Opinions On Restoration

[Ze-man]

I must admit I nearly enjoyed reading through Pov's early posts defining his stance on how various restoration processes affect desirability and pricing as much as I have watching you reply to multiple posts made 5 years ago.

 

 

What was once old is indeed new again. And no I am not being sarcastic, I really did enjoy it.

 

Ze-

 

Well...I am a relative newbie here...made my first post less than 6 months ago...

 

I could have only hoped to be as wise my first 6 months here. One thing I have learned is just because a person is new here, does not mean they are new to the hobby.

 

Ze-

 

[The Black Hand ®]

I must admit I nearly enjoyed reading through Pov's early posts defining his stance on how various restoration processes affect desirability and pricing as much as I have watching you reply to multiple posts made 5 years ago.

 

 

What was once old is indeed new again. And no I am not being sarcastic, I really did enjoy it.

 

Ze-

 

Well...I am a relative newbie here...made my first post less than 6 months ago...

 

You've mentioned that your stance on dry pressing has softened a bit.....can you explain why. I enjoyed your article, by the way. Very well done.

[trmoore54]

I don't know...I guess I'm struggling with the whole dry-pressing business...you read articles about the Mile High collection with books being stored in 6-feet tall stacks (preservation or pressing?)...there's just a very fine line. If someone removes a spine roll, is there any chance it will roll back a year or two down the road? We've all mis-handled a book at one time in our lives and set it under a stack of encyclopedias for a week in hopes the "bend" came back out...

 

I'm going to leave it at that...a fine line between preservation and restoration...disclosed of course and if there's a sale involved, let the buyer decide...

[mr.schomburg]

I am going to pipe in, probably shouldn't...but I can't help myself. First and foremost the in's and out's of restoration are about as subjective as grading itself, there is not one simple definition that will sute all. To each collector different factors align to make the book worthy of his or her collection.

 

Secondly, I do believe there is a strong difference between RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION, the largest factor being how large the degree of work is. Say a book with maybe a good o'l press'n and one small tear seal should be noted, but not considered restored, of course this is only my opinion. Yes, the book is altered from origional state, but so is any book with years of dirt or tears and general wear. Full disclosure is paramount as then the collector can determine the price vs. other comparable books say with out restoration/conservation.

 

When it comes to price, I see several forms of thought, first some will only buy restored if very inexpensive, some will pay top dollar. Just recently on ebay a Human Torch 12 in CGC 6.0 SA inluding small CT sold for 2K approx. 2x guide, I sold a Human Torch 12 in 7.0 SA including small CT for 3k right here on boards again 2x unrestored guide. The point being, restored books are gaining speed and value, in some cases, all in GA collecting it is the only option or affordable aside from the very wealthy.

 

I personally prefer unrestored books, but in cases like my Cap 1, I can't afford a 7.0 unrestored, but I was able to buy one with SP, very minor removeable work. The work done, is really more conservation than resto, and will prolong the life of comic. Now in the other markets like SA, BA, CA there is no need to pay top dollar for any restored book, there are many unrestored copies available in all grades. I have been seeing a growing number of GA collectors willing to shell out guide for restored, non-franken book type. I believe this has to do with supply vs. demand and the cost benifits assositated with that.

 

I can apprieciate collectors who "only" buy unrestored, I can also understand collectors who buy perdominately restored books. I know of a very popular guy here on the boards who at one time here recently owned a hand full of key GA books, not your average run keys but first GA appearances. It brought him great joy as it would myself to own these books, yet all were restored. I never in all of the times posting these treasures saw anyone say...nice but your book(s) are restored. Most posters jaws dropped and couldn't believe they were looking at such wonders all together. My point is if you love comics, restoration matters, but not nearly as much as owning such rare treasures. I really bellieve in the next 10 yrs with the increases of new GA collectors great gains will be seen in realized prices of Restored books.

 

They may not be for all, but certainly worth while and collectable. As to pressing, dry cleaning, and the like I don't consider these to be resoration as much as conservation. I don't even think small tear seals should fall into that catagory, and in small doses neither does CGC, with glue, dot of CT, and pressing. There is a change in the wind, things cycle and 20/30 yrs ago resto was popular and wanted, its is again coming into vougue. I don't see the amount of resto being done increasing, but the acceptablity of books with work increasing.

 

Well, I don't know if my perspective matters, but I just thought I would share, thanks for reading my long arse post!

Paul

[codfish]

Personally I have nothing against PROFESSIONAL restoration. I would prefer to see it done to the books that are in serious risk of being lost to history but I can't do anything about that. To me personally. Any work done intentionally done to improve a book is restoration.

 

I would prefer to own non-restored books but I would not reject a restored book just because it is restored.

 

I think professional restoration is needed and will continue to be need in our hobby since no matter how well we store our book they are not made to last for ever so having professionals around that can help us preserve our treasures is important.

[peewee22]

This whole restoration thing is a fascinating topic. Back in the early days of Sotheby's auctions, the restorer was often named and the name of the restorer could lend credibility to that lot. For example, a book restored by Susan could indeed bring a higher amount than a book that was simply "restored" without naming the restorer, because collectors knew that the good restorers used reversible processes, used archival materials and did not violate the book by doing things like reglossing or trimming.

 

Yet restoration is almost a death knell, due totally to a combination of the CGC labeling and the uninformed collector. It is unfortunate. While I definitely prefer unrestored books, a line must be drawn between invasive and non-invasive restoration.

 

Processes like removing a spine roll, dry cleaning, simple pressing: in my opinion they should not be counted under restoration. It should simply be described under a Universal label. These processes add nothing to the book and can help lengthen its life. When removing a spine roll (surprisingly easy), removing an ink transfer stain (extremely simple and very benign) or a simple dry cleaning, nothing is added to the book.

 

Processes like inpainting, leaf forming and tear seals are radical enough to earn the CGC restoration label. But spine roll removal, pressing and dry cleaning? Nah. Thoughts?

 

The #1 law of Comic Commandments simply states:

 

"A Restored Comic = Continuous Wishful Thinking = Comic Depression = Comic Death"