RESTORED COMICS..WHATS ALL THE HYPE ABOUT??

[ablue]

Brian I'm not old I am 34 and I started collecting at 13 when you could pick up a action #1 for $2500 in good back in 1985.

I knew comics would skyrocket back then and is certainly has!

It's not the being old you know more but what I am trying to get at is just being in that time was amazing! it was not about the money but getting that book you always wanted restored or not.

The hobby back then was about searching and finding that old comic now all you have to do is click and you got it, that's not fun! there is no challage anymore!

Comics are treated as stocks now not for the true beauty that they are.

it's easy to read about the hobby but to be around all the changes it went through

that is what expierience is all about not memorizing all the facts.

I read in a post that someone said paintings are ok to restore or CLEAN

because they are one of a kind and comics were in the hundreds of thousands and people have a choice.

Thats not true how many actions 1 are out there?? or adventure#40??

I don't see them on every comic shop wall.

By people saying comics that are restored are junk are fools how can that be??

They are one of a kind! and un replaceable.

One more example. You have a Batman#1 pedegree with a cleaned cover and everything else is original and say it is in vf condition, whether the comic is cleaned or not, and you have the same comic in vf "ORIGINAL" whats the difference?? the original is selling for $80.000.00 the other you think should be worth what 50% of value?? when it is the same?? would you pay $80,000

or say 45-50,000 for the same thing!?? but then again with all the resto hype and insane small prices now some nut would probably say AW IT"S JUNK NOW!!

worth only 10% of the value!! OH HUM!! can't wait till this dumb craze dies out so collecting can get back to normal again.

[aardvark88]

I'd rather spend $50k on a 1966 tv Batmobile w/ light pro resto work. Saw 1 in San Diego Con summer 2001 complete w/ missile launchers ready for action.

[ablue]

Right on!!

[ablue]

That is a great car!!

[comicinvestor-migration]

These restoration threads are all quite amusing, since they make absolutely no sense. Here's the scenario:

 

1) Guy comes on and starts complaining that resto books get no respect.

 

2) He follows this up with a poignant rant on how "comics are for reading" and we should collect what we like,

 

3) Then right on the heels of this nostalgia riff, he starts in on how "big money" collectors don't like resto books and values are low.

 

Translation: "I own a ton of resto books I bought as original and now I'm pissed" or "I resto books and can't believe people won't pay an arm and a leg for them".

 

Otherwise, where's your beef?

[ablue]

I don't understand whats your point??

[comicinvestor-migration]

My point is:

 

If you're a "collector" who isn't worried about value, then why do you care what anyone else thinks of restored books? They're cheap now, so buy 'em up!!

[ablue]

I just follow up on the comments I get I don't dwell on a subject.

[ablue]

I care because it is hurting the hobby.

[ablue]

Someone has to have the guts to step up and voice their concerns.

Why sould I not care?? I'ts not about the money. It sickens me to see that these beautiful books are totally put down.

[murph0]

The hobby is hurting? The restoration hobby? I don't see how just b/c a restored book isn't selling for thousands of dollars translates into the hobby is hurting. People don't buy restored books because they don't want to. Simple as that..you're not going to trick them into buying them later by calling them conserved or some other nice name for restored. They want the book that was on the shelf in the 50's or 60's not the book that has parts unknown.

 

Brian

[comicinvestor-migration]

Why sould I not care?? I'ts not about the money. It sickens me to see that these beautiful books are totally put down.

 

Sorry, but that sounds like a load of BS. I collect plenty of books that people view as (Thongor, Brother Voodoo, Frankenstein) and you don't see me whining about how good they are and how people should start buying them in droves.

 

I just buy them.

 

If I was sitting on a stack of Brother Voodoo, maybe then it would be in my best interest to start trying to create a movement, but that wouldn't be a "collector motivation" now would it?

[FlyingDonut]

Brother Voodoo RULES!

 

And, Strange Tales 169 in grade is a nice little consisten $20 seller.

 

But I agree with you. The guys post makes no sense. If he's so worried about how the books are being "put down", buy some. I wish I had bought the slightly restored 9.2 Adventure 40 in Chicago for $6K. What an amazing buy.

[Bronty]

Wow, that is a great deal on the Adventure 40... by today's standards!

[ablue]

Brian.

Why don't you read my posts?

I never mentioned tricked I mentioned that a slight clean is not bad!!!!

are you not in university? READ!!! it's you new collector's that are screwing up the industry for profits!!!

[comicinvestor-migration]

And, Strange Tales 169 in grade is a nice little consisten $20 seller.

 

Don't remind me. I lost out on a VF/NM run of the entire series because I bid like an old woman due to my need to save the USD stash for CGC 9.2 keys. What a lamer I am and I think I bid $18 and he won for $18.01 or somesuch BS.

[ablue]

B.S:? What are you talking about??? I for one respected you on your views on the cgc grades but this is shocking!!!

Why don't you read my posts?? how is this b.s???

There is always someone persecuted when differenting with others.

[ablue]

flyingdonut how do I not make sence???

You just said I wish I made a bid on the Adventure

[greggy]

Ooo, too bad I have multiples of 169!

[PovertyRow]

They want the book that was on the shelf in the 50's or 60's not the book that has parts unknown.

 

Hopefully that is a good thing about CGC - that they CAN verify if there are "parts unknown" or if the book was just cleaned and has no "parts unknown". A sufficiently informed collector can make the same determination.

 

We wash our cars. Does that mean a "cleaned" classic car is worth less? Old paintings are cleaned to remove the dirt that has accumulated over the years. Are they worth less? Old furniture cleaned. Does that make it worth less? (well - if you clean enough to remove the original finish then it is worth a hell of a lot less.)

 

If you replace the parts of a classic car it will be worth less. If you have to inpaint a painting it will be worth less. If you refinish a classic piece of furniture it will be worth a LOT less.

 

Now on to coins. The cleaning of a coin is almost anathema. (I am trying to put together a nice MS 63 or better 20th century type set - major nostalgia - all "blazers" - when I was a kid coin collector I actually got buffalo nickels, indian head cents and standing liberty quarters in the rolls I would get from the bank) - but geeze those Standing Liberties (a truly gorgeous design - and I have to get TWO - type 1 and type 2) and Barbers in slabbed MS are pricey enough to make me want to buy raw and risk the slabbing. Anyway, one of the reasons a cleaned coin is not acceptable is that the patina is gone. Now cleaning a piece of furniture with a good furniture cleaner does not remove the patina. But cleaning a coin does remove the patina, which is rightfully considered precious.

 

So, I have to ask - do comics have a patina? And if they do, is any extra value assigned for that patina? Well, old comics DO have a patina. It is usually referred to as "dulling".of the covers or an ink transfer stain. And they are considered defects. Not sure why. They attest to the history of the book.

 

Another thing I am rather confused about - back when Sotheby's had their early comic auction, restoration was accepted when a known restorer did the restoration...and the restoration was revelaed in detail, just as CGC does today. In speaking with Susan Ciccone she once told me (and I parapharse here but it is accurate) "Whoah! A few months before the next Sotheby auction. I am getting swamped." Why was she swamped? Because in those days, the auction descriptions would specify the restoration and usually the restorer. Folks understood what restoration was and bid accordingly. Not Mega magnitudes over guide but sufficient to say "I understand the process and I still want it."

 

But today it seems that the standards that are being applied to modern books - and by modern I mean mid-sixties because the mid-sixties is when hoarding started to take place - are also being applid to earlier 60's and 50's, 40's and 30's books as well.Which is ridiculous.

 

I will end my diatribe here. Feel free to take me task on anything I have said. I shall happily attempt an explanation. (not a rebuttal - an explanation.)

 

Thank you.