Signs of pressing 0

[thehumantorch]

55 minutes ago, newshane said:

Isn't that precisely the point of pressing?

Proper pressing shouldn't damage the books to get a higher grade.  The fanning of the pages caused by rotating the spine is ugly and a serious defect in my book.

[W16227]

CGC did a series of articles on "bad pressing defects"

https://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?NewsletterNewsArticleID=2547

Links to many of the series at the end of this article. These are great for a visual of what the defects are - and identification of the issues that may be fixable by a proper press.

[W16227]

6 hours ago, joeypost said:

Absolutely. I have seen books that were actually burned by the presser using too much heat.

 

Spoiler

Other things to look for are as follows:

Loss of gloss

Crushed spine

Rippling

Cockling

Foreign objects imbedded into the covers (small pieces of dirt, residue from dry cleaning, etc)

Burnt smell

Overly hydrated books will feel limp

Flaring of pages

Popped staples

...Just to name a few.

 

I think you ( or one of the other gurus) - also posted what can happen with moderns and too much heat - where the inks melt and the book becomes pretty  much a flat brick....

 

[newshane]

30 minutes ago, thehumantorch said:

Proper pressing shouldn't damage the books to get a higher grade.  The fanning of the pages caused by rotating the spine is ugly and a serious defect in my book.

Yet it resulted in a grade improvement of two steps.

[Bomber-Bob]

23 minutes ago, W16227 said:

I think you ( or one of the other gurus) - also posted what can happen with moderns and too much heat - where the inks melt and the book becomes pretty  much a flat brick....

 

Speaking of inks, another telltale sign of an overzealous press is the smearing of writing on older comics, date arrivals, date stamps, etc. I hate that look.

[joeypost]

5 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Speaking of inks, another telltale sign of an overzealous press is the smearing of writing on older comics, date arrivals, date stamps, etc. I hate that look.

That is more of an issue with hydration, but it is part of the pressing process.

[mosconi]

6 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Speaking of inks, another telltale sign of an overzealous press is the smearing of writing on older comics, date arrivals, date stamps, etc. I hate that look.

I recall White Mountains's were notorious for runny arrival dates after some pressings

[Bomber-Bob]

Just now, mosconi said:

I recall White Mountains's were notorious for runny arrival dates after some pressings

Good example. Besides the smeared date, this book has all the telltale signs of a very bad press. The right side fanning in conjunction with that upper right corner not lining up is a classic tell.

[Azkaban]

 those White Mountain's didn't need to be pressed

[Quicksilver Signs]

On 5/23/2017 at 0:38 PM, mosconi said:

Great info Joey  Here's another example shown on these boards several years back.  Can't remember if this result was determined to be from shrinkage, spine realignment or something else?

Before:

After:

 

Some of the examples shown most would consider successful press jobs since the grades improved so dramatically. Seems most people who want slabbed books only care about the number at the top of the case. I'm more of a raw guy and have nothing against pressing but if you're selling and can get a tasty bump, why not?

[Bomber-Bob]

23 minutes ago, Quicksilver Signs said:

Some of the examples shown most would consider successful press jobs since the grades improved so dramatically. Seems most people who want slabbed books only care about the number at the top of the case. I'm more of a raw guy and have nothing against pressing but if you're selling and can get a tasty bump, why not?

The title and point of this thread is 'how do you tell if a book has been pressed'. Please don't try to turn this thread into a debate on pressing itself. That has been discussed ad nauseam. 

[Quicksilver Signs]

9 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

The title and point of this thread is 'how do you tell if a book has been pressed'. Please don't try to turn this thread into a debate on pressing itself. That has been discussed ad nauseam. 

 Not trying to turn it into a debate just saying the 2 examples of the Avengers 1 and JIM book are frowned upon as bad pressings but both were assessed  favourably by the agreed upon experts at CGC

[Readcomix]

On May 23, 2017 at 4:20 PM, newshane said:

Yet it resulted in a grade improvement of two steps.

But if you are looking to buy a 9.2 Avengers #1 do you really want THAT one? I guess that's the gamble a buyer then makes. When you go to sell one day (or fen if it's your estate that's selling) does the highest technical grade have the biggest market, or does the copy with slightly lower technical grade but better visual appeal?

[Readcomix]

1 minute ago, Readcomix said:

But if you are looking to buy a 9.2 Avengers #1 do you really want THAT one? I guess that's the gamble a buyer then makes. When you go to sell one day (or fen if it's your estate that's selling) does the highest technical grade have the biggest market, or does the copy with slightly lower technical grade but better visual appeal?

Sorry; just realized I'm moving us off-topic with the rhetorical. Apologies. I'm learning s lot from this thread, thanks! I guess the point buried in my rhetorical for me is I'm not afraid of pressing but it seems very important to be selective about who does it and what exactly you try to press away. That's my takeaways, anyway.

[Bomber-Bob]

2 hours ago, Readcomix said:

Sorry; just realized I'm moving us off-topic with the rhetorical. Apologies. I'm learning s lot from this thread, thanks! I guess the point buried in my rhetorical for me is I'm not afraid of pressing but it seems very important to be selective about who does it and what exactly you try to press away. That's my takeaways, anyway.

Yes, I think you are absolutely correct. BTW, I don't think you are moving the thread off target. IMO, making the public aware of bad pressing examples is beneficial. I just didn't want to see us turn the corner to a debate on pressing, per se. Pressing is here to stay, no debating that. And Quicksilver was correct, the bad press examples ultimately were given higher grades. For that, I am very disappointed in CGC. I would hope that today, with the tighter grading supposedly in place, these examples would not have resulted in higher grades.

[joeypost]

8 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Yes, I think you are absolutely correct. BTW, I don't think you are moving the thread off target. IMO, making the public aware of bad pressing examples is beneficial. I just didn't want to see us turn the corner to a debate on pressing, per se. Pressing is here to stay, no debating that. And Quicksilver was correct, the bad press examples ultimately were given higher grades. For that, I am very disappointed in CGC. I would hope that today, with the tighter grading supposedly in place, these examples would not have resulted in higher grades.

CGC is now aware of this, and hopefully books that are manipulated like this will not be rewarded with a grade bump.

[Quicksilver Signs]

On 5/28/2017 at 0:14 PM, joeypost said:

CGC is now aware of this, and hopefully books that are manipulated like this will not be rewarded with a grade bump.

I know it's obvious with before and after pics but would CGC be able to spot spine realignment as a pressing defect? A lot of silver books have bad wraps and are trimmed poorly in production.

[joeypost]

17 minutes ago, Quicksilver Signs said:

I know it's obvious with before and after pics but would CGC be able to spot spine realignment as a pressing defect? A lot of silver books have bad wraps and are trimmed poorly in production.

And there's the rub. It is going to be difficult, but micro trimming was in the beginning and they figured that one out.

[Hero Restoration]

18 hours ago, joeypost said:

And there's the rub. It is going to be difficult, but micro trimming was in the beginning and they figured that one out.

How do we know the Avengers 1 example didn't have a pre-existing spine roll without a back scan? And if it did have a spine roll, am I understanding the general public would rather keep the spine rolls then see the pages stick out? By the way, Pages sticking out on early Silver age is normal from production cuts. 

[Dogsupreme]

Here is a sample of a before and after pressing: