Conservation vs restoration vs who cares and what do you think? 1 1

[Mokiguy]

Sorry, but this will be long. If you have the inclination and the patience to read through it all, I hope to hear your opinions. I need to start out my question by explaining and saying that I have no graded comics among my 652 book collection I have accumulated so far. Nearly all are late 50's to early 70's DC superhero type books. So my collection is mostly 50 to over 60 years old, Looking at my database, the average price I paid per book is just barely over $4, many at only a dollar or two, only 9 of the 652 books I bought were over $10, and even those nine never broke $20, So with that said, at those prices there are a certain percentage that have spine splits, one staple or two staple detached covers and/or centerfolds, some tears and some staining. Typical wear you could expect on many 50 to 70 year old comics you paid little for. 

I didn't buy these books to turn a profit. I'm over 70 and have really no intention of selling them ........ it's just my hobby and I'm enjoying collecting a number of books I used to read in my youth. But part of my fun is not just to collect them, but to improve them and make them the best I can for the age and condition understanding that some things can not be fixed but at least minimized. I can't remove color breaking creases, but I have bought a used heat press and can do wonders to the covers with it. But I also have been watching videos about conservation and restoration using Japanese Tengujo and Mulberry papers and leaf casting and Methyl Cellulose and wheat paste heat overlay press stain removal and all that other high tech conservation and restoration stuff, and now want to go there. Again, this is for my own enjoyment, though I must assume someday when I'm dead, these comics will change hands. There are no real key issues and so the time and effort I would put into them would never make sense financially anyway on non key issue books unless I'm happy with 50 cents an hour for my time.

I am very skilled with my hands and am a perfectionist, always have been, and so assume my restoration efforts will be near professional. And that's the rub. Though these won't be graded, I still care that they would be thought of as professional conservation when finished and not amateur restoration. And so I am curious as to how more experienced long term collectors view this whole "fix up a book' vs just leave it original dilemma is viewed. Good idea or bad idea, what's your opinion?

And by the way, I've read all I can and even at the CGC help pages it leaves me wondering about some of the differences between conservation and restoration, but since my books will never be graded, that's not really an issue, just my perfectionist outlook showing through. It's just how do you folks come down on the whole idea of leave it alone vs fix it if you can. And is there ethics involved. When I kick the bucket and somebody gets my books and sells them, they will be selling some conserved/restored books and will likely not even know and neither will the buyers. Is that unethical? Of course I'll be dead so who really gives a damn. Anyway, hope to open this discussion with some insightful comments from you all.

Edited June 10 by Mokiguy

[Nick Furious]

It sounds like you would enjoy working on the books and improving their condition...so have at it!  The books aren't all that valuable and it's a hobby...do whatever makes it most enjoyable for you.  I would just do work that you are proud of without concern for whether it is officially labeled conservation or restoration.  If you are concerned about future ethics, just catalog the work that you did on each book for posterity.  Maybe give each book a backer board, populate the back of the board with title, issue number and itemized list of work done to the book?  

[BA773]

Considering the age they are I m curious to know which charachters you collected to get so low value data...?

[Mokiguy]

On 6/10/2024 at 12:28 PM, BA773 said:

Considering the age they are I m curious to know which charachters you collected to get so low value data...?

DC superhero almost exclusively .................. have some Batman and Wonder Woman and Detective and the Flash, which seem the highest in demand and also command the highest prices ...... but I have a lot of Superboy, Superman, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Aquaman, Justice League of America, Green Lantern, Adventure Comics, Action Comics, Brave and Bold, World's Finest, and a smattering of others. I buy and bid on comics carefully and if they are more that I want to pay I pass the auctions/sales by. There are more fish in the sea another day. But with that said, just yesterday I won an auction for four early Lois Lane titles and these really are in need of some serious help. But a $22 winning bid plus $6 for the shipping was hard to beat. All 5 were between October 1960 and January 1963 and that makes them all 61 to 64 years old. Does that answer your question? .

[LowGradeBronze]

This is a great question and I really enjoyed reading your post. I have quite a few lower grade books I would not have been able to afford in decent shape. I have bought some ridiculously cheap books that had full length spine splits and other faults, and I have fixed them to the best of my ability, getting better at it, honing my skills with each one, because I enjoy handling books that are in one piece, not three.  I make a note of exactly what I did to the book and when, noting the materials used and original cost of the book. I've done it because I love handling and fixing things. 

To your question: I don't think you should worry whether what you've done technically falls within the definition of conservation or restoration, since anytime that this becomes an issue, the person doing the appraising will either (a) make that decision themselves or (b) not give any heed to it at all.

Just keep doing what gives you pleasure and hope that someday, someone else will appreciate your work, whether they consider it to be the one thing or another. 

Edited June 11 by LowGradeBronze