I would have left it alone and re-sold it as a 6.5 as graded by PGX. Why risk a lower grade and a purple label from CGC when you could make a profit by selling it as is in the future?
Charlie, the reason why one would risk a potential lower grade and restoration is the same reason one would purchase stocks--you have to rake risks to get rewards. There was no profit to be had leaving it as it was--PGX slabs sell at a huge discount to CGC slabs because PGX has a reputation for missing major flaws like this, so i was never going to get more money than i had paid for this slab if i left it alone and just would have lost out on shipping costs and selling fees. PGX's bad reputation creates both risk and opportunity. Had this book not been restored, i stood to profit anywhere from $500-1,000 by cracking it, cleaning it, and resubbing it to CGC. Enjoy the holidays!
Here in Australia PGX also sells for less than CGC but nowhere near that degree, which is why I thought leaving it was a viable option. We also have a local grading and slabbing firm called HALO which seems to fit between CGC and PGX in reputation. All the best to you too for the festive season. @@DrPaulKosnik
It does look a little glossy, I’m not a PGX fan but I would also say their stock has gone up, given the CGC debacle. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of upside in cracking this PGX slab, taking into account the time, mailing and grading fees, the loss was about $1300-$1500.
@@shepherdsknollStock has gone up. Give me a break 😂. No matter what happens to CGC or any grading company, PGX is the laughing stock of the industry and always will be.
Good news! Just find another unrestored issue of this book already graded by CGC, swap labels, send in for re-holder, and wa-la! An instant certified unrestored copy. Magic!
Ugh, so sorry about this but stoked you took us along on the journey. I find failure much more fascinating than successes. There are so many more lessons to be learned. Thank you so much Dr. Paul.
Thanks for taking us along on the journey. Definitely learned a lot and wouldn’t mind seeing more PGX slabs cracked and sent to CGC as I am about to do my own later next year 👍
Unfortunate outcome, but there are some positives, as you mentioned (like knowing your assessment of the restoration was correct). Thanks for such a thorough review, as we can all learn from this! Much appreciated, good sir. Merry Xmas. Have a good New Year also.
Thanks Kelly, the same to you! It's good to have a balanced perspective on these things. The last thing you want is negative energy entering your life through your hobby!
I’ve found that admitting you don’t know something is a sign of intelligence and self-confidence and pretending you know everything is either a sign of ignorance or insecurity or both. Perhaps you can share on your channel how you regloss comics and explain the chemistry to those of us that haven’t studied it yet. 👍🏽
Just a thought, Dr Kosnik, but I wonder whether your re-sizing aqueous treatment would help deposit a homogeneous finish over the book? I realise this is not removal of the varnish -but it seems to me that attempting to remove varnish could be very dangerous without knowing precisely the varnish's chemical composition -so maybe the only option is to reduce the impact of the original treatment...
That might be the only reasonable option available to me at this point Mark. As you say, non-destructive removal of the applied gloss is unlikely to happen.
@@DrPaulKosnik thanks for the quick reply! And thanks so much for sharing your knowledge - your channel has completely revolutionised my thinking about this topic. I have tried some H2O2 BLED treatments, but was puzzled by the change in texture of the paper -after watching your videos I now realise I overtreated the books. I hope that a CaOH treatment will rejuvenate them a bit. Right now I'm watching the series about Superman #9. I have a copy of Fantastic Four #48 with a lot of tape on it. Once all my new equipment arrives, I'll give it a go!
Sorry about the luck you had with this PGX. I had a FF 43 PGX slab and the book was never cleaned or pressed in a collection I picked up. Cracked it out and what you know missing center wrap, but not a big loss for me thankfully. It is in a pile of books to be test subjects as I start on my learning curve with conservation. Merry Christmas and enjoy the holiday season. Cheers.
Just bought a PGX slab as my first graded book. lol. A 5.0 copy of DC Comics Big Town #49 for $30 CAD plus shipping which to me, is a crazy good deal for a slabbed book. I’m not too worried about restoration, as it’s not a popular enough book to warrant it. A nice conversation piece for the collection.
Recovering cover gloss other than by cleaning off the dirt and gently polishing the comic cover with a soft cloth starts crossing the line between conservation and restoration. While it is true that some actual restoration is occasionally needed to consrve a book, the restoration methods used are alwaus reversable. To the best of my knowledge reglossing can not be undone and therefore would always be restoration. It is sad that you ended up with this, but good that you were able to recognize it and share it with others. I want to stress the points you made, Cover soiling (however light) could not be removed from the front but could be on the back. The cover had a slighly higher level of gloss on the front than the back. These lead you to the conclusion that the cover may have been reglossed (I suspect some sort of a light semigloss spray, but there is no way to know for sure).
I’ve submitted three books to convert from pgx to cgc with a pressing in between Hulk 178 pgx 9.4 to cgc 9.8 Witching hour 45 pgx 9.0 to cgc 9.8 Marvel special edition 16 pgx 9.4 to cgc 9.8 All 3 books were graded around 2006 . Pgx graded books super tough around that time.
Something that I have noticed over my many many years of collecting comics is that the newer the grader is they more strict they are with grading. I evaluated my first comic for a grade back around 1968 (and yes that was before Overstreet established their price guide and subsequent grading standards). I considered it a fine copy (back then the grades were basically poor, fair, good, fine, mint and pristine) most people would argue with me that my 'fine' books were mint. But to me a mint book had to be nearly perfect and a pristine book had to be absolutely perfect. so the majority of the comics I had that were brand new I considered fine. as I grew more knowledgable I revised my standards.
I agree.Been at this since the 70s. Most of the books I bought in the early 80s that were sold as mint graded 8.0 to 8.5 cgc some lower some higher. I did submit a weird western 12 pgx 9.2 and came back a cgc 9.2@@KollectingKaos
Absolutely sickening to see our worries validated 🤬. I have never invested in a PGX book. This sealed their fate with me. How could have not known? I’m grieve for you loss Dr. Paul 😢
Thanks Cap'n Larry! Yeah i was able to take the gut punch because i had plenty of time to prepare myself , but earlier on in my collecting i think this would have been a huge feel-bad for me and turned me off collecting for awhile. But i've had many big collecting wins over the years (including a few from the recent CGC drop-off that i'll be opening on channel soon) and i figure even though i take calculated risks, some of them will still not pan out.
Great series! You should go a little further and send this back to PGX to get graded and see what it comes back with. Too much money already invested though.
That is an interesting idea…but if they caught it this time it would be devastating to what’s left of the equity here. Unless I figure out a method to try to remove reglossing, I think this one is in its terminal state.
Merry Christmas Dr. Paul. Sorry about the restoration. Im with you on the 5.5. But 0.5 either way fluctuation is standard either way. Im also with you on the pgx gamble. Its a risk/reward trade off.
Martin, seems a stretch, I purchased it a while back. And the seller sold me a PGX-graded book exactly as described so I wouldn’t feel right trying to put them on the hook for PGX’s mistake. No I think this is just one to chalk up as “you win some, and you lose some”.
@@DrPaulKosnik I was just thinking back to your Showcase Green Lantern purchase, but that was raw, so I guess there is a big difference. Thanks for clarifying that for me! Cool video!!
So much for PGX. Too bad in a way, although I think the CGC purple label is still better in this condition than the earlier PGX label. Financially, perhaps comparable. Keep it, Dr Paul. It makes for a good discussion piece with fellow collectors. Merry Xmas!
This is quite sad news and tells me never to buy a PGX slab. I was almost spot on with my estimated grade of 5.0-5.5, but I'm also sorry for your financial lost. I hope you can get the grade bumped to 5.5-6.0 unrestored when the re-glossing is undone in the future. Just leave it for now and have a wonderfull Christmas with your family! Cheers, Casper
PGX really have a lot to answer for. I’ve never seen a re-glossed cover before, but like you said, the cover warranted some investigation and a professional grading company should catch restorations like this.
Steven for me it's the regularity with which it happens with them that tells me they systematically are a distant third and of course collectors like me are left holding the bag financially because there is no recourse.
lesson never use PGX. I know this is your story however I was using them for a time when i was thinking about becoming a presser. Long story short they lost my books and they weren't going to do anything about it until I went to some youtubers and asked them then the day after talking to two big hitters magically they contacted me about finding a solution after over a year.
@@DrPaulKosnik It was better then nothing. They sent me some PGX slabs which equaled approxitly the value they had lost. Which was ok. But it took a year and they stopped talking to me and only started when i contacted Bry's comics as well as Reggie collects about the story. I am guessing one of them reached out to PGX for me.
When it comes to PGX books...treat them as if it's a raw book when it comes to value or better yet, avoid them altogether. CGCs current fiasco doesn't help. CBCS is the true and only real choice.
I do believe CBCS is a high-quality outfit. CGC has been around the longest and has grown tremendously and has done much more volume of slabbing than all of the other groups combined...when you do that many items, there are bound to be some issues that arise. It's good to have healthy competition in the third-party grading industry.
@@DrPaulKosnik Agreed. CGC is the Goliath to CBCSs David and CGC knows this and unfortunately acts that way. I wish we were a little closer to parity in the market...hopefully one day. But CGC needs to be careful because history has examples of "too big to fail" companies failing.
They’re all run by humans so will occasionally have errors and mistakes. 🤷♂️ But the frequency and severity of PGX errors is why they are a distant third.
@@kahnlivesPGX slabs could be the most superior case in the history of cases. Who gives a shit how nice the case is when you can trust them to grade well or correctly determine restoration 😂
@@Comicbookyoutubersrock The video I saw about newton rings was awhile back. The collector was just complaining about some sloppy returns from the graders . With the mess that the CGC is in now I see your point.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
I would have left it alone and re-sold it as a 6.5 as graded by PGX. Why risk a lower grade and a purple label from CGC when you could make a profit by selling it as is in the future?
Charlie, the reason why one would risk a potential lower grade and restoration is the same reason one would purchase stocks--you have to rake risks to get rewards. There was no profit to be had leaving it as it was--PGX slabs sell at a huge discount to CGC slabs because PGX has a reputation for missing major flaws like this, so i was never going to get more money than i had paid for this slab if i left it alone and just would have lost out on shipping costs and selling fees. PGX's bad reputation creates both risk and opportunity. Had this book not been restored, i stood to profit anywhere from $500-1,000 by cracking it, cleaning it, and resubbing it to CGC. Enjoy the holidays!
Here in Australia PGX also sells for less than CGC but nowhere near that degree, which is why I thought leaving it was a viable option. We also have a local grading and slabbing firm called HALO which seems to fit between CGC and PGX in reputation. All the best to you too for the festive season. @@DrPaulKosnik
Not a big fan of PGX but CGC is also under scrutiny due to recent CGC anomalies of books being switched during the reholder process.
None of them are perfect or without error for sure.
It does look a little glossy, I’m not a PGX fan but I would also say their stock has gone up, given the CGC debacle. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of upside in cracking this PGX slab, taking into account the time, mailing and grading fees, the loss was about $1300-$1500.
@@shepherdsknollStock has gone up. Give me a break 😂. No matter what happens to CGC or any grading company, PGX is the laughing stock of the industry and always will be.
Good news! Just find another unrestored issue of this book already graded by CGC, swap labels, send in for re-holder, and wa-la! An instant certified unrestored copy. Magic!
Yikes the new slabbing scandal made it to my channel without me mentioning it at all! 🤣
Ugh, so sorry about this but stoked you took us along on the journey. I find failure much more fascinating than successes. There are so many more lessons to be learned. Thank you so much Dr. Paul.
Glad you enjoyed it Dan! Happy Holidays my friend.
Thanks for taking us along on the journey. Definitely learned a lot and wouldn’t mind seeing more PGX slabs cracked and sent to CGC as I am about to do my own later next year 👍
I have a few more PGX slabs to get to. Lots of exciting stuff in the new year!
Hi Dr. Paul. Interesting video. Sorry about the disappointing result!
Thanks Keston. You win some, you loose some! Happy Holidays!
Unfortunate outcome, but there are some positives, as you mentioned (like knowing your assessment of the restoration was correct). Thanks for such a thorough review, as we can all learn from this! Much appreciated, good sir. Merry Xmas. Have a good New Year also.
Thanks Kelly, the same to you! It's good to have a balanced perspective on these things. The last thing you want is negative energy entering your life through your hobby!
exactly WHAT is used to "re-gloss" a comicbook cover, and is there a way to remove that re-gloss?
sorry, I commented while watching the video, at the end you asked the same question :)
Someone contacted me to say they know at least some reglossing is HAIRSPRAY! I have to do some homework… 😒
@@DrPaulKosnik yeah, I saw that comment...hairsrpray, wow
How can you tell if a comic book has been Re-Glossed? because I can't tell
Usually the best tell is that the cover is stiffer. It’s also shinier than it should be and sometimes it has a yellow hue like old varnish.
Merry Christmas my man!🎄✋
Thank you Khan! Merry Christmas to you! 🎄
How have you been in the hobby for 40 years and not know that reglossing is non-reversible?
I’ve found that admitting you don’t know something is a sign of intelligence and self-confidence and pretending you know everything is either a sign of ignorance or insecurity or both. Perhaps you can share on your channel how you regloss comics and explain the chemistry to those of us that haven’t studied it yet. 👍🏽
Just a thought, Dr Kosnik, but I wonder whether your re-sizing aqueous treatment would help deposit a homogeneous finish over the book? I realise this is not removal of the varnish -but it seems to me that attempting to remove varnish could be very dangerous without knowing precisely the varnish's chemical composition -so maybe the only option is to reduce the impact of the original treatment...
That might be the only reasonable option available to me at this point Mark. As you say, non-destructive removal of the applied gloss is unlikely to happen.
@@DrPaulKosnik thanks for the quick reply! And thanks so much for sharing your knowledge - your channel has completely revolutionised my thinking about this topic. I have tried some H2O2 BLED treatments, but was puzzled by the change in texture of the paper -after watching your videos I now realise I overtreated the books. I hope that a CaOH treatment will rejuvenate them a bit.
Right now I'm watching the series about Superman #9. I have a copy of Fantastic Four #48 with a lot of tape on it. Once all my new equipment arrives, I'll give it a go!
Good luck and let us know how it works for you!
Sorry about the luck you had with this PGX. I had a FF 43 PGX slab and the book was never cleaned or pressed in a collection I picked up. Cracked it out and what you know missing center wrap, but not a big loss for me thankfully. It is in a pile of books to be test subjects as I start on my learning curve with conservation.
Merry Christmas and enjoy the holiday season. Cheers.
Russell that sucks, glad you aren’t out much. Man I’ve heard so many egregious stories about them missing major flaws! Merry Christmas!🎄🎁
Just bought a PGX slab as my first graded book. lol. A 5.0 copy of DC Comics Big Town #49 for $30 CAD plus shipping which to me, is a crazy good deal for a slabbed book. I’m not too worried about restoration, as it’s not a popular enough book to warrant it. A nice conversation piece for the collection.
@@knowknaime congratulations! Enjoy it.
What is meant by Slight(B-1) above the grade ?
Hey Johnny it’s the quality and amount. B is Fine, and 1 is Slight. Here is a link: www.cgccomics.com/news/article/4084/
Cheers 😎
Recovering cover gloss other than by cleaning off the dirt and gently polishing the comic cover with a soft cloth starts crossing the line between conservation and restoration. While it is true that some actual restoration is occasionally needed to consrve a book, the restoration methods used are alwaus reversable. To the best of my knowledge reglossing can not be undone and therefore would always be restoration. It is sad that you ended up with this, but good that you were able to recognize it and share it with others.
I want to stress the points you made, Cover soiling (however light) could not be removed from the front but could be on the back. The cover had a slighly higher level of gloss on the front than the back. These lead you to the conclusion that the cover may have been reglossed (I suspect some sort of a light semigloss spray, but there is no way to know for sure).
Right on KK. I'm not sure what is used...i've heard from someone that stated hairspray was used to regloss comics!
I’ve submitted three books to convert from pgx to cgc with a pressing in between
Hulk 178 pgx 9.4 to cgc 9.8
Witching hour 45 pgx 9.0 to cgc 9.8
Marvel special edition 16 pgx 9.4 to cgc 9.8
All 3 books were graded around 2006 . Pgx graded books super tough around that time.
Great outcomes Blademan, congratulations!!
Something that I have noticed over my many many years of collecting comics is that the newer the grader is they more strict they are with grading. I evaluated my first comic for a grade back around 1968 (and yes that was before Overstreet established their price guide and subsequent grading standards). I considered it a fine copy (back then the grades were basically poor, fair, good, fine, mint and pristine) most people would argue with me that my 'fine' books were mint. But to me a mint book had to be nearly perfect and a pristine book had to be absolutely perfect. so the majority of the comics I had that were brand new I considered fine. as I grew more knowledgable I revised my standards.
I agree.Been at this since the 70s.
Most of the books I bought in the early 80s that were sold as mint graded 8.0 to 8.5 cgc some lower some higher. I did submit a weird western 12 pgx 9.2 and came back a cgc 9.2@@KollectingKaos
Absolutely sickening to see our worries validated 🤬. I have never invested in a PGX book. This sealed their fate with me. How could have not known? I’m grieve for you loss Dr. Paul 😢
Thanks Cap'n Larry! Yeah i was able to take the gut punch because i had plenty of time to prepare myself , but earlier on in my collecting i think this would have been a huge feel-bad for me and turned me off collecting for awhile. But i've had many big collecting wins over the years (including a few from the recent CGC drop-off that i'll be opening on channel soon) and i figure even though i take calculated risks, some of them will still not pan out.
Great series! You should go a little further and send this back to PGX to get graded and see what it comes back with. Too much money already invested though.
That is an interesting idea…but if they caught it this time it would be devastating to what’s left of the equity here. Unless I figure out a method to try to remove reglossing, I think this one is in its terminal state.
wow you really nailed it that is amazing what does cpr mean?
Crack, Press, Resubmit. I give a detailed explanation in this video:
ruclips.net/video/7sS_cnklGfc/видео.htmlsi=xQKhmmDCfANIzpsa
Merry Christmas Dr. Paul. Sorry about the restoration. Im with you on the 5.5. But 0.5 either way fluctuation is standard either way. Im also with you on the pgx gamble. Its a risk/reward trade off.
Thank you Travis and Merry Christmas to you! Yup that’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes when you crack PGX slabs!
Would it have been possible to get a refund on the book since you were not aware of restoration upon purchasing?
Martin, seems a stretch, I purchased it a while back. And the seller sold me a PGX-graded book exactly as described so I wouldn’t feel right trying to put them on the hook for PGX’s mistake. No I think this is just one to chalk up as “you win some, and you lose some”.
@@DrPaulKosnik I was just thinking back to your Showcase Green Lantern purchase, but that was raw, so I guess there is a big difference. Thanks for clarifying that for me! Cool video!!
So much for PGX. Too bad in a way, although I think the CGC purple label is still better in this condition than the earlier PGX label. Financially, perhaps comparable. Keep it, Dr Paul. It makes for a good discussion piece with fellow collectors. Merry Xmas!
Thank you Peter! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
This is quite sad news and tells me never to buy a PGX slab. I was almost spot on with my estimated grade of 5.0-5.5, but I'm also sorry for your financial lost. I hope you can get the grade bumped to 5.5-6.0 unrestored when the re-glossing is undone in the future. Just leave it for now and have a wonderfull Christmas with your family!
Cheers, Casper
Thanks Casper Merry Christmas!
Brilliant perspective and beautifully articulated. Really appreciate this video!
Glad you enjoyed it 9.9! Hope you have a wonderful holiday season.
PGX really have a lot to answer for. I’ve never seen a re-glossed cover before, but like you said, the cover warranted some investigation and a professional grading company should catch restorations like this.
Steven for me it's the regularity with which it happens with them that tells me they systematically are a distant third and of course collectors like me are left holding the bag financially because there is no recourse.
Just curious if you feel CGC has anything to answer for?
@@jamesz4872 yes. For what it’s worth, I think they are in the process of doing so.
@@jamesz4872 absolutely, in light of the current problems they have
This book looks better than 5.0, both in appearance and constitution.
Thanks! It doesn’t matter much financially but it is a pretty solid little book. 👍🏽
Interesting labels?? This will be epic.😎
Thanks for joining the premiere!
I'll be here with Bells on!! Whatever that means!!??
Thanks for joining the premiere Mike!
oh no... that sucks...
You win some, you lose some. 🤷♂️
OUCH! That stinks! Maybe use in a trade one day?
We’ll see…it happens. I’ve had plenty of big wins and so I can weather a few losses. Merry Christmas Mike!
lesson never use PGX. I know this is your story however I was using them for a time when i was thinking about becoming a presser. Long story short they lost my books and they weren't going to do anything about it until I went to some youtubers and asked them then the day after talking to two big hitters magically they contacted me about finding a solution after over a year.
Man that sucks-sorry to hear that. Hopefully you at least got a reasonable resolution in the end.
@@DrPaulKosnik It was better then nothing. They sent me some PGX slabs which equaled approxitly the value they had lost. Which was ok. But it took a year and they stopped talking to me and only started when i contacted Bry's comics as well as Reggie collects about the story. I am guessing one of them reached out to PGX for me.
When it comes to PGX books...treat them as if it's a raw book when it comes to value or better yet, avoid them altogether. CGCs current fiasco doesn't help. CBCS is the true and only real choice.
I do believe CBCS is a high-quality outfit. CGC has been around the longest and has grown tremendously and has done much more volume of slabbing than all of the other groups combined...when you do that many items, there are bound to be some issues that arise. It's good to have healthy competition in the third-party grading industry.
@@DrPaulKosnik Agreed. CGC is the Goliath to CBCSs David and CGC knows this and unfortunately acts that way. I wish we were a little closer to parity in the market...hopefully one day. But CGC needs to be careful because history has examples of "too big to fail" companies failing.
Send it back to pgx with label 😂say want new case
Right?! 🤣
Look at CGC now with the scandal going on right now...🙅
They’re all run by humans so will occasionally have errors and mistakes. 🤷♂️ But the frequency and severity of PGX errors is why they are a distant third.
@@DrPaulKosnikI’ve seen some collectors on RUclips who say that the PGX slabs are superior. 🤷
@@kahnlivesPGX slabs could be the most superior case in the history of cases. Who gives a shit how nice the case is when you can trust them to grade well or correctly determine restoration 😂
@@Comicbookyoutubersrock The video I saw about newton rings was awhile back. The collector was just complaining about some sloppy returns from the graders . With the mess that the CGC is in now I see your point.