Slightly Brittle Pages or Restored? 1 1

[Silver Surfer]

Usually I try to not buy either but if you had to choose?

[sfcityduck]

Restored.

[Robot Man]

Restored

But if it is in a slab, it doesn’t much matter…

[vaultkeeper]

I would avoid both if it's a book that will come up again.

[ThothAmon]

Can’t abide brittle pages. Restored. 

[Silver Surfer]

Thanks everyone. 

[Chicago Boy]

Slightly brittle. I like mine original 

[AndyFish]

Restored.

I chased a Looney Tunes #25 (I think that was it) had a great Halloween cover-- found one in what looked like 6.0 shape but when I took it out of the bag the pages were so brittle they flaked into the air like moths.   Found one with supple pages a few years later that was restored with minor color touch.

[Silver Surfer]

On 9/23/2024 at 3:35 PM, Chicago Boy said:

Slightly brittle. I like mine original 

This is how I feel too. Just boils down to the price point of each for me. 

[Silver Surfer]

On 9/23/2024 at 3:36 PM, AndyFish said:

Restored.

I chased a Looney Tunes #25 (I think that was it) had a great Halloween cover-- found one in what looked like 6.0 shape but when I took it out of the bag the pages were so brittle they flaked into the air like moths.   Found one with supple pages a few years later that was restored with minor color touch.

Brittle is a whole different ball game, I wouldn’t touch them unless the cover was intact and dirt cheap. It’s impossible to say but if a book stayed “slightly brittle” for the next ten years I wouldn’t care if it was a grail book.

[Silver Surfer]

On 9/23/2024 at 12:56 PM, Robot Man said:

Restored

But if it is in a slab, it doesn’t much matter…

This crossed my mind as as well, the book would have to remain in the slab otherwise I’m asking for trouble.

[Silver Surfer]

Actually this leads to another question but probably for the restoration thread. If you had a slightly brittle book but were able to “revive” the pages via some kind of chemical wash/treatment so that the pages could have an extended life I’d much rather have that kind of scenario than a restored book with pieces added. I’m surprised the technology isn't in place already (or maybe it is but is too expensive to justify its use on a book worth only a few thousand dollars?)

[zzutak]

[BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES]

On 9/23/2024 at 4:03 PM, Silver Surfer said:

Actually this leads to another question but probably for the restoration thread. If you had a slightly brittle book but were able to “revive” the pages via some kind of chemical wash/treatment so that the pages could have an extended life I’d much rather have that kind of scenario than a restored book with pieces added. I’m surprised the technology isn't in place already (or maybe it is but is too expensive to justify its use on a book worth only a few thousand dollars?)

 An auctioneer once told me that the brittle pages of a book I was showing were like the book "has cancer" and that, unlike actual cancer, it must not be treated.

[MB1952]

Restored C-1 or nada. 
Brittle 

[Gotham Kid]

restored

[Ryan.]

I'm no fan of restored but I have grown to really loathe brittle. In my collector mind, which may not always be rational but that's not a prerequisite for collecting, brittle pages mean that the book is actively falling apart. A copy purchased today will be worse every single day moving forward. I got rid of every brittle, slightly brittle and even light tan book I owned, except for one. The one slightly brittle book I kept, which also has glue on the spine, is a paperback/pulp hybrid that is so rare that I have kept it raw in a mylar while I keep my eye out for its eventual replacement.

[Professor K]

Depends on the book. And might I add I don't think all books that cgc deems SB actually have any degree of brittleness or at least any that would be problematic. Seems to me thay are reluctant to deem books light tan or even tan so they go from Cream/OW straight to SB sometimes. I could be wrong about that as I'm not a cgc grader. 

A low pop book or one that you rarely see offered I would take either as long as the resto is no more than moderate. I would take an SB with the same criteria if it looked very nice for the grade even if it had resto.

A costly book that I would have little or no choice on ever getting a blue label of I would also take either choice with the exception of having extensive resto. 

If it came down to a choice between two copies of roughly equal value I would go with Slightly Brit over restored in most cases, unless the Blue copy really looked like dog doo doo. If the resto was only A-1 in many cases I might take that over a blue SB especially if it had no CT. 

 

[VintageComics]

On 9/23/2024 at 3:41 PM, Silver Surfer said:

Usually I try to not buy either but if you had to choose?

For some books you have no choice, and future generations will eventually have no choice. The acid is in the paper and there's no way of stopping it's degradation. You can only slow it down. 

For rare, irreplaceable books like Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly #1, every known copy is brittle except for the restored ones, and they will HAVE to be restored at some point to preserve them. 

Some are pieces of history that are irreplaceable, so what are your options?

[Silver Surfer]

Yup there is a perfect example of a book I would still buy at the right price. Actually the book I’m looking at has a similar classic cover and I’m pretty sure I briefly owned it maybe 10+ years ago. It was slightly brittle back then but I noticed that there are now little pieces of paper floating around inside the slab so that gives me pause. If it was a few thousand dollars cheaper I would still consider it but I might have to go the restored route instead.