Do Signature Series Add Value to Your Collection?
Submitted by whetteon on Tue, 06/03/2008 - 12:30am.Not 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.
Ultimately these books are treated differently both by the CGC census and GPA Analysis. But does the market treat them differently?
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 2008, GPA records the average price of all non-signature series Amazing Spider-Man #300 CGC 9.4 to be about $135. 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 (May 2007) – $310
Amazing Spider-Man #300 CGC 9.4 SS McFarlane (Nov. 2007) – $299
Amazing Spider-Man #300 CGC 9.4 SS McFarlane/Stan Lee (March 2008) – $515
Amazing Spider-Man #300 CGC 9.4 SS McFarlane (March 2007) – $299
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 2007, I would find the average price of an unsigned CGC 9.6 sold in May 2007.
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 400% 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.
As posted by Kevin Boyd on the CGC boards - Another factor to consider is that the cost of Signature Series service is also significantly higher than a universal grading/encapsulation, it includes that extra step - the time it takes to obtain the autograph. There are also creators that cost more to obtain - Stan Lee is hard to get by lining up, so the majority of the books done for SS were done thru private signings where Stan was paid a commercial autograph rate which increased the cost of doing the book above $50 or more -- including the grading/encapsulation, but not including the value of the book.
Generally the Witnesses offer a "full service" option whereby the customer gives the book to the Witness who then does everything --- prep work so the book is protected during the signing process, lining up --- whether it is lining up at a signing event or lining up a time with a creator, and submitting the book on the customers behalf.
The full service option can often require a fair amount of stress -- there are often many obstacles along the way --- signing limits imposed, unaccounted for autograph fees, etc. Michael Turner's presence automatically increases Signature Series demand, even though he is probably the most available Signature Series creator - the demand far outstrips the supply (and I would say that also applies to John Cassaday Dr. Watson, or Stan Lee, or Jim Lee or any one of a number of top tier creators who do make regular appearances or private signings). This past weekend, if Turner had been well enough to travel there would have been another few hundred+ Signature Series books done at the show
On other occasions, the customer lines up and just grabs one of the Witnesses at a show and they only are present to Witness the signature and CGC staff take care of the paperwork.
Obviously higher demand creators will fetch higher prices. Scarcity and the demand for the book is also a big factor. Variant covers generally fetch higher prices than regular versions. As with Universal, 9.8s sell better than 9.6s and 9.4s but a 9.4 with a rarer sig or multiple autographs can do better than a 9.8 with a more common or single creator signature.
McFarlane or Lee will do okay on their own, but McFarlane-Lee will do better than a single autograph. Throw in Michelinie and a McFarlane-Michelinie-Lee ASM 300 should fetch an even higher price. Add Sam Raimi and/or Tobey Maguire or Steve Ditko (not that anyone has with any of those three) and the prices obtained on resale could go thru the roof.