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May the Force be with you! Star Wars Signature Series Thread!
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Started by DELTA 62,

439 posts in this topic

frank4713

frank4713

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Just got this back from Official Pix and words cannot describe how upset and disappointed I am.  Ruined what would have been a perfect signing by Mark Hamill.  I submitted a CGC 9.8 for this signing and and it came back with an 8.0 grade.  The primary reason for this grade on the grader notes is "tape residue on the front cover."  I gave them a perfect book to get signed, and I imagine their handlers put tape or post-its on the cover for the signing.  This massive error and misstep essentially rendered the book worthless.  Out of 336 copies of this book in the CGC census that are signed, only 2 of them are below a 9.8 grade (this is one of them, and the other has a 9.4 grade).

Anyone have experience with something like this before and how to handle it?  Any recourse you think I can take out of this?  And outside of dealing with the matter with Official Pix, does anyone have experience with tape residue and is that something that could be removed/cleaned to help bump back up the grade?

CGC2748693-001_OBV.jpg

Edited by frank4713
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dbcn

dbcn

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I think you're living all of our worst fears @frank4713 - that is awful. 

I'd reach out to Official Pix first (in writing) and see if they can provide an explanation - tape residue doesn't just randomly show up - I wonder if something happened when they cracked the slab? Did you have the book pressed after the signing?

I'm not too familiar with what a good press can really do, but removing tape residue sounds to me more like restoration than something that would come out with a press - and if it is restoration, you might end up with a qualified green/yellow label in the end (which, given the green cover, might not look toooo bad...? but certainly not the 9.8 yellow slab you were hoping for) You might ask about the residue in /r/comicbookpressing on reddit or the CGC board thread.

so sorry to see this happen - his sig is also a huge chunk of money, and I don't think he does signings too often, so ugh all of that just makes it that much worse. 

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frank4713

frank4713

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On 3/20/2024 at 2:30 PM, dbcn said:

I think you're living all of our worst fears @frank4713 - that is awful. 

I'd reach out to Official Pix first (in writing) and see if they can provide an explanation - tape residue doesn't just randomly show up - I wonder if something happened when they cracked the slab? Did you have the book pressed after the signing?

I'm not too familiar with what a good press can really do, but removing tape residue sounds to me more like restoration than something that would come out with a press - and if it is restoration, you might end up with a qualified green/yellow label in the end (which, given the green cover, might not look toooo bad...? but certainly not the 9.8 yellow slab you were hoping for) You might ask about the residue in /r/comicbookpressing on reddit or the CGC board thread.

so sorry to see this happen - his sig is also a huge chunk of money, and I don't think he does signings too often, so ugh all of that just makes it that much worse. 

I just sent them an email.  From the looks of it, you can VERY slightly see something near where the signings were, which leads me to believe that they put either tape or a post it directly on the comic before it was signed.  I did pay extra for pressing with Official Pix, but I'm not even convinced that actually happened since there are some slight non-color breaking creases on the spine (which easily could have been taken out with pressing).

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DELTA 62

DELTA 62

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On 3/20/2024 at 12:14 PM, frank4713 said:

Just got this back from Official Pix and words cannot describe how upset and disappointed I am.  Official Pix completely ruined what would have been a perfect signing by Mark Hamill.  I submitted a CGC 9.8 for this signing and and it came back with an 8.0 grade.  The primary reason for this grade on the grader notes is "tape residue on the front cover."  I gave them a perfect book to get signed, and it was ruined by their handlers by putting tape on the cover for the signing.  Who does that???  This massive error and misstep on Official Pix's part essentially rendered the book worthless.  Out of 336 copies of this book in the CGC census that are signed, only 2 of them are below a 9.8 grade (this is one of them, and the other has a 9.4 grade).

Anyone have experience with something like this before and how to handle it?  Any recourse you think I can take out of this?  And outside of dealing with the matter with Official Pix, does anyone have experience with tape residue and is that something that could be removed/cleaned to help bump back up the grade?

CGC2748693-001_OBV.jpg

That is horrible to hear - I am so sorry this happened.  Reaching out to Official Pix (and even taking it as far up the chain as possible) is the first step.  There is always a risk when one cracks open a previously graded book, but to have someone put/leave tape residue on the comic is unacceptable.  And as indicated before, when you take into the cost of his signature and that he is not doing signings much these days makes it even worse. 

I am just totally guessing here... I am wondering if the book wasn't window bagged for the signature (not even with CGC's yellow ones or any after market variation).  These days, the "handlers" at the cons like to put notes on sticky notes (i.e. if the item getting signed will be personalized, add a quote, add a character name, how many items are getting signed, if you are getting a selfie-combo with the signature, etc.) to help out the guest and they tend to put those notes right on the item.  I am wondering if that's what happened here - that the book was simply taken out of a bag/board and a "handler" put a sticky note on it for Mark to know what to write/do with the book.   And if that is what happened, it is still not acceptable.  Official Pix should have made sure nothing sticky was put on that cover.  

I hope Official Pix makes things right for you - good luck! 

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dbcn

dbcn

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On 3/20/2024 at 6:07 PM, DELTA 62 said:

they tend to put those notes right on the item

That seems beyond unprofessional - Official Pix should 💯 know better.

@frank4713 if you don’t mind, can you follow up on this thread (or the one in restoration) after you hear back? If thats SOP for Official Pix I wont risk sending them any more books - yikes.

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DELTA 62

DELTA 62

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On 3/20/2024 at 4:16 PM, dbcn said:

That seems beyond unprofessional - Official Pix should 💯 know better.

@frank4713 if you don’t mind, can you follow up on this thread (or the one in restoration) after you hear back? If thats SOP for Official Pix I wont risk sending them any more books - yikes.

I see it all the time - sticky notes being put on Funko boxes, 8x10 photos, posters, props, etc.   

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frank4713

frank4713

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On 3/20/2024 at 6:16 PM, dbcn said:

That seems beyond unprofessional - Official Pix should 💯 know better.

@frank4713 if you don’t mind, can you follow up on this thread (or the one in restoration) after you hear back? If thats SOP for Official Pix I wont risk sending them any more books - yikes.

I heard back from Official Pix and they acknowledged that they're confused about this as well as they claimed to not put tape or post-its on comics.  You can faintly see the residue right below the signatures so I'm fairly certain that this is one of the exceptions to that rule and someone goofed up.  Either way, they were very professional in their response and are graciously owning up to the situation.  Apparently there might be another Hamill signing later this year, so they said I can send this one back and they'll get another one of the same comic to have him redo for me.  I'm going to keep it in the interim of course because you just never know what happens with scheduling these signings...hopefully there's a (extremely longwinded) happy ending coming out of this after all.  Keeping my fingers crossed they get him again and can make good on this.

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dbcn

dbcn

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On 3/20/2024 at 7:50 PM, frank4713 said:

Either way, they were very professional in their response and are graciously owning up to the situation.  Apparently there might be another Hamill signing later this year, so they said I can send this one back and they'll get another one of the same comic to have him redo for me

This is 100% the correct response - kudos to Official Pix, that is great customer service 👍

hope the follow up signing works out for you!

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frank4713

frank4713

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On 3/20/2024 at 8:32 PM, dbcn said:

This is 100% the correct response - kudos to Official Pix, that is great customer service 👍

hope the follow up signing works out for you!

Thanks! Yeah I was happy with that response and what they're willing to do to make good on this.  Now it's just a matter of playing the waiting game and hope all of this turns out as planned.

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troydivision1

troydivision1

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On 3/20/2024 at 7:50 PM, frank4713 said:

I heard back from Official Pix and they acknowledged that they're confused about this as well as they claimed to not put tape or post-its on comics.  You can faintly see the residue right below the signatures so I'm fairly certain that this is one of the exceptions to that rule and someone goofed up.  Either way, they were very professional in their response and are graciously owning up to the situation.  Apparently there might be another Hamill signing later this year, so they said I can send this one back and they'll get another one of the same comic to have him redo for me.  I'm going to keep it in the interim of course because you just never know what happens with scheduling these signings...hopefully there's a (extremely longwinded) happy ending coming out of this after all.  Keeping my fingers crossed they get him again and can make good on this.

Happy to see this resolution.
The presumption regarding the post-its was exactly what I thought as well while reading your post.
Good on Official Pix for saying that they will attempt to right this wrong.

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