Does "show through" bother you?

[RickHigh]

As I begin to collect more and more slabbed books, I'm seeing a lot of, for lack of a better word, "show through" --- where the inside covers can be seen through the outside covers. Does this bother you? Would you not buy a slabbed book in, say 9.0, because of the show through? Can it be prevented?

[Aces]

Old, old phenomenon.

 

I don't like it when it's bad, but it's often a "good" sign of paper quality.

[whetteon]

Or perhaps a really bright scanner?

[skybolt]

I guess this is an example:

 

[RickHigh]

...or this...

 

[nik]

Nope

[rjpb]

I hate it - but I recall reading that it is aggravated by the microchamber paper - which would explain why it seems so prevelant in slabbed books.

[HULKTOM]

No, the "show throughs" don't bother me. I'm okay with it because I know the comic book is nice and snug in the slab. I don't think it only occurs in the 9.0 only since I do have some 9.4's that have this (if I can find them). I also think it may have something to do with the page quaility of the silver age books. Maybe the covers were printed in a thinner quality compared to today. What bothers me is that CGC doesn't note date stamps or any unusual marks other than general wear and tear like they used to. But that's another post.

[esquirecomics]

I don't like it when it's bad, but it's often a "good" sign of paper quality.

 

Why is it a "good" sign?

[Forbush-Man]

It bothers me to see it, but I've always felt it was a sign of strong inks in production of the book. actually a plus to me.

 

I believe Overstreet viewed as a defect, somewhat.

[Aces]

I don't like it when it's bad, but it's often a "good" sign of paper quality.

 

Why is it a "good" sign?

 

I've only seen it in whiter paged books.

 

Once a book goes cream/tan have you ever seen it?

I think the oxidation would prevent any show-through.

 

edit:

 

Think clean, clear water that you can see through.

Once it gets muddy...

[Forbush-Man]

I don't like it when it's bad, but it's often a "good" sign of paper quality.

 

Why is it a "good" sign?

 

I've only seen it in whiter paged books.

 

Once a book goes cream/tan have you ever seen it?

I think the oxidation would prevent any show-through.

 

edit:

 

Think clean, clear water that you can see through.

Once it gets muddy...

 

True. That's why I always felt it was actually a good sign.

[skybolt]

I don't like it when it's bad, but it's often a "good" sign of paper quality.

 

Why is it a "good" sign?

 

I've only seen it in whiter paged books.

 

Once a book goes cream/tan have you ever seen it?

I think the oxidation would prevent any show-through.

 

edit:

 

Think clean, clear water that you can see through.

Once it gets muddy...

 

True. That's why I always felt it was actually a good sign.

 

The Baffling Mysteries book I posted has Cream to Off-White pages.

[Aces]

I don't like it when it's bad, but it's often a "good" sign of paper quality.

 

Why is it a "good" sign?

 

I've only seen it in whiter paged books.

 

Once a book goes cream/tan have you ever seen it?

I think the oxidation would prevent any show-through.

 

edit:

 

Think clean, clear water that you can see through.

Once it gets muddy...

 

True. That's why I always felt it was actually a good sign.

 

The Baffling Mysteries book I posted has Cream to Off-White pages.

 

But the show through is only in the center of the book right?

No creaming there?

 

Besides it not some absolute law or anything...

[CW]

I have seen it on several golden age books with cream to off-white pages.

[Forbush-Man]

I guess this is an example:

 

<img src="http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/4558/bafflingmysteries7cgc80f3bp.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" />

 

 

Just curious, as these seem to be slabbed books,...what are the grades? Any grader notes?

[JohnBull]

I hate it. Irrespective of structural condition, I don't understand how a book can get an uber high grade when you can't even see the cover properly because of the trace through. Add to that the fact that the only part of a slabbed book you can see is the cover and it's totally

[namisgr]

Many people refer to it as "transfer stain", since it is the inside front cover image leaching onto the outside front cover. Although I don't consider it as important a defect as loss of cover color whiteness or creases and stress lines, it still takes away from the original appearance of an otherwise high grade book.

 

The degree to which it occurs varies quite alot from collection to collection. The Pacific Coast pedigree is rife with examples of fairly strong transfer stain, which gives the front cover an appearance of thinness, and does detract a bit from the otherwise extraordinary cover preservation. From what I have heard, the Curator pedigree, on the other hand, has little in the way of transfer stain.

[the blob]

i see it often when the cover is white and the interior ad on the front cover has some red or pink in it. you can often see the pink throught the white cover. i find myself having to explain this in auctions, otherwise i figure people will be confused by the ghostly pink image of richie rich selling twinkies showing up in reverse through the white cover of the comic in question.

[adamstrange]

Many people refer to it as "transfer stain", since it is the inside front cover image leaching onto the outside front cover. Although I don't consider it as important a defect as loss of cover color whiteness or creases and stress lines, it still takes away from the original appearance of an otherwise high grade book.

 

The degree to which it occurs varies quite alot from collection to collection. The Pacific Coast pedigree is rife with examples of fairly strong transfer stain, which gives the front cover an appearance of thinness, and does detract a bit from the otherwise extraordinary cover preservation. From what I have heard, the Curator pedigree, on the other hand, has little in the way of transfer stain.

 

The reason it's called a transfer stain is that it is caused by the oil from the interior pages transferring to the cover. You can perform an experiment yourself to prove this with a comic by applying a small amount of your favorite cooking oil to the cover. The oil gives the cover transluency allowing the interior of the cover to be seen at the same time. This rarely occurs in GA comics as the cover stock and sizing are thick enough to prevent the transfer. It will most often show up in GA as if there is "tanning" on the inside cover. The tanning due to transfer stain is of little significance in comparison to the tanning that is indicative of brittle covers and pages.

 

I'm not sure of the qualities of the micro-chamber paper, but my suspicion has been that it was more likely to act as a barrier to the oil transfer. I'd be happy to have a more knowledgeable person weigh in on this.

 

CGC does allow the transfer stain in high grade books. For example, the Spiderman 19 9.9 has a noticeable transfer stain. Marvels are more susceptible to this than DCs because the quality and thickness of their cover stock is much less than for DCs of the same time period. In general it hasn't been regarded as a major defect because the best preserved collections (with the whitest pages) are more likely to have it than lesser copies.

 

The transfer stain is typically a sign of high-quality paper, as that paper is still fresh/moist enough for it to have retained it's oils. The transfer stain is not destructive and can be removed, although that will involve disassembly of the comic and a bath for the cover. In some cases, however, the oil transferred out early in the life of the comic and then deteriorated. This results in a both transfer stain and low quality pages.

 

There was considerable use of an unstable red pigment in the comics from the early 50s. When there is a significant transfer stain, you'll see that pigment spread when it's in contact with the oils.

 

The transfer stain will grow from the middle of the book out to the edges. It's not that unusual for a 50s book to have a noticeable "frame" of a clean cover around the area that has the transfer stain.