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Trimmed pages

26 posts in this topic

That's a thought. But you'd need to have a REALLY good reference weight to compare it against. I would be skeptical if you could get something like that. Of course you should be able to tell gross differences like missing pages. But trimming of covers might be a bit more difficult.

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would using an "atomic scale" (don't know the English term - the kind of scale that weighs down to a tiny fraction of a gram) be useful to detect missing pages, coupons, trims, ...? Presumably, there must be some standard deviation in the weight beyond which a trimming/missing stuff flag should be raised?

 

 

The problem is, when you start getting down to tiny fractions of grams, then other factors are going to weigh in as well. Some things can increase the weight of a book very slightly, but measureably, on such a scale: dirt, grease pencil notations (even regular pen or pencil), the amount of humidity the book has been subject to (slight increase in water weight), etc. Similarly, loss inks and fibres from creases, rusting of staples, rounded corners etc will decrease the weight.

 

But you would, as CosmicBob said, need a really good reference. I fear that would be impossible. I bet if you weighed a series of books coming fresh from the printers on such a scale you would find a surprisingly wide (in milligrams) variance in weight. But I have to say this is a pretty creative idea!

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You - Wouldn't moisture absorption by the paper be a difficult variable to correct for?

 

Me - "the amount of humidity the book has been subject to (slight increase in water weight)"

 

We both posted at the same time, too. I think we are in accord on this point.

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These do all look trimmed to me, but unfortunately trimming is the one thing that is probably impossible to tell for sure by a picture. Myself, I use the method of looking at the cross section of the pages to check for color differences. If the pages are yellow, but the edges are white, it is trimmed. This, of course, doesn't take into account books trimmed a long time ago. Sometimes even judging exact size measurements doesn't work, especially in older books, because the printing process was so bad back then that I have seen many books that are smaller, larger, more or less off-centered, etc. that were not trimmed. Also, remember that the book itself does not have to be trimmed. The scan might be touched up. I see this alot. Sellers try this because it is easier to do, and they can blame it on a bad scanner. But then if they scan a nice book at a small resolution and then blow the picture up, it looks fake, and they may really have a perfect book. This is why CGC is so helpful with long distance sales, you just can't tell until you have it in your hands.

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