Does CGC offer any signature verification for already signed books? 0

[serling1978]

Sorry if this is an obvious question, wondering if a book is already signed and CGC didn't witness it do they have any kind of service to verify the sig? I've got an Avengers 1 signed by Stan that came with a certificate from the dealer that the signature was witnessed, but obviously I could take that card and put it with any Avengers 1 that had Stan's name written on it. I see on Pawn Stars all the time how an expert swings on by and verifies celebrity sigs in about 30 seconds (I'm saying this tongue in cheek, "live ink" seems to be his main criteria) so can CGC also verify?

[ADAMANTIUM]

I'm sorry but no they don't 

[serling1978]

2 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

I'm sorry but no they don't 

That's too bad. Thanks for the quick reply though. Good to know at least

[kav]

12 minutes ago, serling1978 said:

Sorry if this is an obvious question, wondering if a book is already signed and CGC didn't witness it do they have any kind of service to verify the sig? I've got an Avengers 1 signed by Stan that came with a certificate from the dealer that the signature was witnessed, but obviously I could take that card and put it with any Avengers 1 that had Stan's name written on it. I see on Pawn Stars all the time how an expert swings on by and verifies celebrity sigs in about 30 seconds (I'm saying this tongue in cheek, "live ink" seems to be his main criteria) so can CGC also verify?

If it came with a certificate of authenticity it's almost certainly fake.  Even if was real, it wouldnt matter because unverified sig is just 'name written on cover'.  Basically, the book would be worth more if Stan Lee wasnt written on it.  However, that may not be quite true as buyers on ebay seem to be willing to pay good money for obvious fake stan sigs.

[ADAMANTIUM]

6 minutes ago, kav said:

If it came with a certificate of authenticity it's almost certainly fake.  Even if was real, it wouldnt matter because unverified sig is just 'name written on cover'.  Basically, the book would be worth more if Stan Lee wasnt written on it.  However, that may not be quite true as buyers on ebay seem to be willing to pay good money for obvious fake stan sigs.

My word wasn't good enough? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kav]

1 minute ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

My word wasn't good enough? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ok if you get a COA from Amadantium, that would be legit.

[serling1978]

5 minutes ago, kav said:

If it came with a certificate of authenticity it's almost certainly fake.  Even if was real, it wouldnt matter because unverified sig is just 'name written on cover'.  Basically, the book would be worth more if Stan Lee wasnt written on it.  However, that may not be quite true as buyers on ebay seem to be willing to pay good money for obvious fake stan sigs.

Damn, you're really bringing me down here 😄 . I've bought and sold and previously owned a decent number of graded books signed by Stan and this one def LOOKS totally legit, but obviously that's just opinion. I'm going with glass half full on this one though

[kav]

Just now, serling1978 said:

Damn, you're really bringing me down here 😄 . I've bought and sold and previously owned a decent number of graded books signed by Stan and this one def LOOKS totally legit, but obviously that's just opinion. I'm going with glass half full on this one though

show a pic.  @James J Johnson can give a pretty accurate analysis.  You can still sell it for $$$

[ADAMANTIUM]

1 minute ago, serling1978 said:

Damn, you're really bringing me down here 😄 . I've bought and sold and previously owned a decent number of graded books signed by Stan and this one def LOOKS totally legit, but obviously that's just opinion. I'm going with glass half full on this one though

Avengers 1 is a great book, but don't feel too bad, the dealer would have found another buyer if not you, you will too and now you can keep it raw; rather than slabbing....

[mattn792]

4 minutes ago, kav said:

show a pic.  @James J Johnson can give a pretty accurate analysis.  You can still sell it for $$$

I second that motion.

[James J Johnson]

2 hours ago, kav said:

ok if you get a COA from Amadantium, that would be legit.

With or without a hologram?

[kav]

1 minute ago, James J Johnson said:

With or without a hologram?

4D Holo

[James J Johnson]

2 hours ago, mattn792 said:

I second that motion.

 

[James J Johnson]

Just now, kav said:

4D Holo

Oh!!! Well!!!!!! Then in that case ………………

[Joosh]

Option 1: get a qualified (green label) grade. People seem to pay almost as much as witnessed for those. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Option 2: Accept/Sell it as probably legit. This whole slabbing/AW thing is relatively new; it’s commonplace to have and sell unauthorized sigs. It just takes a little more homework to avoid a scam.

Option 3: Check out the other grading company who offers what you are looking for (red label VSP) and is not named pgx.

[serling1978]

1 hour ago, Joosh said:

Option 1: get a qualified (green label) grade. People seem to pay almost as much as witnessed for those. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Option 2: Accept/Sell it as probably legit. This whole slabbing/AW thing is relatively new; it’s commonplace to have and sell unauthorized sigs. It just takes a little more homework to avoid a scam.

Option 3: Check out the other grading company who offers what you are looking for (red label VSP) and is not named pgx.

Good list of options. Thanks. 

I've got the book in a long box temporarily in storage so if the can get to it any time soon I'll get a pic.

I was doing some googling last night and I realized I forgot how wildly Stan's signature varies. So I don't think there's realistically any way a mortal man can look and say one vs another is 100% fake. To illustrate: below is a lineup of signed Avengers #1's. If anyone wants to play along, feel free to try to guess which ones are verified slabbed sigs and which are unverified (and possibly fake). If anyone is totally right you get a No Prize. Refer to them in order from top to bottom. #1 being the top and #10 being the bottom.

[seanfingh]

You have basically just created a beautiful illustration of why the SS is superior - someone saw Stan sign.  As his signature got worse and worse over the years (which you can see in many of the examples above, it got less and less capable to be accurately identified by 3rd party sources.  I have acted as an SS witness for Stan three times, and have seen countless authentic versions. I wouldn't opine on at least 5 of those. 

[serling1978]

9 minutes ago, seanfingh said:

You have basically just created a beautiful illustration of why the SS is superior - someone saw Stan sign.  As his signature got worse and worse over the years (which you can see in many of the examples above, it got less and less capable to be accurately identified by 3rd party sources.  I have acted as an SS witness for Stan three times, and have seen countless authentic versions. I wouldn't opine on at least 5 of those. 

Well said.

[90sChild]

Just make sure you know a guy that can call a guy.

 

[01TheDude]

with the enormous number of authentic (and SS verified to boot) Stan Lee signatures floating around in the collecting world, I can never understand why getting this signature is so sought after. The prices for those verified authentic (SS for certain) books are more expensive since they clearly were paid for from the signature (typically $100-150) along with the slabbing costs if done on a decently valued book to begin with (and god forbid a mega key)-- holy cow does it get ridiculous. More alarming is that is defies the logic of supply and demand.

Personally-- I am not a fan of signing comic books to begin with. It is writing on the cover, plain and simple. As Kav and others have pointed out-- someday, this hobby will probably also come to that conclusion save for a handful of very well presenting examples. But for those people who had him sign some reader bronze age book of no significance-- AND had that book slabbed-- to those people, I don't know what to say. If it is something for your personal collection-- did you need to get it authenticated? Seems like the main reason to have a SS is to either resell it at a significant mark up OR that you have most of your treasured books in CGC cases and OCD forces you to follow suit.

If I were ever interested in getting a Stan signature when he was alive - I would have simply had him sign a decent copy of something he worked on that was not worth a ton on its own and not even bother with SS. That book would have only been for me - and I would never have to worry about "proving" it was authentic since I had no intention of selling it.

But everyone collects the way they like to and that is what the focus should be on. If you want to amass a bunch of Stan Lee (or even just one) that is CGC SS --  more power to you. It is just not for everyone. And in answer to the original question-- CGC will not authenticate without witnessing and if you have one that is raw, I would just keep it that way.