Condition! Condition!! Condition!!! It’s everything in the world of comic books, and even the slightest little spine tic, crease, fold, tear, or waviness...can knock some major coin off of the value of your book. Luckily, some genius figured out that using a Dry Mount Press can help remove some forms of damage making a tremendous difference in the grade of the book in question.
I’m not sure who figured it out and I don’t care...all I know is that if done properly, it can be a very profitable endeavor. Below is my station that I have set up in my basement. I use the press on the right to administer the proper setting of heat and the one on the left to cool it down while keeping it flat.
Most of the time I’ll start by giving the book a nice steaming which is an extremely scary process. Nothing like seeing a $2000 book get moist and start curling!!! This helps basically iron out some of the issues. Then I do a hot press followed by a cold press to bring it back to room temperature. Sometimes I have to repeat depending on what is wrong with the book. Different books require completely different processes depending on the time frame, the problem, paper stock.
I’ll preface this by saying it obviously cannot fix tears and rips. It also can’t fix color breaking creases meaning any crease that you see the white cracking outline on the cover. It can mainly help repair things like spine roll, non color breaking creases, waviness, slight moisture damage, and a few other random issues. Sometimes the fix can be subtle, and sometimes it looks like a brand new book. It all depends on what the problem is, the process used, & the presser themselves. It all varies on a case by case basis.
I’ll boast that I’m a pretty decent presser. Not amazing as I’m still figuring out certain tricks but I won’t mess your book up. That’s also a possibility so be careful in handing over your precious goods as I’ve seen and heard horror stories. I practiced a ton of cheap crappy dollar comics for a long time before I started accepting other people’s books. I currently charge $15 per book which may sound like a lot but it’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. Especially when I can correct problems that increase the value by hundreds or even thousands.
I’ll also note that this does NOT count as restoration on the book. Restoration for the most part is something that most collectors do not want attached to their book. The big grading companies such as CGC and CBCS can detect things like trimming (when one tries to cut an imperfect edge to look better), color touch (when an ink or marker is used to blend or cover a flaw), and other methods. The big graders actually offer Pressing as a service as well when getting books graded, although I believe it’s more expensive than most of the dudes that do it through shops or in the comic circles.
Well enough babbling about it...let me show you what can be done with a little bit of magic...
I will just be showing before and after pics so you can all get an idea as to what this can do. Note that some of these fixes helped these books bump up several grades leading to a huge increase in value. Also for the comic savvy folks here you’ll notice some pretty big books here such as 1st Appearances of Silver Surfer & Galactus, Vision, Wolverine, Shang-Chi and a ton of other tasty books.
SEE IF YOU CAN SEE THE DIFFERENCE AND SPOT THE ORIGINAL FLAWS.
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Now to the average person who might not be super familiar with how comic grading is almost everything with books like these, some of these minor fixes will bump these books a grade or two which could result in thousands left on the table…if not for a simple press.
Thx for looking folks!
Blewitt
