Well put. The average person just wishing to invest in a grail would not know it's restored by looking at a book of that age. Way to hold people accountable.

You had honest and willing partners to help get to this point. It's good to know the original seller was such a good guy.

X-MEN #1? I won't mind even if is restored.

As a new collector I thank you for posting stuff like this, I’ve learned alot from your videos so know it’s appreciated keep doing the good work! Cheers!

The rust line to the right could be from having been stored with another comic that had extremely rusty staples on top of it and in a hot environment for a long time. Though the odd texture and the smearing on the inside make it seem more likely to be restored.

Anyone that purchases a graded book should not have to look through the case to see if it was restored .. that’s ridiculous.. I want to thank you for your integrity and sharing your knowledge with those of us in the hobby. PGX has always had a stigma of quality particularly with resto - supposedly they had cleaned up their act but that appears not to be the case. I have never and would never invest in a PGX graded book. If someone gave me one I would crack it and keep it raw or resubmit it to one of the 2 reputable services.. anyway as a dealer and collector you go above and beyond and I would be extremely confident working with you so thanks and know your diligence is appreciated and will serve you well in the future of this hobby.

What a fascinating episode to watch!! Thank you for putting this up and taking the comic out, going through the comic page count. It was very kind to "take charge" of handling this comic and getting its future figured out. Please make sure to update when it comes back.

Bry, just wanna say yours is one of the BEST channels on KZfaq for collectors. I always get excited when I see an upload. Not only do we get to see your perspective as a dealer and some awesome books come thru, but also your enthusiasm as a true lover and collector yourself. Many dealers lose that. It's natural I suppose. I'm a musician and I teach music for the day job and after a while, any passion can lose a bit of it's luster. So, I get it. But you are in an interesting place as a very "passionate" dealer. I am guessing I speak for many of us subs when I say I appreciate what you do and the time put into making this content on top of managing your business. 💯🙏🔥♥️

I wish more dealers had the integrity you show. We bought a Universal graded Avengers 1 PGX back in the day and were heart broken to find a coupon cut out. We have not touched another one. Lesson learned. Thank you for sharing your experiences both good and bad.

Thanks Brian, that's the first time, in over 45 years of collecting, that I've ever seen the interior of the X-men #1 grail. LOL

I always look forward to the next video you drop. You're videos are one of a kind, in the way that you explain every aspect of collecting, including red flags to watch out for. I've been collecting for about 1 & 1/2 years now (since my childhood) I'm not gony lie, I would have 100% bought that book if i had the mony. Absolutely amazing spot 👌🏻

PGX is leaps and bounds better than they used to be years ago. Cases are way nicer and grades are on par. Even an ex CGC grader is their head grader. Good video but I feel this only applies to very old PGX graded books.

If you look at the first part of the video were you show an upclose there is white crease marks that may mean. The top corner was rolled over and staple was resting on the cover. All comic collectors keep forgetting how many times these old comics were taken to school in backpacks and were piled up on top of each other. Boxes , bags and boards and even collecting comics only been around since what the 70 or 80s. I have been around old collections and alot of vintage comics have shifting pages ,rolled and fold covers .they get pushed normal and flat simply by hand and bag and boarded and then put in a proper box and that almost presses then to a better condition.

Another great video! It’s so helpful to see how easy it was to crack the PGX case. I also really appreciate how you show process of evaluating the book. If you’re going to be in the big dollar comic realm, you really need to be good at catching scams. I’m not comfortable there yet.

super interesting about the centerfold possibly being "married" in your description and getting to see all the pages. My husband grew up collecting comics and got back into it with in the last 2 years and I am learning so much. In turn, I'm actually appreciating his hobby and starting to really like the older comics, like silver and bronze age.

Had this same issue with old cgc slabs, pgx has been better now with catching restoration and their grading scale is about the same as cgc

Great video bry thanks for sharing your knowledge on grading and what to look for

I had a store selling me an Amazing Spider-man #2, which looked very nice condition. Inside the two backing boards, was a CGC purple label. I looked at him, thinking "were you going to tell me about this???" I didn't buy the book and it really made me think twice about books out there.

Bry I cannot believe how easy you cracked open that PGX case. Mind blowing. I have boxes of CGC, CBCS books and I only own one PGX book and it is a modern book.

I have a couple of pgx. I’m gonna have to go through them to make sure they aren’t restored. Hope I’ll be able to catch it if they have been. Thanks for this very informative video

I did have Josh Avery press a X-men 101 PGX 9.4 (600) to a CGC 9.6 sold 3200. So good things do happen

You definitely have the trained eye to catch that because I didn’t see anything on the page when you turned to the first page! Shows your experience!

I really love your channel man I have really been inspired and have learned a lot

A PGX 9.9 graded Savage She-Hulk #1 was up for auction on ComicLink last week. A CGC 9.9 graded copy sold for $27,250 on March 3 of this year. The PGX 9.9 graded copy ended up selling for....$341.

I’ve never bought a PGX but this is great info to know. Thanks for looking out for everyone

Love that you commented on the smell. I have always really liked the smell of old comics.

I just bought my first three slabs and one of the book was PGX graded. I didn't do my due diligence to check the ebay picture up close until I won the bid and realized the label was different from CGC. Thanks for the video, I'll have to stay more attentive to future slabs I'm seeking to bid/buy.

Never been able to get behind PGX. They’ve always come across as sketchy to me. Plus I’ve heard too many stories like this to ever buy one. Glad you were able to catch the restoration before selling it.

I've used PGX to grade 4 nice, key books and I've been very happy with their service. The quality of their slabs seem to be on par with the CGC slabs that I own. However, I thoroughly checked all the books that I've submitted and know for a fact that there was no restoration or missing pages, etc. Before watching this video I didn't have any objections to buying a PGX book but now...?? Guess I'll have to get mine regraded at CGC if I ever decide to sell! Thanks for the information.

Great video. A huge learning experience! Thank you.

Thanks! I always learn much from your videos.

Thank you for the information.

Bry, thanks for this! As you know I was interested in this book and now see the results. Looking forward to the next one!

I agree. Honesty is the best policy. It causes goodwill for both parties.

"Leaf casting" is an expensive process and involves submerging a book in manufactured paper pulp solution and is used in building up missing pieces, this was likely form of tear sealing

Great video, im newish to collecting. And totally would've bought it hook line and sinker. Thanks for the knowledge

I never had a problem with PGX.. Its always great to get a key comic at a lower price...

The pride and joy of my comic collection is my slabbed X-Men # 1 graded 4.5. It's also the only comic I have graded by PGX. You've got me worried now...

This was a very informative video! Thank you!

Another great video. I found your inspection of X-Men 1 super informative. What an amazing opportunity to handle such a rare book.

Top notch info! Thanks

Another interesting video. Thanks Bry!

Great video Bry, the only way I would use PGX is if I only want to protect my books. Pretty sure the person who sent it PGX knew it was restored and hoped they didn’t catch it. They could always claim they didn’t know. Kinda sucks cause it gives the other company’s reasons to raise their price’s. Now I can’t wait for the results. Thanks for sharing brotha.

Good video Bry. Do you have any videos showing how to crack a CGC slab? I'm about to turn a CGC green label into CBCS soon.

That is exactly right a new collector probably wouldn't have never spotted that even myself, what if thought I was just getting a good deal.

Really enjoyed this video I have a bunch of comics from when I first started reading and collecting comic . You definitely made my mind of sending them to CGC for grading them all slowly

Very informative! Keep up the good work!

Fascinating! PGX always has had a bad reputation for either inconsistently grading or over-grading books but I did not know that there was systematic grading of giving restored books an unrestored blue label. Wow. I routinely cracked open the few PGX slabs I purchased over the years, not so much because of concern about restoration but because I wanted to read the book (most of my books are unslabbed full runs). I’ll have to go back and check each of these books for restoration next time I go through the collection. As you know so well, there is something uniquely disappointing about getting back a purple label when you least expect it. Of course not all restoration is inherently bad: there are many examples where books have been properly conserved by restoration techniques, especially from the golden age. Knowing that a book is restored and advertising it as such is a totally different matter than selling books that may have been restored as unrestored. Your perspective on choosing to not participate in the PGX scam knowing their history makes complete sense. heard that PGX improved their service in recent years and wonder whether they will ever be able to overcome their bad reputation. I’ve only sent two books to PGX years ago. A TTA27 and an Avengers 1 both bought unslabbed off of eBay. I suspected both had color touch. I sent them to PGX because at the time they were a less costly option than CGC and I had no idea that PGX had a reputation problem. Both books came back with restored labels and with notes about the color touch I suspected. The seller accepted the TTA27 back only to crack it and repost it as an unrestored book! The seller of the Avengers 1 disappeared from eBay. I still have the book. Years later I regraded it through CGC and am happy with the purple label. One certainly can learn from all experience good and bad.

This is a smart business decision. If you have zero faith in a product, then why would you want to pass that on to your customers. Cheers!

Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the tips. Curios to see what cgc grade will be.

This is crazy. My collection is in storage, but you better believe I am going to check if I have any PGX Slabs once I can get to my collection.

Great video Bry. Love how you took pictures with your phone and then superimposed them on the video footage. BTW Heritage doesn't list PGX.

Great Info. Good stuff as always.

Bry, your videos have been extremely informative. I always like seeing what you post next.

I bought a PGX 5.5 ASM #14 for $1400. Cracked it out and had one of the best clean and press guys in the country work on it. He accidently took a 1/4" of paper off the top of the spine dry cleaning it. Hey, sh*t happens, right? Well, he submitted it to CGC for me and it came back 6.5 universal and I doubled my money selling it. So, clearly, results can vary when it comes to PGX books.

Thanks for this. Super informative.

I can't wait to see the results. Thanks for sharing.

I sold a TTA #1 missing the centerfold on eBay to a dealer who messaged me after the purchase and said he regularly married pages into books and sends them to PGX so he could get unrestored grades. I was dumbfounded. He said he would send me a link to a video showing how to marry pages which I never clicked on and I never responded to him. I thought maybe he was exaggerating, but now I can see he was telling the truth. PGX is helping unscrupulous dealers scam buyers. I would never consider submitting books to them and now I will never buy one either..

Very informaive Thank you

Credibility is what maters in that business for collectors.

Crazy how easily the pgx slab cracked open. Awesome getting to see the book flipped through. Hopefully more dealers stop selling pgx.

Very interesting, can't wait to see the results from CGC.. fun here on this one just looking through the book with a fine tooth comb like you did.. them rust lines should be dead giveaways..

I knew PGX had a poor reputation for over grading books but I didn’t know they missed restoration and missing pages, of all things. Thanks for the video.

I have XMen 141 (7.5) and 142 (6.0) in PGX slabs. Got them for an ok deal a year ago. Been on the fence about cracking them but given how prices are leveling out and THIS VIDEO, I am cracking them this weekend!! Another GREAT VIDEO Bry!

Look forward to the follow up video when it comes back. I'm 100% out on PGX also

I've never had a problem with PGX. I send all my books to them.

Thank you for showing us this.

Just recently discovered your channel. Definitely learned a lot on this one.

Looking forward to the results.

Love your show bro very informative great vibes

Everything wrong with PGX was laid bare in this one short video. From weak cases to whiffing on restoration, PGX has had a bad rep for a long time, and it appears that it has been well earned. I am in total agreement with you that PGX should be systematically choked out by collectors, and sellers. They do not deserve anyone's business. At best they should offer a $10 service to slab ungraded books for people's PC's. And if anybody says "too bad, buyer beware", they're just telling on themselves. No ethics. No morals. 🚩🚩🚩

Great video and great information.

love all the info you give to all of us in the hobby

Wow. Very enlightening video Bry.

Great episode Bry! Way to leave it on a cliffhanger! 😂

Great info. I enjoyed this video

Excellent video. Great channel. Thanks for the great content!

BY FAR MY FAVE CHANNEL TY FOR ALL YOU DO

I wholeheartedly agree with everything that you said and the professional, ethical stance you are taking with PGX. If there is a history of this type of thing going on over a period of time, PGX is either passively compliant or pathetically unaware of what is going on in their own company. In either case, why bother taking the chance of becoming ensnared in a situation with a customer if you continue to deal in PGX graded books. There's enough competition and solution is simple. Respect to you, my friend. Keeping things honest.

Thank you for showing

Good catch. It does look restored from what you've shared. Glad the seller/owner worked with you.

Love these vids!

Yeah I bought PGX once as an experiment to rule out ever buying it again. I bought Strange Tales 138 for cheap in a PGX 9.4 back in 2017 to see what it would be when cracked/resubmitted to CGG. Luckily not restored, but grading came back as a CGC 8.5 (after clean/press too). PGX grading is significantly looser than CGC/CBCS. I now always assume a PGX grade is 3-4 times lower compared to CGC/CBCS (9.8 PGX = 9.0-9.2 CGC).

I almost fell for the good prices on PGX slabs a few times, but saw some of those same forum posts mentioning how bad they really are. Honesty and integrity can cost you money in the end, but at least you can sleep at night knowing you aren't ruining your own reputation and the hobby itself. It's clear you hold yourself to a higher standard, and your customers see that. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from your shop - I totally appreciate your honesty

I’ve only been collecting for 3 or 4 years, but I’ve heard a lot of bad things about PGX. Thanks for flipping through the X-Men #1

Looks to me like a was in a stack of books and the book above rusted staples pushed into it. Weird it would only be around that staples

While it’s a shame a restored book was graded unrestored by PGX…watching you flip through an original X-Men #1 was pretty great!

Being a new collector, I learned something new. Thank you.

Appreciate your vids!

Wow thanks for heads up

Thanks for this video. In all honesty, I didn’t know the PGX history. Glad I know a little bit more now.

Great video, good luck with it!

Good calling them out.

Thanks for sharing! I never owned any pgx, couple of cbcs, but cgc imo is the safe way to go. Love your TTA 27 in the background. How much would you value a TTA 27 cgc 4.0 blue label? I am on the process to buy one. Thank you sir.

As a Newbie to the slab market, this was very informative!

Great content man!

Really inreresting examination. Informative as always.

Way to call out PGX! People like this in the comic book industry need to be exposed and held accountable I was just talking about this very subject late last night with a fellow collector who got burned on Golden Age detective coming back restored after buying it from a large so-called reputable shop with undisclosed restoration

I made that mistake. Got a PGX 4.0 X-Men 1. Sent out for a Stan signing and it came back a .5 CGC because part of a page was missing. I was missed. Never again will I buy PGX.