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Picking up Restoration

Started by MuadDib,

3 posts in this topic

MuadDib

MuadDib

Posted
Posted

How do you determine if there is restoration without buying the expensive equipment necessary to ferret it out? I just bought a FF #48 and the seller (who is reliable in my opinion) stated that he held the book under black light and thoroughly checked, albeit unprofessionally, for restoration, and saw none...however he does not guarantee it...I want to send the book to CGC but am worried about restoration problems...(I have a weeks window for refund)

 

please advise

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thecomicsheet

thecomicsheet

Posted
Posted

I'm not an expert on restoration but I suggest some of the following:

 

1. Read the articles in the new Overstreet grading guide on restoration. This will give you some ideas of what to look for.

 

2. Invest in one of the cheap black light bulbs and look at the front cover and inside the front cover under the black light. To get a better idea of what to look for, try getting a ratty book that you don't care about and make some marks on it with felt pens, ink pens, artists paints, whatever. See what each of these looks like under normal light and black light. Erasures often show up under black light also.

 

3. Look for bleed through of marker ink on the inside of the front cover.

 

4. Look for evidence of cutting or trimming. The early 60s Marvels were notorious for inconsistent sizing right from the printer. But I think by the time of FF #48 they were doing a better job. Grab a few books from about the same time period and lay this one on top of it. See if the book is consistently shorter or narrower than these books.

 

5. Check the staples. See if they look the same as staples from books of the same era - same gauge wire, about the same level of shine, etc. See if there is evidence of another set of staple holes.

 

6. Look in the CGC census to see what proportion of that particular title and issue are restored. That will give you some idea of the risk of restoration. Looks like about 10 percent of CGC copies of FF #48 are restored. That is a fairly high risk. Of course you can just use the rule of thumb - older and more valuable equals higher risk.

 

Good luck. smile.gif

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