Blue Label with signature 2 2

[skyline23]

Hi everyone,

I had a question regarding blue label books that have signatures in them, noted on the label, typically something like "stan lee written on the first page" or "Jack Kirby written on back cover".  I always dismiss those as having no validity since my assumption was that anyone could have wrote that and it would be graded/noted the same way,  but someone was telling me that CGC wouldn't write that note and give it a blue label if it wasn't a valid signature. 

If anyone can shed some light on this for me that would be greatly appreciated.  

thanks in advance!  Also, I apologize if this is the wrong section to ask this, it seemed like the logical place for it but maybe there is a better location...

[Vixom]

On 10/18/2021 at 10:14 PM, skyline23 said:

someone was telling me that CGC wouldn't write that note and give it a blue label if it wasn't a valid signature. 

Someone was wrong.

[Lightning55]

Books that have a signature on the cover are supposed to get a green label.  CGC will not recognize any signature as being authentic unless witnessed.  Sometimes things go wrong and a blue label is used when it shouldn't be.  It's a mistake.

Some people might tell you that you have a choice - blue label with a hit taken for the "ink" on the cover, or green label with grade disregarding the ink.  If you ask CGC customer service, they will tell you that there is no choice.  Green only.  Anything else slipped by.

[KCOComics]

On 10/19/2021 at 2:33 AM, Lightning55 said:

 

Some people might tell you that you have a choice - blue label with a hit taken for the "ink" on the cover, or green label with grade disregarding the ink.  If you ask CGC customer service, they will tell you that there is no choice.  Green only.  Anything else slipped by.

I didn't realize this. I have seen many blue labels with signatures and the note as the OP describe. Perhaps there is a distinction between between a ball point pen and using the bigger sharpie like pens people use for signatures today.  The sharpie gets the green label. 

 

To the OPs question, CGC isn't validating the signature, just acknowledging that it does exist.  The grade is reduced for writing on the cover. 

I hope that helps. 

[shadroch]

You can ask for a blue label on a book with a signature. CGC will hit the grade fairly hard so you'll won't see a 9.8 blue label with a signature but I've seen plenty of midgrade examples. If you go the green label route, the book will usually grde much higher.

[joeypost]

On 10/19/2021 at 5:20 PM, shadroch said:

You can ask for a blue label on a book with a signature. CGC will hit the grade fairly hard so you'll won't see a 9.8 blue label with a signature but I've seen plenty of midgrade examples. If you go the green label route, the book will usually grde much higher.

This. I had a 5.5 AF 15 signed by Stan that was Universal. 

[rexinnih]

I had my Spiderman 50 with John Romita Sr sig on the front also come back as Blue 5.0 with notation. 

[Msgarmar]

On 10/21/2021 at 2:03 PM, Boot List said:

Nice!  That was the CGC response to my question!  Also, this was documented recently in a thread where someone spells out exactly what they did to get a blue Universal grade with an unverified signature:

 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Msgarmar

[Msgarmar]

Here's my Dave Cockrum signed X-Men 94 with no notation of signature on cover (you bet it's a real Cockrum!)

 

[rexinnih]

Interesting, first time I've seen no indication at least of "name on front cover" or something like that in this case. I have a few raws that I had signed in the past and I've been debating sending them in because I would prefer raw to green label.