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CollectingStanLee

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  1. We lost a giant today. What words could express this correctly or fully? Let us not mourn the life lost, but the life well-lived...
  2. My 2 cents. I have a lot of fun with variants. I like Sketch covers a lot...
  3. High value deal, awesome book, fast shipment, very happy! Thanks again. Bill.
  4. Thank you Dan! Great deal, great service! Thanks again! Bill.
  5. It's always worth exactly what someone is willing to pay. I picked up one like that for about $120 on auction a couple of years ago, but it was CGC green label because of the uncertified sig. I should make a scan of that sometime. All that said, it's cool to own at least one Bob Kane. Bill.
  6. This is one of my favorites, since it's the sharpest example of Stan's sig I have ever seen. A note to anyone posting sketch covers. You can post for free at www.SketchMastersClub.com and enter the $100 contest for free. It runs until April 28, 2010. The book with the most comments wins. So invite your friends and take home the prize. Bill.
  7. I would think it is worth more and would probably pay a bit more. Page quality is important in my view. I would rather have a 9.2 with white pages than a 9.4 with off white pages, but that is just me. I'm not sure how much more the book will price in the market for having white pages though. Bill.
  8. Chandler, you are right. 1% grade drop is phenomenal on that number of books when you consider what the possibilities for trouble are. Just handling a book out of case can cause damage and you might not even be aware of it as I was not in the case of the Hulk #2. Apparently a spine split appeared that was not there before, and I handled it with kid gloves as a book of that caliber deserves. I am extremely careful with books. But anything can happen. I'm sure the guy who you got the 9.8 Hulk 181 signed for by Stan Lee during the run up to the Wolverine movie is glad he took a chance, since that paid off big time. Had it gone from 9.6 to 9.4, the loss would have been huge too, so it's all about how much risk you are willing to take as an investor and collector. At the end of the day, it tends to balance out, for example, I also got a grade bump on my X-men #1 CGC SS Stan Lee, it went from 5.0 to 5.5, cha ching! The problem is you don't have control over it, so unless you are comfortable with the very real possibility of a grade drop, don't do it. 1% chance of grade drop is pretty good odds, but if it occurs on your most expensive book, you will still be upset. This is one reason why I have such respect for the people who are doing high value Golden Age books, they are committed for sure. If we're talking about modern-age books, it's not such a big deal because even if you can't live with the grade drop, should it occur, replacing the 9.8 is relatively easy and inexpensive (with a few exceptions), when you compare to the cost of key silver and golden age books. Yep, I rambled on again. Bill.
  9. I've moved away from taking chances. I just picked up Silver Surfer #4 CGC 9.4 and that one is not coming out of the case. Besides, I already have a 5.5 signed by Stan Lee. Once the book costs more than $1000, I get too nervous now as opposed to in the past when I didn't care. Since then I've had a couple of grade drops and a couple of bumps that show me just how risky it can be. I had a Hulk #2 go from 6.0 to 4.5 ($600 loss) after being signed and in the same group, a Fantastic Four #3 go from 4.5 to 5.5 ($800 gain?). I probably gained overall on that group, but you can't count on it. Your question has to do with modern and copper and typically there is a lot less to risk and generally more consistency in the comic book, so if it is handled correctly, it will most likely retain it's grade. Just keep in mind that once it's out of the case, anything can happen. It does get frustrating. Bill.
  10. Will consider selling this one if I get a good offer via pm:
  11. All I can say is wow, and am I post number 2000 in this thread?
  12. Signatures not only change over time, but vary drastically, especially when the signer is doing many in one session. I've personally witnessed many many Stan Lee sigs and they do vary quite a bit. Once you've seen a number of sigs by an artist, you get a sense for what is consistent in how they sign. Then you take into account forensic factors, like how it's signed, and when it was supposedly signed. I'm not quite up to FBI levels on things like that, but I could see clearly that on the Avengers #3, the sigs looked like they had been there for a very long time. Kirby apparently signed 2000 copies for Dynamic Forces of the X-men milestone issue. I have the original certificate from Dynamic Forces. You hardly ever see these books on the market because people hang onto them. I have a second copy, different numbered issue. The certificates are consistent. I will eventually get that one signed by Stan too, knock on wood. Here are some tips to spot Kirby fakes on Marvel books, if they exist: 1. Signatures on the cover. Kirby mostly signed the splash page on older Marvel books. Dynamic Forces an obvious exception. 2. Person selling has a lot of kirby sigs. Not likely. If so, require photo proof of signing. 3. Signatures are sharpie. A lot of the old splash page sigs are pen or pencil. 4. The signed comic book is high grade. In the time before CGC, when Kirby was actually signing, collectors who traditionally valued the comic books would have felt the addition of the sig was too risky for resale value. These are just my guidelines, not hard fast rules. To be perfectly honest, I haven't seen that many Kirby sigs yet, I'm still developing my expertise. I go with my gut when all else fails. My confidence is high that the ones I own are authentic, and since the market doesn't really factor a Kirby sig so high, there isn't much incentive for criminals and forgers. The person who sold me the Kirby signed ff #5 did not factor the signature at all in price. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm looking forward to it when I crack it out in the future.
  13. Jazzman, that ASM #1 is just awesome. I agree that the lack of certification hurts the value in terms of straight resale. Also, Joel mentioned something interesting which was that there is no guide for signature values like there is for unsigned books. What we're left with then is following GPA and eBay for comparable sales. Since it isn't possible to get a certified Jack Kirby sig, as a collector, one has to make do with what is available. There was an amazing artist named Jack Kirby, who signed relatively few (compared to Stan for example) marvel comic books on the splash page, and if you examine these signatures carefully, you can at least determine that the signature is not new. Given that the Kirby sigs are not yet liquid gold, there is no real incentive for forgers en masse, especially since the market is uneasy about them. Nevertheless, they are still worth collecting. It's really up to us as collectors to assign the value and perhaps some future generation will rely on us to have put together the best known instances of his sig, as long as we document our collections. I value my Kirby sigs very highly, as in never going to sell, although I do agree with the point about not overpaying for them due to the lack of provenance. Seems like it's more or less a game of chance to come upon one of these. Less than 1% of my sig collection are Jack Kirbys and I suspect that ratio is more the norm for gold label junkies. Grail, I may end up bidding against you someday for that Hulk #1, that is one heck of book. On the point of the splash page in slabbed book, the obvious answer there is to photograph it before it's slabbed or crack it out, photograph, then reslab, to enjoy the signature. Here's a couple of my Kirby sigs:
  14. I just received my Fantastic Four #5 3.0 with Jack Kirby's signature on the splash page. I have no picture of it because it's already slabbed. Eventually I'm going to crack it out and get Stan Lee to sign the front as a witnessed signature. This brings my total collection of Kirby signatures to 3, a symptom of how hard it has been for me to get his sig on key Marvels. Since Kirby stopped cooperating with CGC a long time ago (yes, it's the same old joke), his signatures are of course not certified, but having some experience at this, I'm satisfied that the sigs I have by him are indeed authentic. So my question is this: What is the value of a Kirby sig? Let me qualify that by asking people that feel a Kirby sig has no value at all, if such people exist, to please stay out of the conversation. I don't think I need to explain the virtues of Jack Kirby or the influence he had on comic books in this forum, being the signature room. Also note, that my Kirby sigs are not for sale and never will be, so there is no point in lowballing it thinking I'm going to sell them at some ridiculous price because that's not why I'm asking. I mentioned in another post that comic book collecting is an investment-driven hobby, and I want this thread to be a serious discussion about that investment as it relates to Jack Kirby sigs on Marvel comic books. What I have so far: Avengers #3 2.5 CGC SS Stan Lee (also signed by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby on splash page) Fantastic Four #5 3.0 CGC (Signed by Kirby on splash page) -- I plan to get stan on cover Marvel Milestone X-Men #1 6.5 CGC SS Stan Lee (also dynamic forces Jack Kirby sig on cover) If this thread really gets going I'll post some pictures. I'm really interested to know what you think about Kirby sigs and values, so please chime in.