Stan Lee Signature query!!!!!

[RockMyAmadeus]

Imagine that. How many comic books and other things has Stan signed? 30 years and so? There must be 100,000 signatures or more out there. He must be tired of signing so many times. Few years ago, I was in line for over two hours to get him signed my books. Few times. It is still amazing that he is still doing it.

Stan has signed over a million items in his lifetime easily. The real question is how many items.

 

How do you come up with that number...?

[RockMyAmadeus]

PS. Getting sigs is not easy, and it's not cheap.

 

If collectors stop paying premiums for signatures, there won't be any incentive to do them, except personally.

 

Fine, for those who don't collect SS books. But if you like them, and want them, you have to put in the legwork yourself, or pay a reasonable premium for the guy who actually does the legwork to get them done.

 

That will always be true.

 

Getting sigs is a very expensive, very time consuming process.

 

Did I mention how time consuming and expensive it is...?

 

[revat]

Imagine that. How many comic books and other things has Stan signed? 30 years and so? There must be 100,000 signatures or more out there. He must be tired of signing so many times. Few years ago, I was in line for over two hours to get him signed my books. Few times. It is still amazing that he is still doing it.

Stan has signed over a million items in his lifetime easily. The real question is how many items.

 

How do you come up with that number...?

 

A million does seem high.

 

 

But he must have signed a LOT of things over a lifetime.

 

Stan is 95ish? and he was a writer and editor and publisher, well before he started doing tons of signatures for fans. And in the old days people paid tons of stuff with checks and signed for all kinds of other things. I would think the average man from his era goes maybe 50,000 over a lifetime if they live to 95. Given his jobs and the last 15 years of super signing I would guess he could be at 10x more than the average man, putting him the 500-600K range.

[N/A]

PS. Getting sigs is not easy, and it's not cheap.

 

If collectors stop paying premiums for signatures, there won't be any incentive to do them, except personally.

 

Fine, for those who don't collect SS books. But if you like them, and want them, you have to put in the legwork yourself, or pay a reasonable premium for the guy who actually does the legwork to get them done.

 

That will always be true.

 

Getting sigs is a very expensive, very time consuming process.

 

Did I mention how time consuming and expensive it is...?

 

 

I would extend this to blue label as well. It's not as difficult or time consuming but if there are no customers then the books don't get done. I've been asked why some titles are not available on eBay graded. If you want a title graded then you need to support the title on the secondary market.

 

Good luck trying to piece out a run buying slabs below cost. You won't get very far.

[RockMyAmadeus]

PS. Getting sigs is not easy, and it's not cheap.

 

If collectors stop paying premiums for signatures, there won't be any incentive to do them, except personally.

 

Fine, for those who don't collect SS books. But if you like them, and want them, you have to put in the legwork yourself, or pay a reasonable premium for the guy who actually does the legwork to get them done.

 

That will always be true.

 

Getting sigs is a very expensive, very time consuming process.

 

Did I mention how time consuming and expensive it is...?

 

 

I would extend this to blue label as well. It's not as difficult or time consuming but if there are no customers then the books don't get done. I've been asked why some titles are not available on eBay graded. If you want a title graded then you need to support the title on the secondary market.

 

Good luck trying to piece out a run buying slabs below cost. You won't get very far.

 

Yes, and lots and lots and lots of people want 9.8 quality books for $5 each.

 

 

If you want the books, either do the work yourself, or pay a reasonable price. $50 or LESS isn't a reasonable price for custom 9.8s, especially back issues, no matter how many people dump their books on eBay for less.

 

 

[somewhereintexas]

Imagine that. How many comic books and other things has Stan signed? 30 years and so? There must be 100,000 signatures or more out there. He must be tired of signing so many times. Few years ago, I was in line for over two hours to get him signed my books. Few times. It is still amazing that he is still doing it.

Stan has signed over a million items in his lifetime easily. The real question is how many items.

 

How do you come up with that number...?

 

A million does seem high.

 

 

But he must have signed a LOT of things over a lifetime.

 

Stan is 95ish? and he was a writer and editor and publisher, well before he started doing tons of signatures for fans. And in the old days people paid tons of stuff with checks and signed for all kinds of other things. I would think the average man from his era goes maybe 50,000 over a lifetime if they live to 95. Given his jobs and the last 15 years of super signing I would guess he could be at 10x more than the average man, putting him the 500-600K range.

 

Stan has not been "super signing" the past 15 years. It was not that long ago there was basically one SS signing a year by Stan, and not that many items got done relatively speaking. I'm sure what is being done in the Todd McFarlane "annual" SS signings would dwarf what was done in the Stan signings.

[Mayor006]

I dunno, even if he signs a literal 1,000 items a show ranging from a day to 3 days long and does only 10 shows a year over 15 years that would still be 150,000 items and he's been signing a lot longer than that. My bid is in for half a million. This is the Price is Right isn't it?

[RockMyAmadeus]

I think even half a million is way, way too high.

 

Think about it. Not the "signing my check for my utilities" silliness, as that really isn't part of the concept.

 

I'm fairly sure Stan Lee signed (next to) nothing before 1964. Remember, fandom's first "con" was in 1964, and before then, there simply wasn't a way for fans to get to Lee, and vice versa.

 

(Obviously exceptions will exist, but they are statistically negligible.)

 

So...

 

That's 20,000 sigs a year, for 50 years. That's 1666 sigs a month, or 55 signatures each and every day, day in and day out, for 50 years.

 

 

Take into account the fact that hardly anyone got anything signed for the first 30 of those 50 years, and that wipes out the numbers, making the average far too high.

 

If Stan has signed 100,000 items, I'd be surprised.

[revat]

I think even half a million is way, way too high.

 

Think about it. Not the "signing my check for my utilities" silliness, as that really isn't part of the concept.

 

I'm fairly sure Stan Lee signed (next to) nothing before 1964. Remember, fandom's first "con" was in 1964, and before then, there simply wasn't a way for fans to get to Lee, and vice versa.

 

(Obviously exceptions will exist, but they are statistically negligible.)

 

So...

 

That's 20,000 sigs a year, for 50 years. That's 1666 sigs a month, or 55 signatures each and every day, day in and day out, for 50 years.

 

 

Take into account the fact that hardly anyone got anything signed for the first 30 of those 50 years, and that wipes out the numbers, making the average far too high.

 

If Stan has signed 100,000 items, I'd be surprised.

 

I was thinking EVERYTHING he'd ever signed. Including checks (business and personal), bills, contracts, permission slips for kids, every published work as a writer, editor, publisher; Every approval as a business man or executive; Every letter he ever wrote (in the old days); But yes the 'signed' memorabilia would certainly be a lesser number, if those other items are not included.

 

I'm gonna say 15 weekends a year for the past 10 years, he's signed 1,000 items per weekend. That's 15,000 x 10 years = 150,000. and for the 10 years before that, he probably signed a third that many. That's 50,000. For the 40 years before that, reasonable to say 100,000 (its probably less)? That's 300,000 total of memorabilia.

 

Then ballpark around 200,000 for 'real life' signatures. In the old days, if you were the boss of anything, you'd sign a zillion checks or approvals a day.

 

That's where my 500,000 came from.

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

I was thinking EVERYTHING he'd ever signed.

Granted, but that's not where the original "over a million items" figure was coming from.

[somewhereintexas]

The numbers are way too high for anything other than the last several years. Stan simply did not attend that many shows until 2008, and even then it took him a few years to ramp up to his current level. Before then, Stan only did a handful of shows a year, and generally didn't even charge for his signature. If you can imagine it, Stan Lee SS books were hard to come by, because there were not that many opportunities. On a relative basis, it was much easier to get a Jim Lee SS book than a Stan Lee one.

 

[Goldeneye]

As far as Stan's signatures go at cons I have been to largest line out of everyone there. Stan is not allowed to talk to the fans and is a signing machine. At a good show Stan is averaging around 1500 signatures per hour. I would go out on the limb and say Stan signs his name 5,000 times over a weekend at a big con. Lets not forget Dynamic Forces and other companies Stan signs for as well from the 80's to today. Stan also signed at a lot of comic shops besides cons as well. It is not out of the realm to say during a good year Stan has signed his name over a 100,000 times.

[seanfingh]

Stan is not allowed to talk to the fans .

 

[comix4fun]

Stan is not allowed to talk to the fans .

 

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

As far as Stan's signatures go at cons I have been to largest line out of everyone there. Stan is not allowed to talk to the fans and is a signing machine. At a good show Stan is averaging around 1500 signatures per hour. I would go out on the limb and say Stan signs his name 5,000 times over a weekend at a big con. Lets not forget Dynamic Forces and other companies Stan signs for as well from the 80's to today. Stan also signed at a lot of comic shops besides cons as well. It is not out of the realm to say during a good year Stan has signed his name over a 100,000 times.

 

Yes, it is.

 

That's 8,333 sigs a month, every month. Stan does not sign 8,333 things a month.

 

And he certainly does not sign 5,000 times over a weekend.

 

The guy is 92, not 32.

 

 

[Catwomancomics]

As far as Stan's signatures go at cons I have been to largest line out of everyone there. Stan is not allowed to talk to the fans and is a signing machine. At a good show Stan is averaging around 1500 signatures per hour. I would go out on the limb and say Stan signs his name 5,000 times over a weekend at a big con. Lets not forget Dynamic Forces and other companies Stan signs for as well from the 80's to today. Stan also signed at a lot of comic shops besides cons as well. It is not out of the realm to say during a good year Stan has signed his name over a 100,000 times.

 

Yes, it is.

 

That's 8,333 sigs a month, every month. Stan does not sign 8,333 things a month.

 

And he certainly does not sign 5,000 times over a weekend.

 

The guy is 92, not 32.

 

 

They will make him sign until his left hand falls off, and then they will put the pen in his right hand.

[Zevgoli]

I continue to scratch my head over the Stan signing bashing that goes on in this forum. I think it represents a lot of frustrated collectors that can never get their favourite creator to sign for you because they just can't be bothered.

 

I'm not saying that Stan cares about my personal welfare but at least he still signs and there is never a shortage of lineups for him. He must be doing something right.

 

Cheers, Howard

[Catwomancomics]

I continue to scratch my head over the Stan signing bashing that goes on in this forum. I think it represents a lot of frustrated collectors that can never get their favourite creator to sign for you because they just can't be bothered.

 

I'm not saying that Stan cares about my personal welfare but at least he still signs and there is never a shortage of lineups for him. He must be doing something right.

 

Cheers, Howard

 

It was just an observation of the lines that he has for his autograph. Sorry if you think I was bashing. He definitely signs a ton of autographs. If the fans keep coming, he will keep signing was my point.

[thatcomicbookguy]

Wow I leave this forum for a few days and look what happens haha, so getting back to my signatures are they legit or not? hahaha

[Goldeneye]

Wow I leave this forum for a few days and look what happens haha, so getting back to my signatures are they legit or not? hahaha

Stan has signed over a million things in his lifetime no need to forge these look real.