Bone #1 CGC 9.8 is on sale!

[comix4fun]

Yes, it is probably a real signature, but the market seems to agree without a SS label it has to be assumed to possibly not be authentic.

 

Autographs and signatures have been around long before CGC SS and will be around long after all these books turn to dust.

 

I don't think it's "assumed" to be not authentic. That would only make sense if there was a reasonable financial motive behind the signature being faked. Jeff's Smith's signature is readily available, for free, and easily recognizable. If this were Abraham Lincoln's signature, or Babe Ruth's for that matter then you could go on the presumption of invalidity without certification because of the ENORMOUS financial incentive presented by the value of those signatures.

 

Jeff Smith's signature adds NOTHING to the value of the book, and is not difficult to get, removing all possible motive for the signature being a fake.

 

 

 

 

Lastly, its obviously not the best obtainable copy of the book, because it does have the writing on it,

 

The overall condition of this book looks to be superior to the blue label 9.8 that sold previously. The fact that CGC calls it "writing on the cover" when it's clear to even the sight impaired that it's Jeff Smith's signature, does not equate to a defect that reduces the quality of the book in question.

 

As well, for a small fee you could take this book, as it stands, and have the signature authenticated while still in the case and have documented proof that the signature is Jeff Smith's. Then the only thing holding the book back is "Green Label Heeebie Jeebies" which makes as much logical sense as building a building without a 13th floor for good luck. Both are interesting ideas completely devoid of reasonable logical basis in fact.

 

 

I would love a Bone #1 that presents just like a 9.8, but does not cost what a 9.8 costs. To me this does not present like a 9.8, so the price is hard to justify.

 

Thoughts?

 

Put this book next to the blue label 9.8 that sold, and tell me which one is structurally better. I have seen them both and this Green label looks better to me. I don't see how having it under a Yellow banner is going to make the book look any better than it does right now. The rest is "Label-o-phobia", which has nothing to do with the quality of the book itself.

 

Best,

Chris

[Bosco685]

I would still take this book in a heartbeat, "Name" or "O'Barr" on the label.

 

 

Just don't tell the fella that owns this book. He may get ideas I appreciate it or something.

[Lebowski]

Personally if it was a qualified like the 9.6 TMNT #1 that has a ripped page inside I would have been all over this book. That book to me was a steal for the person that picked it up a couple years ago. I would love a Bone #1 that presents just like a 9.8, but does not cost what a 9.8 costs. Maybe even a signature inside the cover because I do like signed books.To me this does not present like a 9.8, so the price is hard to justify.

 

Thoughts?

 

So you would rather have a Green label with a page ripped out than one that has a signature on the front?

 

No offense, my friend, but that is

[Lebowski]

I would still take this book in a heartbeat, "Name" or "O'Barr" on the label.

 

Just don't tell the fella that owns this book. He may get ideas I appreciate it or something.

 

Bizarre that they don't note "O'Barr" on the cover. CGC moves in perplexing ways.

[cyberjad]

Personally if it was a qualified like the 9.6 TMNT #1 that has a ripped page inside I would have been all over this book. That book to me was a steal for the person that picked it up a couple years ago. I would love a Bone #1 that presents just like a 9.8, but does not cost what a 9.8 costs. Maybe even a signature inside the cover because I do like signed books.To me this does not present like a 9.8, so the price is hard to justify.

 

Thoughts?

 

So you would rather have a Green label with a page ripped out than one that has a signature on the front?

 

No offense, my friend, but that is

 

 

then call my nuts. I like a "mint" book to look mint. To me having a signature on 9.8 book is nice and all but like dating a fat chick, its best keeping them hidden from your friends

 

[Lebowski]

then call my nuts. I like a "mint" book to look mint. To me having a signature on 9.8 book is nice and all but like dating a fat chick, its best keeping them hidden from your friends

 

I'm not calling your nuts anything!

 

But the green label book you described wasn't even complete! If it weren't in a green label, what would it grade? A 1.5? 1.0?

[seanfingh]

 

Cyberjad's logic is sound, but I disagree with it totally. The only difference between this book and a Yellow 9.8 is that the sig wasn't witnessed. That could be a big deal in a lot of situations, but not this one. Jeff Smith's sig is easily identifiable and he has been a fixture at cons for years.

 

Structually the book is gorgeous, and potential buyers are either sig fans or they aren't. If I were looking for a price performing keeper Bone #1, this would be numero uno. If I were buying for investment, I would probably stay away because of anti-GLOD sentiment.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Both are interesting ideas completely devoid of reasonable logical basis in fact.

 

 

 

Logic?

 

Reason?

 

Fact??

 

HERE??

 

[DocGo]

Cyberjad's logic is sound, but I disagree with it totally. The only difference between this book and a Yellow 9.8 is that the sig wasn't witnessed. That could be a big deal in a lot of situations, but not this one. Jeff Smith's sig is easily identifiable and he has been a fixture at cons for years.

 

Structually the book is gorgeous, and potential buyers are either sig fans or they aren't. If I were looking for a price performing keeper Bone #1, this would be numero uno. If I were buying for investment, I would probably stay away because of anti-GLOD sentiment.

 

I don't think anyone's mentioned the fact that this thing has off-white to white pages. To me, this is a major detractor on a book from 1991. It's the only slabbed Bone book I have ever seen without White pages.

[Bosco685]

I would still take this book in a heartbeat, "Name" or "O'Barr" on the label.

 

Just don't tell the fella that owns this book. He may get ideas I appreciate it or something.

 

Bizarre that they don't note "O'Barr" on the cover. CGC moves in perplexing ways.

I guess that extra buck tucked in-between each of my books with a post-it note stating, "O'Barr, right?" really paid off.

 

[cyberjad]

then call my nuts. I like a "mint" book to look mint. To me having a signature on 9.8 book is nice and all but like dating a fat chick, its best keeping them hidden from your friends

 

I'm not calling your nuts anything!

 

But the green label book you described wasn't even complete! If it weren't in a green label, what would it grade? A 1.5? 1.0?

 

typo! The book I am talking about is there is a TMNT #1 9.6 out there that has a small rip on two interior pages. It is complete.

[cyberjad]

Cyberjad's logic is sound, but I disagree with it totally. The only difference between this book and a Yellow 9.8 is that the sig wasn't witnessed. That could be a big deal in a lot of situations, but not this one. 's sig is easily identifiable and he has been a fixture at cons for years.

 

Structually the book is gorgeous, and potential buyers are either sig fans or they aren't. If I were looking for a price performing keeper Bone #1, this would be numero uno. If I were buying for investment, I would probably stay away because of anti-GLOD sentiment.

 

I don't think anyone's mentioned the fact that this thing has off-white to white pages. To me, this is a major detractor on a book from 1991. It's the only slabbed Bone book I have ever seen without White pages.

 

 

That is really weird and a good catch. To be honest I did not even notice the page quality as I am so used to Bone books having White pages. I have never seen another bone book slabbed with less than white pages.

[mschmidt]

Put this book next to the blue label 9.8 that sold, and tell me which one is structurally better. I have seen them both and this Green label looks better to me. I don't see how having it under a Yellow banner is going to make the book look any better than it does right now. The rest is "Label-o-phobia", which has nothing to do with the quality of the book itself.

 

Considering that the Q Bone #1 that just sold has OW-W pages, you really can't say that it's "structurally better". Not to mention the fact that you're basing this quality assessment on medium-size compressed front cover scans.

 

I can't really talk about the Bone #1 that just sold - it looks nice enough from the scan - but the blue label Bone #1 CGC 9.8 was mine, and it was by far the nicest copy of this book I've ever seen (and the back is flawless as well):

 

[mschmidt]

Jeff Smith's signature adds NOTHING to the value of the book, and is not difficult to get, removing all possible motive for the signature being a fake.

 

I completely agree that this signature doesn't look fake - and there really is no incentive to fake a signature like Jeff Smith's - but saying that his signature adds nothing to the value of the book is erroneous.

 

If it was an authenticated signature (eg. yellow label), this book wouldn't have sold for $1700 - just like there's a huge price difference between a Sandman #1 CGC 9.8 Q and a Sandman #1 CGC 9.8 SS.

 

But as it's not, the signature actually detracted from the value of the book.

 

You may feel that this is just a case of "Green Label Heeebie Jeebies" (I like that line a lot, actually), but that's just the nature of the market; for creators where authenticated signatures can be obtained (meaning that the creators aren't dead or otherwise incapacitated), non-authenticated signatures typically sell for less than their blue label counterparts.

 

Also - Jeff Smith in general is really not an easy person to get a signature from. There were no SS Bone books at all till about 1 1/2 years ago and there's been less than a handful of SS opportunities since then. He's not Suydam, and very rarely makes convention appearances.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Cyberjad's logic is sound, but I disagree with it totally. The only difference between this book and a Yellow 9.8 is that the sig wasn't witnessed. That could be a big deal in a lot of situations, but not this one. Jeff Smith's sig is easily identifiable and he has been a fixture at cons for years.

 

Structually the book is gorgeous, and potential buyers are either sig fans or they aren't. If I were looking for a price performing keeper Bone #1, this would be numero uno. If I were buying for investment, I would probably stay away because of anti-GLOD sentiment.

 

I don't think anyone's mentioned the fact that this thing has off-white to white pages. To me, this is a major detractor on a book from 1991. It's the only slabbed Bone book I have ever seen without White pages.

 

It was mentioned earlier...it had a major effect...if not the determining effect...on the price realized, in my opinion, perhaps even over the green label. (Yes, I know, I'm crazy for saying that.)

 

There has been created an "illusion of page quality" for post 1975 books that are structurally flawless, but have less than white pages.

 

Prior to CGC, such concerns were non-existent, unless the book had cream or tan pages. A copy of X-Men #137 was a $30 book in 1991 whether it had "what would become" white pages, ow/w. or even off-white. It just didn't matter compared to structural integrity.

 

Now, however, because it's "on the label", it has become a big concern, and OW/W and OW 1975-up books are looked at with disdain and rejected for their white paged counterparts.

 

Make no mistake, I'm not talking about books that have obvious tanning, browning, and the like. And I understand a premium paid for white page pre-1975 books, no doubt. But the opposite is happening post-1975...books that are otherwise flawless suffer a tremendous deflation in value..sometimes as much as 50%...because everyone now expects them to be white pages or nothing.

[Bosco685]

but the blue label Bone #1 CGC 9.8 was mine

Great! You all made fun of the man's bone and upset him.

 

[comix4fun]

Put this book next to the blue label 9.8 that sold, and tell me which one is structurally better. I have seen them both and this Green label looks better to me. I don't see how having it under a Yellow banner is going to make the book look any better than it does right now. The rest is "Label-o-phobia", which has nothing to do with the quality of the book itself.

 

Considering that the Q Bone #1 that just sold has OW-W pages, you really can't say that it's "structurally better". Not to mention the fact that you're basing this quality assessment on medium-size compressed front cover scans.

 

I understand what you are saying, but I put a lot more weight on how the corners look as opposed to a whether the pages are a maybe a half shade one way or the other when I talk "structure".

 

 

I can't really talk about the Bone #1 that just sold - it looks nice enough from the scan - but the blue label Bone #1 CGC 9.8 was mine, and it was by far the nicest copy of this book I've ever seen (and the back is flawless as well):

 

 

 

I was thinking about you when I wrote that up, I know that book was yours and I figured the "structurally better" comment was like calling "Candyman" into the mirror 3 times.

 

Both books are nice, I just like the corners of the spine better on the green label copy. Even in a compressed mid-sized scan one just looks sharper than the other.

 

 

[comix4fun]

Also - Jeff Smith in general is really not an easy person to get a signature from. There were no SS Bone books at all till about 1 1/2 years ago and there's been less than a handful of SS opportunities since then. He's not Suydam, and very rarely makes convention appearances.

 

 

 

There are a veritable sea of Goon books, and Bone books signed in the last 2 years by Jeff. That handful of SS opportunities have been WELL used.

 

It's just not a sig that anyone is going to fake, especially not if it get s a green lable of death.

 

I would like to see what would happen if the sig was authenticated independently and that certification ran with the slab to see if that made a difference.

[seanfingh]

 

I don't think it would. The real question for me is whether Registry points played into the calculus or not.

[mschmidt]

Also - Jeff Smith in general is really not an easy person to get a signature from. There were no SS Bone books at all till about 1 1/2 years ago and there's been less than a handful of SS opportunities since then. He's not Suydam, and very rarely makes convention appearances.

There are a veritable sea of Goon books, and Bone books signed in the last 2 years by Jeff. That handful of SS opportunities have been WELL used.

 

It's just not a sig that anyone is going to fake, especially not if it get s a green lable of death.

 

I would like to see what would happen if the sig was authenticated independently and that certification ran with the slab to see if that made a difference.

 

There are just 6 SS copies of Bone #1 - with the highest being a 9.4 - and most issues of Bone have no SS copies at all.

 

I'm sure that's going to change this year - with Smith's appearance at C2E2 - but I still don't consider him an easy signature ...