Zeev, what you "aren't feeling" when you hold a restored lobby card
(or comic book) is that the paper has a thin clay surface. That's
what gives it the shine. When washed, comic books & lobby cards have
this top layer layer removed by the washing
Rich============
At 08:20 AM 4/22/2007, lobby card invasion wrote:
As anyone who has held restored Lobby Cards in his hands can tell,
there is a distinct feel to the paper once it has been "cleaned
up". Even if no pinholes were mended at all, if you run your
fingers on both sides of the card, you can tell right away the cards
that had restoration work done on them. I guess its the chemicals
that are used in the cleaning up process, that raise the burrs of
the pulp/paper and give it that rough, "chalky", unpleasant and
distinct feel that says 'this sucker had some work done on it'.
The funny thing is that detecting restoration of this kind can
sometimes only be detected by feel, not visually.
This alone is enough reason to forget about the idea of slabbing lobby cards.
Zeev
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Hershenson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2007 10:38 PM
Subject: [MOPO] Slabbing apples and oranges?
Sean wrote, "So Bruce, were there enough follow-ups to your message
that you will give us your views on slabbing, or are you out
looking for apples?"
Actually I was out BOBBING for apples. Does anyone here even know
what that means without looking it up? Even when I was a kid it was
probably 20 years since anyone had "bobbed" for apples at a
Halloween party. There are a million expressions and rituals like
that which are dying a slow death and will surely virtually vanish
within another generation's time.
But back to slabbing. Here is my opinion Sean. I am against
slabbing of lobby cards, for two reasons.
One, I don't want them made "untouchable". Unlike comic books, I
don't care about the fact that they are shut away for reading or
research purposes, since you can still see the entire front and
back (like a stamp or baseball card). And it is not the "smell" of
a lobby card on the morning, either, although there IS SOMETHING
wondrous about an absolutely mint 75 year old lobby card that DOES
make you want to hold it unsheathed.
But the problem with encasing them is that holding them in your
hands is a big part of doing a condition description, especially
when you are looking for really expert restoration. I have looked
at more lobby cards than any human being alive (with the likely
exceptions of Morrie Everett and Mike Hawks) and it really makes a
difference if I look at a card in a mylar or plastic sleeve or
outside the sleeve when I am doing condition, and so I always
remove it, even though that takes lots of extra time.
I feel that slabbing them will make it far easier for even experts
to miss tiny flaws or tiny expert restoration.
Which brings me to my second objection. I don't trust the grading
services, for two reasons. One, they are substantially owned by the
major auction houses and dealers, and those same major auction
houses and dealers regularly submit items to the very grading
service they own to be graded (and often re-graded) and to say this
is a "conflict of interest" is a massive understatement! It is well
known that many major auction houses and dealers regularly buy
graded items and are able to have them "up-graded". That COULD be
because they were "under-graded" the first time, or it COULD be
that the grading services are more lenient on their submissions,
and the ownership issue is enough for me to feel this is clearly
very unhealthy.
But suppose the grading services were completely owned by
independent people with no connections to major auction houses and
dealers. I still see real problems. First, the grading service that
gives the most lenient grades would surely get the most submissions
(especially once word spread of how lenient they are) and there
would quickly be major "grade inflation", and that can only end
with virtually everything being graded as gem mint!
Second, who ARE these people doing the grading? It has taken me 40
years of examining lobby cards, the last 18 full-time, for me to
feel that I am a true expert on lobby cards. You are going to tell
me that some pimply-faced kid can learn what I learned in a month
or so, and that their grading is as accurate as mine (or any other
long time expert)? And the employees of the grading companies are
likely under a lot of pressure to get a lot done each day, and they
may well be paid by how many they finish, something that surely is
at odds with careful scrutiny of every tiny flaw, and finding all
possible restored areas.
I have heard dozens of "horror stories" on the slabbing of comics
over the years (people who broke open slabs only to find
undisclosed defects, etc, etc) to know that there are real
procedural problems in this business, whether they come from honest
errors or dishonest intentional "mistakes".
And of course, slabbing brings on the "investors". But that's a
whole 'nother subject, one for another day!
Bruce
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