Professional Restoration

Now that many vintage items are reaching hundreds if not thousands of pounds in value and significant historical importance, do you think we are going to see more restoration attempts? I'm not talking about an idiot with a marker pen colouring in tears on cardbacks, I'm thinking more along the lines of professional restorers who would usually work on centuries old books or paintings. I'm sure it must be possible to repair creases and tears on cards, cracked bubbles etc properly if you know what you're doing.

This would obviously be a minefield for collectors, what if the repairs were so good it was impossible to tell?

I have seen art repaired by specialists who have lifted creases right out. It's an expensive process but if done well is impossible to tell (nothing is changed, effectively the paper is soaked in an inert solution and then flattened out again).

I can certainly see paper SW items going through the same process. Stickers can be removed by the same method I imagine.

I think the presence of a bubble and figure would actually make it much harder for a moc to be 'restored' like this, although not impossible. Definitely something to watch out for... but if the process isn't changing anything on the card, other than removing a crease, is it any different to using goo-gone on some sticker residue, or flattening a wavy card under a pile of books for a few weeks?

Yeah I'm sure it can be done, and the only thing stopping it happening up to now must have been time or cost (ROI.) But if you could spend £500 getting a cardback free of creases which would then make it grade a 90 instead of a 70, that's got to be money well spent if grading is your thing.

It's the old question of restoration, that is sympathetic to the originality of the piece for a collector, versus repair/ restoration for gain. Collecting versus pure business opportunity.

As you say though it will probably be something that restorers may look at who knows?

Spoke about this briefly last year with my friend who is a pro restorer (worked at Hampton Court etc). She said the best and most basic thing you can do is use a tiny amount of water with a microfibre cloth to clean the cardback. She said not to use solvents as they can penetrate the litho etc. I always do this now and the results are excellent.

Next time I see her, I might get her to actually look at one of my MOCs properly and get some more detailed advice.

edd_jedi said:

Yeah I'm sure it can be done, and the only thing stopping it happening up to now must have been time or cost (ROI.) But if you could spend £500 getting a cardback free of creases which would then make it grade a 90 instead of a 70, that's got to be money well spent if grading is your thing.

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I think it would only be money well spent if the Action Figure grading companies continue to only grade unrestored items which is not the case with Comics. Many years ago certain comic book owners decided to professionaly restore thier comics that decision on a volume 27 Detective Comic or an Action Comics volume 1 would have cost the owner hundreds of thousands of pounds as the comic grading companies grade both restored and unrestored comics with restored comics selling for considerably higher values. The comic grading companies can differentiate between restored and unrestored comics, if this practice was to move in to Action Figure grading the restoration could significantly devalue the MOC. I guess while AFA/UKG/CAS do not look for professional restoration then you could considerably increase the value of your MOC as there is a significant price jump between a 70 and 90 grade.

Props are a good place to see examples of this. From model to fabric there's lots of amazing restorations. Guess museums do it all the tine

I think some damage to cards could be repaired/restored but I'm not sure it would be cost effective. It's time consuming and the people who can do this sort of thing charge big money. I don't think a cracked or crushed bubble can be repaired, it's not possible.

Robstyley said:

I think some damage to cards could be repaired/restored but I'm not sure it would be cost effective. It's time consuming and the people who can do this sort of thing charge big money. I don't think a cracked or crushed bubble can be repaired, it's not possible.

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I agree it may not be financially worth doing, but I'm pretty sure if we can land men on the moon we can rejoin two pieces of plastic :lol:

I guess the next question after can it be done is should it be done. As a collector would you be happy buying a restored figure not knowing it had been restored and paying the same price as a unrestored one of the equivalent grade. Once you start down a restoration route what is acceptable restoration and what is not?
1. Is it acceptable to take creases out of cards?
2. Is it acceptable to take a damaged bubble of a card and replace it with a replica?
Most people I am guessing would agree to 1 but disagree with 2 but if the sole reason for restoring is to increase value then some people would happily exchange bubbles if they knew the grading companies would not pick up on it. If professional restoration becomes more prevalent in the future then the Action Figure Grading companies will have to learn how to differentiate between restored and unrestored examples and Grade them accordingly.

edd_jedi said:

I'm pretty sure if we can land men on the moon we can rejoin two pieces of plastic :lol:

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Who's landed on the moon?? Seriously though Edd, how can you close a crack in a piece of clear 0.5mm thick 40 year old plastic without leaving a visible join or seam? I'd like to see that done :wink:

Robstyley said:

edd_jedi said:

I'm pretty sure if we can land men on the moon we can rejoin two pieces of plastic :lol:

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Who's landed on the moon?? Seriously though Edd, how can you close a crack in a piece of clear 0.5mm thick 40 year old plastic without leaving a visible join or seam? I'd like to see that done :wink:

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Maybe it can't be done, but can a bubble be taken off entirely and replaced with a replica or an original (Palitoy ex stock). Price Stickers can often be removed with the aid of lighter fluid can the same be done with a bubble (I doubt anyone has had a reason to try). I believe a bubble can be sealed to a card outside of the Palitoy factory and go unoticed. This is the potential problem with restoration what is acceptable and what isn't and who will police it?

Robstyley said:

edd_jedi said:

I'm pretty sure if we can land men on the moon we can rejoin two pieces of plastic :lol:

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Who's landed on moon??

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:lol: I remember the thread on that topic awhile back it definitely was interesting reading with all the different opinions on it :lol:

Wreck-It Ralph said:

Robstyley said:

edd_jedi said:

I'm pretty sure if we can land men on the moon we can rejoin two pieces of plastic :lol:

Click to expand...

Who's landed on the moon?? Seriously though Edd, how can you close a crack in a piece of clear 0.5mm thick 40 year old plastic without leaving a visible join or seam? I'd like to see that done :wink:

Click to expand...

Maybe it can't be done, but can a bubble be taken off entirely and replaced with a replica or an original (Palitoy ex stock). Price Stickers can often be removed with the aid of lighter fluid can the same be done with a bubble (I doubt anyone has had a reason to try). I believe a bubble can be sealed to a card outside of the Palitoy factory and go unoticed. This is the potential problem with restoration what is acceptable and what isn't and who will police it?

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Well you just need to think back to the whole Toy Toni mess to know the answer to this. I'm not so sure though about lifting an orginal bubble off of a card and reattaching it to another card back. You would need a perfect card back with no damage to it which would be the main problem. I have though used a sealed cut card and remounted it onto a card back with fairly good results. This is for my collection only but I guess it could fool someone out there into thinking it's legit.

Ian

Could you lift an original bubble (in battered condition) of an original card and replace the bubble with a mint one either a replica or original Palitoy ex stock back onto the original card without it looking like it had been resealed. If that can be done then this is the sort of thing a professional restoration company could do. This could then potentially get past the grading companies as they are not looking for professional restoration. The buyer then ends up paying big money for a high grade MOC which is actually a reseal.

Wreck-It Ralph said:

Could you lift an original bubble (in battered condition) of an original card and replace the bubble with a mint one either a replica or original Palitoy ex stock back onto the original card without it looking like it had been resealed. If that can be done then this is the sort of thing a professional restoration company could do. This could then potentially get past the grading companies as they are not looking for professional restoration. The buyer then ends up paying big money for a high grade MOC which is actually a reseal.

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I guess it could be possible but I'm sure it would cost a fair amount to do and I'm not sure who would be interested in doing the work. Money does talk though!

Ian

Palifan said:

Wreck-It Ralph said:

Could you lift an original bubble (in battered condition) of an original card and replace the bubble with a mint one either a replica or original Palitoy ex stock back onto the original card without it looking like it had been resealed. If that can be done then this is the sort of thing a professional restoration company could do. This could then potentially get past the grading companies as they are not looking for professional restoration. The buyer then ends up paying big money for a high grade MOC which is actually a reseal.

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I guess it could be possible but I'm sure it would cost a fair amount to do and I'm not sure who would be interested in doing the work. Money does talk though!

Ian

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Hopefully this sort of thing will never happen as I think some collectors will pay big amounts for high grade original examples but when people start taking creases out or repairing or replacing bubbles you are no longer buying a mint original example it clearly becomes something else! This is what happened with comics years ago and the grading system now looks for professional restoration and grades it accordingly, the grading lable clearly differentiates between an original comic and a restored one if Action Figure Grading did the same then I would not have such a problem with it as at least you would know what you are buying as restored items sell for considerably less than unrestored. If the restoration was identified and that meant the item was cheaper then the restoration of an item would be pointless it only becomes a viable business practice if you can restore something without anyone nowing and then pass it off as original which in my opinion is totally unethical!

edd_jedi said:

Now that many vintage items are reaching hundreds if not thousands of pounds in value and significant historical importance, do you think we are going to see more restoration attempts? I'm not talking about an idiot with a marker pen colouring in tears on cardbacks, I'm thinking more along the lines of professional restorers who would usually work on centuries old books or paintings. I'm sure it must be possible to repair creases and tears on cards, cracked bubbles etc properly if you know what you're doing.

This would obviously be a minefield for collectors, what if the repairs were so good it was impossible to tell?

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I know Grading isn't everyone cup of tea but if restoration/repairs were so good that collectors could not differentiate between restored and original pieces do you think the Professional Graders could?

If Restoration was to start becoming more common in rarer items would you mind buying a restored piece or would you want original?

Original for me, I don't care what condition the moc is in as long as the bubble is sealed. That way I am sure everything is original. I would rather have a Han or Luke farmboy moc or any other in my collection in original condition over restoration every time. I don't see the point in restoring, let it be as it is. A graded figure is nice but its not the be all end all for me. I have a few graded but would be just as happy if they were ungraded. That's just the way I feel but everyone has their own preference when collecting.

Me too I would want Original also let's hope professional restoration does not become part of Star Wars collecting!