Thanks for these insights. Very helpful. Bought a Marvel Premiere #1 at a comicon. After getting home, found out it had color touch on the spine. No wonder it looked so good. Lesson learned.
I am probably not alone in admitting that this whole thing causes me mild anxiety because all my books are raw and I am no expert on restoration. It is too bad that a broader tracking census (because right now they are siloed) particularly for G.A. books can't be compiled so the community can cross-reference changes such as these. It would require collectors to self-report and update and might be too difficult logistically.
I have a problem with not taking comics out of bag/board and doing a inspections. To be fair they're mostly less than $50, but it's still a bad habit to have. I haven't gotten to old enough books to inspect for restoration, but that's another thing I need to work on.
Very important lesson to learn, especially when buying raw books. I screwed up that at least once. Other times, I've gotten restored books as part of collections.
Thanks for another great video. You always present great info that is so helpful. Sorry, you had that experience with Heritage - but thanks for sharing the experience with us. Much appreciated. Undisclosed resto can be such a heartbreaker. Years ago I bought what looked to be an absolutely stunning raw copy of Brave & The Bold 60 on eBay. I had one of my friends - an experienced comic collector friend look at it closely & we both thought that with that beautiful black cover it was a great CGC candidate. So, I had it pressed and submitted it - low & behold, it came back a 9.4 with “minor color touch” on the front cover. Because of the potential value of that book, I have to look at the possibility of having the CT removed & getting it regraded. Personally, resto is not an absolute dealbreaker for me as long as it is disclosed & priced accordingly. But undisclosed resto is a real pain to deal with. I look forward to the next video.
Yep, I don’t have a problem with restoration, especially on rare golden age books as long as it’s disclosed so I can determine the price I’m comfortable paying.
Thanks for the great information, I would not be surprised if heritage has a ton of "Poor" books in stock just sitting there and waiting for new collectors who just who are rolling the dice on Poor books for a cheaper price but with resto. There a business and gotta move books I'm sure. I'm sure alot of those resto books were once slabbed with purple labels too! Great show keep up the content!
Great video. You’re clearly not a guy who minds these issues with books but rather the feeling that you’ve been cheated… I get that! Great vid, great insight.
I normally don't point out who it was. I don't like it to seem like I'm calling anyone out. But I wanted to make it clear that it can be from anyone, even sellers that are supposed to be experts and should have spotted this in a second. I consider myself very knowledgeable, but not an expert, and I saw it immediately.
Ryan, The Heritage response was VERY poor IMO...it seems that with other resto issues that people have encountered is just "whoops I'm sorry, I did not know." That's convenient BS most of the time. But hey, I've become a touch jaded, which I hate. Expect the worst, hope for the best. Personally, I'm tired of having to beg about Marvel Pin-ups as I've been burned a few times...that's my goal is to spread the Marvel Masterpiece knowledge 😎😎👍👍🎨🎨
Very practical advice, and I guess a restored label for some books is not the end of the world moving forward. Disclosure would be honesty, but as I measure this current market - honesty might become rarer.
I’m totally fine with restored books, especially for very expensive or rare ones. But it’s all about disclosure since it does impact the value regardless.
Ryan, I found this video very helpful; to be aware of what to look out for when purchasing raw books. 🙌🏼Btw, I’m shocked that Heritage either did not know or didn’t disclose the restoration on their comic. 😳 😠
Wowwee Wow wow. I can't believe you found the original listing on their site and see the clear obvious signs of restoration. There's no doubt that's the book in the original listing. Did you present them the original listing with your findings? I think for their mistake on this one they really should've offered a partial credit. I appreciate you sharing the knowledge Ryan.
I did. I sent them pictures and the links to the listings. I was kind of surprised they didn’t offer something. I would have gladly kept the book for like a $200 reduction in price.
I'd thought I'd gotten a grail from Heritage - FF#49 pence variant. Listed as VG. Came back from CGC as a 6.0 restored, so higher grade, but restored. Same answer. Send it back and get refunded for the book and grading costs. They just sold it for a $500 loss when I'd have been happy with $250 or so in recompense. Ridiculous.
Yeah. I would have kept the book if they offered like $200. Now they have to take it back and resell it and with restoration (assuming they report it this time) they’ll take an to even bigger loss. But they sell hundreds of thousands of dollars in books per week. So it probably doesn’t matter to them.
Seems like there are two reasons to restore a book: (1) to not disclose restoration and sell a book for more than it's worth, or (2) to disclose restoration and sell a book for more than it would be if it were unrestored. This appears to be a conflict, but in both cases the seller tries to make money. If a seller plans to disclose restoration on a raw book, he needs to make sure the comic is worth the trouble to restore it, because like Ryan, some buyers think restoration subtracts from the value.
Adding restoration rarely (if ever) adds value to a book. It will almost always sell for more unrestored regardless of condition. The reason for restoration in some cases though is neither of the two above. It’s to help preserve the book. Adding structural support, replacing rusted staples, etc, will allow the book to survive longer despite damaging the value. It can also just be for the presentation of the book. A huge missing piece detracts from its appearance and while it may be worth more without it, it looks bad so someone may choose to have the appearance improved.
@@AutomaticComics See, I think there is a difference between restoration and conservation. What you describe above to "preserve the book" is what I call conservation, esp. replacing rusted staples and removing tape that discolors. "Color touch," on the other hand, is restoration.
You are overlooking a third reason - simple aesthetics. For example, I routinely do a 'cleaning' of newly bought items, to remove excess grime and dirt from them. I have done with items that I keep for their own sake, and have no plan to sell in the immediate future.
I have used heritage auctions one time and absolutely got ripped off they sent a book in an envelope with no protection at all and expecting me to pay for it when it came all beat up and open. I would never give them my business
Curious when you say you were disappointed with Heritages response, what were you looking for instead of a return - a discount? Wasn’t sure what is typical
I would have been completely fine if they had just said, “we’re sorry, we can’t do a partial refund, but we will give a full refund and return the book.” My issue was that they said they couldn’t do a partial refund because the book was sold in poor condition, implying that the restoration didn’t matter. Which comes across as they don’t think they did anything wrong by not reporting the restoration. Which sets a precedent that you have to be very wary of their raw books because you may be getting unreported restored books.
Sorry about your experience with Heritage, but honestly at least you are getting a full refund. I've bought books off ebay where restoration was disclosed as tear seals, only to find out it was trimmed as well. To your point, buyer (always) beware on buying raw books.
That sucks. Glad you are getting a refund since it isn't what you want. Though, I'll never understand why certain 'restorations' hurt the value of comic books so much. Like trimming... It isn't even really restoration, it is literally the opposite, the book is being cut. Nothing new is being added, it is still the original item in every way. If anything it should be looked at as incomplete or missing a piece. And color touch... sure this can get kind of out of hand but for the most part it is no worse than writing something on the book as far as the product itself is concerned... it just looks better. Yet it drops the value of the book more than if I just wrote my name on it... kind of ridiculous.
Conserved is just a nice way of saying restored. It’s a different label but it’s just a specific type of restoration (A-1, with certain types being used). For example, if you go to CGCs site, conserved is just a sub-type under “Restored” in their census.
@@AutomaticComics True. But it has a blue label lol. Grant it, its with a grey stripe. But i personally would rather have a conserved blue label over a purple label.
@up A Grade pressing so that’s a misunderstanding. It’s not a blue label. It’s actually why I hate those conserved labels. It’s almost like they’re designed to trick people. If you just want a straight blue label, send it to cbcs. They don’t do purple labels. I’ve seen people get tricked by them before and I’ve almost missed it in auctions when I was bidding on items because they look too similar.
Shame on Heritage. They should know better. Interesting that tear seals are considered restoration yet I have taped a torn cover on the inside to not see the tape. The tape will be noted by CGC but it is graded a universal copy.
If there is glue on a comic and it doesn't serve a purpose except making pages stick together for no reason at all is it considered restoration. I have a old rare comic like that but I don't even know if it's even really glue. What if it isn't glue, will cgc still write it down as glue and give me a purple label anyway
If it isn’t serving a purpose then you should get a blue label. There’s always a risk though. Maybe it’s holding a tear together you don’t notice, etc.
Dude, from my opinion if you buy a POOR condition book then it should be POOR condition! RESTORED is a TOTALLY different catagory! And for heritage to imply its in poor condition so you should expect restoration?? Are you kidding?? Ive a very short fuse for bullsh*t, id tear heritage a new assh*le for such an unacceptable, amateur response. It sets a precident. DONT allow it as it affects the community as a whole by granting Hertiage such amateur quality control. Hope you get it resolved and your money back dude
