if she goes to a chiropractor to have her back adjusted so that she can walk upright again, that is manipulation, not restoration.

 

Please God, no more of these bizarre and incomprehensible comparisons!

[DiceX]

If a woman gets breast implants (something added to replace the original) after having lost them due to cancer, then that is restoration. But if she goes to a chiropractor to have her back adjusted so that she can walk upright again, that is manipulation, not restoration.

 

Please God, no more of these bizarre and incomprehensible comparisons!

 

You mean "Brassiere".