Restoration Grading Standards

Currently there are only four categories to judge the extent of restoration: slight, moderate and extensive. A summary of each is below:

Slight - This is obviously the category closest to unrestored comics, and gets the most attention from collectors. It's important to make a distinction between amateur and professional restoration here (noted on CGC labels as "A" or "P"), because this information is used to determine whether the restoration can be reversed. This may also be where the top end of restored comics is ultimately established, particularly for the books that have only minor structural repairs, such as rice paper application for tear seals and support. Below are the restoration processes allowed in the slight category. Note which are considered amateur and professional.

Cover cleaned -- professional
Cover re-glossed -- amateur
Color touch (a few hits on the spine or edges) - amateur or pro, depending on materials used
Minor support or seals using glue -- amateur
Minor support or seals using rice paper and adhesive - professional
Tiny piece replacement (bindary chips or a Marvel chip) - usually professional

Moderate - This a narrow category, allowing only a small bit of wiggle room between slight and extensive. Because moderate restoration negates the possibility of removal, they are frequently ignored by high end buyers, and are subsequently the books that restoration collectors are attracted to.

Color touch (along spine and edges, used for piece replacement)
Small piece replacement (small and few in nature)
Numerous support areas or tear seals

Extensive - The most abused of the three categories, extensive has become the "junkyard" for a lot of books because of the perception that every comic here was resurrected from the dead. According to current grading standards, the extensive category is extremely broad, encompassing anything from one sizeable piece replacement to complete reconstruction. The proposed expansion of categories should be focused here.

Large piece replacement
Color touch (large areas inpainted, whole areas recreated)
Reconstructed interiors
Recreated pages or parts of cover

"Blue with notes" refers to CGC's blue-colored label that is unrestored, but also contains notes referring to minor restoration on the book, such as "minor amount of glue on cover," or "very minor amount of color touch on cover." One of the reasons CGC added this grade to their system was to protect the transition of very high grade, high value comics into the new encapsulation market. A few Mile High key issues had very minor repairs many years ago, before restoration was even a factor in value. The work is usually unnecessary and very minor in nature. Blue with notes is currently given by CGC to only Golden Age comics.