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

[FFB]

The bottom line is that I don't think there will be any technology in my lifetime that can reliably detect aftermarket, professional pressing and distinguish those effects from the effects of other factors on comic books (humidity from storage, pressing during production, etc.). Having that as my firm belief, I am faced with one of two choices: (a) leave the hobby in disgust, or (b) accept that pressing is a part of the hobby and try to enjoy the hobby anyway. I choose (b).

 

 

The question being of course:

 

Will you be submitting comics for pressing, and will you diclose that pressing on the books that you sell?

 

So your response to what I wrote is not to consider what I wrote and think about whether it has any validity, but instead to put me on the spot and question my ethics? [#@$%!!!] you.

 

I think your overreacting Scott. I guess he could have asked, "would you want to know if the blue label books that you buy have been pressed or not?". Fair question? I agree with your comments that restoration allows us to preserve works of art but I find it hard to see how pressing would accomplish this? I don't see restoration as "evil" but I could really care less for greed driven ventures in this hobby. So far they haven't been able to justify or communicate to us how this is going to be good for the hooby.

 

Absolutely it's a fair question. And one I've answered at least a dozen times in the past and will answer again now -- Ideally, I would want any kind of restoration disclosed on any book I bought, but for something like NDP or dry cleaning, I don't really sweat it because: (a) I have basically extricated myself from the ultra-high-grade market after realizing that I'm happy with nice VF copies with bright colors and fresh pages, (b) there is no reliable detection method, and © I prefer to focus on the positive aspects that I enjoy about the hobby and the people in it rather than view every seller with the suspicion that he is trying to screw me.

 

Like I have also said, it is a baseline assumption of mine that any book I buy from Metro, Ewert, or ComicLink has been pressed and I don't pay any less for those books. And I have bought from those guys many, many times and still do. I view pressing and dry cleaning as restoration in the literal sense, but unlike many of the people here, "restoration" does not mean I'm not interested in a book or even that I'm not interested in paying full value for it if all that was done was a professional press job and/or dry clean. Just because they are considered "restoration" does not mean that I paint them with the same brush as infilling missing pieces, color touch/inpainting, wet cleaning, or bleaching. With no offense intended to many here who think this, I think that the position that any restoration whatsoever renders a book "impure" or unacceptable comes from ignorance and fear about the processes.

 

As I said in a post in the silver age forum a few weeks or months ago, I had one of my "keepers" for my personal collection pressed by Matt Nelson some time ago. Mainly I had it done because I wanted to learn what all of the hubbub was about. The book had a light production crease on the back cover and a small, light wave on the front. The pressing got rid of the wave, but the production crease remained. I then sent it to CGC to see what grade it would get and it graded out exactly the same as before -- 9.2. Aside from the wave being gone, the book looks exactly the same as it did before pressing. It is no flatter/thinner, the staples weren't popped or maneuvered, and there is no other trace of the book having been pressed. If someone could inspect this book and say "Yeah, it's been pressed," then my hat's off to him. I have a very good eye for restoration and if I hadn't seen the light wave on the front cover before the press job, I never would have been able to tell that anything had been done to it.

 

But all of this wasn't the point of my post, and it was the way Chris ignored my point and instead tried to put me on the spot that rubbed me wrong.

 

If you focus on the point I was trying to make in my post, it was not to take the position that "pressing is good for the hobby." I don't know that it is or isn't good for the hobby. My point was "WHO WILL FUND THE RESEARCH TO INVENT THE MAGIC PRESSING DETECTION MACHINE THAT SO MANY PEOPLE PRESUME WILL ONE DAY EXIST AND RENDER ALL PRESSED BOOKS VALUELESS?"

 

I'm still waiting for someone to answer that question.

[THE_BEYONDER]

Another thing which I find interesting...is that CGC is in every future scenario being presented.

 

I think the assumption that CGC will survive another 5/10/15 years is without merit.

[FFB]

What NDP solidifies in my mind is that the premium now being paid for the CGC blue label comics book is NOT WORTH IT. When we consider what is and is not possible in the CGC BLUE LABEL I think that any resonable collector will over time come to the same assertion to a greater or lesser extent. I am not saying I agree that there will be 100s of 9.4 ASM #1's on the Census next week. I so not think that at all.

 

I agree 100%. But I think this is true whether a book has been pressed or not. Is one 9.8 copy really "worth" 10X what another 9.6 copy is "worth" because one of them has a 1/16th inch spine bump and the other doesn't? Not to me. And this is why I have extricated myself from the high end of the market.

[Aces]

"WHO WILL FUND THE RESEARCH TO INVENT THE MAGIC PRESSING DETECTION MACHINE THAT SO MANY PEOPLE PRESUME WILL ONE DAY EXIST AND RENDER ALL PRESSED BOOKS VALUELESS?"

 

I'm still waiting for someone to answer that question.

 

Where is that magic 8-Ball....?

 

Wow, over a thousand posts for this thread.

[FFB]

I wonder how many people that are reading this thread now plan to go through their collections for pressing candidates ....

 

Who gives a [#@$%!!!]?

[THE_BEYONDER]

 

 

With no offense intended to many here who think this, I think that the position that any restoration whatsoever renders a book "impure" or unacceptable comes from ignorance and fear about the processes.

 

I think you're WAY off base here. The book is "impure" because it has been intentionally manipulated , not because purists don't understand the processes involved.

 

I understand the process quite well, and consider restored/pressed books to be "impure".

 

 

As to your question about funding....

 

I have no idea.

[october]

 

With no offense intended to many here who think this, I think that the position that any restoration whatsoever renders a book "impure" or unacceptable comes from ignorance and fear about the processes.

 

I think you're WAY off base here. The book is "impure" because it has been intentionally manipulated , not because purists don't understand the processes involved.

 

I understand the process quite well, and consider restored/pressed books to be "impure".

 

 

As to your question about funding....

 

I have no idea.

 

I barely care if my girlfriends are "impure" let alone my comics!

[FFB]

This is absolutely true. Someone should run an experiment. Take five mid-grade books with typical wear that might be susceptible to being removed by pressing. Then take five high grade books (9.0s or 8.5s) and send all ten to Matt Nelson for the press and resubmit. I would wager that in most of the cases, the mid-grade books will see a greater improvement than the high grade books. There just aren't that many 9.8 or 9.6 "candidates" that have non-color-breaking wear that you can eliminate via pressing.

 

Scott: Some of what you say seems to be borne out in the list of Church pedigree books that have undergone 'miraculous' improvements in grade - 4.0s turning into 8.0s, etc. However, there are far, far fewer of those examples on the list than there are of 9.0s becoming 9.6s and 9.2s becoming 9.4s or 9.6s. Now, this may be because the list is limited to Church books, and most of those books are still high grade.

 

But as I think about it, I have a hard time envisioning a stack of 4.0s or even 5.0s that don't have some fairly significant wear and/or creasing that involves color-breaking. After all, that's what brought the books down to 4.0 or 5.0 status in the first place. Seems like it would be hard to pass of a an otherwise VF 8.0 book if it has suspicious-looking color breaks where there ought to be creases..?

 

I still think the biggest opportunity is in taking 7.5s and 8.0s and bumping them up to 9.0, 9.2, 9.4 range. When you get down to 6.5 or 6.0 range, books usually have some defects that pressing probably won't fix in a way that looks 'normal' when all is said and done..?

 

Hey Garth:

 

By mid-grade I was referring more to the 5.0 to 7.0 range. I frequently see books in this grade range with the "finger dents all over cover" kind of defects that are susceptible to removal by pressing. Not every book in this range will see a huge jump in grade, but there are plenty that will. As I probably have said a few times before, Matt Nelson mentioned to me that books in this range generally tend to be more susceptible to big jumps than ultra-high-grade books.

 

I agree that once you start getting into VG or lower you are dealing with exactly the kind of long creases that will cause the book to hit a glass ceiling no matter how many times you press it. The one exception to this in low grade books is severe spine roll removal. It is conceivable that one could take a 2.0 with severe spine roll and humidify and press out the spine roll enough to get the book to 4.0 if the rest of the color-breaking defects on the book would permit the 4.0 grade (i.e., some creasing but no missing pieces). I have heard several times though, that spine roll can't be completely removed without taking the book apart. Whether this is actually true or not I don't know, but I would guess that you could at least minimize it quite a bit and thereby increase the grade up to the VG range where some spine roll is still permitted.

 

As for the Church books (and also the Reilly copy of Young Allies #1, I think) that have gone from 9.0-ish to 9.6-ish, I concur that some of them have been pressed and resubmitted. But some of them exhibit color-breaking defects in the 9.6 slab that cause me to wonder how they graded that high on a resub. I am not sure that every Church resub is a pressed book. It's possible that the books were simply graded higher on the second go-around. I am sure that if I went through all of my raw Spideys and tried to regrade them, I wouldn't be able to nail all of the grades I originally gave them the first time. We have some great graders in the grading forums who call the same book a 9.0, a 9.2, a 9.4, and a 9.6. CGC is no different, especially if different graders are grading the book the second time. So my final comment is, I am sure that some of the Church resubs are pressed books, but I don't think it's fair to assume that all of them are.

[nearmint]

1. Pressing is NOT being done in the best interest of the comic book, it actually has the potential to do more harm than good to the molecular structure of the book - which to which it shares more with slight CT, and trimming. This is why I do not support it.

 

2. It seems that this time the professionals (except Susan) have adopted a "Well if we can't beat them, might as well join them" attitude.

 

No one has provided convincing evidence that pressing "has the potential to do more harm than good to the molecular structure of the book."

 

And why has Susan become the patron saint of the anti-pressing crowd? If you read her "statement about pressing", she does NOT state that professional pressing does any damage(molecular or otherwise) to a book. She doesn't even come out against pressing, only the non-disclosure of the practice.

 

If pressing does indeed cause damage to books at the molecular level, why does Susan continue to press books? She only stopped pressing when it's not associated with another form of resto.

[THE_BEYONDER]

I wonder how many people that are reading this thread now plan to go through their collections for pressing candidates ....

 

Who gives a [#@$%!!!]?

 

 

Thanks for making your new found stance abundantly clear.

 

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

 

 

I feel cooler already.

[FFB]

This is absolutely true. Someone should run an experiment. Take five mid-grade books with typical wear that might be susceptible to being removed by pressing. Then take five high grade books (9.0s or 8.5s) and send all ten to Matt Nelson for the press and resubmit. I would wager that in most of the cases, the mid-grade books will see a greater improvement than the high grade books. There just aren't that many 9.8 or 9.6 "candidates" that have non-color-breaking wear that you can eliminate via pressing.

 

Scott: Some of what you say seems to be borne out in the list of Church pedigree books that have undergone 'miraculous' improvements in grade - 4.0s turning into 8.0s, etc. However, there are far, far fewer of those examples on the list than there are of 9.0s becoming 9.6s and 9.2s becoming 9.4s or 9.6s. Now, this may be because the list is limited to Church books, and most of those books are still high grade.

 

But as I think about it, I have a hard time envisioning a stack of 4.0s or even 5.0s that don't have some fairly significant wear and/or creasing that involves color-breaking. After all, that's what brought the books down to 4.0 or 5.0 status in the first place. Seems like it would be hard to pass of a an otherwise VF 8.0 book if it has suspicious-looking color breaks where there ought to be creases..?

 

I still think the biggest opportunity is in taking 7.5s and 8.0s and bumping them up to 9.0, 9.2, 9.4 range. When you get down to 6.5 or 6.0 range, books usually have some defects that pressing probably won't fix in a way that looks 'normal' when all is said and done..?

 

I see the 8.5-9.2 range being the best bet .

 

Non color-breaking creases on these books is what keeps them from being NM or above.

 

Funny, on the vast majority of books in the 8.5 to 9.2 range that I see, the primary culprit is color-breaking spine stress and abraded spine corners with slight color loss.

 

I don't really understand why people are thinking about mid-grade books as the most likely candidates.

 

Because they are.

 

What is it that usually keeps 9.4/9.6s from grading out 9.8 or better?

 

A rounded corner?

A non color-breaking spine stress?

A minor fold on the edge?

 

All the above can be removed through NDP.

 

Most 9.4s and 9.6s are kept out of 9.8 or better by the following:

 

Spider-thin color-breaking spine stress lines.

Non-color-breaking spine dings.

Spine corner bumps.

Very small corner abrasions.

Fingerprints.

 

Four out of five of these are not removable through NDP. Non-color-breaking spine stress is not *completely* removable (somewhat minimizable yes, but still noticeable) in the great majority of cases through NDP and I am not sure where you are getting the idea that it is. A very small non-spine corner abrasion *might* be removable with a tacking iron, but won't come out just by sticking the book in a dry mount press and the paper fibers will still look abraded anyway.

[FFB]

My take on the situation, which is reflected in a few others' posts:

 

CGC – or more accurately, CCG – is moving from condoning pressing as an acceptable form of restoration, to actively promoting pressing and providing it as a ‘value-added’ service

 

CCG is making this service available only to a limited number of customers

 

CCG will not make the names of those customers available to the general public

 

CGCed books will now represent an 'uneven playing field' - only those sanctioned by CGC as being worthy will be allowed to have their books pressed under CGC's roof or at least, the adjoining roof at CCG HQ.

 

This is really starting to feel like a Microsoft move... "now that we've cornered the Web browser market, we can start dictating what is and isn't part of the basic Web surfing experience for the 92% of the public that uses our product..and in so doing, we'll find all sorts of new ways to make money!"

 

As I've said before, anytime you have a monopolistic situation, it's bad for the consumer and it's bad for everyone else - except the monopoly. Given that the federal government isn't likely to step in and stop CCG/CGC from pressing comics anytime soon, the only way to vote - and it's admittedly an indirect vote - is with your wallet.

 

Great post, Garth -- assuming of course that we're correct when we interpret what Steve said this way. Whether you are bothered by pressing or not, the exclusivity of this arrangement is a bad thing.

[THE_BEYONDER]

You're right. I'm wrong.

 

The only thing worse than pressing....is the futulity of discussing it.

 

I give up.

[Silver Surfer]

If you focus on the point I was trying to make in my post, it was not to take the position that "pressing is good for the hobby." I don't know that it is or isn't good for the hobby. My point was "WHO WILL FUND THE RESEARCH TO INVENT THE MAGIC PRESSING DETECTION MACHINE THAT SO MANY PEOPLE PRESUME WILL ONE DAY EXIST AND RENDER ALL PRESSED BOOKS VALUELESS?"

 

I'm still waiting for someone to answer that question.

 

Probably never going to happen but my own personal frustration with this issue is that just because its not fully detectable doesn't mean its not restoration. This has been the basis of CGC's arguement for not considering it a form of restoration, a very weak arguement in my mind and doesn't do much to sway my opinion. Perhaps the fact that CGC's bosses are jumping on the pressing gravy train has something to do with CGC's position? Of course CGC has absoultely nothing to do with this, they have never discussed/consulted on this issue internally, even though it is being spearheaded by one of their main graders. I guess if I don't believe that will I now be viewed as a "CGC hater"?

 

These topics have been rehashed here a million times and are getting tiresome but I think this is where the underlying frustration of this whole issue is coming from. People keep getting lost in the finer points of the whole pressing arguement but I'm just looking at the big picture and I don't like what I see.

[FFB]

I'm also

pretty sure some of the raw DC's that I've had for upteen years

have been pressed. Too pretty and flat not to have been.

Kick it around. Good subject for a hot day outside.

 

That's an interesting observation there about the DCs. From what eras are the ones you're talking about?

 

Reason I ask is that it seems like all of the raw early silver DCs that I have seen in the VF or better range are very flat and very slightly stiffer compared to other books from around the same period. Even the Dallas Stephens B&B #25 I got from Mile High Comics was this way, although there was a corner crease that was not flat enough to make me think the book might have been pressed. My Adventure #237 is really "flat" feeling too, as is my Adventure #289 and Showcase #3 and #27 (though these last two aren't in the VF range). I wonder if this flatness is a product of the paper/sizing that was used? The paper on these books actually feels stiffer than the paper that Marvel used at the time. Maybe that's the culprit?

[jbud73]

What NDP solidifies in my mind is that the premium now being paid for the CGC blue label comics book is NOT WORTH IT. When we consider what is and is not possible in the CGC BLUE LABEL I think that any resonable collector will over time come to the same assertion to a greater or lesser extent. I am not saying I agree that there will be 100s of 9.4 ASM #1's on the Census next week. I so not think that at all.

 

I agree 100%. But I think this is true whether a book has been pressed or not. Is one 9.8 copy really "worth" 10X what another 9.6 copy is "worth" because one of them has a 1/16th inch spine bump and the other doesn't? Not to me. And this is why I have extricated myself from the high end of the market.

 

Ya we've discussed this many times in person and I think that there is a similar progression that I've noticed in a lot of collectors I have come to observe.

 

- The discovery of CGC and the novelty of it tied to the perception that it represents a concrete, ironclad determination of grade. This is accompanied by persuit of HG slabbed copies.

 

- The discovery of inconsistency, sometimes where you're opinion differs from theirs. And you wonder why this got such and such a grade and another book got a different grade. For me this was accompanied by frustration over lack of public knowledge over criteria and the realization that there are booms and busts to grading curves, I beileve based on the sheer volume of books being graded divided by the staff on hand at a paricular point in time.

 

- The discovery of cost to grade differential. As Scott eluded to, when you take into consideration the cost of Book X in grade X and the cost of book Y in grade Y is it worth the multiple. Maybe the Steve Geppi it is. I spend a lot of money on comics, but I still like to see my money stretch as far as possible. Paying 10x guide for a .2 variation just isn't something I can justify. especially when you understand the big picture of what that .2 differentiation can and cannot be.

 

- What I have seen lately is collectors downgrading and using CGC more to fuel sales, then as a haven for purchases. These people however have a few advantages in that: they can grade and spot most forms of restoration as well as have established links in the hobby to credible sellers. Now I'm not saying that CGC slabs are fools gold, not at all (so Nearmint and sfilosa dont jump all over me) I happen to respect both of you and a lot of collectors who covet the slab as well. But I will say that my Days of forking over big $$$ for High Grade slabs is pretty much at an end. A few here and there, but for the most part there are very few instances where I will specifically be happy to buy a HG slab for many muliples of guide. The only comic related items that I feel are truly rare these days are original Art. In that market, as the good Dr. Naidu will tell you, its often pull the trigger, or risk never holding the gun again.

 

FunnyStevie B. only collects art now (for integrity reasons) partially, but he also made his name and money by understanding the comic market and putting his money in smart things he also happened to enjoy. Ironically, it might be that the product he presides over is no longer the smartest investment in comicdom - thankfully I'm not in it for the investment, other ppl however.....

[FFB]

You're right. I'm wrong.

 

The only thing worse than pressing....is the futulity of discussing it.

 

I give up.

 

[jbud73]

1. Pressing is NOT being done in the best interest of the comic book, it actually has the potential to do more harm than good to the molecular structure of the book - which to which it shares more with slight CT, and trimming. This is why I do not support it.

 

2. It seems that this time the professionals (except Susan) have adopted a "Well if we can't beat them, might as well join them" attitude.

 

No one has provided convincing evidence that pressing "has the potential to do more harm than good to the molecular structure of the book."

 

And why has Susan become the patron saint of the anti-pressing crowd? If you read her "statement about pressing", she does NOT state that professional pressing does any damage(molecular or otherwise) to a book. She doesn't even come out against pressing, only the non-disclosure of the practice.

 

If pressing does indeed cause damage to books at the molecular level, why does Susan continue to press books? She only stopped pressing when it's not associated with another form of resto.

 

I would argue that anytime you deliberately expose a comic book to Heat, Moisture and pressure you run the risk of damaging the book. I guess thats where the rubblte "if done correctly" comes in. I still think that we do not know enough about the longer term effects of the process. Now I know you had one GA books pressed by Matt Nelson. I'm sure he took his time with it and I'm sure at this point the books looks pretty much the same as before. However I see pressing as a volume business, with Tracy charging $20 a pop and CGG just about to open an exclusive press shop, I wonder how long it is before volume (and I think to be successful the business will have to succumb to volume) takes over. I just see the risk reward as being dubious.

 

But my point was to really illustrate that 95% of pressing is done for resale purposes, that would be my guesstimate. I think that the books are being subjected to potential harmful alteration techniques for $$$ not for the conseration of the comic book. I just don't see how subjecting them to pressing has any basis for the health and conservation of the book.

[FFB]

1. Pressing is NOT being done in the best interest of the comic book, it actually has the potential to do more harm than good to the molecular structure of the book - which to which it shares more with slight CT, and trimming. This is why I do not support it.

 

2. It seems that this time the professionals (except Susan) have adopted a "Well if we can't beat them, might as well join them" attitude.

 

No one has provided convincing evidence that pressing "has the potential to do more harm than good to the molecular structure of the book."

 

And why has Susan become the patron saint of the anti-pressing crowd? If you read her "statement about pressing", she does NOT state that professional pressing does any damage(molecular or otherwise) to a book. She doesn't even come out against pressing, only the non-disclosure of the practice.

 

If pressing does indeed cause damage to books at the molecular level, why does Susan continue to press books? She only stopped pressing when it's not associated with another form of resto.

 

I would argue that anytime you deliberately expose a comic book to Heat, Moisture and pressure you run the risk of damaging the book. I guess thats where the rubblte "if done correctly" comes in. I still think that we do not know enough about the longer term effects of the process.

 

Over the last several months as I have gradually decided to move away from buying CGC slabs, I have done A LOT of reading and have had dozens of conversations with pros about topics like these to learn more about restorative processes and to learn more about how to spot restoration on books I buy raw.

 

At least in terms of his statements regarding paper conservation philosophy, Tracey Heft is probably the most "conservative" conservator out there with whom I have spoken in terms of making sure that any treatment follows the principal conservator ethical rule of "Do No Harm." Tracey assured me that the humidification and heat applied relatively briefly during the pressing process will not harm the comic book so long as proper material (silicon release film or other protective material) is used to protect the cover from too much direct heat when pressing it. There is also an article I found some time ago regarding placement of an artifact into a humidification chamber for several hours to humidify it -- the article says that this will do no real harm to the artifact because the duration is so short. Link to the article.

[BassGMan]

My take on the situation, which is reflected in a few others' posts:

 

CGC – or more accurately, CCG – is moving from condoning pressing as an acceptable form of restoration, to actively promoting pressing and providing it as a ‘value-added’ service

 

CCG is making this service available only to a limited number of customers

 

CCG will not make the names of those customers available to the general public

 

CGCed books will now represent an 'uneven playing field' - only those sanctioned by CGC as being worthy will be allowed to have their books pressed under CGC's roof or at least, the adjoining roof at CCG HQ.

 

This is really starting to feel like a Microsoft move... "now that we've cornered the Web browser market, we can start dictating what is and isn't part of the basic Web surfing experience for the 92% of the public that uses our product..and in so doing, we'll find all sorts of new ways to make money!"

 

As I've said before, anytime you have a monopolistic situation, it's bad for the consumer and it's bad for everyone else - except the monopoly. Given that the federal government isn't likely to step in and stop CCG/CGC from pressing comics anytime soon, the only way to vote - and it's admittedly an indirect vote - is with your wallet.

 

I haven't read much of the new entries on this thread but I did click on them and this is the first one that popped up, so I'll give ya' my two cents.

 

Regarding the limited number of customers for this new company?

Of course, I'd do the same thing, sounds smart. As Steve said, they want to keep submissions low AT FIRST in order to provide speedy service. Can anyone argue with that? I imagine that they may be open to everybody down the line if business keeps up and enough staff can be trained. This is a way to start a company with a limited amount of large clients. I don't see it as favoritism, I see it as a startup company. Who wants to piddle around with little guys and onesies and twosies for submissions when you want to make sure you can keep up with the cash cows first? In time, in time we little guys will have a chance (that is if we want a chance).

 

Make the names available to the general public?

I would hope not. Does CGC publish a list of their regular grading customers? Not that I've seen. A list of clients should ABSOLUTELY remain private. That may put we potential buyers at a disadvantage, but tough. We have no right to see any kind of client list.

 

Only those "worthy" can have your books pressed by CGC? See my first comment above. You can always go elsewhere for the same service if you really want it.

 

There's no monopoly here unless WE make it one. We don't have to get our books graded, and if we do want to, we can go to a smaller competitor like PGX if that suits us, or in order to guarantee our own grading (to help sell a raw book in lieu of CGC grading) we can include an iron clad money back guarantee on grade and restoration if we choose to help potential customers feel better about buying a raw book.

 

As usual, I see many of us making a mountain out of a molehill.