Tomb of Dracula CGC 9.9 on ComicLink auction 1 1

[batmiesta]

17 hours ago, jsilverjanet said:

I wonder if it can be pressed to a Bo Derek

I would say its been pressed to poop already. 

[lou_fine]

39 minutes ago, batmiesta said:

18 hours ago, jsilverjanet said:

I wonder if it can be pressed to a Bo Derek

I would say its been pressed to poop already. 

Well, since the serial number for this book indicates that it was graded way back at the start of 2005 before pressing was even outed on the boards here at that time, there's probably also a good chance that it might just not have been pressed prior to grading.  

Especially if you take a look at some of the other books that were also submitted in the same batch to CGC.  

The best person to ask might just be Matt himself since he was obviously one of the ones in the know and pressing has always been his forte, even before most collectors knew that this was a thing, and most of all, that CGC was actually even allowing it to be done.      

Edited February 15, 2021 by lou_fine

[THE_BEYONDER]

20 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Well, since the serial number for this book indicates that it was graded way back at the start of 2005 before pressing was even outed on the boards here at that time, there's probably also a good chance that it might just not have been pressed prior to grading.  

Especially if you take a look at some of the other books that were also submitted in the same batch to CGC.  

The best person to ask might just be Matt himself since he was obviously one of the ones in the know and pressing has always been his forte, even before most collectors knew that this was a thing, and most of all, that CGC was actually even allowing it to be done.      

I believe Friesen was pressing books for CGC onsite prior to 2005 .

[BigLeagueCHEW]

1 hour ago, batmiesta said:

I would say its been pressed to poop already. 

It's either a 9.9 or never will be, I don't think one can sub a 9.8 to get a 9.9, or a 9.9 to get a 10 

[lou_fine]

31 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

I believe Friesen was pressing books for CGC onsite prior to 2005 .

I believe Matt was most likely doing this on a standalone basis (i.e. as the finishing touch on restoration work)  even back in the 90's well before CGC even opened their doors.    

If it was Friesen and CGC themselves doing the pressing work, then it's really damming that they didn't bothered to proactively inform the marketplace about this in terms of their grading standards, instead of foisting manipulated books into an unsuspecting marketplace without any disclosure at all.    

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by lou_fine

[lou_fine]

13 minutes ago, BigLeagueCHEW said:

1 hour ago, batmiesta said:

I would say its been pressed to poop already. 

It's either a 9.9 or never will be, I don't think one can sub a 9.8 to get a 9.9, or a 9.9 to get a 10 

Well, all I will say is that if it doesn't have a CVA sticker on it, I would definitely tend to agree with you as the chance for a downgrade is probably higher than the chance for an upgrade if resubmitted.    

[BigLeagueCHEW]

2 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Well, all I will say is that if it doesn't have a CVA sticker on it, I would definitely tend to agree with you as the chance for a downgrade is probably higher than the chance for an upgrade if resubmitted.    

Let's test CGC, I'll buy it, crack it out, and resub 

[THE_BEYONDER]

23 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

I believe Matt was most likely doing this on a standalone basis (i.e. as the finishing touch on restoration work)  even back in the 90's well before CGC even opened their doors.    

If it was Friesen and CGC themselves doing the pressing work, then it's really damming that they didn't bothered to proactively inform the marketplace about this in terms of their grading standards, instead of foisting manipulated books into an unsuspecting marketplace without any disclosure at all.    

 

 

23 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

I believe Matt was most likely doing this on a standalone basis (i.e. as the finishing touch on restoration work)  even back in the 90's well before CGC even opened their doors.    

If it was Friesen and CGC themselves doing the pressing work, then it's really damming that they didn't bothered to proactively inform the marketplace about this in terms of their grading standards, instead of foisting manipulated books into an unsuspecting marketplace without any disclosure at all.    

 

It wasn’t until our very own forum detectives discovered the upgrading shenanigans that CGC adopted their “pressing isn’t restoration” policy.   
 

No clue who had access to the in-house services prior to the big reveal, but Chris would have been ‘fixing’ books that suffered from SCS almost from the get go. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by THE_BEYONDER

[The Lions Den]

1 hour ago, batmiesta said:

I would say its been pressed to poop already. 

There is no doubt in my mind...

[lou_fine]

1 hour ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

2 hours ago, lou_fine said:

If it was Friesen and CGC themselves doing the pressing work, then it's really damming that they didn't bothered to proactively inform the marketplace about this in terms of their grading standards, instead of foisting manipulated books into an unsuspecting marketplace without any disclosure at all.    

 

It wasn’t until our very own forum detectives discovered the upgrading shenanigans that CGC adopted their “pressing isn’t restoration” policy.   

Yes, that was certainly a wild and raucous time on the boards when Dupchak, Masterchief, Red Hook, etc. posted those before and after scans to allow everybody to take a peek behind the kimono to see what was really taking place behind the scenes.  Especially enlightening from the point of view that CGC claimed at the time that their grading standards was based on what had always been in place in the hobby, and yet this was at a time when pressing had always been widely acknowledged as a restoration activity up to that point in time.    

Yeah, clearly remember Borock eventually coming onto the boards to quell the anger of the mob by opening the pressing barn doors nice and wide through his declaration that pressing was really nothing more than "optimization of potential" and then proceeded to rewrite comic book history by incorrectly implying this was an activity that had always been done in the hobby.  In reality, pressing at that time was an activity that had normally been done as only the final finishing step after other more invasive restoration activities had been performed on a book.  

Edited February 15, 2021 by lou_fine

[lou_fine]

2 hours ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

No clue who had access to the in-house services prior to the big reveal, but Chris would have been ‘fixing’ books that suffered from SCS almost from the get go. 

Well, I would say that trying to correct a book that has suffered damage from SCS due to the faulty design of the CGC holder in an attempt to restore it back to its original condition seems more acceptable to me.  

Definitely much more acceptable than taking an already high grade copy of a book and then artificially manipulating it in an attempt to upgrade it to something that is over and above its original condition, just so you can foist it into an unsuspecting marketplace without disclosure for hopefully more dollars.      

Unfortunately or fortunately depending upon your point of view, that's the sad reality of the comic book marketplace that we live in now.  

Edited February 15, 2021 by lou_fine

[musicmeta]

In nearly all cases my "going after" a 9.9 or 10.0 is sending the book(s) in to CGC and they come back graded 9.9 or 10.0. much to my surprise.

[musicmeta]

I think this book sold for 106k.  WOW!

[VintageComics]

On 2/15/2021 at 4:54 PM, lou_fine said:

On 2/15/2021 at 3:04 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

On 2/15/2021 at 2:42 PM, lou_fine said:

If it was Friesen and CGC themselves doing the pressing work, then it's really damming that they didn't bothered to proactively inform the marketplace about this in terms of their grading standards, instead of foisting manipulated books into an unsuspecting marketplace without any disclosure at all.    

 

It wasn’t until our very own forum detectives discovered the upgrading shenanigans that CGC adopted their “pressing isn’t restoration” policy.   

Yes, that was certainly a wild and raucous time on the boards when Dupchak, Masterchief, Red Hook, etc. posted those before and after scans to allow everybody to take a peek behind the kimono to see what was really taking place behind the scenes.  Especially enlightening from the point of view that CGC claimed at the time that their grading standards was based on what had always been in place in the hobby, and yet this was at a time when pressing had always been widely acknowledged as a restoration activity up to that point in time.    

Yeah, clearly remember Borock eventually coming onto the boards to quell the anger of the mob by opening the pressing barn doors nice and wide through his declaration that pressing was really nothing more than "optimization of potential" and then proceeded to rewrite comic book history by incorrectly implying this was an activity that had always been done in the hobby.  In reality, pressing at that time was an activity that had normally been done as only the final finishing step after other more invasive restoration activities had been performed on a book.  

The Great Pressing Wars on these boards were legendary. Probably the single greatest event to happen across the entire chat forum. There were emotions, physical threats, cliques. It was an insane time.

Like all new things there was a lot of emotion that most people today would have not realize unless they lived through it. 15 years ago if you were pressing books you may as well have been OJ Simpson in some circles.

@THE_BEYONDER I think it was always the policy to not count it as resto, it was just never publicly discussed - but from what I recall Marnin Rosenberg and Greg Buls (and possibly others) were pressing books in the 90's before there ever was a CGC

@lou_fine It was publicly accepted as being the finishing product on a restored book but I think MANY people were trying to flatten books since the beginning of time.

In reality, people just got more and more sophisticated with the technique.

I had my 1st books pressed around 2004 or so. I think Matt did them when he was still in Texas. It wasn't a huge secret. In the earlier days of the internet news just didn't travel as quickly as it does today.

But yeah, those mid 2000's were the Wild West on here.

Edited March 3, 2021 by VintageComics

[BlowUpTheMoon]

On 3/1/2021 at 8:30 AM, musicmeta said:

I think this book sold for 106k.  WOW!