UNIVERSAL BLUE VS. SIGNATURE SERIES YELLOW? 0

[Greatwhite]

Exact same series, issue, grade and edition...which would you prefer to own and why?

Edited June 18, 2021 by Greatwhite

[ExNihilo]

30 minutes ago, Greatwhite said:

Exact same series, issue, grade and edition...which would you prefer to own and why?

Depends on the book.  Anything old, rare, or otherwise difficult to acquire, I'm going with the blue label.  It feels wrong to further diminish the available supply of an otherwise untarnished book by having it signed.

Anything new and easy to acquire, I could be convinced to go with the yellow label if it's creators I'm interested in.  Like ASM #800 standard cover blue label?  No thanks.  ASM #800 Mike Mayhew variant signed yellow label?  Also no thanks (I don't care much about the artist or the content of the book).  ASM #800 JSC variant signed yellow label?  Yeah, I'm taking the yellow label.  That doesn't necessarily extend to all moderns though.  Some new covers are kinda iconic and just look better without a signature on them.

[SOTIcollector]

I prefer books without writing on them.

[KCOComics]

I also prefer Blue label books and in all my years of collecting,  I've never owned a signature series book.... until now. 

I recently decided there were a few signatures I would like to have. A Bernie Wrightson and the ultra rare Stan Lee signature (but on a book he actually worked on)

There are a few other personal heros I would strongly consider on the right book.  Romita Sr, Ayers, Adam's, Kirby, Craig Flessel did very few SS books and I think it would cool to own one. Al Feldstien on an EC book (he also did very few SS events).  

If it's someone I really enjoy on a book they worked on and the signature placement is good,  I would buy one. Outside of that criteria I want a blue label. 

[revat]

Depends on book, condition, signer

[William-James88]

14 hours ago, Greatwhite said:

Exact same series, issue, grade and edition...which would you prefer to own and why?

Same price?

[Greatwhite]

41 minutes ago, William-James88 said:

Same price?

Nope. Just wondering what people want and why? Is the SS a better investment? Or do people prefer books that are not marked? 

[ExNihilo]

1 hour ago, Greatwhite said:

Nope. Just wondering what people want and why? Is the SS a better investment? Or do people prefer books that are not marked? 

Silver Surfer #4 (Marvel - 2/1969) CGC 8.5 VF+ OW/W Classic Thor / Silver Surfer | eBay

I think more people prefer an unmarked book.  I always refer to this Silver Surfer #4 CGC 8.5 signed by Stan Lee.  I don't know how to look at the listing history, but it's been available for $2k for the longest time despite blue label copies selling for more.  (The most recent eBay sale of an 8.5 was $3200 on May 11th.)  Yes, the signature looks horrific.  I don't know if it's lighting, glare, the sharpie running out of ink, or what.  But it's the clearest example of how a yellow label signed book doesn't necessarily mean more money.

As to why, I see it this way.

Imagine a circle, that circle is the totality of collectors.
Inside that circle, imagine a smaller circle.  That is the sub-group of collectors who buy graded books.
Now inside of that smaller circle, is a yet smaller circle.  That is the sub-group of graded collectors who are interested in signed books.

It's a very niche market and as you descend deeper and deeper into the rings, you find yourself with an ever shrinking group of potential buyers.  So while yes, your book might be exceedingly rare, so too is your pool of available buyers.  Some books and creator combinations will be more popular than others.  But some combinations are only going to be desired by a very select group of people who have a unique backstory as to why a certain book signed by certain creators resonates with them.

[KCOComics]

11 minutes ago, ExNihilo said:

Silver Surfer #4 (Marvel - 2/1969) CGC 8.5 VF+ OW/W Classic Thor / Silver Surfer | eBay

I think more people prefer an unmarked book.  I always refer to this Silver Surfer #4 CGC 8.5 signed by Stan Lee.  I don't know how to look at the listing history, but it's been available for $2k for the longest time despite blue label copies selling for more.  (The most recent eBay sale of an 8.5 was $3200 on May 11th.)  Yes, the signature looks horrific.  I don't know if it's lighting, glare, the sharpie running out of ink, or what.  But it's the clearest example of how a yellow label signed book doesn't necessarily mean more money.

Boy, that's weird. There was a 7.5 sold in March for $4k. 

The signature is much nicer on the 7.5

[Ryan.]

Doesn't this depend on who signed it? 

[Sky1]

I prefer blue for the most part, the only time I care for yellow is when it's a first appearance of a character signed by the actual creators (writer/artist).  I really don't see a point otherwise tbh.

[Sky1]

With that said, I see a ton of Stan Lee sig books with no relevance to him whatsoever.  It's really annoying because sometimes it will be the only one but often be 10x more than GPA.  I'm not sure I would even buy it even if it was around GPA, it would have to be at a reduced price for me to consider it.  Otherwise I rather wait for a blue to appear.

Edited June 18, 2021 by Sky1

[revat]

5 hours ago, Greatwhite said:

Nope. Just wondering what people want and why? Is the SS a better investment? Or do people prefer books that are not marked? 

Well 99.99% of books are essentially worthless in all grades.  And even more have negative slabbing value.  And even more negative Cgc SS value.  And none of us would want them in any grade.  Since you didn’t specify any terms even though you could have, I’m going to assume we’re talking about that population.    Since you don’t seem to think cost matters for some reason, I assume you’re giving them out for free to us and letting us choose blue or yellow.  But if you did a Cgc SS on them with one of the book creators, I could probably sell them on average for $1 for 100 Cgc SS slabs as opppsed to zero dollar value  unsellable junk blue label slabs taking up space in my garage.  So I choose yellow 99.99% of possible comics, so I can hopefully sell them for a penny per, instead of paying someone to take them.  


so hopefully that helps.  
 

and for the .01% of comics that MIGHT have value, it depends on grade, signer, book, book value, how many of that comic I have, financial trends, price, the look of the signature, and more!

 

 

 

 

[Chicago Boy]

Not marked

[Readcomix]

I prefer blue; don’t much care about sigs, especially defacing covers. (I have a few signed books that have come to me incidentally in buying collections; or that I got signed on the inside as a kid. it’s kind of neat on a low value book. Even though some major keys with a relevant sig — eg Stan on a silver key — can sell for more than same grade blue, I think it’s a smaller pool of buyers. I for one am not in it because I’m only interested in the comics, not autograph collecting. I only like sigs on cheap books, preferably as a personal memento. But that’s just me.)

[Qalyar]

Blue, always. The only books I'm interested in having in signed form are the small handful that were literally only distributed that way (or at least intended to be distributed that way).

[theCapraAegagrus]

It depends on who signed it.

[Math Teacher]

Two points.

For the life of me, I don't know why anyone would get Stan Lee to autograph a copy of IH #181 or ASM #300. Stan had absolutely nothing to do with those issues.

I have one yellow label book in my collection: Amazing Spider-Man #50 signed by Stan Lee and John Romita. I certainly wish Stan's autograph was more legible, but John's autograph has to be one of the best in the business.

[rexinnih]

On 6/21/2021 at 4:20 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

It depends on who signed it.

To me it boils down to this also. If it's someone I know and recognize, I will go for the signature series as to me it's more of a piece of history. 

[Msgarmar]

I recently paid a premium for a low-grade IH181 because it was signed and had a Wolverine sketch from Trimpe. To me, having his signature and sketch on a first appearance of the book where he created the character was why I went for it.  Otherwise I prefer Universal books.