DedalusMan

4 hours ago, comicginger1789 said:

Due to not enough pictures, could be anywhere from 6.5-8.0. But I seen enough spine ticks and other things to make me think anything higher than VF would be generous. 

Oh and that's a legit Brunner sig. 

Yep, I'm pretty sure it will be on the low end of that scale. And yes, I met Frank Brunner at a comic book convention over 40 years ago and got that signature! Which is why I'm submitting it to CBCS for verification. Too bad CGC doesn't do that. I only wish I had kept it in better condition.

I’m not necessarily in a rush to sell but I’m getting them graded to preserve their condition so that one day I can if the price is right. I’d love to hold onto these and other vintage books in my collection for as long as I can, but would hate to see them go down in value before I sell. It’s a conundrum for some of us old time collectors. 😆

Ok, I have another vintage book for review. My HTD #1! It was wildly popular when I bought it 45 years ago until, well, that unspeakably bad movie happened. Anyway, maybe it's due for a renaissance so please give me your best guesses. Sorry but I have only the one pic of it bagged, cause I already sent it into CBCS for signature verification. Thanks!

It seems that from 8.0 to 9.0, ASM #101's value is averaging within a fairly narrow range (btw $800 to $900). But then the value jumps exponentially, at least according to GPAnalysis (9.2 is going for $1800, 9.4 is $2700 and 9.6 is over $5,000!). Just my luck! 

Thanks folks! I'd be happy with something in those ranges, maybe after a pressing to get out some of the wrinkles and try to minimize the spine stress. But nothing you can do about the color breaks or tears. I've submitted them for pressing and grading and will let you know what I get back. Fingers crossed!

Thanks! Here are few more pics, to give you a better view.

Yea, there's a weird little stain on his leg, which I'm hoping will come off with a cleaning. Here are a few more photos of the book, which may help. The colors are still fairly bright, but there is a bit of wear. 

With the new Morbius movie coming out, I figure it's time to get this issue graded. Your thoughts?

Thanks!

I also have ASM #102 (below). I mistakely uploaded the scans for 102 and couldn't figure out how to delete them from this post! So, if you care to offer me your grade on this as well, please be my guest!

Hi again. Please offer your best guess. I think it needs a pressing and a cleaning, but is otherwise in pretty good shape. Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback. That missing piece is pretty glaring, so I'm thinking maybe I'll try to track down John Romita Sr. and ask him to sketch Spidey's face back in, lol. Whaddaya think? Does anyone know if he does CGC signings/sketches?

Thanks! What would you say is the penalty for the missing piece from the cover?

Hello all! Please grade my ASM #50. Obviously, there's a piece missing from the cover, and I'm wondering how that will impact the grade, with or without a pressing. The colors are still nice and bright, but the edges are fairly worn. Let me know what you think!

2 hours ago, Krismusic said:

hopefully they fix that newton ring on it as well.. 

Lol, me too! In fact, this was part of a 6 book submission (all Clayton Crane signature series), and all but one had newton rings. What I don't get is that I just received back additional sets of 4 (Artgerm) and 10 (Campbell) book submissions, and none of them had any newton ring problems at all! If the rings were an unavoidable, but random, occurrence, then you would think each set would have roughly the same proportion of slabs with and without the rings. The fact that one set all had rings and other sets had none leads me to suspect that it may depend on who is doing the slabbing and/or if there is a defective batch of holders in CGC's inventory. CGC should really look into this problem and fix it, because it is clearly fixable.

39 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

If you follow the rules, you won't have any problem with getting a yellow Sig Series label. If you don't, then you will not get it. 

Good luck! Here's mine:

Cool! Thanks for the great advice. 

38 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

No, that's not the case. See the example above: if the book is signed on the first page, it's a...85%? 95? chance that it won't affect the grade at all, especially if it's a recognizable signature like Byrne's. BUT...and more importantly...that also means you WILL NOT get a Qualified label. You'll get a regular ol' Yellow label, just like the X-Men #139 above.

Now...if the sig was on the front or back covers? Yes, either Qualified, or Yellow with the sig figured into the grade. But on the first page? Nope. You're good.

OMG I just noticed the X-Men 139 label,  so you're right! So now I'm really gonna have to get the book signed by Claremont and submit to CGC for SS. But how should I do this? Do I just hand them the CBCS encased book with the red label and ask them to open it up for me so I can have it signed? Is that more or less likely to get me the yellow SS label than taking the book out myself and handing it to them raw? How did you do it (presuming the 139 was your book)?

49 minutes ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

Good to hear that it appears CGC has made this right.

Yea, CGC did me right, after all, lol. But it wasn't easy. The first rep I spoke with went hard line on me, and said it was my fault that I did not properly mark the submission form, despite everything else (2 CGC witnesses, reliance on CGC to review the submission thoroughly, etc. etc.). The second rep I spoke with (because I realized the first rep was just wrong wrong wrong), had more sympathy but said his hands were tied. I asked him to check with the Signature Series people, but he said I should contact them myself and ask them to review the submission. So I did and after explaining what happened they actually listened and fixed this problem.

I just got this update from CGC SS: "This book is receiving the yellow Signature Series label, and the notation on the label reads: SIGNED BY CLAYTON CRAIN ON 10/6/19 COVER & INTERIOR COVER." 

Woo-hoo! Not a double cover (not even sure if there's a difference, or if the interior cover was a rare production anomaly, but whatever), but I think this is as good as it's going to get for me.

More good news! CGC's SS department notified me today that "the label has been corrected"! They even sent me a photo of the interior double cover, signed by Clayton Crane. Of course, I still don't have an image of the actual label itself, but this must mean that the book will now get a yellow SS label (instead of a qualified yellow/green label) indicating it has a double cover and that both covers are signed, don't you think??

1 hour ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

I assume the book is signed on the first page? If so, you'll get a regular Yellow SS label, with the signature noted on the label. You *might* get a label that says ' "John Byrne" written on 1st page in pen." You also might just get "name written on 1st page in pen." It's up to the grader. The signature will not affect the grade, even up to 9.8.

 

Thanks! I agree that Byrne's signature probably shouldn't reduce the grade, but CGC will certainly give me a qualified label due to the fact that they did not personally witness his signature. Even though it was authenticated by CBCS.

54 minutes ago, revat said:

What are your ultimate goals with regards to the comic? profit? a specific collection goal? display?  dinner party conversation?

Does the turnaround time or the tying up of your money have an impact on your life or decision making?

Lol, definitely dinner party conversation. But actually, I'd like to be able to sell it eventually, but am not in a rush. It seems that a CGC 9.8 Signature Series copy of this book seems to go for at least $500 more than a 9.6 (not to mention the price bias of CGC over CBCS). I just don't know if having this book signed and authenticated by CGC would fetch me a similar price bump, since it will most likely receive a Qualified SS label at best. Even if it wouldn't sell for as much, I would personally like to get it signed by Claremont and see if re-pressing the book through CGC/CCS would get it to 9.8, and then just keep it for my personal collection.

Hi everyone. I recently submitted this issue of X-Men #130 for pressing, grading and signature verification to CBCS, and got it back verified (John Byrne signed it on the first page in ink) and graded 9.6. I was hoping for a 9.8 after pressing, but it received the following grading notes:

"signature(s) verified by BAS"
"tiny spine stress front & back cover does not break color"
"few light bends to cover" 

I am thinking of taking the book to a comic con to have it signed by Chris Claremont and witnessed by CGC (which I believe would get a qualified signature series yellow/green label) and then have it repressed and regraded by CCS/CGC. I am hoping that getting a CGC Qualified Signature Series label (Claremont seems to be popular these days) along with a possible grade increase after a CCS pressing (since there are no color breaks and only a few light bends and tiny spine stress) will be worth my trouble. Any thoughts or opinions on the possible wisdom or lunacy of this plan?

25 minutes ago, seanfingh said:

For the record - when people tell you that multiple signatures from the same person or artist will help the value, they are wrong. At best, it won't hurt the value, and at worst someone that otherwise would be interested will not be interested because of the duplicated signature.  The effect is lessened in this case because only signature is visible.

Interesting, though I don't know why would anyone get multiple signatures from the same artist unless there was a valid reason - like a double cover. And, in my case, Clayton Crain signed the interior cover with his "signature" signature (just "Crain") that he uses on his published covers (see attached photo), so it's not just a duplicate signature. The problem is that no one can see the interior signature once the book is slabbed.

UPDATE! I finally received an email response from the Signature Series department, and they said they would correct the label at no cost to reflect the signature on the interior (second) cover! Specifically, they wrote: "The graders will review the book and the description/designation will be determined after they review it, but the book will receive a yellow label, not green." Hopefully, this means the book will now be properly graded as a signed double cover. I am keeping my fingers crossed and will post an update when I receive the corrected label.

Thanks for everyone's input and suggestions.

Thanks for the support! I have submitted a request to have this reviewed by the Signature Series department and will post an update if anything comes of it.

So I have an interesting problem and question for anyone who might have more experience than I do with getting signatures witnessed by CGC. I went to New York Comic Con last month and purchased AMS #797 Third Printing/Comicxposure edition, with cover art by Clayton Crain. I went to Crain's booth with a CGC witness to have the book signed. There was also another CGC witness already manning Crain's booth for signatures. When I was getting the book signed, we all noticed that there was a second interior cover, and I asked if Crain could sign both the outside cover and the interior second cover. He said he yes, and both CGC witnesses watched as he signed both covers. They all told me that the double cover and double signature would likely increase the book's value. Anyway, the CGC witness who accompanied me to the booth signed the witness card and, I'm pretty sure, noted that the artist had signed both covers. I took the book, now enclosed and sealed in the CGC polybag with the witness card, back to the CGC booth to be submitted along with a few other books. I filled out the submission form and handed it to the CGC person to review and have it signed, etc. The CGC person looked everything over, including the witness card, filled out the rest of the submission form and said everything looked good and handed me my copy.

A month later, I received the slabbed book back, but instead of a gold label, it had the Signature Qualified Grade gold label with a green stripe! The notes said "Signed by Clayton Crain on 10/6/19" and "Name Written on Interior Cover in Marker"!! I was shocked. When I called CGC for an explanation, they told me that my submission form did not indicate that the book was signed on the interior cover by the artist. I was appalled. I told them that the submission form clearly indicated that the book had been signed by Clayton Crain and that no one - not the two CGC witnesses nor the CGC booth person - mentioned anything to me about having to make a special notation or write anything else on the submission form. All the CGC people who were there had seen exactly what happened with the double cover signatures and said everything about my submission was fine. CGC are supposed to be the professionals and I relied on them to get my book properly signed and witnessed. Shouldn't they be responsible for making sure that this book received the right label? So, do you guys think that this was my mistake and that CGC is right to give me the qualified label, or should they honor their responsibilities and correct their mistake? Thanks in advance for your honest feedback!

So I have an interesting problem and question for anyone who might have more experience with getting signatures witnessed by CGC. I went to New York Comic Con last month and purchased AMS #797 Third Printing/Comicxposure edition, with cover art by Clayton Crain. I went to Crain's booth with a CGC witness to have the book signed. There was also another CGC witness already manning Crain's booth for signatures. When I was getting the book signed, we all noticed that there was a second interior cover, and I asked if Crain could sign both the outside cover and the interior second cover. He said he yes, and both CGC witnesses watched as he signed both covers. They all told me that the double cover and double signature would likely increase the book's value. Anyway, the CGC witness who accompanied me to the booth signed the witness card and, I'm pretty sure, noted that the artist had signed both covers. I took the book, now enclosed and sealed in the CGC polybag with the witness card, back to the CGC booth to be submitted along with a few other books. I filled out the submission form and handed it to the CGC person to review and have it signed, etc. The CGC person looked everything over, including the witness card, filled out the rest of the submission form and said everything looked good and handed me my copy.

A month later, I received the slabbed book back, but instead of a gold label, it had the Signature Qualified Grade gold label with a green stripe! The notes said "Signed by Clayton Crain on 10/6/19" and "Name Written on Interior Cover in Marker"!! I was shocked. When I called CGC for an explanation, they told me that my submission form did not indicate that the book was signed on the interior cover by the artist. I was appalled. I told them that the submission form clearly indicated that the book had been signed by Clayton Crain and that no one - not the two CGC witnesses nor the CGC booth person - mentioned anything to me about having to make a special notation or write anything else on the submission form. All the CGC people who were there had seen exactly what happened with the double cover signatures and said everything about my submission was fine. CGC are supposed to be the professionals and I relied on them to get my book properly signed and witnessed. Shouldn't they be responsible for making sure that this book received the right label? So, do you guys think that this was my mistake and that CGC is right to give me the qualified label, or should they honor their responsibilities and correct their mistake? Thanks in advance for your honest feedback!