Advice for a Superman 5 3 3

[Westy Steve]

Hey guys,  I just worked a deal for this. Says it has tape inside and of course on the cover. Looks like the cover has never been cleaned. What would be the end result if I send it to CGC and asked them to clean it, remove the tape on the outside, and then have it re-graded? Is that something they do? Would they do a good job? Anyone have before and after pictures?
 

 Are there better options for me? I got a good price on the book so I can justify spending a little money on it  

Thanks for any advice.

Edited June 10, 2022 by Westy Steve

[Galen130]

Damn good questions.  Personally, I would check with someone other than CCS.  I don’t trust CGC, but I have my own reasons.  Maybe @joeypost or @Tony S can help.  There are others too. 

[Tony S]

CCS (CGC's in house pressing/restoration removal/restoration service) does restoration removal. I do not know if they remove tape. I kinda doubt it, but it would not hurt to call and ask. 

Removing tape is - with most taped books - best left to those that do restoration work, not just clean and press. The reason why is obvious - it's easy to damage the. Sometimes you run across books where the adhesive to the tape as dried off and it's not hard nor going to cause damage. But most of the time to remove tape is going to require use of solvents and plenty of experience dong so.  I would also mention it seems unlikely only removing tape from the outside of the cover by itself improves the grade much, since it still has tape inside. 

Books with tape can be safely cleaned and pressed. Your book might improve some grade wise with only a clean and press.  

[Sauce Dog]

Removal of the tape might result in a detached cover and lower grade regardless of if it gets cleaned and pressed as well.

I would either leave it as is if a blue label is important to you OR I would invest in minor conservation (my preferred option) which would be able to remove ALL the tape (no sense doing work if you are going to leave some) and some tear seals on the cover wrap. I've used Phantom Restoration for such work before, always happy with the quality and grade bumps I got for such low end books like yours (I also had a CGC 1.8 with tape on it. After he removed it all, tear sealed/reinforced it, cleaned and pressed it regraded as a CGC 3.5. Also had him work on a 0.5 which managed to re-grade as a 2.0)

https://www.instagram.com/phantomrestoration/

Edited June 12, 2022 by Sauce Dog

[theCapraAegagrus]

I would not consult CCS for this. I would honestly just leave it alone. It's old, it has history, appreciate it for the journey it went on.

[Westy Steve]

On 6/12/2022 at 9:55 AM, Sauce Dog said:

Removal of the tape might result in a detached cover and lower grade regardless of if it gets cleaned and pressed as well.

I would either leave it as is if a blue label is important to you OR I would invest in minor conservation (my preferred option) which would be able to remove ALL the tape (no sense doing work if you are going to leave some) and some tear seals on the cover wrap. I've used Phantom Restoration for such work before, always happy with the quality and grade bumps I got for such low end books like yours (I also had a CGC 1.8 with tape on it. After he removed it all, tear sealed/reinforced it, cleaned and pressed it regraded as a CGC 3.5. Also had him work on a 0.5 which managed to re-grade as a 2.0)

https://www.instagram.com/phantomrestoration/

Very interesting and worth considering. Do you have an idea what it would cost, excluding grading?  And how does that work? I mean if a private firm conserves it, What prevents CGC from just labeling it as restored and giving it a purple label? Is it the quality of workmanship?

[Sauce Dog]

On 6/14/2022 at 2:22 PM, Westy Steve said:

Very interesting and worth considering. Do you have an idea what it would cost, excluding grading?  And how does that work? I mean if a private firm conserves it, What prevents CGC from just labeling it as restored and giving it a purple label? Is it the quality of workmanship?

Cost for something like that is best to get a quote directly from the pro, though based on my experience doing something very similar to your book ran me around $250 before grading (but really depends on amount of tape needing to be removed and other work done).

Yes it is about quality of work and the pro knowing exactly what CGC is looking out for. In the case of Phantom Restoration he directly talks with CGC constantly about the conservation work being done, making sure everything will pass the check (obviously somethings might still get flagged as restoration, but so far all 100% of the books I've sent him have come back non-restored)

[Westy Steve]

Interesting. And very helpful information. Thank you. I’ve often Wondered about that. I once bought a collection of golden age war books where the previous owner put tape on the spine for prevention rather than cure. It was amazing what damage the tape did to some of those books over time. Since then I have avoided tape like the plague, however I couldn’t say no to the Superman. Still trying to decide what I will do but conservation is definitely an option. For what it’s worth it appears that the market place values conserve books at around 2/3 the value of unrestored blue label books. So I have a lot of thinking to do. Thanks.

[Sauce Dog]

On 6/15/2022 at 10:03 AM, Westy Steve said:

Interesting. And very helpful information. Thank you. I’ve often Wondered about that. I once bought a collection of golden age war books where the previous owner put tape on the spine for prevention rather than cure. It was amazing what damage the tape did to some of those books over time. Since then I have avoided tape like the plague, however I couldn’t say no to the Superman. Still trying to decide what I will do but conservation is definitely an option. For what it’s worth it appears that the market place values conserve books at around 2/3 the value of unrestored blue label books. So I have a lot of thinking to do. Thanks.

I personally think the stigma against conserved books and the price gap will lessen over time, as education in it versus restoration increase amongst comic collectors (but until then I'm buying high grade Conserved books for a steal!  )

I like to think of it as a Conserved book that got a slight grade bump is for sure at least worth what it was before conservation - as all conservation is reversible so getting back to the state is possible. For my Adventure Comics #48 I track the prices of Universal CGC 1.8 (which is what it was graded before having work done) even though I will also track prices close to its new grade of a Conserved 3.5. For many Golden Age books you can expect that even a slight grade bump will offset any potential value difference lost to the stigma.


edit: and for reference, this was the most recent of my books I had Phantom Restoration work on. It came back as a 2.0 Conserved - and you can see the spine was in much worse condition than yours would be after tape removal (mine also had many more tears and extra staples)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXPexzoMpVy/

Edited June 15, 2022 by Sauce Dog