PGM Iron Man 55 (Rust/water damage) 4 4

[Kristopher Ryan PNW]

Obviously this is a heavily damaged book, but I do have a VERY competent cleaner and presser that does good work on water damage so I'm curious if it's even worth it. Personally I still have a hard time with judging low grades and also with what is allowed to be done with the staples. I've heard you can replace with vintage staples and have it count as conservation and not restoration but it limits you to FN, not sure if that's accurate. So I need your expert opinions please. Thanks!

[Tri-Color Brian]

3.0

[Kristopher Ryan PNW]

On 12/13/2021 at 5:07 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

3.0

Thank you for your reply. Is that as is or after a competent professional clean and press? Do you know anything about the staple "conservation"?

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 12/13/2021 at 8:21 PM, Kristopher Ryan PNW said:

Thank you for your reply. Is that as is or after a competent professional clean and press? Do you know anything about the staple "conservation"?

That is "as is".  I would not waste money on a clean and press with all those missing pieces.  It won't bump the grade, not even with conserved staples.  And while I don't know anything about staple conservation, I would guess that would give you a "Conserved" book grade, and that is not desirable these days.

[comicginger1789]

With all due respect to the person who said 3.0, I strongly disagree

That amount of rust, water damage and those pieces missing along the spine boil this down to a 1.5-1.8. And no I would not spend money on someone who thinks they can fix water damage to that extent. Oh sure, you can smooth it out nice nice, but If this book got a 2.0 or better from CGC I would question their practices greatly. Unfortunate but hey, you have a copy of a desired book which is still a win!

[grendelbo]

2.0

Thanks for posting.

[Crops068]

On 12/14/2021 at 7:38 AM, comicginger1789 said:

With all due respect to the person who said 3.0, I strongly disagree

That amount of rust, water damage and those pieces missing along the spine boil this down to a 1.5-1.8. And no I would not spend money on someone who thinks they can fix water damage to that extent. Oh sure, you can smooth it out nice nice, but If this book got a 2.0 or better from CGC I would question their practices greatly. Unfortunate but hey, you have a copy of a desired book which is still a win!

I have to agree, the absolute best you could hope for is a 2.0 and that is imo a pipe dream.  But with that I sent one that I expected no higher than a 4.0/4.5 and it came back 6.0, so if it is pressed (if it even could be) maybe it could SQUEEZE out that 2.0.

[comicginger1789]

On 12/14/2021 at 12:46 PM, Crops068 said:

I have to agree, the absolute best you could hope for is a 2.0 and that is imo a pipe dream.  But with that I sent one that I expected no higher than a 4.0/4.5 and it came back 6.0, so if it is pressed (if it even could be) maybe it could SQUEEZE out that 2.0.

Yeah perhaps. I have found that CGC is getting lighter on silver age stuff in particular. If spine isnt brutal and presents well, they seem more likely to give past VG range books fine grades. Or if the front cover is sharp and back is not so much, they seem to give that more of a pass. 

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 12/14/2021 at 6:38 AM, comicginger1789 said:

With all due respect to the person who said 3.0, I strongly disagree

That amount of rust, water damage and those pieces missing along the spine boil this down to a 1.5-1.8. And no I would not spend money on someone who thinks they can fix water damage to that extent. Oh sure, you can smooth it out nice nice, but If this book got a 2.0 or better from CGC I would question their practices greatly. Unfortunate but hey, you have a copy of a desired book which is still a win!

When I said 3.0 I was thinking this book was from the "Promise" collection, and therefore would be over-graded...thank you for pointing out my error. 

[Kristopher Ryan PNW]

On 12/14/2021 at 5:38 AM, comicginger1789 said:

With all due respect to the person who said 3.0, I strongly disagree

That amount of rust, water damage and those pieces missing along the spine boil this down to a 1.5-1.8. And no I would not spend money on someone who thinks they can fix water damage to that extent. Oh sure, you can smooth it out nice nice, but If this book got a 2.0 or better from CGC I would question their practices greatly. Unfortunate but hey, you have a copy of a desired book which is still a win!

With respect to the grade that's where I'm at with it, so I appreciate that. The cleaner/presser didn't just have submission in mind and was also willing to do restoration (I should have mentioned that but it seemed off topic) so that's why I was trying to determine the best case for a grade.

All that said, would people prefer a book like this raw or graded (I'm intending to sell) is kind of my $100 question  Thanks in advance for any advice on that.

[Bob Troub]

On 12/13/2021 at 5:45 PM, Kristopher Ryan PNW said:

Obviously this is a heavily damaged book, but I do have a VERY competent cleaner and presser that does good work on water damage so I'm curious if it's even worth it. Personally I still have a hard time with judging low grades and also with what is allowed to be done with the staples. I've heard you can replace with vintage staples and have it count as conservation and not restoration but it limits you to FN, not sure if that's accurate. So I need your expert opinions please. Thanks!

Don't spend any $$ on this....sell it and find a nicer copy

[Galen130]

Personally, I wouldn’t bother with a clean/press…it might be risky with the pieces missing, etc.  A C&P could cause more harm.  1.8/2.0

[Terry JSA]

1.8

[Funnybooks]

1.8

[fastballspecial]

1.5 Man the rust.