signatures Need help determining value of a book with over 150+ Signatures! 0

[Sly Shadow]

Hey all!
I'm not quite sure if this post belongs here or not, but I couldn't really find a thread that it fell under.

 

Anyways, a fellow collector friend of mine was thinking about selling his "Marvel -- The Characters and Their Universe" HC book that he's been collecting signatures in for 13 years. He has over 150 signatures and remarks, from artists such as Stan Lee, Jim Lee, Jae Lee, Herb Trimpe, Dіck Ayers, Joe Kubert, Frank Miller, Larry Hama, John Romita Sr, J Scott Campbell, George Perez, Dave Cockrum, and Joe Sinnott to name a few.

 

The book itself is in pretty beat up shape. There is some water damage along the bottom, and the spine definitely has some issues, but overall this book is still an amazing piece. I'm just not sure how someone would go about pricing this. If anybody would be able to give their opinions and thoughts it would be greatly appreciated! 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Sly Shadow

[Meeklo]

Really depends on if the signatures can be verified as authentic. I'm not sure if each signature carries its own value. Either way 150+ digs is very impressive and this book is going to be pretty valuable.

[Sly Shadow]

1 minute ago, Meeklo said:

Really depends on if the signatures can be verified as authentic. I'm not sure if each signature carries its own value. Either way 150+ digs is very impressive and this book is going to be pretty valuable.

Yea, valuing this is way different than a signed comic. You're not really buying this book for the content, you're buying it for the amount of signatures from legendary artists. This is more of a hardcore collectors piece, something that is one of a kind. Im not sure if you could calculate the value by how much each artist charges per sig, or if that would even be accurate. 

[fullerjason]

I have no idea what it is worth but the book sure is cool!

[comix4fun]

14 hours ago, Sly Shadow said:

Yea, valuing this is way different than a signed comic. You're not really buying this book for the content, you're buying it for the amount of signatures from legendary artists. This is more of a hardcore collectors piece, something that is one of a kind. Im not sure if you could calculate the value by how much each artist charges per sig, or if that would even be accurate. 

Yeah, you get to the point of diminishing returns with that many signatures. No one is a fan of everyone and you might find someone willing to pay $100 for a Murphy Anderson signed HC but he's not in the market for the other 149 sigs, at least not enough to pay what they would be worth if they were alone on their own book. 

At auction, if people are reasonable certain what they are getting is legit, I could see this go a wide spread in bidding. It's not so much the value of the signatures as the size of the bidding pool at the higher price points, and willingness to pay for this type of item. 

Edited June 29, 2017 by comix4fun
not willing to guess numbers until I look at all the sigs

[comix4fun]

Looking at it more closely, man, that water damage, and the front cover hanging by a thread....you've got to think of an item like this as "what kind of buyer is going be interested in something like this?"

To me, this is an item someone is going to want to display and show off and look through. The water damage and binding damage is going to hinder that a great deal. There are a dozen or so really desirable sigs. No doubt. The balance of the rest of them might feel like "noise" to the potential buyer. 

I don't think he's looking at a gigantic amount of money here. 

[reddwarf666222]

13 hours ago, comix4fun said:

Looking at it more closely, man, that water damage, and the front cover hanging by a thread....you've got to think of an item like this as "what kind of buyer is going be interested in something like this?"

To me, this is an item someone is going to want to display and show off and look through. The water damage and binding damage is going to hinder that a great deal. There are a dozen or so really desirable sigs. No doubt. The balance of the rest of them might feel like "noise" to the potential buyer. 

I don't think he's looking at a gigantic amount of money here. 

He does have some dead people in there like McDuffie and a remark from Herb Trimpe. To me it is very hard to value something like this because they were not all attached to a major project signing one issue. So that leaves me looking at a book to where I am going whose is that signature, who did that art, or is this book too overcrowded for me. I hate to say this, but you may be better off separating them and selling them individually.

Edited June 30, 2017 by reddwarf666222

[Sly Shadow]

10 hours ago, comix4fun said:

Looking at it more closely, man, that water damage, and the front cover hanging by a thread....you've got to think of an item like this as "what kind of buyer is going be interested in something like this?"

To me, this is an item someone is going to want to display and show off and look through. The water damage and binding damage is going to hinder that a great deal. There are a dozen or so really desirable sigs. No doubt. The balance of the rest of them might feel like "noise" to the potential buyer. 

I don't think he's looking at a gigantic amount of money here. 

Yea, the water damage and the front cover is definitely a downfall for this. Especially with the water damage hitting the Stan Lee sig. A professional might be able to rebind the book, and attach it a little better so it wont feel like its going to tear off if you open it hard. But I agree that a certain person has to come along to want something like this. I talked to him again today and he said he really doesn't want to sell it, but he has another book with even more sigs in it, and he doesnt need two. He threw a number of $600 at me, which I think is possibly a fair price, asking me how I felt about it. I definitely can see at least $600 worth of sigs in here though.

 

 

[comix4fun]

16 minutes ago, Sly Shadow said:

Yea, the water damage and the front cover is definitely a downfall for this. Especially with the water damage hitting the Stan Lee sig. A professional might be able to rebind the book, and attach it a little better so it wont feel like its going to tear off if you open it hard. But I agree that a certain person has to come along to want something like this. I talked to him again today and he said he really doesn't want to sell it, but he has another book with even more sigs in it, and he doesnt need two. He threw a number of $600 at me, which I think is possibly a fair price, asking me how I felt about it. I definitely can see at least $600 worth of sigs in here though.

 

 

It's going to be a personal choice. Do yourself a favor though and realize that sometimes the whole is worth less than the sum of the parts. 

 

[SignatureSelect]

The problem is the water damage.  the spine could be repaired without damaging the sigs but the water damage actually damages a few of the more desirable sigs. and trying to reverse the water damage could further damage the sigs.  it is such a shame.