Should I restore this Batman #17? Opinions wanted!

[Point Five]

Hello, folks!

Here's the book in question:

 

 

(please ignore scanner reflection at the bottom...I felt it best to scan this one without removing it from the Mylar.)

 

 

First, let me say that I don't have any intention of CGCing this book, nor of flipping it. Any restoration or conservation I might undertake would be aimed at nothing more than long-term preservation and enjoyment of the book.

 

As you can no doubt see from the scan, the main problem is the spine…it's a mess. The book is split nearly the whole length of the spine, with a few small chips missing and some color loss. But other than that, no big problems to speak of. Two creases in the lower-right-hand corner... just a hint of a center crease towards the bottom (you have to look carefully to see it, & it doesn't break any color)... a few nicks along the edges and a slight roughness along the right edge. Inside covers are leaning tan, but consistent & not too bad, & not brittle. Pages are creamy (maybe "light tan" towards the edges) and still supple.

 

Other than the spine problem, the book overall has a quite nice mid-grade appearance and feel to it. To my way of thinking, this would be a very good candidate for some degree of restoration: the major structural damage is confined to the spine, and the cover image looks very clean and sharp. What do you think? And can you tell me a little more about what the process would be to seal the spine?

 

And with all this said, I do have concerns about cost. I can't see spending more than $150-180 on restoration, for a couple of reasons: 1) I'm on a budget, and it means fewer GA comics to buy!, and 2) if the cost goes higher than that figure, I figure I might as well buy a nice mid-grade unrestored copy to begin with. Is at least “some” amount of basic pro restoration or conservation possible for this kind of figure?

 

Would love to hear comments, advice, or just to learn a little more about the restoration process in general.

 

Thanks in advance, guys!

[whomerjay]

Hello, folks!

Here's the book in question:

 

 

(please ignore scanner reflection at the bottom...I felt it best to scan this one without removing it from the Mylar.)

 

 

First, let me say that I don't have any intention of CGCing this book, nor of flipping it. Any restoration or conservation I might undertake would be aimed at nothing more than long-term preservation and enjoyment of the book.

 

As you can no doubt see from the scan, the main problem is the spine…it's a mess. The book is split nearly the whole length of the spine, with a few small chips missing and some color loss. But other than that, no big problems to speak of. Two creases in the lower-right-hand corner... just a hint of a center crease towards the bottom (you have to look carefully to see it, & it doesn't break any color)... a few nicks along the edges and a slight roughness along the right edge. Inside covers are leaning tan, but consistent & not too bad, & not brittle. Pages are creamy (maybe "light tan" towards the edges) and still supple.

 

Other than the spine problem, the book overall has a quite nice mid-grade appearance and feel to it. To my way of thinking, this would be a very good candidate for some degree of restoration: the major structural damage is confined to the spine, and the cover image looks very clean and sharp. What do you think? And can you tell me a little more about what the process would be to seal the spine?

 

And with all this said, I do have concerns about cost. I can't see spending more than $150-180 on restoration, for a couple of reasons: 1) I'm on a budget, and it means fewer GA comics to buy!, and 2) if the cost goes higher than that figure, I figure I might as well buy a nice mid-grade unrestored copy to begin with. Is at least “some” amount of basic pro restoration or conservation possible for this kind of figure?

 

Would love to hear comments, advice, or just to learn a little more about the restoration process in general.

 

Thanks in advance, guys!

Personally, I would like to see the mentality to shift to pro- restoration/conservation and cause the FMV of a book like this be at least the unrestored value plus the cost of resto. As is, you can't read that book without it falling all over the place. The aesthetic of that book with pro resto IMO would be much greater, even knowing the resto. I would restore it.

[arexcrooke]

I would lean toward gettting it resto'd, as you are preserving a very nice looking book (with the exception of the spine it looks really nice) but needs the spine fixed so it can be enjoyed!

[october]

Looks like that bottom right corner crease has already been color touched.

 

If I owned that book, I would at least have the spine reinforced. That's a sharp looking copy.

 

[Stronguy]

If you intend to keep and enjoy it I would at least have the spine worked on. It would be a shame to have it split completely in two. This is a great example of conservation rather than restoration.

 

Email Matt Nelson and get his opinion. He can tell you if it's worth it or not.

 

Just my 2¢

[Aman619]

leave it alone. It has value that you will destroy. Plus you will be throwing away more money in resto fes. If you really want a copy that presents better, buy one an dtrade this copy toward it.

[arexcrooke]

leave it alone. It has value that you will destroy. Plus you will be throwing away more money in resto fes. If you really want a copy that presents better, buy one an dtrade this copy toward it.

Aman, it seems like the book has value to him.

I guess what needs to be determined is what is the book worth now, what would it be worth after resto and what would be the cost difference between trading it on a better book?

[143ksk]

I would say that a book in that condition seems like a good restoration candidate to me. The only question is whether or not it makes sense financially to do. My guess is that you can find a fairly nice copy of this book for the amount of money that it would cost to restore this one plus the current value of this copy.

[Point Five]

Hi all, thanks for the responses so far!

 

As to value: Overstreet says $231 in Good, which seems about right to me...I'd call this G+, I guess? This book was a recent ebay win for $150, so happily I don't have too much invested in it.

 

To address aman619's point, I guess I'm leaning more towards "structural" conservation of the spine, as opposed to a complete overhaul/restoration of the book. The option of buying an unrestored copy that presents this well is most likely off the table for me, purely b/c of budget...plus, for the cost to upgrade to an unrestored #17 that looks this nice (a Fine guides at $693, by way of reference), I could buy several more GA books, which I'd much rather do! I see low-grade books like this one as a nice opportunity to own something that would otherwise be out of my price range.

 

Thanks for the suggestion of Matt Nelson's name...I will take his email if anyone has it. I know many of you have used him before; is he recommended for this kind of work? And what is the typical spine sealing process, exactly?

[FFB]

This is a good restoration candidate because of the black cover (makes color matching a snap) and the kind of damage that needs to be repaired (spine split, filling and squaring off corners, and eliminating or reducing the big crease at LRC). I also think this book would be worth more as a Mod (P) or Extensive (P) 8.0 than its current value as an unrestored 1.5 or 1.0 plus the cost of restoration. I am figuring that the book is worth about $150-$200 in its current condition and that the resto would cost around $350-$400. A restored 8.0 would be worth +/-$700.

 

I don't think that your budget of $180 will cover the cost of the restoration you want, so you should skip it.

[FFB]

Hi all, thanks for the responses so far!

 

As to value: Overstreet says $231 in Good, which seems about right to me...I'd call this G+, I guess? This book was a recent ebay win for $150, so happily I don't have too much invested in it.

 

To address aman619's point, I guess I'm leaning more towards "structural" conservation of the spine, as opposed to a complete overhaul/restoration of the book. The option of buying an unrestored copy that presents this well is most likely off the table for me, purely b/c of budget...plus, for the cost to upgrade to an unrestored #17 that looks this nice (a Fine guides at $693, by way of reference), I could buy several more GA books, which I'd much rather do! I see low-grade books like this one as a nice opportunity to own something that would otherwise be out of my price range.

 

Thanks for the suggestion of Matt Nelson's name...I will take his email if anyone has it. I know many of you have used him before; is he recommended for this kind of work? And what is the typical spine sealing process, exactly?

 

Matt's email is spectre52@aol.com. He is working on a book for me right now that has virtually the exact same issue -- split spine, but otherwise a nice book.

 

Matt can tell you how he would repair the split spine, but generally what happens is that he would recreate the spine by grafting new material to the spine to hold the front and back covers together and act as a hinge. He would then have to inpaint the grafted areas and perform other repairs consistent with the above.

[VintageComics]

I would definately do what it takes to CONSERVE the book!

[JohnBull]

I would definately do what it takes to CONSERVE the book!

 

Absolutely, 100%.

 

Any kind of restoration that makes a book live longer should, IMO, be mandatory. The rejection of this is highly blinkered, to say the least.

 

If you want to restore purely to make something look prettier, then it's in the eye of the beholder. If a book already has good structural qualities, then minor make up seems unnecessary.

 

Rebuilding a spine, staple cleaning, staple support, deacidifying paper - these sort of things all seem very valid to me. Otherwise, you might as well rip them out of their mylars, throw them in the corner and let them crumble into dust as nature intended.

[Psiknight]

I'd recommend restoration only when:

 

A) You truly love the book, it is one of your favorites, and you want to make sure it remains around for a much longer time.

 

B) You can make a profit on the restoration. Buy a book that is of sound structure and have the work done and resell.

 

C) The book is a very key issue.

 

Otherwise, why lose money on restoring a non-key issue?

[Psiknight]

I would definately do what it takes to CONSERVE the book!

 

Absolutely, 100%.

 

Any kind of restoration that makes a book live longer should, IMO, be mandatory. The rejection of this is highly blinkered, to say the least.

 

You'd recommend restoring something like a cover-detached Daredevil #150? By your logic it would "conserve" the book rather than letting it get destroyed.

 

I understand your point, but there is no way one can say that every book should have extensive restoration just to prevent it from feeling the effects of the ravages of time. That's also "blinkered."

[FFB]

I would definately do what it takes to CONSERVE the book!

 

Absolutely, 100%.

 

Any kind of restoration that makes a book live longer should, IMO, be mandatory. The rejection of this is highly blinkered, to say the least.

 

You'd recommend restoring something like a cover-detached Daredevil #150? By your logic it would "conserve" the book rather than letting it get destroyed.

 

I understand your point, but there is no way one can say that every book should have extensive restoration just to prevent it from feeling the effects of the ravages of time. That's also "blinkered."

 

I think Gary's post is meant to assume that the book is "worth" getting restored from a monetary or value perspective, such as the Batman #17 that we've been talking about. The point is that if you have a book that wouldn't be a waste of money to restore, don't avoid conserving/restoring it just for the sake of keeping it "unrestored," especially if the conservation preserves/prolongs the life of a particularly rare artifact. No one is advocating restoring, say, a mid-grade Spidey 129 for example.

[Psiknight]

I would definately do what it takes to CONSERVE the book!

 

Absolutely, 100%.

 

Any kind of restoration that makes a book live longer should, IMO, be mandatory. The rejection of this is highly blinkered, to say the least.

 

You'd recommend restoring something like a cover-detached Daredevil #150? By your logic it would "conserve" the book rather than letting it get destroyed.

 

I understand your point, but there is no way one can say that every book should have extensive restoration just to prevent it from feeling the effects of the ravages of time. That's also "blinkered."

 

I think Gary's post is meant to assume that the book is "worth" getting restored from a monetary or value perspective, such as the Batman #17 that we've been talking about. The point is that if you have a book that wouldn't be a waste of money to restore, don't avoid conserving/restoring it just for the sake of keeping it "unrestored," especially if the conservation preserves/prolongs the life of a particularly rare artifact. No one is advocating restoring, say, a mid-grade Spidey 129 for example.

 

If that's the case, then I agree wholeheartedly. If you don't end up losing out greatly on the restoration, why not do it? I don't particularly like restored books but there are some that I'd take in a heartbeat...if I had an All-American Comics # 16 that was in Pr or Fr shape I'd get it restored in a heartbeat.

[bigfiver69]

That's a nice copy, and cleaning up the spine will only make it more enjoyable for you. Do it.

 

And Matt Nelson's your man. Nice guy, and he does good work. If you make it clear you want a structural resto, it may cost you less.

 

Shep

[Point Five]

Thanks again for the input, folks. I did send Matt Nelson an email yesterday asking about the cost of at least sealing the spine. I very much hope to have him do it, both to conserve the book and to see what a pro spine seal job looks like!... Will keep you posted.

[JohnBull]

I would definately do what it takes to CONSERVE the book!

 

Absolutely, 100%.

 

Any kind of restoration that makes a book live longer should, IMO, be mandatory. The rejection of this is highly blinkered, to say the least.

 

You'd recommend restoring something like a cover-detached Daredevil #150? By your logic it would "conserve" the book rather than letting it get destroyed.

 

I understand your point, but there is no way one can say that every book should have extensive restoration just to prevent it from feeling the effects of the ravages of time. That's also "blinkered."

 

I think Gary's post is meant to assume that the book is "worth" getting restored from a monetary or value perspective, such as the Batman #17 that we've been talking about. The point is that if you have a book that wouldn't be a waste of money to restore, don't avoid conserving/restoring it just for the sake of keeping it "unrestored," especially if the conservation preserves/prolongs the life of a particularly rare artifact. No one is advocating restoring, say, a mid-grade Spidey 129 for example.

 

Thank you!

 

We were discussing a Batman 17, so my point was kind of directed to GA. However, if in a couple of hundred years time the number of Daredevil 150's in the world can be measured in single or double figures, then the book would be worth restoring. I'm counting purely historically here, with no eye on finance.