Please grade this recent find: SS #4

[Johnny G]

It's been a while since I've posted here!

 

I've just finished moving and now have my comic office!!! Woo Hoo!!!

 

Now I can see what I have gotten over the past 6 months (I've bought quite a bit!!!).

 

Up for your grading pleasure is this copy of Silver Surfer #4: Bone white pages, flat, vibrant inks, a couple of large creases! 1 starting above the "c" in "Spaceways" and ending on the edge just below middle of book, the other is on the lower right front cover and is about 2". The lower left FC has a 1" crease as well. Back cover is clean and white (although the scan expresses this more than I'd like and would like to adjust... help?)

 

 

Thanks!

 

John

 

BTW... will accept offers if anyone is interested

[Point Five]

4.0/4.5, but with a bit of color touch in those creases on the right-hand side.

Still nice eye appeal for the grade.

[B-Smooth]

5.0 restored. Some bad color touch.

[october]

Yep. 4.5 PLOD.

[Johnny G]

Color touch?

 

I've inspected the book in hand and although the creases are there (almost no color breaking) there doesn't appear to be any resto work done to it. If anything, the book was on the bottom of a pile and the creases were flatened (no not pressed!).

 

I am no expert... but I do have the book in hand and have used a blacklight as well as close inspection and see no color touch

 

Maybe you could elaborate a little for me to help heighten my senses if there is

 

Thanks...

 

John

[october]

Color touch?

 

I've inspected the book in hand and although the creases are there (almost no color breaking) there doesn't appear to be any resto work done to it. If anything, the book was on the bottom of a pile and the creases were flatened (no not pressed!).

 

I am no expert... but I do have the book in hand and have used a blacklight as well as close inspection and see no color touch

 

Maybe you could elaborate a little for me to help heighten my senses if there is

 

Thanks...

 

John

 

I am 99.9% certain the book has color touch. The creases break color through the colors (the green in the lower crease and the orange in the top one) but magically the black remains solid. I can actually see the difference in color on the blacks. I would, literally, bet my entire bank account on it. I can show you what I mean if you want.

 

Also color touched on the upper right corner, the upper edge, and the spine area.

[Johnny G]

Color touch?

 

I've inspected the book in hand and although the creases are there (almost no color breaking) there doesn't appear to be any resto work done to it. If anything, the book was on the bottom of a pile and the creases were flatened (no not pressed!).

 

I am no expert... but I do have the book in hand and have used a blacklight as well as close inspection and see no color touch

 

Maybe you could elaborate a little for me to help heighten my senses if there is

 

Thanks...

 

John

 

I am 99.9% certain the book has color touch. The creases break color through the colors (the green in the lower crease and the orange in the top one) but magically the black remains solid. I can actually see the difference in color on the blacks. I would, literally, bet my entire bank account on it. I can show you what I mean if you want.

 

Also color touched on the upper right corner and the upper edge.

 

Are we talking here?

 

 

If so then... I'd have to agree! Strange it wouldn't come up under the blacklight??? Is that normal?

 

 

Oh well! It came in a lot I bought and worked out to be 35cents! Thankfully I put it up and went for another look! I wouldn't want to end up in the General Forum as a shady seller

 

Thanks for the heads up guys (and gal)

 

Good eye!

 

John

[october]

Yep, that's it. Well, if you got it in a lot for 35 cents you still did REALLY well! That's still a $40 book on eBay, maybe more, even with the color touch disclosed. It still has nice centering, decent colors and strong eye-appeal so I am sure you will make a good profit even if it doesn't sell here.

[Johnny G]

Yep, that's it. Well, if you got it in a lot for 35 cents you still did REALLY well! That's still a $40 book on eBay, maybe more, even with the color touch disclosed. It still has nice centering, decent colors and strong eye-appeal so I am sure you will make a good profit even if it doesn't sell here.

 

I was happy to see it in the lot as I recently sold my previous copy! I was willing to accept offers but thought I'd keep it for a while... guess things have changed!!! Why the do people mess with these books! We're talking about a near 5" crease... what's covering less than an inch going to do to the grade???

 

Again... thanks for pointing it out! I wouldn't have thunk it as upon first inspection it seemed fine! Someone needs to publish a book on spotting resto! Either that or I need to up my time on these boards from roughly 2 hours to 4!!!

[marvelcollector]

5.0

[B-Smooth]

Could be some kind of NON-Ink color touch. The reason its so obvious is because the rest of the crease shows through different colors....insufficiently_thoughtful_person with a marker or pencil...sheesh. Ill give you double for it! .75 Or Ill even round it up to a dollar!

[Johnny G]

Could be some kind of NON-Ink color touch. The reason its so obvious is because the rest of the crease shows through different colors....insufficiently_thoughtful_person with a marker or pencil...sheesh. Ill give you double for it! .75 Or Ill even round it up to a dollar!

 

$1.00

 

I think I'll put it up on eBay and see what the thing can fetch. I just finished the template and clearly disclosed the work. Now I just need to figure out a starting price

[Point Five]

I was happy to see it in the lot as I recently sold my previous copy! I was willing to accept offers but thought I'd keep it for a while... guess things have changed!!! Why the do people mess with these books! We're talking about a near 5" crease... what's covering less than an inch going to do to the grade???

 

If it's any comfort, when I was a teenager collecting SA Marvels in the 1980s, I foolishly used to color touch my books left and right. It was not frowned upon as severely as it is today, and I was just a dumb kid who didn't know any better. Of course, now I look back and wonder why the hell I did that, as most of the books I did it to were nice mid-grade copies to begin with, and would now be considered damaged goods (obviously I would never sell without full disclosure, unlike many a sharkey ebay seller out there).

 

The only silver lining to that is that now I'm extremely good at spotting restoration, especially on SA books. I can't even count how many ebay purchases I've returned with color touch...sometimes it's done even more carefully than your SS #4, but it still screams out at me. You learn what to look for, it just takes time.

[Johnny G]

I was happy to see it in the lot as I recently sold my previous copy! I was willing to accept offers but thought I'd keep it for a while... guess things have changed!!! Why the do people mess with these books! We're talking about a near 5" crease... what's covering less than an inch going to do to the grade???

 

If it's any comfort, when I was a teenager collecting SA Marvels in the 1980s, I foolishly used to color touch my books left and right. It was not frowned upon as severely as it is today, and I was just a dumb kid who didn't know any better. Of course, now I look back and wonder why the hell I did that, as most of the books I did it to were nice mid-grade copies to begin with, and would now be considered damaged goods (obviously I would never sell without full disclosure, unlike many a sharkey ebay seller out there).

 

The only silver lining to that is that now I'm extremely good at spotting restoration, especially on SA books. I can't even count how many ebay purchases I've returned with color touch...sometimes it's done even more carefully than your SS #4, but it still screams out at me. You learn what to look for, it just takes time.

 

I just can't believe I didn't spot it right away!!!

 

I guess I need better lighting in here! Either that or a stronger prescrption for glasses!

 

If it were to have slipped by me when listing (if listed), I clearly state that if any book sold by me is found to be restored, I will gladly refund full purchase price. I believe in customer satisfaction and routinely go out of my way to ensure that happens

 

Again... thanks

 

John

[Point Five]

If it were to have slipped by me when listing (if listed), I clearly state that if any book sold by me is found to be restored, I will gladly refund full purchase price. I believe in customer satisfaction and routinely go out of my way to ensure that happens

 

The only way to be, mate! Glad to hear it.

[RDK]

I was happy to see it in the lot as I recently sold my previous copy! I was willing to accept offers but thought I'd keep it for a while... guess things have changed!!! Why the do people mess with these books! We're talking about a near 5" crease... what's covering less than an inch going to do to the grade???

 

If it's any comfort, when I was a teenager collecting SA Marvels in the 1980s, I foolishly used to color touch my books left and right. It was not frowned upon as severely as it is today, and I was just a dumb kid who didn't know any better. Of course, now I look back and wonder why the hell I did that, as most of the books I did it to were nice mid-grade copies to begin with, and would now be considered damaged goods (obviously I would never sell without full disclosure, unlike many a sharkey ebay seller out there).

 

The only silver lining to that is that now I'm extremely good at spotting restoration, especially on SA books. I can't even count how many ebay purchases I've returned with color touch...sometimes it's done even more carefully than your SS #4, but it still screams out at me. You learn what to look for, it just takes time.

 

Same here, though it was as a young teen back in the mid-70s. I was just talking about this with an old friend the other day. Didn't do it to a lot of books (thank goodness!), but we all did it - and we were taught how to do it by several dealers at the time. One thing, though - we almost never used ink. What we used instead were crayons, so we could match colors better and maybe touch up a deep spine bend or a white edge on a dark cover. The only "good" thing about it, I guess, is that most if not all of the waxy crayon can be removed even now, with no visible marks (though I don't know if it could be spotted under black light or by more highly trained eyes).

[KingOfRulers]

5.5