The recent story about an unearthed copy of DETECTIVE #27 has begun to draw scrutiny as it appears the copy may have been doctored to remove flaws:
“He (the seller) called on Sept. 22 before stopping in around 1:30 p.m., and I spoke with him until around 4:30 p.m.,” Kropf said. “He brought in 70 books, all of which he claimed were found in an attic and had belonged to his grandfather.”
According to Eide and Kropf, as they were sorting through the books, they noticed that several Detective Comics, including the #27 appeared to vary in size. They both said this led them to think that some of the books may have been trimmed, meaning the edges have been cut to make the book appear less worn thus increasing the value.
“Of the 70 books, I would say about half of the books had been trimmed,” Eide said.
Kropf added that he believed more had been done than just trimming of the books.
However, there were some inconsistencies with the books that led Eide and Kropf to believe the books were “not from an attic collection” but were from a pieced together collection.
So much for the magic attic theory.
Yes, trimming and pressing are two issues among collectors. Particularly those that submit to CGC as there are controversies on them being able to detect the practice and if it affects their grade at all.
Some people are buying comics, getting them trimmed and/or pressed, then resubmitting them and getting a new higher grade that increases the books value by a significant amount with no indication that the book has been ‘altered’ a bit.
Each graded issue should be stickered with a serial number to avoid alterations.
And how difficult would it be to reproduce a replica near mint copy of Detective #27?