Cleaning question 0

[Crimebuster]

Howdy!

I have a question about getting a book cleaned and pressed, but mainly the "cleaning" part. I'm just not sure exactly what his entails, or accomplishes, and what it doesn't.

I have a really nice Avengers #8 that I've been considering selling due to the preposterous price increases. i ran it by the people on the grading subforum, and the consensus was that it's around an 8.0.

However, afterwards I took a closer look and realized there's something on the front cover that doesn't show up in scans. Something spilled on the cover at some point, leaving a residue splotch. 

You can only see it at an angle - straight on and it's almost undetectable unless you already know its there. 

My question is whether getting it cleaned would remove this. My gut says no, and that any process that would remove this would be harsh enough to count as restoration. But I have no idea what I am talking about as I've never had anything cleaned. 

Thoughts?

Here's the splotch, whatever it is:

 

Front view:

[James J Johnson]

On 8/3/2021 at 4:36 PM, Crimebuster said:

Howdy!

I have a question about getting a book cleaned and pressed, but mainly the "cleaning" part. I'm just not sure exactly what his entails, or accomplishes, and what it doesn't.

I have a really nice Avengers #8 that I've been considering selling due to the preposterous price increases. i ran it by the people on the grading subforum, and the consensus was that it's around an 8.0.

However, afterwards I took a closer look and realized there's something on the front cover that doesn't show up in scans. Something spilled on the cover at some point, leaving a residue splotch. 

You can only see it at an angle - straight on and it's almost undetectable unless you already know its there. 

My question is whether getting it cleaned would remove this. My gut says no, and that any process that would remove this would be harsh enough to count as restoration. But I have no idea what I am talking about as I've never had anything cleaned. 

Thoughts?

Here's the splotch, whatever it is:

 

Front view:

What's inside the cover right behind that area? Any demarcation/tide line of tis area, or bleed-through/visual clue of dark brown ink? 

[Crimebuster]

On 8/3/2021 at 7:54 PM, James J Johnson said:

What's inside the cover right behind that area? Any demarcation/tide line of tis area, or bleed-through/visual clue of dark brown ink? 

No, I don't see anything like that. There's a bit of... looks like a loss of gloss on the inside front cover, in patches. But no bleed through, and the patches without gloss don't line up with the thing on the outside front cover. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

Loss of gloss would not be remedied by dry cleaning, but if you were to get this graded I would have it pressed and dry cleaned either way.

[James J Johnson]

On 8/3/2021 at 9:19 PM, Crimebuster said:

No, I don't see anything like that. There's a bit of... looks like a loss of gloss on the inside front cover, in patches. But no bleed through, and the patches without gloss don't line up with the thing on the outside front cover. 

Then it's simply some type of liquid exposure that caused it. There's no way to mitigate it as far as I can see, which is why resident paper wizard JoeyPost hates stains, of which this definitely falls into the realm of. There's no way to mitigate the way the paper has been irreversibly affected. It's not just a small spot. Though small in area in comparison to the total area of the front cover, the peanut shaped, tide-lined area is large enough to strongly impact the grade it would receive if not present. Taking the stain into consideration, my estimate is that 5.0 will be the finding; a book of 7.0 attributes with the stain impacting the technical grade by two full points. Still a nice book, lots of eye appeal, still very desirable. 

[James J Johnson]

On 8/4/2021 at 4:18 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Loss of gloss would not be remedied by dry cleaning, but if you were to get this graded I would have it pressed and dry cleaned either way.

I wonder if pressing this may not be advisable. At least the heat and moisture part of pressing. If there is no clear indication of what substance, water, or other moist or oily agent caused that peanut/kidney-shaped area in question, might exposing that area to more moisture and heat be disastrous? Especially due to the difference in texture and possibly thickness of that area differing from the rest of the cover? Will the glossless surface of that area adhere to the release paper once wet, heated, and then placed under pressure? Will it cause a drastic difference in the surface topography of the two cover areas after processing?  

I ask these questions because I can envision multiple scenarios of how the cover surfaces, (1) the damaged area in question, and (2) the rest of the cover may react independently from and adversely to each other. 

[joeypost]

If done properly, pressing wont cause any additional damage to the book. As others have said, what you see on the cover is not from dirt, but some liquid and cannot be reversed without receiving  a green or purple label. 

Edited August 7, 2021 by joeypost

[Crimebuster]

Thanks, everyone!