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Hypothetical Question: If you were to have a book restored ..... ?

Started by Hobgoblin,

46 posts in this topic

Stronguy

Stronguy

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I've had work done by Matt Wilson and Matt Nelson. Both guys do good work. Personally I'd send it to Matt Nelson just because he's done me right several times in the past.

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Hobgoblin

Hobgoblin

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I've had work done by Matt Wilson and Matt Nelson. Both guys do good work. Personally I'd send it to Matt Nelson just because he's done me right several times in the past.

 

Where would I ... I mean, someone find those people? angel.gif Comic Keys?

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Hobgoblin

Hobgoblin

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Well, if I do decide to get the book, I definitely won't be able to afford the amount of restoration it needs for a while. And I don't know if they can do anything with a missing centerfold. 27_laughing.gif But I could live without it as long as the cover was more pretty to look at.

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FFB

FFB

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Those sites have price quotes, but if you are looking at a decent amount of work it is going to run you in the hundreds.

 

For any kind of extensive work, you are looking at $1500 minimum.

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FFB

FFB

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Well, if I do decide to get the book, I definitely won't be able to afford the amount of restoration it needs for a while. And I don't know if they can do anything with a missing centerfold. 27_laughing.gif But I could live without it as long as the cover was more pretty to look at.

 

If you could find a beater, coverless copy of the same book, the restorer could remove the centerfold from that one and replace it into your "keeper" copy. You could then try to resell the remaining wraps from the coverless copy to recoup your costs. It probably wouldn't sell for much unless it were a golden age ultra-key, but then it wouldn't cost you that much either.

 

What kind of a book are you considering getting restored?

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october

october

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Those sites have price quotes, but if you are looking at a decent amount of work it is going to run you in the hundreds.

 

For any kind of extensive work, you are looking at $1500 minimum.

 

I was talking about basics like pressing, color touch and tear seals. What does $1500 worth of work get? Have you gotten that much done to a book? Large piece replacement, cover re-creation, ect?

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FFB

FFB

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Those sites have price quotes, but if you are looking at a decent amount of work it is going to run you in the hundreds.

 

For any kind of extensive work, you are looking at $1500 minimum.

 

I was talking about basics like pressing, color touch and tear seals. What does $1500 worth of work get? Have you gotten that much done to a book? Large piece replacement, cover re-creation, ect?

 

I am having some extensive work done to a book right now. Total charge is going to be well over $1,500.

 

Matt Nelson charges about $100 for a dry clean and press job. He charges $75 to remove three pieces of tape from a cover.

 

Tracey Heft charges $20 for a simple press job (not including dry cleaning). He charges $70 per hour plus materials for all other resto work.

 

A simple tear seal would probably cost about $50 or so, depending on who you sent it to. Cost of color touch would depend on how extensively the book needed to be touched up. But most professionals aren't going to color touch high grade books, so you're really talking about inpainting (extensive color touch) of low grade books and possibly infilling of missing chunks. That stuff costs quite a bit of money and it adds up fast.

 

Keep in mind that the prices listed on Tracey's site in the Project Archives section are several years old, from when he charged $40 per hour for his work. You can generally double the cost shown there if you want an idea of what he would charge you now for the same work.

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october

october

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That's very interesting. I am pretty curious about restoration myself. A few months back I bought some comics off of a guy who lived nearby. He was unloading his silver stuff in favor of low grade golden age books that he then had restored. I had the chance to see a few early Marvel Mysteries he'd had worked on and they looked great. I was thinking of doing the same thing sometime in the next year or so, pending success on tracking down solid resto candidates. How much would it cost (ballpark) to bump a G/VG into a nice F or F+? Assuming the work entailed color touch, small piece replacement, a few tear seals and a cleaning? $600-800 maybe? I guess there aren't a lot of books out there that would be worth dropping that kind of coin into....

 

I remember you saying elsewhere that you were having an AF 15 worked on. This the case?

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Hobgoblin

Hobgoblin

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Well, if I do decide to get the book, I definitely won't be able to afford the amount of restoration it needs for a while. And I don't know if they can do anything with a missing centerfold. 27_laughing.gif But I could live without it as long as the cover was more pretty to look at.

 

If you could find a beater, coverless copy of the same book, the restorer could remove the centerfold from that one and replace it into your "keeper" copy. You could then try to resell the remaining wraps from the coverless copy to recoup your costs. It probably wouldn't sell for much unless it were a golden age ultra-key, but then it wouldn't cost you that much either.

 

What kind of a book are you considering getting restored?

 

Very early Batman (40's).... as in 1940's.

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