Do Signature Series Add Value to Your Collection?
04.07.11Not all comics are created equal. One way my comic can differ from your comic of the exact same series, number, and grade is if a signature has been added. Signatures of the artist, writer, or anyone who participated in creating the book are difficult to obtain and can come in many forms.
One form is the CGC Signature Series label given to any book signed by a comic creator in front of a CGC employee. These books are given a yellow label to signify a slight change in status.
To conduct an accurate test of our hypothesis, we need to choose a book that is traded regularly and recently. Therefore, I have fallen back on the tried and true Amazing Spider-Man #300 CGC 9.4. It could be viewed as a Blue Stock book in our hobby. Simply put, there are more copies of this book trading hands in any month than most other books on the market - so wild fluctuation and outliers are easily noticed and can be ignored.
And lucky for us, GPA at http://comics.gpanalysis.com already tracks this information.
As of March 2010, GPA records the average price of all non-signature series Amazing Spider-Man #300 CGC 9.4 to be about $116. As luck would have it, we have for comparison a couple of Amazing Spider-Man#300 CGC 9.4 signature series sold within the last year.
Amazing Spider-Man #300 CGC 9.4 SS Stan Lee (April 2010) - $305
Amazing Spider-Man #300 CGC 9.4 SS McFarlane (Feb, 2011) - $250
Amazing Spider-Man #300 CGC 9.4 SS McFarlane/Stan Lee (Feb. 2011) - $440
To further follow the initial results, here is a visual representation of all regular CGC 9.0 and high-graded books in a blue bar and their red CGC signature series counterpart for comparison. What I did was match up the most current CGC Todd McFarlane signature series sale to the average price a regular CGC book sold for that month. For example, if a CGC 9.6 Todd McFarlane signature series sold for $500 in May 2010, I would find the average price of an unsigned CGC 9.6 sold in May 2010.
What we have left is the difference between the two books. The only distinguishable difference is that one has a signature. The results are exciting to say the least!
So it appears that not only does a signature add value to the book but also signatures themselves aren't created equally.
A Stan Lee signature is valued at a slightly higher price than Todd McFarlane's as shown in our initial results - even though both combined show a 300% increase in value over a non-signature series. I've confirmed that any Signature Series CGC book with a Stan Lee signature sells for more than anunsigned copy of the same book in the same grade. This is not necessarily true with other artist and writers. In fact, in a few instances I saw a Stan Lee signature add value to a book Stan didn't even write, edit, or produce. It seems just his signature on any old Marvel book will do. Frank Miller's signature, on the other hand, adds little value for his legendary Daredevil work, which was quite surprising.
Now, before you rush out and get every book in your collection signed by Stan "The Man" Lee, be aware that a signature series book can only be submitted by an official signature series witness. The fee is what you work out between yourself and the witness to obtain both the signature and to have it graded.
So one reason a signature series book might bring in more than its unsigned brethren is due to the cost of slabbing. If a seller is less willing to sell his book for the equivalent price of a non-signed book, it might be because of the initial higher investment needed to secure the signature in the first place.
