Mold on my Comic!?

[grayzr]

I have been changing boxes for some of my comics and noticed black spots near the staples of one of my books. The book is not worth much financially but it's sentimental to me because it was signed by my favorite artist the great Carmine Infantino. Unfortunately he is no longer with us and I cant get another book signed by him. I have no interest in getting a signature series book. I would like to just keep the one I have because of the memories I have of meeting him and chatting with him. My question: Is it just rust and light water damage? or is it mold and should I remove this book from the rest of my flash run so as to not contaminate my other books? I have checked my other books and there seems to be no spread of any mold on the other books or through the bag. All my silver age books are stored in mylite2's with a fullback board. Thanks for your help on this matter in advance

 

Here are some pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lizards2]

dat dere appears to be rust.

[comicdonna]

Yep!

[Firespitter]

Odd that the mold seems to be attacking the staples and bleeding out from those locations. Mold usually happens pretty randomly or along a point of increased moisture. Looks more like the staples are reacting to something, and causing staining on the paper.

I've seen metal turn black like that (and stain as well) when exposed to tannic acid. But it was with tanned leather, not paper.

None of your other comics have blackening staples?

Is it possible that comic was exposed to something in an amateur restoration? I've seen staples on one comic turn black on a restoration attempt where someone sprayed something on the comic to "seal" the color.

I've had a couple of comics with rusty staples, but they were rust colored.

-Terry

[comicdonna]

I believe it's called rust migration.

[Jayman]

I believe it's called rust migration.

 

(Rusty) nailed it!

[Makmorn]

Do these happen to be in a fireproof safe?

I have heard that certain safes can make the staples rust.

Linky

[grayzr]

Odd that the mold seems to be attacking the staples and bleeding out from those locations. Mold usually happens pretty randomly or along a point of increased moisture. Looks more like the staples are reacting to something, and causing staining on the paper.

I've seen metal turn black like that (and stain as well) when exposed to tannic acid. But it was with tanned leather, not paper.

None of your other comics have blackening staples?

Is it possible that comic was exposed to something in an amateur restoration? I've seen staples on one comic turn black on a restoration attempt where someone sprayed something on the comic to "seal" the color.

I've had a couple of comics with rusty staples, but they were rust colored.

-Terry

 

I don't think its been sprayed with anything and none of my other books have this problem or black staples. It looks like rust on the staple when you look at it from the centerfold but on the cover the staples don't look rusty. I was more concerned with the black stuff spreading out to the pages.

[lou_fine]

I believe it's called rust migration.

 

(Rusty) nailed it!

 

What is CGC's stance on the replacement of rusty staples?

 

Is it still considered to be restoration or is it only conservation if you replaced them with vintage staples from the corresponding time period?

[PovertyRow]

CGC lists cleaned or replaced staples as Conserved now. You can see the cons/resto differences here:

 

https://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=4083&

 

And I, too have seen that dark, blackish rust migration in some GA/AA books. The main issue with your example, is that the paper arund the staples may well need reinforcing to accommodate staples replacement. On the plus side reinforcement with japan (rice) paper is still considered Conservation.