scburdet

I don't think witnessed vs. not witnessed matters here. Sure, a witness signature is guaranteed authentic, but I suspect most forgeries are of "high value" signatures. I do not subscribe to Stan Lee's signature boosting a book's value by hundreds of dollars (unless he actually wrote the book in question), but some do. Unscrupulous people try to take advantage of that market with raw books. Even some pretty amateur forgers. A highly skilled forger might fool the authenticators. IDK how easy this is. In contrast, someone like Chris Claremont does a lot of signings. Just as one data point, recent sales on ebay have X-Men 101s CGC 9.4s going for basically the same price Universal vs. Signature. It would be kind of silly to try & forge CC's signature as a money making scheme IMO. Just spitballing, but maybe a collector is will to pay 10% more for a witness vs. authenticated signature, a reasonable guess for most creators. If the book sells for under $100 your talking about $10 difference give or take. Not big money. Everything here should be about what you like/want, unless it's your business. Collecting isn't about profit. I am a collector, so I don't mind "losing" (a little) money in pursuit of building a fun collection. I do hesitate to invest more on a book that I, or whoever inherits my collection, could get reselling it someday. Basically making the threshold for deciding to sign/grade/both whether or not I would break even. I do have a few books that I don't think would turn a profit, but they mean something to me. I read a copy of this one to death as a kid & it was great to have Al sign & sketch this copy. There's nothing special about the comic itself, other than the fact that I like it.

Getting a book signed in-person is half the fun. It still might be worth looking for a nicer copy if you want to encapsulate. I don't think there's quite the incentive there used to be to have the witnessed signature since you could get it authenticated at any time at CGC now. You could get it signed and decide later. Just thoughts of someone who's occasionally gotten a book back from CGC that wouldn't have been sent if I'd accurately pre-graded it

Your pictures are not really good enough to make an accurate grade. See the guidelines at the top of the thread. Seeing as you can buy a 9.8 graded copy of this book for under $125 right now, I would look for better copies since a since a sign/grade is going to set you back somewhere around $75 (at least). You'd be underwater just on grading/signing fees with the slabbed book that graded anything less than 9.6. I don't think this is a 9.6/9.8 candidate.

Not a chip, it's a piece out. This is pretty large. I'd set the ceiling at 6.0, and it's likely lower.

I'd give this a 2.0

2.5 is a fair grade. This is not a FMV forum, there are plenty of websites that provide that kind of information.

I believe this piece out is small enough to max out around 6.0/6.5.

3.5 maybe a GA 4.0

4.0, maybe 4.5 with some luck

7.0 is where I would set expectations. There's an 8.5 for sale on ebay right now for $55. Basically what you'd pay in grading/pressing fees plus shipping to deal with a raw copy. I recommend doing this kind of research on any book you consider submitting unless there's a personal reason to consider grading a specific copy.

put me down for 1.8. The book says a cover coupon doesn't get the same discount as one on an internal page, so it's just like any regular missing piece. It's a pretty large cutout, but we regularly see the older books get higher than anticipated grades.

1.8/2.0

I can put you in touch with someone I'm working with if interested

9.2 give or take

7.5

>9.0

3.5

5ish. No added value in c/p or slabbing this one IMO.

6.5

4.0/4.5. I lean to the lower but you sometimes see lower circulation books get some charity.

3.5

No. I sent this to the CGC in-house event. Someday, she'll be somewhere close & I'll take her something else.