X-Men #1 Trimmed? Missed Cut? 1 1

[ComicsGalore]

Hey guys,

I have been scoping out X-Men #1s and have noticed the cuts on the top and bottom are different. Some are labelled as trimmed and others are not. Was their an issue of errors or mis-cuts that went out? If these are trimmed why wouldn't it be on the label?? Any advice would surely help. Here are just a few examples I pulled off ebay  with different heights on the top. Obviously the one is restored label but the varying heights on the other are not? Thanks for any direction on this!

 

Nick

 

 

[themagicrobot]

To me, it just looks like your first image shows a trimmed comic as Scott's head is chopped off. Of course once a comic is slabbed you can't open it up to see if the interior art is centred.

 

 

[shadroch]

If you examine a book, you can usually tell when it has its original trim as done by the printer or if it has been shaved afterward.  CGC proved in the past they weren't great at detecting micro-trimming but supposedly fixed that. 

[ComicsGalore]

So with the first one if it was trimmed doesn't that change the CGC label? Why would this one not be labelled differently?

[Artboy99]

the cgc 8.5 is not trimmed. It just has a cover that has the image further up on the paper. Look at the distance between Magneto's hand and the bottom of the book compared to other copies.

 

[shadroch]

Every comic is trimmed, at the printer.  Silver Age comics rarely were perfectly centered so there is a wide assortment of borders for these books.  I've seen X-Men 1s where the top of the code was cut off.  Any book with its original trim gets a blue label.  Dealers and collectors have been known to trim books in their possession, usually for cosmetic purposes.  These get a purple label.   A trained eye can usually look at a book and know if it has the original edges from 1963 or it it was trimmed more recently

[Lazyboy]

On 8/27/2023 at 10:24 AM, ComicsGalore said:

Was their an issue of errors or mis-cuts that went out?

Perfection in comic production wasn't even a dream, let alone reality. It has improved over time, but X-Men 1 was decades ago.

On 8/27/2023 at 10:24 AM, ComicsGalore said:

If these are trimmed why wouldn't it be on the label??

If they're trimmed, it wouldn't be on the label because CGC is far from perfect at identifying trimming. But they're probably not trimmed.

[jimbo_7071]

On 8/27/2023 at 1:17 PM, shadroch said:

If you examine a book, you can usually tell when it has its original trim as done by the printer or if it has been shaved afterward.  CGC proved in the past they weren't great at detecting micro-trimming but supposedly fixed that. 

Operative word: supposedly.

I think the only reason why they caught Jason Ewert's micro-trimming was that they before and after scans of some of the books.

I very much doubt whether they can catch micro trimming at all.

That doesn't mean that this particular book has been trimmed; there appears to be a little more artwork showing along the bottom than the other copies, so it might be untrimmed.

Edited August 28, 2023 by jimbo_7071

[Point Five]

Echoing what others have said, there's no consistency on production cuts from one X-Men #1 to the next. Cuts vary widely and the artwork bobs up and down.

Generally though, it's good to be aware that amateur trimming is a possibility when you are buying raw books. Some things to keep an eye on: uneven top or right edges that look like they were trimmed by hand with a scissors... the total absence of any cover overhang over the pages, as most silver age comics should have some... cover edges that look unnaturally crisp, square and straight when the rest of the cover has natural wear.

 

[The Lions Den]

On 8/27/2023 at 11:24 AM, ComicsGalore said:

Hey guys,

I have been scoping out X-Men #1s and have noticed the cuts on the top and bottom are different. Some are labelled as trimmed and others are not. Was their an issue of errors or mis-cuts that went out? If these are trimmed why wouldn't it be on the label?? Any advice would surely help. Here are just a few examples I pulled off ebay  with different heights on the top. Obviously the one is restored label but the varying heights on the other are not? Thanks for any direction on this!

 

Nick

 

 

One of the smartest things I ever heard someone say was that grading a book and checking for resto on a book are two completely different things...