My pressing experiment

[johnenock]

You could rebend the corner.

[OldGuy]

It's bloody seamless, and we've all been had. I hope we're all feeling real pleased with ourselves.

 

Speak for yourself. I couldn't be more pleased with myself. I've sunk about $500 into slabbed books in my entire life and most of those have been cracked from the slab.

 

Not all of "us" bought into to CGC being the second coming.

[Flaming_Telepath]

It's bloody seamless, and we've all been had. I hope we're all feeling real pleased with ourselves.

 

Speak for yourself. I couldn't be more pleased with myself. I've sunk about $500 into slabbed books in my entire life and most of those have been cracked from the slab.

 

What's it like to be a smug b@stard?

 

 

[OldGuy]

It's bloody seamless, and we've all been had. I hope we're all feeling real pleased with ourselves.

 

Speak for yourself. I couldn't be more pleased with myself. I've sunk about $500 into slabbed books in my entire life and most of those have been cracked from the slab.

 

What's it like to be a smug b@stard?

 

 

 

F$%cing great. I'm rarely as pleased with myself as when I can laugh at others.

[sterlingcomics]

I would be interested in finding out if pressing actually affected the end grade. Of course this would mean more $$$ but this would be telling. Ted's grading is inconsistent; I've had nm+ books grade nm+ and some nm+ books that barely look vf+.

 

Out of interest, did Matt know you were going to post the results?

 

Thanks for posting the experiement. IMO, I believe that not only are buyers victim of pressing scams but sometimes people that actually issue the work order to press--especially if grading expertise is marginal. It wouldn't take too much effort to be harsh on the initial grade, perform marginal improvements and then play the "one off" game. I'm not saying Matt is doing this deliberately, but this is easy to do considering the subjective nature of grading. But we don't care about this scum now do we?

[OldGuy]

did Matt know you were going to post this on the board

 

Highly unlikely.

[sterlingcomics]

did Matt know you were going to post this on the board

 

Highly unlikely.

 

Thought so...just had to ask.

[awe4one]

It wouldn't take too much effort to be harsh on the initial grade, perform marginal improvements and then play the "one off" game. I'm not saying Matt is doing this deliberately, but this is easy to do considering the subjective nature of grading. But we don't care about this scum now do we?

 

This train of thought is as disturbing as the original post...

 

Jim

[sterlingcomics]

It wouldn't take too much effort to be harsh on the initial grade, perform marginal improvements and then play the "one off" game. I'm not saying Matt is doing this deliberately, but this is easy to do considering the subjective nature of grading. But we don't care about this scum now do we?

 

This train of thought is as disturbing as the original post...

 

Jim

 

It's something to think about.

[WonderClassics-migration]

And of course he wants to press every book, that's how he makes his money. I don't think these press jobs added to the cgc grades. Only very specific "bends" (non color break) will benefit from pressing. A book that is already flat, doesn't benefit much to be pressed...IMHO.

 

Exactly. Not every book is a good candidate for upgrade pressing.

[lou_fine]

It wouldn't take too much effort to be harsh on the initial grade, perform marginal improvements and then play the "one off" game. I'm not saying Matt is doing this deliberately, but this is easy to do considering the subjective nature of grading. But we don't care about this scum now do we?

 

This train of thought is as disturbing as the original post...

 

Jim

 

It's something to think about.

 

Especially when JR stated that he did not detect any creases on the books prior to pressing. In addition, he also felt that the pressing did not have an impact on the eventual CGC grade.

 

Sounds like JR is saying he basically got no benefit (either grade wise or financial) out of the pressing experiment, except for turning some unrestored books into "restored" books.

[jediknight]

Have any of you guys noticed that some of the bigger dealers get their comics back with a label numbered in the 700000s? Otherwise cgc is on about 134000. I personally like it when I see a label numbered with 121000 as opposed to 707345 or something similar.

 

On the good side, how many comics have been accurately graded. Tons. That's a good thing. I own lots of cgc stuff and can look through the slab and see that cgc was darn tough on them. I am very proud of these comics.

[jediknight]

I think the pressing happens because it helps but only on comics with particular defects. Matt as a resto expert knows within moments of handling a comic if pressing can help. I think things like spine kinks and bent edges and corners and those occasionaly other dents around the cover are all helped by pressing. Spine roll too can be worked out. When Matt presses he is not just putting 50 lbs on a comic. He is putting a much larger weight via the press.

 

About this comment: A friend of mine got a trimmed cover back, cracked it out, sent it back through--and it came out universal. It's such a slight bit of work. Unless the thing is whacked (which means I should have caught it), it's possible CGC would not notice anything second go around.

I have mixed feelings here. First, is Matt telling the truth here or is this simply an anecdotal response? If it's true then some restoration is tough to identify. Matt as an expert is in a position to tell you what is likely to sneak by undetected.

 

About the email itself. This is one of those hilarious instances where you never write down or put in email what you don't want shouted from the rooftops. Matt should make these comments over the phone and not put them in emails. This one has come back to bite him on his .

 

About the quarter grade off stuff. This is entrenched in our hobby and the other ones for that matter. You can always say well at least I came close.

[Red Hook]

A friend of mine got a trimmed cover back, cracked it out, sent it back through--and it came out universal. It's such a slight bit of work. Unless the thing is whacked (which means I should have caught it), it's possible CGC would not notice anything second go around.

 

This is the most telling quote of the whole post...

 

So much for the resto check...sheds a light on why the Ewert trims were undetected...

 

Jim

 

Which reminds me...

 

It's gone awfully quiet on the 'Answers From CGC Front'.

 

It seems that their strategy of saying nothing, confirming nothing and doing nothing is finally paying off. Not a Ewert/new label/pressing thread to be seen on the first page and nobody making any fuss at all.

 

They were right all along...we're a bunch of bloody sheep who will obviously keep shelling out on questionable product, making a bit of noise from time to time, but generally being the good little consumers that we're meant to be.

 

Halperin and all those at Heritage are laughing at us right now. You all know that, don't you?

 

No baa-ing or bleating from this end of the auditorium. If anyone thinks that a single detail of what's gone on this year has been forgetten......they should think again.

 

Red

[Flaming_Telepath]

No baa-ing or bleating from this end of the auditorium. If anyone thinks that a single detail of what's gone on this year has been forgetten......they should think again.

 

Red

 

OK, perhaps you, me, Jim, Arex and a few select others have changed their habits, and have filed all this away for constant future reference.

 

However, I can't help but thinking that we're in a ever-diminishing minority.

[Norrin_Radd]

I've been wondering when the lull would end. I knew something would touch off the debate again. It was only a matter of time.

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

[Flaming_Telepath]

 

You too?

 

 

Maybe there's a few more of us than I thought...let's bloody hope so!

[The Black Hand ®]

So who's more at fault ,if there's any blame to be handed out, the restorarion professional; who does the work, or the person who sends in the comics to be pressed?

[BassGMan]

No baa-ing or bleating from this end of the auditorium. If anyone thinks that a single detail of what's gone on this year has been forgetten......they should think again.

 

Red

 

OK, perhaps you, me, Jim, Arex and a few select others have changed their habits, and have filed all this away for constant future reference.

 

However, I can't help but thinking that we're in a ever-diminishing minority.

 

I'm in the camp that never thought CGC (or any grading service for that matter) was ever a big deal in the first place. At least as far as owning CGC graded comics goes. For selling, yeah, it is great to get books slabbed and I'll happily sell them for ridiculous prices, at least on the 9.4 and up books. But we can now see that the premium that some people have paid for HG CGC slabs may not be worth the premium they paid. Granted, the mostly accurate (but not always) grading certainly makes it easier to buy online, but in my opinion, if you can buy a book in person you are much wiser to buy it raw, unless the slab is selling for raw prices. Sure, a good eye helps if you can spot CT, but we can all see now that with CGC missing all kinds of hard to detect resto, along with their sometimes inconsistant grading, that there really is no deserved premium that should be applied to HG slabs.

 

But I agree with the poster that stated the "sheep" will keep paying these ridiculous prices and that CGC will continue on as is, with many many collectors still interested in HG slabs. I'll still keep submitting books for sure, I have an order of 30 HG late 70s/early 80s books heading towards CGC on Monday. As long as these books are still selling for many multiples of guide, I'll keep sending them in regardless of so-called questionable tactics by CGC. Granted, all my books are clean and untouched, but I still find it ridiculous what I can sell some of these things for. Hey, I'm not complainin'. But I still have the opinion that HG CGC slabs are equivalent to tech stocks at the beginning of 2000. Some legit, some purely hype and held up by artificial quality.