Marry a wrap? 0

[Ricksneatstuff]

I purchased a low grade (2.5 ish) desirable St John book recently but one of the pages has 2/3 of a page missing. 8th page.

I also bought a decent coverless copy of the same book.

Does it make more sense to move the cover to the coverless copy or try to marry a wrap from the coverless into the book with the cover?

This is a new area to me as I have not done any conservation or restoration in the past.

Any advice is helpful. 

[ThothAmon]

5 minutes ago, Ricksneatstuff said:

I purchased a low grade (2.5 ish) desirable St John book recently but one of the pages has 2/3 of a page missing. 8th page.

I also bought a decent coverless copy of the same book.

Does it make more sense to move the cover to the coverless copy or try to marry a wrap from the coverless into the book with the cover?

This is a new area to me as I have not done any conservation or restoration in the past.

Any advice is helpful. 

To answer your question is like figuring out which came first the chicken or the egg.  I have the exact same issue with a high grade cgc qualified ASM 6.

[Ricksneatstuff]

Do you just send both to an expert and let them suggest the best course?

[Sqeggs]

34 minutes ago, Ricksneatstuff said:

Do you just send both to an expert and let them suggest the best course?

Whether it would be worth doing probably depends on what's on the 2/3 missing page.  I might be inclined to look for a complete copy unless it's a very scarce book.  Mike at Hero's Restoration does this type of work, as does CCS.  Both take dog's years to do the work, though. 

[Ricksneatstuff]

If you marry a wrap is that restoration or conservation? 

 

[Sqeggs]

17 minutes ago, Ricksneatstuff said:

If you marry a wrap is that restoration or conservation? 

 

I've married a cf and gotten a qualified grade. 

[Ricksneatstuff]

1 minute ago, Sqeggs said:

I've married a cf and gotten a qualified grade. 

I would be happy with that. You have to use the original staples though, I assume?

Edited February 22, 2017 by Ricksneatstuff

[Sqeggs]

16 minutes ago, Ricksneatstuff said:

I would be happy with that. You have to use the original staples though, I assume?

Yes, I would think so. 

[Yorick]

Which copy has better page quality?  Perhaps if your coverless has white pages then move the cover over there (a simpler process than an interior page).  Popping staples is difficult without damaging the book, especially with old St Johns (newsprint).  Then you have to worry about alignment.  I would recommend NOT trimming.  Collectors seem to hate that and it really devalues the book.

I took staples out of a St John that had been rusting, flattened all the pages to undo spine roll, and finally refolded the whole book.  It looks a lot better and now I won't have to worry about rust.  I did not put the staples back (which should result in a qualified grade if I were to have it graded).  I do have boxes of 1950's staples that could probably fool CGC if I was worried about a qualified grade, but I don't mind qualified books at all.  Who cares about staples in a slabbed book anyway?

I am very curious what book you are considering working on.  Share?  Perhaps I've got an extra to sell you....

[Ricksneatstuff]

I will share some pics soon. I gotta pop one of them out of an unmentionable case first. 

[Hero Restoration]

So, if you marry a wrap or the cover, a qualified label you will get. It doesn't matter whether the staples line up, and it is very rare they ever do line up. 

 

Tough choice which to marry, I would be inclined to base the decision initially on which pages were in better condition.

[burntboy]

4 hours ago, MastrCntrlProgram said:

So, if you marry a wrap or the cover, a qualified label you will get. It doesn't matter whether the staples line up, and it is very rare they ever do line up. 

 

Tough choice which to marry, I would be inclined to base the decision initially on which pages were in better condition.

This is a bit off the specific topic but pretty close; what if the missing page's artwork were recreated by a restorer/conservator?  Would that be better or worse than marrying either a spare cover or the spare wrap?   Thanks for anyone's thoughts...

[Sqeggs]

3 hours ago, burntboy said:

This is a bit off the specific topic but pretty close; what if the missing page's artwork were recreated by a restorer/conservator?  Would that be better or worse than marrying either a spare cover or the spare wrap?   Thanks for anyone's thoughts...

Speaking as a buyer, I would rather have a book with a married wrap than one with an original page with a significant amount of artwork recreated. 

[burntboy]

2 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

Speaking as a buyer, I would rather have a book with a married wrap than one with an original page with a significant amount of artwork recreated. 

Thanks for your thoughts...   I kinda thought that might be the case but never gave it sufficient thought.   I have one of the big keys of the GA with such a situation and have often wondered what it was originally graded at as the seller apparently removed it from it's original slab before selling it.   Will likely discuss the situation with CGC in NYC in three weeks...