Steve Ditko signature value? 4 4

[JerryBear]

What would something like this be worth? I haven’t seen a lot of Steve Ditko signatures around for sale. This one has come up on Instagram asking value is $2,200 I know the owner and seems genuine to me. i haven’t seen many Ditko letters related to a comic directly with the book (which isn’t a rare book in itself but has a cool side panel which vaguely relates to spiderman which looks cool)

1) How would I determine the value for this as I will likely buy to authenticate then resell. 
2) Who would authenticate this piece? 
 

Any help is much appreciated 

[pemart1966]

This is a legit Ditko letter and signature.  Be sure to keep all 3 pieces together.

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by pemart1966

[JerryBear]

On 8/22/2022 at 3:13 PM, pemart1966 said:

This is a legit Ditko letter and signature.  Be sure to keep all 3 pieces together.

 

How do you know + what’s the value?

[pemart1966]

On 8/22/2022 at 8:22 AM, JerryBear said:

How do you know + what’s the value?

Look at other Ditko letters and signatures.  He has distinctive printing - this lines up with other Ditko letters that I've seen.

I can see someone trying to forge a signature but an entire letter?  This is why the return envelope is a critical piece of this package.  Is the recipient's name and address printed on the envelope?

What's it worth?  I have no idea as I don't follow that market.  If you do some research though, I'm sure that you'll find some other letters that have sold and that will give you some idea.

For what it's worth, if I were hunting a Ditko letter, I would buy this if I thought that the price was right - no doubt in my mind that it's real.

[shadroch]

Did Ditko correspond in pencil? That seems a bit odd, although it certainly looks real.  I've seen a number of cases where he responded to fans but never noticed if they were in pencil before.

[JerryBear]

On 8/22/2022 at 5:18 PM, shadroch said:

Did Ditko correspond in pencil? That seems a bit odd, although it certainly looks real.  I've seen a number of cases where he responded to fans but never noticed if they were in pencil before.

Indeed he did I’m very tempted. Going to try save up and buy it! Hope someone doesn’t snag it before me haha

[NoMan]

On 8/22/2022 at 7:18 AM, shadroch said:

Did Ditko correspond in pencil? That seems a bit odd, although it certainly looks real.  I've seen a number of cases where he responded to fans but never noticed if they were in pencil before.

I have tons of letters from Ditko. They all look exactly like OP letter and always in pencil. The only thing unusual about OP letter is Ditko isn’t fussing and putting down letter writer. 

Edited August 22, 2022 by NoMan

[JerryBear]

On 8/22/2022 at 7:00 PM, NoMan said:

I have tons of letters from Ditko. They all look exactly like OP letter and always in pencil. The only thing unusual about OP letter is Ditko isn’t fussing and putting down letter writer. 

Seems like a bit of a throwaway comment to be honest so I’m not too fussed about that. The help has been great on this. Doubt it’ll last how long I’ll need

[shadroch]

On 8/22/2022 at 9:00 AM, NoMan said:

I have tons of letters from Ditko. They all look exactly like OP letter and always in pencil. The only thing unusual about OP letter is Ditko isn’t fussing and putting down letter writer. 

I recognize the handwriting. I just have seen cxopies and never noticed the pencils before.

[NoMan]

On 8/22/2022 at 9:07 AM, JerryBear said:

Seems like a bit of a throwaway comment to be honest so I’m not too fussed about that. The help has been great on this. Doubt it’ll last how long I’ll need

Everything in my post is factual. Take it or leave it. 

[NoMan]

On 8/22/2022 at 10:00 AM, The Drizzle said:

You know it

The only difference I can spot is that he didn't print his name and then sign his name like usual. 

 

True

[LDarkseid1]

I always regret not sending him a letter. Soo stupid I waited too long

[NoMan]

On 8/22/2022 at 11:42 AM, LDarkseid1 said:

I always regret not sending him a letter. Soo stupid I waited too long

Yeah. You would get a letter back 100% of the time. 

[JerryBear]

On 8/22/2022 at 10:16 PM, NoMan said:

Yeah. You would get a letter back 100% of the time. 

CraY the value of them seen some sell for 6-7k

[Ron C.]

He sent me this one which was in pencil. We did something a bit different in that my daughter and I signed a copy of one of his Machine Man books and sent it to him. 

 

[shadroch]

I thought about writing him, but respected his privacy, per his request. 

[JerryBear]

On 8/23/2022 at 12:27 AM, Ron C. said:

He sent me this one which was in pencil. We did something a bit different in that my daughter and I signed a copy of one of his Machine Man books and sent it to him. 

 

This is so cool wow

[revat]

as for who should do the authentication, go to some search for memorabilia auction houses and get an idea which authentication companies are commonly used and find one that best matches up with your situation.  

If you bought for resale this you'd probably frame it nicely with the certification, the letter, the envelope, and the comic. 

 

I would say, I personally wouldn't pay a ton for it for the express purpose of resale.  

Lets take a walk through some hypothetical map.

1.  He's asking $2,200, lets say you talk him down to $1,500, including shipping, sales tax, etc.

2.  Lets say estimate around $100 for authentication, counting shipping both ways and insurance.  Obviously there is the risk of damage, loss, OR NON-AUTHENTICATION.

3.  Then you gotta get it mounted/framed.  At least four moving pieces, maybe with some kind of name plates, That's gonna be $300, maybe more with shipping if you don't have a good place near you.

4.  So now you're all in around $2,000 assuming everything went smoothly so far, it been maybe 4 months.

5.  I don't think you'd want to sell on ebay, so you go through an auction house.  You pay $50 to ship it to the auction house.

6.  You wait 2-3 months to get into the auction, you probably sell $2,500 to $3,500 (or less, but probably not more), but honestly its not a big name comic, and the comic isn't signed, and the return address on the envelope isn't handwritten.  

7.  Lets be generous and say the sale is for $3,000.  Auction house is taking at least 15%, so you're left with $2,550.

8.  Lets be conservative and say your tax on this is 20% of your profit, which is about $2,550-$2,050 = $500, $500 x 2% = $100.  So your net profit after tax is $400.  

9.  So you spent approx $2K to net $400, which is not a terrible investment at all, 20% in 6 months, with a chance of it being more.  But there's also a solid chance of it being less, possibly much less.

 

I'm not saying you should or shouldn't do the deal, just that you need to be doing this type of math to decide if its worth it.  Some of the values I used are just wildly subjective estimates, you can research as much as needed to get comfortable with whatever you're doing.  See what data exists and how certain you can be of what costs or revenues are.

Good luck

[JerryBear]

On 8/23/2022 at 1:42 AM, revat said:

as for who should do the authentication, go to some search for memorabilia auction houses and get an idea which authentication companies are commonly used and find one that best matches up with your situation.  

If you bought for resale this you'd probably frame it nicely with the certification, the letter, the envelope, and the comic. 

 

I would say, I personally wouldn't pay a ton for it for the express purpose of resale.  

Lets take a walk through some hypothetical map.

1.  He's asking $2,200, lets say you talk him down to $1,500, including shipping, sales tax, etc.

2.  Lets say estimate around $100 for authentication, counting shipping both ways and insurance.  Obviously there is the risk of damage, loss, OR NON-AUTHENTICATION.

3.  Then you gotta get it mounted/framed.  At least four moving pieces, maybe with some kind of name plates, That's gonna be $300, maybe more with shipping if you don't have a good place near you.

4.  So now you're all in around $2,000 assuming everything went smoothly so far, it been maybe 4 months.

5.  I don't think you'd want to sell on ebay, so you go through an auction house.  You pay $50 to ship it to the auction house.

6.  You wait 2-3 months to get into the auction, you probably sell $2,500 to $3,500 (or less, but probably not more), but honestly its not a big name comic, and the comic isn't signed, and the return address on the envelope isn't handwritten.  

7.  Lets be generous and say the sale is for $3,000.  Auction house is taking at least 15%, so you're left with $2,550.

8.  Lets be conservative and say your tax on this is 20% of your profit, which is about $2,550-$2,050 = $500, $500 x 2% = $100.  So your net profit after tax is $400.  

9.  So you spent approx $2K to net $400, which is not a terrible investment at all, 20% in 6 months, with a chance of it being more.  But there's also a solid chance of it being less, possibly much less.

 

I'm not saying you should or shouldn't do the deal, just that you need to be doing this type of math to decide if its worth it.  Some of the values I used are just wildly subjective estimates, you can research as much as needed to get comfortable with whatever you're doing.  See what data exists and how certain you can be of what costs or revenues are.

Good luck

This is a great approach and I’ve done this cost benefit analysis. Everyone I know says it’s genuine so that’s not something I’m worried about. Also it’s unique I’ve never seen his letter reference a comic he’s RECIEVED and then sent back. Also the lose connection of the webbing to spiderman i dont think it’ll sell for less than 3K mounted and authenticated 

[pemart1966]

On 8/22/2022 at 12:00 PM, NoMan said:

I have tons of letters from Ditko. They all look exactly like OP letter and always in pencil. The only thing unusual about OP letter is Ditko isn’t fussing and putting down letter writer. 

 I thought EXACTLY the same thing - probably because the guy didn't ask him to autograph the book...