Light scratches and discoloration on my slabs 3 3

[joeday17821]

A friend of mine asked me to send him pictures of the silver surfer books we found in my father in laws office after he passed away. We found these books over a year ago and, since I have experience with grading cards, did some research and sent these books to cgc to be graded. I got them back and was very happy with the grades. My significant other and I decided to keep them instead of selling them (as a remembrance of his father). They have been on display in our den for about a year. When the friend asked me to send him some pics, I had the flash on and caught a few things I hadn't noticed before. In the first three pics you can see what looks to be like a white discoloration over the book (I assume its either on the slab and/or the inner sleeve) and over the one label (the 7 in the 7.5). In the other pics you can see very faint scratches on the slab. To be fair, I don't know if these are scratches or just the plastic of the slab reflecting off the light. I also know certain slab sleeves (at least with card slabs) can cause light scratches to slabs like this. I don't grade with CGC very often so I really don't have access to a lot of slabbed books, so I don't know if some of these things are just normal (how they came in from cgc) or something unusual (either from cgc or from me using a slab sleeve to, ironically, protect the slab from getting scratched). Full disclosure, I have diagnosed OCD so I tend to obsessive over things like this. If it is something I caused, how safe would you feel sending these back to cgc and paying to reholder them? These are old books and the thought of them being damaged in the process of being reholdered does worry me. One last point, just looking at the books (without the flash) you really cant see the scratches and you barely notice the discoloration so should I just deal with it? Thanks in advance to all the much more knowledgeable comic collectors out there.

[Lightning55]

It's a plastic case, stuff happens. Its purpose is to protect the comic, which it is doing.

Sending them back may not help. They can come back with even more visible problems. I think you should quit while you're ahead.

[Kevin76]

Just get a new holder  

[Dick Pontoon]

If you've got them on display, watch out for ultraviolet light, from either the sun or fluorescent lights, which will fade the covers over time.

And yes, best to just deal with it. They might come back much, much worse.

 

[joeday17821]

On 2/2/2024 at 4:45 PM, Pontoon said:

If you've got them on display, watch out for ultraviolet light, from either the sun or fluorescent lights, which will fade the covers over time.

And yes, best to just deal with it. They might come back much, much worse.

 

For sure, I have them in my den which has very little natural light coming in. I display sports cards too so I am pretty cognizant of UV light issues.

Kinda my thinking too...with my OCD I will obsess over something until I don't, then I will not obsess about it for weeks, then obsess again. I've gotten better but still not where I wish I was.

Any chance anyone has a nice new clean slab they can take a close up pic of (with the flash on) and let me see how it looks? 

Thanks to people responding!

[Gaard]

On 2/2/2024 at 4:45 PM, Pontoon said:

 

And yes, best to just deal with it. They might come back much, much worse.

 

Isn't it a shame that this has become (for a very long time now) a very real concern?

[MAR1979]

On 2/2/2024 at 5:18 PM, joeday17821 said:

For sure, I have them in my den which has very little natural light coming in. I display sports cards too so I am pretty cognizant of UV light issues.

Kinda my thinking too...with my OCD I will obsess over something until I don't, then I will not obsess about it for weeks, then obsess again. I've gotten better but still not where I wish I was.

Any chance anyone has a nice new clean slab they can take a close up pic of (with the flash on) and let me see how it looks? 

Thanks to people responding!

eGerber 914M2 : Mylar prevents greater than 99% of UV's from passing through it.

https://stenbacka.fi/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/07/mylar_a_uv_ominaisuudet.pdf

Edited February 4 by MAR1979

[MBFan]

I don't know if it'll work on the "white discoloration", but I have used Novus to successfully remove scratches from CGC slabs. Disclaimer: YMMV. Practice on an inconspicuous spot on a slab you care least about.

Some people use PolyWatch, but I have no personal experience with it. 

 

 

[joeday17821]

On 2/3/2024 at 5:22 PM, Gaard said:

Isn't it a shame that this has become (for a very long time now) a very real concern?

yeah, I am so happy with how the books came back I am just gonna deal with it at this point I think.