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About Restoration?

Started by arcticbear-migration,

10 posts in this topic

fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted

You posted this question in a forum with a low likelihood of getting much input; people rarely restore Bronze comics, or for that matter, any comic worth less than $200. Hulk 181s and X-Men 94s are candidates for restoration, but 99% of the other material isn't.

 

Might want to look at the forum on this site devoted to grading and restoration: http://boards.collectors-society.com/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=gradeandresto

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted

Well, here are the numbers from CGC's census on Hulk 181:

 

http://www.cgccomics.com/poplookup/grades_standard.asp?title=Incredible+Hulk+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++&issue=181++++&publisher=Marvel+Comics++++++++++++&year=1974

 

And here are the ones on X-Men 94:

 

http://www.cgccomics.com/poplookup/grades_standard.asp?title=X%2DMen+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++&issue=94+++++&publisher=Marvel+Comics++++++++++++&year=1975

 

Approximately 1 in every 10 copies of those issues that CGC has graded were restored. That's a high enough percentage to make it a concern, particularly on copies that are in extremely high grade.

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Mister_Comics

Mister_Comics

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Is it really worth having these professionally restored? How much does it cost to pro-restore? I don't know because I never had any comics restored. But what it looks like to me is that there are less percentage pro-restored then ammature restoration for both books. Sure there are a lot of these restored, more then the normal bronze, but thats because they are hot key issues. A lot of people selling these trying to make them look as good as possible and possibably make more off them(This could be said of any restored book.). I still think there's too many high grades unrestored out there to make these profitable enough. Unless you try to restore the books yourself and try to slip them to someone, and hope not to get caught. Which is the most likely thing going on here. Its just that the buyers have to beware even more when buying these unslabbed. I personaly wouldn't take one of my own that I knew would grade low and have it pro-restored, I feel it wouldn't be worth it, and I wouldn't try restoring any books myself. Its just not the right thing to do. I would say that the regular collector would rather buy a unrestored comic before buying a restored. Buying a restored is a last result. If I couldn't find any unrestored, I'd probably give in and buy the restored. And I believe that is how most collectors feel.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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Its just that the buyers have to beware even more when buying these unslabbed. I personaly wouldn't take one of my own that I knew would grade low and have it pro-restored, I feel it wouldn't be worth it, and I wouldn't try restoring any books myself. Its just not the right thing to do. I would say that the regular collector would rather buy a unrestored comic before buying a restored. Buying a restored is a last result. If I couldn't find any unrestored, I'd probably give in and buy the restored. And I believe that is how most collectors feel.
It looks like you've now become the exact target audience that Borock and the other CGC boys had when they started the company. The only thing lacking in your statement that would convert you to a CGC-only guy for expensive books is to realize that not only is restoration a risk, it's a risk that you would have great difficulty in even FINDING on any raw book you buy.

 

I would guess that 80% or more of those Hulk 181s and X-Men 94s were restored solely to get more money out of a buyer, and that the restoration was not disclosed to the current owners of those books. This risk is a part of every collectible field once the prices rise significantly above what it would cost to perform the restoration. Let's just hope comics never become valuable enough to make counterfeiting a profitable venture...

 

I also urge you to realize that restoration itself isn't negative, it's undisclosed restoration that is the enemy. Subtle restoration takes a lot of skill; most modern CGC collectors have forgotten that entirely and have no appreciation for it. And the reason they're so blind to it is because it's hard to get past the anger high-grade guys harbor towards crooks who do slight restoration to books that don't need it.

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Mister_Comics

Mister_Comics

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Well I'm probably the exception because I rearly buy old comics. Majority of my comic collection is store bought when they came out. Fact is I've been collecting a lot longer then most anyone I know. Never stopped collecting at any time. So buying CGC slabs isn't what I do. I send books in to be slabbed, but don't buy slabbed. But if I was thinking of buying some old comic that cost a lot I'd probably check out issues that were slabbed.

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