So yea, I called the guy and he guarantees me 100% that he did not touch up the books. I still believe him, as I have dealt with him many times before. The CGC label says "slight professional" restoration. I am ready to accept my losses ~$1300, but I would appreciate any suggestions. Remove the restoration (~$350)? Try CGG? A refund seems out of the question as the transaction is over 6 months old. Any ideas on how much the grade would drop if I had the restoration professionally removed? The seller sells on e-bay, but not regularly.
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For my whole life, I have been looking for a comic that was published about 11 years ago (about the time of X-men #300). It was a comic where many of the heroes of the marvel universe were fighting against these robot things. I remember that cyclops was blasted right through the chest on the second page. If anyone knows what this comic was called, can you please PM me. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
Quote: So yea, I called the guy and he guarantees me 100% that he did not touch up the books. I still believe him, as I have dealt with him many times before. The CGC label says "slight professional" restoration. I am ready to accept my losses ~$1300, but I would appreciate any suggestions. Remove the restoration (~$350)? Try CGG? A refund seems out of the question as the transaction is over 6 months old. Any ideas on how much the grade would drop if I had the restoration professionally removed? The seller sells on e-bay, but not regularly.
Quick Points;
1) I'm would bet a lot of money that the books are color touched (doubt that CGC is incorrect).
2) The dealer probably knows that they are color touched. Might not have done it themself, but they probably know.
3) As an ethical person you can either try to have the color touch removed by a professional, or sell the books disclosing the restoration. DO NOT JUST SEND IT TO CGG, and hope they don't catch it.
4) As a benefit to all board members, it would be nice if you told who the dealer was? Was it Comic-Keys (who is known to have restored books)? If not, who? By not disclosing the dealer, you are actually doing a disservice to all collectors. I would assume you would want other board members to discuss which dealers are reputable and which aren't.
5) Post scans if you want to know if it's worth getting the color touch removed.
While I know you feel terrible, you aren't the first, and won't be the last to lose a lot of money buying restored books. That's why CGC books get a premium. You get what you pay for.
Registered: 09/14/02
Posts: 23372
Loc: Perv Toy Row, San Francisco, C...
So yea, I called the guy and he guarantees me 100% that he did not touch up the books. I still believe him, as I have dealt with him many times before.
Any idea if the books were obtained by the dealer from the same collector? That may be one answer.
I don't have a scanner or scans of the books, so I can't post any. If the books were apparent 9.6, do you think I should pay to have the restoration removed? The cover is a dark one, so I think that the grade might be a lot lower with the "small amount of color touch" removed. Any thoughts on this? Have it removed? Sell it as restored and accept the monetary loss? btw, the sellers e-bay ID is "rileyfigueroa". Thanks for all your help so far.
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For my whole life, I have been looking for a comic that was published about 11 years ago (about the time of X-men #300). It was a comic where many of the heroes of the marvel universe were fighting against these robot things. I remember that cyclops was blasted right through the chest on the second page. If anyone knows what this comic was called, can you please PM me. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
Registered: 09/14/02
Posts: 23372
Loc: Perv Toy Row, San Francisco, C...
Quote: I don't have a scanner or scans of the books, so I can't post any. If the books were apparent 9.6, do you think I should pay to have the restoration removed? The cover is a dark one, so I think that the grade might be a lot lower with the "small amount of color touch" removed. Any thoughts on this? Have it removed? Sell it as restored and accept the monetary loss? btw, the sellers e-bay ID is "rileyfigueroa". Thanks for all your help so far.
Hard for me to say - except for refusing to pay too much for even a "classic" pre-code horror cover, I tend to think in terms of why I got the book and what I like about it. (not a value judgement at all). So I really can't say one way or the other - but I bet others here can. To me, if you want to sell them and replace with maybe slabbed Bluw labels, I would check the "unrestorers" and see how much an unrestore would cost, maybe get a feel for what garde it may get in Blue label, then either decide to keep or sell and get a blanket blue label (but you never know if the next blue label you get will be unrestored). Man am I gald I don;t have a slabed collection. I swear I would go more nuts than I am!
Quote: don't have a scanner or scans of the books, so I can't post any. If the books were apparent 9.6, do you think I should pay to have the restoration removed? The cover is a dark one, so I think that the grade might be a lot lower with the "small amount of color touch" removed. Any thoughts on this? Have it removed? Sell it as restored and accept the monetary loss? btw, the sellers e-bay ID is "rileyfigueroa". Thanks for all your help so far.
What book (s) were they and what are the grades.
It's probably going to cost you $75-100 per book to remove the color touch. And it really depends on where it is (and how much), to determine how much the grade will be affected. Plus, you have to spend money to get the book graded again.
Well, that being the case (restoartion fees + regrading fees) I have decided to just cut my losses. I am gonna take the books out of their cases and frame them or something. Do I have to notify CGC when I take a book out of the case?
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For my whole life, I have been looking for a comic that was published about 11 years ago (about the time of X-men #300). It was a comic where many of the heroes of the marvel universe were fighting against these robot things. I remember that cyclops was blasted right through the chest on the second page. If anyone knows what this comic was called, can you please PM me. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
Quote: Well, that being the case (restoartion fees + regrading fees) I have decided to just cut my losses. I am gonna take the books out of their cases and frame them or something. Do I have to notify CGC when I take a book out of the case?
Of course you HAVE TO notify CGC!!!!
CGC is like the matress police. Every couple years, they will knock on your door to make sure you still have your books in the slab (or at least sent back the labels).
Actually, if you send back the labels, CGC will take the books out of the census. But since they are restored, it probably doesn't make much of a difference.
Can you recommend common (easy to obtain) sources for the chemicals Naphtha and Toluene? I've experimented with Naphtha to remove a tape repair from an interior page of a book, then Toluene to remove the stain that was left because I didn't disassemble the comic and dip the entire page. I also had an incident where I submersed an entire low grade book in that same Naphtha-based cleaner, but I think I left it in too long (about 15 minutes) because much of the ink from the cover literally dripped right off.
I suspect the products I used that contained these chemicals were not pure enough.
For Naphtha, I used the "General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner from 3M (part # 08984)". The Toluene was an aerosol carburetor cleaner. Can't remember the brand. The Toluene was somewhat helpful, but did not completely remove the stain. Using something with a propellant in it was probably a no-no, although I first sprayed a sufficient amount into a glass cup so I could moisten a cotton swab with it.
Registered: 09/14/02
Posts: 23372
Loc: Perv Toy Row, San Francisco, C...
Hey Jim,
Well first off I looked up that 3M Cleaner 08984. It isn't the same as just Naptha. The Napth i have used and seen used is at the hardware store and called VMP (or VM&P) Naptha. I've seen books left in it for quite a long time - over an hour - with no impact on the inks, not that I am recommending that long a soak.
As far as that Toluene stuff goes. I haven't used it but to be honest it doesn't sound like the best thing to me.
