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Help determining value of rare / one-of-a-kind SS books (for insurance purposes)
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6 posts in this topic

Howdy,
I figured I'd reach out to SS brain-trust in hopes of finding an answer to the question of determining value for rare SS books.
I've used the handy search function and found a thread (from around) 2010 with hearty discussion of value as a topic, but not from an insurance / claim perspective.

Whilst I may believe my one-of-a-kind book is priceless because the person who signed it has passed away.
An insurance company may prefer being able to quantify their payout.

Also, if anyone has ever had to file a claim for a rare or one-of-a-kind book - how was your experience?
Thank you in advance.

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On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 8:05 PM, umyeahwhatevers said:

Howdy,
I figured I'd reach out to SS brain-trust in hopes of finding an answer to the question of determining value for rare SS books.
I've used the handy search function and found a thread (from around) 2010 with hearty discussion of value as a topic, but not from an insurance / claim perspective.

Whilst I may believe my one-of-a-kind book is priceless because the person who signed it has passed away.
An insurance company may prefer being able to quantify their payout.

Also, if anyone has ever had to file a claim for a rare or one-of-a-kind book - how was your experience?
Thank you in advance.

More information is needed.  What is the book?  What is the grade?  Who signed it?

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Thank you so much for responding and also pardon the lack of clarification on my part in my initial post.

What I had initially meant to ask was for boardies to provide their process on how they determine value of any rare / one-of-kind books (that they own) when there is no comparable sales data available.
(again for insurance purposes, not resell)

An example of a book I have that I can't equate a value for is Parker: A Portfolio of Word and Pictures 9.8 signed by Darwyn Cooke.
I have other examples, but chose this an extreme due to the fact that this one can not be replaced / replicated.

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Edited by umyeahwhatevers
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This example is tough because it's not really a highly sought after book/series.
As for how to value it, you have to be a little less of a "fan" and more rational about the value of the signature by itself.

A 9.8 Sig Slabs signed by Darwyn go for around $150-200 when they come up for sale these days.  Obviously the book a signature appears on changes the price tag a little, but you could factor part of that in by trying to find the value of that particular book WITHOUT a signature and work up from there.  Just looking at recent eBay sales on signed 9.8 slabs with his signature there are a few Justice League covers, which went for $150-175.  Not much else of value with his signature unless you include one piece of OA that sold.  As you probably know, original art is a totally different ballgame and you can't use that to value a signature.

It's obvious his signature on a book means a lot to you, but as far as an insurance value goes, I would suggest sitting down and thinking about what amount written on a check would start to ease the "emotional pain" you'd experience if the book was lost/stolen/damaged.  Then take ANY recent sales data you can find that is even remotely relative to the item and settle on a number somewhere in the middle.  For the one example above though... I'd say it's worth about $175 right now.

With how scarce sales data can be on signed 9.8 books from Darwyn, I'd even go so far as to print out some screen grabs of eBay sales for your records as evidence for your insurance company.

That's how I would go about the process though.

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But what a fantastic book!  I wasn’t able to get a signed Cooke comic in my collection when he was siging & now I’m trying to find the budegt rationale to get one, even though I’d still love one. I’ve had my eye on a few of his Spirit books.

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