PGM Conan #11 0

[harbourhow]

[scburdet]

6.0/6.5 stains on back cover

[harbourhow]

What if the back cover cleaned up?

[namisgr]

On 7/10/2023 at 9:42 PM, harbourhow said:

What if the back cover cleaned up?

It would probably cost you almost if not as much as the comic could be sold for.

[scburdet]

Only soiling can be readily removed. I see some of that, which might come off with dry methods. I also see evidence of foxing and stains (esp the bottom edge) that penetrate the paper. You need aggressive/wet methods to have a chance at removing things that aren't surface dirt. CGC can detect this & considers aggressive cleaning an alteration and a Restored label will reflect that. Restored label comics can sell for 50% less than the equivalent Universal label books. Let's say this book was completely clean, but still had the other wear issues, and we give it a very generous 9.0. The FMV for a graded 9.0 of Conan 11 is around $100-110. A 6.0 is around $75. CGC's pressing service, which may not be a thorough as an independent service with cleaning, costs $30/ea. for pre-1975 books. I am erring on your side in terms of values. In reality, you are likely looking at a narrower potential profit margin. The amount you want to invest in cleaning/pressing/grading correlates strongly with the expected value of the book. If it's a high value key, then the investment is probably worthwhile. For "regular" books, you'd want to start with one that's nearly perfect, or only needs trivial work (and even then it may not be worth the $$$). IMO, this is the kind of book that should be left raw. Perfectly collectable as-is. You would not have to dig too deep on this forum to find people who submitted nice looking, perfectly collectable comics for grading, but have buyer's remorse b/c there's no way they can get back the investment with the upper mid-grade results they get.

Edited July 11, 2023 by scburdet

[LowGradeBronze]

Looks just shy of 7.0 to me, so 6.5