Very rare book where 100% of the run is signed 1 1

[PatrickG]

So I have a book coming soon from a run of 40. Not 40 autographs. 40 copies printed. Every copy of the book is signed and numbered by one of the creators. In some sense, there is no chain of custody to break because if the book is authentic, the signature is too. If the signature is not authentic, then neither is the book. There are no unsigned or unnumbered copies. All 40 copies are unwitnessed.

I plan to have another, more prominent creator sign it, witnessed.

As I understand it, that should lead to a yellow label with a green qualified stripe at the top, yes?

I'm fine with that if it's my only option because theoretically everyone else would have the same result. Again, if the book is authentic then the back cover signature is because there are no authentic copies without it.

However, just out of curiosity, I decided to research similar situations and was startled.

The Turtlemania #1 Silver Edition from 1986 is a similarly rare book. It's from a run of 100 copies. Every copy in the run was signed by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in 1986.

Here's where things get weird.

An unwitnessed copy was submitted and received a green qualified label, as expected, noting the names signed on the back cover.

Meanwhile, another copy was submitted with a witnessed signature and sketch by Kevin Eastman. This one notes that there are names written on the back cover, doesn't note what the names are, and has an unqualified yellow label.

I'm trying to figure out what exempted the cover with a witnessed signature from getting the green qualified bar. The back cover signatures remain unverified but the book was given a full yellow label.

Did the grader for the yellow label book take into account that 100% of copies came signed from the publisher and give it a full yellow label? It strikes me as fair since, despite the full yellow label, the notes indicate that only the front cover signature is verified,

Surely, if that consideration were made, the unwitnessed copy should have gotten a blue label since the signatures were a default part of how the publisher released all copies of the book from that edition. Why would a green label be needed at all if there was no effort to present the book as witnessed?

If the yellow label copy can be exempted from a qualified grade (and still get a note as to which signature is witnessed), why couldn't the unwitnessed copy get a blue label with a similar note?

Perhaps the grading inconsistency is because this is such a rare type of case?

I'd actually like to know which approach will be used with my book before I submit it, just to be certain that I'm not at a disadvantage because other who people who submit the exact way I do end up with a "better" label because of inconsistent grading.

[KCOComics]

It looks to me like the grader discounted the grade for the signatures. 

 

There is an X-Men 1 with an unwitnessed Stan Signature for sale on the boards. It's a blue label 2.5 with the note "Stan Lee written in cover in sharpie".  

Had Stan not signed the book, that copy would likely be a blue label 3.5. Had he had a witnessed signature, it's a yellow 3.5 

So for that second copy, the owner didn't want the qualified label and allowed for the grade to be discounted for having writing on it. 

[PatrickG]

On 6/18/2023 at 11:53 AM, Low Dollah said:

No. How does CGC know if you signed them yourself?

A Yellow label is a qualified grade to begin with.

Hell no.

Its not grading inconsistencies, you just need to learn their policies, which you are now doing 😃 If there's an unwitnessed sig on the front cover you get a Green, but you can request a Blue where the sig in considered scribbling damage. This is at CGC's discretion. If there's an unwitnessed sig inside the book it will always get a Blue.

The sig is never verified either way.

Now, if you had had the artist sign up for CGC's Artist program and he had submitted them himself directly to CGC you could get a Yellow label.

If you have a witnessed sig and an an unwitnessed sig, you can get a label that is both green and yellow.

[PatrickG]

On 6/18/2023 at 6:07 AM, KCOComics said:

It looks to me like the grader discounted the grade for the signatures. 

 

There is an X-Men 1 with an unwitnessed Stan Signature for sale on the boards. It's a blue label 2.5 with the note "Stan Lee written in cover in sharpie".  

Had Stan not signed the book, that copy would likely be a blue label 3.5. Had he had a witnessed signature, it's a yellow 3.5 

So for that second copy, the owner didn't want the qualified label and allowed for the grade to be discounted for having writing on it. 

You can request an unwitnessed signature be treated as a defect rather than qualified?

[theCapraAegagrus]

CGC didn't have a Yellow+Green label when that example was graded.

[comicginger1789]

Could be a combination of the fact that the yellow 6.5 was graded in 2016....and since then CGC has added the green+yellow combo label. It could also be due to the grade. A comic with a neatly written name or two (whether someone famous or little Joey Muff from Soda Springs) tends to still be worthy of the mid grade range, so even if regraded and reslabbed today, that 6.5 might still get the 6.5 straight yellow label.