Value Restored compared to Unrestored

[comicdonna]

I am very curious as to the boards opinion of the Value of an Unrestored comic compared to a Restored comic. I am going to give an example. I own an Action comics #27 6.5 with a Slight A restoration with a small amount of glue on the spine on the cover. I purchased this item Raw on Ebay described as Unrestored 6.5 And paid top dollar $595 upon recieving the comic I came up with 6.5 and I paid close attention to the spine, because these books are known for spine deteriation. I was quite suprised to have it come back purple label, but I guess thats why we have CGC to pick up detail not visible to the naked eye. How much money did I lose on this book? I would also be happy to see other examples and any opinions reguarding this topic.

[esquirecomics]

In my opinion this type of "restoration" should not significantly impact a GA book's value. However, until we convince the community otherwise, you are probably talking about a value (at least for re-sale purposes) of between 25% - 45% of OS.

 

Who was the seller that sold you a restored "unrestored" book?

[comicdonna]

his user name was cougerpanther I do not believe it was his fault. I also strictly graded the book and believed it to be unrestored.

[esquirecomics]

Good to know. Thanks.

[rjpb]

It's tough gauging the resale value of slightly restored books as prices are all over the place, especially as "slightly restored" can cover alot of ground - and obviously the higher the apparent grade the bigger the drop in relation to guide - but if the only thing wrong with the book is a small spot of glue I wouldn't be surprised if it sold for at least 70% of it's unrestored FMV - whatever that is.

[FFB]

I am very curious as to the boards opinion of the Value of an Unrestored comic compared to a Restored comic. I am going to give an example. I own an Action comics #27 6.5 with a Slight A restoration with a small amount of glue on the spine on the cover. I purchased this item Raw on Ebay described as Unrestored 6.5 And paid top dollar $595 upon recieving the comic I came up with 6.5 and I paid close attention to the spine, because these books are known for spine deteriation. I was quite suprised to have it come back purple label, but I guess thats why we have CGC to pick up detail not visible to the naked eye. How much money did I lose on this book? I would also be happy to see other examples and any opinions reguarding this topic.

 

Matt Nelson has an interesting chart showing his suggestions regarding the valuation of restored comics. According to the chart, this book would be worth about 50-55% of unrestored 6.5 value because the work is slight amateur.

 

Personally, I think this broad brush treatment is too general to be of any real use, so I have my own theory about how to value restored books.

 

For professionally restored books where the work was performed expertly using archival materials and turned out well, the value of the book should be calculated as follows: The value of the book in its previously unrestored condition plus the reasonable value of the professional services involved in restoring the book. So if the book started out at a VG 4.0 worth $2,000 and was professionally restored at a reasonable cost of $1,000 to bring the book up to apparent VF 8.0, the book would be worth about $3,000. If the restoration professional did a truly amazing job and managed to achieve uncannily good results, then an additional bump of perhaps 10-25% value could be given to recognize that such results are not guaranteed when one restores a book.

 

For amateur restoration, the value of the book should be calculated as follows: Take the grade of the book in its unrestored condition, and treat the "restoration" (whether it be glue or color touch) as a defect and make a deduction from the grade accordingly and value the book as an unrestored, lower grade book. For example, if you start out with a VG 4.0 and put a few hits of amateur color touch on the cover resulting in bleed through, treat the color touch as non-restorative writing and give the book a value consistent with the value of a book with an unrestored grade of (for example) 3.0 G/VG, even though it's an apparent VF 8.0. So if the book started out at a VG 4.0 worth $2,000, and if G/VG 3.0 value is $1,200, then the book would be worth $1,200 even though it is now an apparent VF 8.0 with amateur restoration. If the restoration is glue used to seal a spine split or tear, grade the book as though the tear is still present, treat the glue as an equivalent sized light stain and downgrade and value the book accordingly.

 

For trimmed books, the book should be graded as though it is missing pieces equal to the amount of paper trimmed off -- so even though it is an apparent NM, it would grade no better than a 3.0 if it is trimmed, and should be valued accordingly.

 

Keep in mind that my opinions on this topic are by no means an accepted industry standard. They are just my opinions. They do seem to me to be a more thoughtful way of treating each book as unique and giving fair value to truly professional, high-quality work that improves an otherwise tattered book (but not giving too much of a financial incentive to restore books). On the amateur side, my formulas also do not give encouragement to people to engage in the non-archival, amateur-type work that defaces comics, while providing a fair and objective way to value books that have received such treatment.

[Zonker]

I really like this approach!

 

But I gotta give you a test case example for a further ruling: Say I have a Golden Age book with a 100% completely split spine, and I use archival (Japan/rice paper) to re-attach the front & back covers and then restaple this assembly to the book. What was a book in (unrestored) 3 pieces is now a complete (albeit amateurly restored) book in 1 piece. Would you say it is worth less than when started?

[FFB]

I really like this approach!

 

But I gotta give you a test case example for a further ruling: Say I have a Golden Age book with a 100% completely split spine, and I use archival (Japan/rice paper) to re-attach the front & back covers and then restaple this assembly to the book. What was a book in (unrestored) 3 pieces is now a complete (albeit amateurly restored) book in 1 piece. Would you say it is worth less than when started?

 

Good question, Zonk.

 

On the one hand, it's "amateurly" restored in the sense that you don't do restoration for a living and your skill with the materials is probably negligible. It is "professionally" restored in the sense that you used archival materials. It then becomes a question of how skilled your technique was.

 

If you managed to reattach the cover without making a mess of things (tough to do if you're putting paste all over the Japan paper and then grafting the pieces onto the book) and you used archival materials and conservationally sound methods, then I would value the book using the "professional" method -- pre-restoration value plus the reasonable value of the services rendered, which in this case is probably $100 to $150.

 

As an aside, this all presumes that the book is worth at least $1500 in its unrestored condition. The formula doesn't work for professionally restored low dollar books, otherwise you wind up with a pre-restoration value of $20 plus $200 in restoration services for a restored value of $220. For a book that is worth less than the $1500 threshold, Matt's tables are probably as good a gauge of value as any.

 

Maybe I should write an OP/ED piece on this topic for CBG some day. We could have some fun with various examples. Some wet cleaned and pressed books or books that have had stains completely bleached out pose a special problem, for example, because you can't tell what the pre-restoration grade was and you'd have to guess. I need to think a little more about how to treat such books because these are common treatments.

[esquirecomics]

Maybe I should write an OP/ED piece on this topic for CBG some day.

 

I think you should, and encourage you to do so!

[Durden08]

Comiclink has a restored Action 27 cgc 7.5 with glue on the spine. So, its pretty similar to yours. They are asking $499 with a bid at $485. This should give you some idea to what someone might be willing to pay for yours. Hope this helps.

[nearmint]

All restored Golden Age books are worth $10 each. Please send them to me at PO Box 622, Newport Beach, CA.

[nearmint]

Comiclink has a restored Action 27 cgc 7.5 with glue on the spine. So, its pretty similar to yours. They are asking $499 with a bid at $485. This should give you some idea to what someone might be willing to pay for yours. Hope this helps.

 

I'd be nervous about that listing. The buyer isn't willing to go $14 higher, and the seller isn't willing to drop the price $14? That $485 bid has been up for a while. Seems to me that if that were a ligitimate bid, the buyer and seller would have made this sale happen by now.

 

Anyway, everyone knows that restored Golden Age books are only worth $10 a piece!

[PovertyRow]

...For professionally restored books where the work was performed expertly using archival materials and turned out well, the value of the book should be calculated as follows: The value of the book in its previously unrestored condition plus the reasonable value of the professional services involved in restoring the book. ...

 

For amateur restoration, the value of the book should be calculated as follows: Take the grade of the book in its unrestored condition, and treat the "restoration" (whether it be glue or color touch) as a defect and make a deduction from the grade accordingly and value the book as an unrestored, lower grade book. ...

 

Scott, I have long felt this is how things should be done...with a caveat you actually touch on in this comment If the restoration professional did a truly amazing job and managed to achieve uncannily good results, then an additional bump of perhaps 10-25% value could be given to recognize that such results are not guaranteed when one restores a book. As you know, even in low grade, some books are more "restoraiton worthy" than others. These are the books that require less things like piece replacement and area inpainting etc. So I would also add your 10-25% vaue concept for a book that displayed the ideal qualities as a restoration candidate. Do that make sense?

[Silver Surfer]

What do you do when you don't know what grade the book was before it was restored? I asked this question in the general forum and the Iron Maniac provided me with a handy but basic guide used to determine value. I'll post it in a minute.

[Silver Surfer]

Resto Guide

[FFB]

...For professionally restored books where the work was performed expertly using archival materials and turned out well, the value of the book should be calculated as follows: The value of the book in its previously unrestored condition plus the reasonable value of the professional services involved in restoring the book. ...

 

For amateur restoration, the value of the book should be calculated as follows: Take the grade of the book in its unrestored condition, and treat the "restoration" (whether it be glue or color touch) as a defect and make a deduction from the grade accordingly and value the book as an unrestored, lower grade book. ...

 

Scott, I have long felt this is how things should be done...with a caveat you actually touch on in this comment If the restoration professional did a truly amazing job and managed to achieve uncannily good results, then an additional bump of perhaps 10-25% value could be given to recognize that such results are not guaranteed when one restores a book. As you know, even in low grade, some books are more "restoraiton worthy" than others. These are the books that require less things like piece replacement and area inpainting etc. So I would also add your 10-25% vaue concept for a book that displayed the ideal qualities as a restoration candidate. Do that make sense?

 

I think you are talking about adding value to an unrestored book that would be a good restoration candidate. That falls outside the scope of the formulae that I am discussing for valuing already-restored books. On the other hand, I do look at exactly that when I am looking at a low grade book as a potential restoration candidate. If one book is a 4.0 and can be improved up to an 8.0 with a simple cleaning and pressing, then the book is worth more as an unrestored 4.0 to me than a book that is a 4.0 with heavy creasing or a tape pull in a detailed area where a lot of color touch/inpainting will be needed.

 

There is a ton of variables that I have to consider before I could really come up with a good formula that would work universally, or even in the majority of cases. Stained books that are susceptible to great improvement through minor restorative techniques such as cleaning and pressing are the biggest problem and I haven't had enough time to think of how to address that yet.

 

Having said all of that, what I meant by the 10-25% bump in post-restoration value referred more to books where the restoration professional achieved an amazing result that perhaps his or her peers could not have achieved. An example would be where a pro takes an unrestored 1.0 and turns it into a restored 9.4 or 9.6 by doing amazing work that cost $2,500. There is a lot of skill involved in that, but also a lot of luck since there is no way to guarantee that any other 1.0 could be turned into a 9.4/9.6 regardless of the treatments used. Most professionals couldn't get a 1.0 beyond Apparent VF no matter how hard they tried.

 

In the case of the Apparent 9.4/9.6, whether the result is because he or she got lucky or because that particular book just happened to react to the treatments better, the fact is that the book looks amazing and most buyers would be willing to pay more than unrestored value plus $2,500. It is in such a case as this that I would assign the 10-25% bump in value to recognize the superb job that the professional did with the book in order to assign value to the fact that turning 1.0s into 9.4s isn't as simple a matter as writing a check to Susan or Tracey and waiting a few months.

[comicdonna]

This information is very helpful. I am probably going to sell the book and take the loss. The purple label doesn't fit in with my blue labels. I enjoy the idea of buying raw books, and having them graded, but buying CGC is a sure thing. Thanks for the info.

[PovertyRow]

I think you are talking about adding value to an unrestored book that would be a good restoration candidate.

 

No, I was expanding on the concept of adding a percentage if the restorer did a trluy amazing job. A truly ideal restoration candidate should produce a better result with less work done, resulting in IMO, more inherent value than a less than ideal resto candidate of the same grade.

[FFB]

I think you are talking about adding value to an unrestored book that would be a good restoration candidate.

 

No, I was expanding on the concept of adding a percentage if the restorer did a trluy amazing job. A truly ideal restoration candidate should produce a better result with less work done, resulting in IMO, more inherent value than a less than ideal resto candidate of the same grade.

 

***edit***

 

Actually, Michael, maybe there is something more to this. A book that is a 4.0 and needs a simple cleaning and pressing to get to an 8.0 will be given a notation of "Slight (P)" whereas a 4.0 that needs more work done will get Moderate (P) or Extensive (P). The Slight (P) will be worth more than the Extensive (P) and the formula needs to address that.

[PovertyRow]

I think you are talking about adding value to an unrestored book that would be a good restoration candidate.

 

No, I was expanding on the concept of adding a percentage if the restorer did a trluy amazing job. A truly ideal restoration candidate should produce a better result with less work done, resulting in IMO, more inherent value than a less than ideal resto candidate of the same grade.

 

***edit***

 

Actually, Michael, maybe there is something more to this. A book that is a 4.0 and needs a simple cleaning and pressing to get to an 8.0 will be given a notation of "Slight (P)" whereas a 4.0 that needs more work done will get Moderate (P) or Extensive (P). The Slight (P) will be worth more than the Extensive (P) and the formula needs to address that.

 

I concur. Such a formula, expanded along those lines, could go far in helping define the various levels of restoration and re-defining the "restoration umbrella" mindset.