Post your new books in your collection here!

tmcneil82 · Post by **tmcneil82** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 5:00 pm

That asm looks nice. Are you going to slab it? It looks like a 9.4 or better based on the scan

sanman · Post by **sanman** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:32 pm

tmcneil82 wrote:That asm looks nice. Are you going to slab it? It looks like a 9.4 or better based on the scan

Yeah, that's an awesome looking book--nice grab.

Escaflown4 · Post by **Escaflown4** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 10:29 pm

That's definitely a nice copy, one of my favorite story lines as well. Only problem is the rust on the top staple might prevent it getting a 9.4 from CGC. Still it's an excellent copy to own in any ASM collection.

tmcneil82 · Post by **tmcneil82** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 8:11 am

Escaflown4 wrote:That's definitely a nice copy, one of my favorite story lines as well. Only problem is the rust on the top staple might prevent it getting a 9.4 from CGC. Still it's an excellent copy to own in any ASM collection.

Bummer. From the photo, the rust on the staples is near impossible to see

hulk181man · Post by **hulk181man** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 10:22 am

Escaflown4 wrote:That's definitely a nice copy, one of my favorite story lines as well. Only problem is the rust on the top staple might prevent it getting a 9.4 from CGC. Still it's an excellent copy to own in any ASM collection.

Good catch - Lonestar graded it VF due to the staple rust. The bottom staple is clean, the book is clean, none of the rust has migrated to paper.

And I agree, aside from that top staple the book looks 9.4ish, so here is the question, can rust be safely removed?
Anyone with info. on this? Would that be considered preservation rather than restoration?

I don't currently intend to slab this but down the road, who knows

tmcneil82 · Post by **tmcneil82** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:14 am

hulk181man wrote:
Escaflown4 wrote:That's definitely a nice copy, one of my favorite story lines as well. Only problem is the rust on the top staple might prevent it getting a 9.4 from CGC. Still it's an excellent copy to own in any ASM collection.
Good catch - Lonestar graded it VF due to the staple rust. The bottom staple is clean, the book is clean, none of the rust has migrated to paper.

And I agree, aside from that top staple the book looks 9.4ish, so here is the question, can rust be safely removed?
Anyone with info. on this? Would that be considered preservation rather than restoration?

I don't currently intend to slab this but down the road, who knows

Would it be taboo to replace the staple completely?

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 3:05 pm

tmcneil82 wrote:
hulk181man wrote:
Escaflown4 wrote:That's definitely a nice copy, one of my favorite story lines as well. Only problem is the rust on the top staple might prevent it getting a 9.4 from CGC. Still it's an excellent copy to own in any ASM collection.
Good catch - Lonestar graded it VF due to the staple rust. The bottom staple is clean, the book is clean, none of the rust has migrated to paper.

And I agree, aside from that top staple the book looks 9.4ish, so here is the question, can rust be safely removed?
Anyone with info. on this? Would that be considered preservation rather than restoration?

I don't currently intend to slab this but down the road, who knows
Would it be taboo to replace the staple completely?

well, I think that would definitely be considered restoration if you swap out a staple. Not sure how easy it would be to detect if it's done correctly.

tmcneil82 · Post by **tmcneil82** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 3:25 pm

Thats what I'm wondering. Especially if you could find a lower grade copy with good staples, or an issue near it in month/year range

maraxusofkeld · Post by **maraxusofkeld** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 4:44 pm

I would try a rust remover on a q tip.

hulk181man · Post by **hulk181man** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 8:02 pm

maraxusofkeld wrote:I would try a rust remover on a q tip.

Good idea

greg · Post by **greg** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 9:47 pm

hulk181man wrote:
Escaflown4 wrote:That's definitely a nice copy, one of my favorite story lines as well. Only problem is the rust on the top staple might prevent it getting a 9.4 from CGC. Still it's an excellent copy to own in any ASM collection.
Good catch - Lonestar graded it VF due to the staple rust. The bottom staple is clean, the book is clean, none of the rust has migrated to paper.

And I agree, aside from that top staple the book looks 9.4ish, so here is the question, can rust be safely removed?
Anyone with info. on this? Would that be considered preservation rather than restoration?

I don't currently intend to slab this but down the road, who knows

If you slab it down the road, it would probably be noted as Restoration (Purple label) with "staples cleaned" as the comment.

tmcneil82 · Post by **tmcneil82** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 10:50 pm

I realize the restored slabs aren't as wanted as the standard, but does anyone have any idea how much less?

For example, if a standard 9.8 sells for 400, would a restored 9.8 go for much much less? Like would it drop it into the 8.0 range or even further down?

I'm really just curious, and I think this may be the way I can get some key silver age books into my collection

greg · Post by **greg** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:13 pm

tmcneil82 wrote:I realize the restored slabs aren't as wanted as the standard, but does anyone have any idea how much less?

For example, if a standard 9.8 sells for 400, would a restored 9.8 go for much much less? Like would it drop it into the 8.0 range or even further down?

I'm really just curious, and I think this may be the way I can get some key silver age books into my collection

There are 7 different types of "restored".

6 of them are:
Slight Amateur
Slight Professional
Moderate Amateur
Moderate Professional
Extensive Amateur
Extensive Professional

...and a 7th one is pretty much any slab that mentions "COVER TRIMMED".

As you might expect, the prices vary based upon the type of restoration,
with Slight Professional being the "most desirable" (besides unrestored).
Slight Amateur is sometimes desirable if a professional can remove the amateur restoration.
For example, a very slight amount of color touch might be removed from a restored 9.4
and the resulting area of the cover (just the original paper, no extra ink)
could still qualify the book for an unrestored 9.0 (hypothetically).
The book might look worse with that missing cover art, but it would no longer
have any artificial additions considered as restoration.

Generally speaking, extensive restoration is extremely cheap compared to the unrestored books.
An $80,000 Silver Age key (such as Amazing Fantasy #15 CGC 8.0)
could sell for around $4,000 as a CGC 8.0 Extensive Professional Restoration (5%).

I would guess that a $400 book might sell for $80 or less in a restored slab (20% or less).

"COVER TRIMMED" books are currently the most despised.
It's very unusual for books which have been trimmed to get anywhere near 20% of unrestored value.

Many people consider restored books as a huge bargain to obtain key books in the current market,
however, attitudes would need to change significantly for restored books to become "reasonable" investments.

Additionally, if restored books suddenly increased in value, many more of them would become available
as most low-to-mid grade books (2.0 to 4.0) can be professionally restored to 6.0 or higher.

tmcneil82 · Post by **tmcneil82** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:21 am

Great info Greg, as always. Thanks.

I really wouldn't invest in a restored book for monetary gain, but I wouldn't mind owning some for my collection. Especially books like af 15, asm 1, x-men 1. There is no way I would be willing to pay the going rate for a slabbed copy of any of those around 7.0 - 8.0 range, un-restored. But greatly discounted for a restored copy? Yeah, I'd be in.

Escaflown4 · Post by **Escaflown4** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:46 am

tmcneil82 wrote:Great info Greg, as always. Thanks.

I really wouldn't invest in a restored book for monetary gain, but I wouldn't mind owning some for my collection. Especially books like af 15, asm 1, x-men 1. There is no way I would be willing to pay the going rate for a slabbed copy of any of those around 7.0 - 8.0 range, un-restored. But greatly discounted for a restored copy? Yeah, I'd be in.

Yep restored books are really not for investment purposes. So if you don't mind the purple label, that's your best bet to getting the top Silver Age keys for lower price with excellent eye appeal covers.

maraxusofkeld · Post by **maraxusofkeld** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 7:36 pm

If its for his personal collection, I'd say why not

tmcneil82 · Post by **tmcneil82** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:53 pm

maraxusofkeld wrote:If its for his personal collection, I'd say why not

Indeed! I'd never be able to part with the cash for a 7.0 + Amazing Fantasy 15 blue label, unless it was a steal. And then, I'd likely try to sell it anyway.

sanman · Post by **sanman** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:08 pm

tmcneil82 wrote: And then, I'd likely try to sell it anyway.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:24 pm

hulk181man wrote: Good catch - Lonestar graded it VF due to the staple rust. The bottom staple is clean, the book is clean, none of the rust has migrated to paper.

That's a beauty regardless of the rust. I don't think it's worth messing with trying to replace the staple or remove the rust. Just about anything you do is probably going to be detected and this isn't exactly a $10K book we are talking about here. If rust migration is a problem, then maybe, but I think it's a beaut the way it is.

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:46 pm

I like collecting CGC Graded comics, but I basically just focus on books that are special to me personally. The first book I ever bought, a cover that stood out on the stands, a story that touched me, or something like that. I was very fortunate late last year to purchase a 9.8 copy of the first comic book I ever bought with my own money. Much to my surprise, it was also a newsstand version, just like that one I picked up in the supermarket almost 20 years ago.

When I was a kid my aunt had a bunch of old comics that she had lying around and she would give me a few at a time until I basically had them all. She gave me a bunch of Dazzler and Wonder Woman books (which were great) and even a few Avengers, Superman and Tarzan books also. There was even a Turok: Son of Stone in there.

(#110)

The first book she ever gave me was a copy of Action Comics #491 and to this day it's one of my all time favorite covers. I'd been looking for a 9.8 copy to pop up on eBay for a while, but I never saw one. The other day, I finally saw a 9.4 pop up and snagged it. I didn't know it till I opened the book that it was a pedigree book from the collection of the amazing Mr. Don Rosa, long-time writer and artist on Disney's Uncle Scrooge, and truly one of the greats. The slab arrived in a padded envelope.

I was pretty nervous opening it, up, but miraculously the case wasn't cracked at all.

Here's the book:

and the COA that came with it:

Escaflown4 · Post by **Escaflown4** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:30 am

Won a few more ASM slabs last night on ComicLink. All of them below average GPA too!

hulk181man · Post by **hulk181man** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:26 pm

Nice, I love those early Spideys.

Escaflown4 · Post by **Escaflown4** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 4:54 pm

Yup, there's just something about those early Silver Age covers that can't be duplicated by what's being put out now.

tmcneil82 · Post by **tmcneil82** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 5:27 pm

I think its the coloring that sets them apart. They look amazing

sanman · Post by **sanman** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:09 pm

Yep, SA rocks