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CGC grading on Autographed Issues

21 posts in this topic

I asked this question in the "Ask CGC" forum, but they either ignored it or it just takes them forever to respond so I am also asking it here....

 

I recently purchased 2 Dark Horse Comics (Star Wars) that were signed by the artists. Each comic comes with a certificate of authenticity from Dark Horse. Now since these were not signed in the presence of a CGC member but instead signed AND authenticated by Dark Horse, when I send these in for grading what will happen? Will they qualify for the Signature Series because of the COAs or will the comics be downgraded because of "writing on the cover"? Should I even bother to have these sent in for grading?

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It'll be either a qualified label or a universal label with a grader's note. The only way you get a signature series label is if they witness it.

 

Brian

 

Hmmm... qualified I would not want...but I could live with a universal label and grader's notes if the notes were to reference the COAs. Has anyone done this? Because these are individually numbered and have the corresponding COAs would they be worth more NON CGC graded and kept with the certificates or should I have them sent to CGC and have to have the certificates seperate from the comics?

 

What Would You do? (And no "I don't collect SW comics anyway. smile.gif )

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If the signature is on the cover, you WILL get a qualified label. The only way you will get an universal label with grader's notes is if the signature is in the interior. So...given the nature of these manufactured collectibles, I would assume that it would be on the cover. Even if you decide to send it in, don't send in the COA because CGC has mentioned before that they will discard it. So..it's better to keep it on you because CGC doesn't care what the COA says. frown.gif

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If you sent them in without the COA's, they would probably receive a blue label (possibly a green label.....not sure), and just have a notation that said something like "Name written on cover in pen".........nothing else.

 

If you sent them in with the COA's.....they'd probably get a qualified label since they didnt witness the signing........but the COA's won't be encased with the comic.

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If you sent them in with the COA's.....they'd probably get a qualified label since they didnt witness the signing........but the COA's won't be encased with the comic.

 

See - that just bites the big one. I understand CGC wanting to ensure that all autographs are authentic but how much more official can you get than a numbered comic with a numbered certificate sealed with a seal from the publisher? To me that makes 3 verification/authentication steps to CGC 1 witness step.

 

Take a look at the atachment I put with my first post in this thread and tell me if I am way out of line here? CGC needs to come up with another grading scale for signature series that they did not witness that have publisher's authentication certificates....this bites.

 

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Are there any copies of these issues with the exact same cover but unsigned?

 

I don't have a clue (suprise). But I think I am seeing where you are going with this... if ALL 10K comics are the same then CGC would be FORCED to give a universal label instead of a Qualified label - but if only, say, 500 out of the 10K were autographed then CGC would give the qualified label - right?

 

Interesting twist here.

 

 

 

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The Certificates of authenticity is from Dynamic Forces, not Dark Horse. DF is a company that specializes in alternate covers, and obtaining signatures from artists and writers.

 

These will ALWAYS get a qualified label regardless of whether you send the COA in or not. You are better off not sending the COA in b/c less risk of it getting lost.

 

Qualified label is not bad in the case of signatures.

 

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The Certificates of authenticity is from Dynamic Forces, not Dark Horse. DF is a company that specializes in alternate covers, and obtaining signatures from artists and writers.

You are right - I stand corrected. Shows how much I pay attention to my own stuff on occassion.

Qualified label is not bad in the case of signatures.

So, under normal circumstances a DF edition with a COA and a Qualified Lable would be a "good" thing as you have the certified CGC grade, plus the certificate and a signed edition.... so a qualified slab would not downgrad the overall value of the comic - right..??

 

 

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So, under normal circumstances a DF edition with a COA and a Qualified Lable would be a "good" thing as you have the certified CGC grade, plus the certificate and a signed edition.... so a qualified slab would not downgrad the overall value of the comic - right..??

 

Under normal circumstances, it would not. If it gets a qualified because the MArvel Value Stamp is missing, as is the case with many Hulk 181's, then it will definitely reduce the value of that graded book with the qualifed label.

 

Tastes here differ. Some don't like writing on their books even from the creator. So they will always view these qualifieds lower in value. There are those who understand the nuances of what deserves a qualified label and may be willing to pay a premium for signed books. COAs are not the end-all. At the BaltimoreCon, you could get Perez, Turner, Cho, Waid to sign stuff but there would be no COA with it - but if you have a good rep and you catch the right people (collectors not flippers) interested on eBay, you can make some serious coin of these as authentic signed copies.

 

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but if you have a good rep and you catch the right people (collectors not flippers) interested on eBay, you can make some serious coin of these as authentic signed copies.

 

Ok - Thanks to all who chimed in on this one. Got some good PMs as well. As I am not in a hurry to make a ton of $$ from my collections, but instead want the best of what I can get for my own personal reasons, I suppose I'll send these to CGC and live with the qualified label - AND - try and find others just like them that I'll simply sit on.

 

Thanks again!

 

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Are they really worth sending in to begin with?

 

To me - for the reasons that I collect them - Yep! As I have stated before I don't collect to make money off of the comics. I am not collecting trying to ensure that my child can go to college in 20 years...I simply collect because I read them as a child and I simply WANT to have them all. I want to have each variant, signed/un-signed, limited editions, reprints, price variants, cover variants - the whole 9 yards. Some people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars doing this on early comics that grades of 4.0 are considered outstanding. I happen to be spending virtually nothing on Star Wars because right now no one else really wants them AND I can get excellent 9.8/10.0 copies and have them sent to CGC for slabbing. Who knows, when either George Lucas kicks the bucket or when the final Star Wars movie is done with - people may realize that is the end of an era and begin to seriously dig into the Star Wars comics, the price will go up, variants will be harder to find and if I have not finished my collection by that time I will be screwed. I am not doing this for money, I am simply doing this because I want to....IMHO that is the true definition of a collector - not an investor.

 

Jeremy

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But if you're not going to sell them, they why get them slabbed? (Restoration detection???? )

 

I suppose my reasons are a bit screwed up to somepeople....

I am getting them ALL slabbed at some point in time...not all at once but eventually. I have several slabbed SW comics already, and I like uniformity in my collections. (I also collect weapons - guns, knives - not the 1980's that every highschooler had, but weapons that are in the K's of dollars) and I have a set pattern of how I have them displayed and how they are "racked". Since I already have CGC slabbed comics, it just makes more sense in my own little world to have them all done like that.

First off, it does not hurt them.

Second, it actually protects them better than having them in a filing cabnet.

Third, it give me the ability to show them off more and not worry about arse holes bending the comics with backboards.

Fourth, I am not a grader - I don't even pretend to be, so the CGC number lets me know if I can go higher in my quest for the best copies I can get. If its I 9.8 I won't bother...If its a 9.6 with WHITE pages, I won't bother either, but all else can always be improved.

Fifth, this allows me to compare what I have with what the rest of the world has in regards to the Population Report/CGC Census, as flawed as it may be.

 

So my reasons may be different than yours, and they may be different than most peoples - you may think I am throwing my money away - but hell, some people are addicted to crack. smile.gif

 

Jeremy

 

 

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I bought an Action #700 Qualified 9.4 with Jerry Siegel's signature on the cover. It came with the DF COA. It didn't bother me that it was Qualified, in fact I would have bought the thing raw if I could have found it, so the CGC grade made no difference to me.

 

Some folks want the sig, some don't. In my case, I would usually want a sig. Though I guess if I had an Aciton #1 in CGC 9.4, I wouldn't want it signed by anyone.

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