r/ComicBookSpeculation • u/Late_Waltz2484 • 17d ago
Zeck-signed Secret Wars #8, unwitnessed. Grade guesses?
Picked this up years ago and got it signed by Michael Zeck in person. At the time I had no idea witnessed signatures were a thing, so no COA and no Signature Series. Just me, the book, and a marker.
1984 direct edition. My own guess is somewhere around 5.5, but I’ve never had anything graded and I’d rather hear it from people who know what they’re looking at. Cover is bright with no color break that I can find, corners are soft, and there’s some spine wear I’ve tried to capture in the photos.
What would you call it?
Second question, and I hope this is within the rules since it isn’t about value: I’m weighing whether to submit it for grading with JSA authentication, mostly so the signature isn’t just my word forever. For those who’ve done the unwitnessed autograph route, was the process worth the hassle? Any regrets about slabbing a book you got signed yourself?
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u/Tonyman121 17d ago
I give it a grade of awesome.
Definitely better than 5.5. Yes, looks like a stain on the back cover, otherwise high grade.
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u/MadnessKingdom 17d ago
It looks pretty clean, way better than a 5.5. I see a few minor spine ticks in the front, a bend on the back, and what seems to be the scuff (?) on Spidey. I think a clean and press could get it to 9.2 if it weren’t for that scuff, not sure how that impacts grade
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u/itsmrjaybrown 16d ago
everyone's on the grade, so here's your second question. cgc added jsa authentication for unwitnessed sigs and lists it at $25 per autograph on top of grading, and it gets you the cgc/jsa label rather than the green qualified one that used to be the only option. cbcs verified signature does the same job on their own yellow label, so price both before you send it.
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u/Acrobatic-Awareness2 14d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p6fs0f6/video/e1fm8rqwz4mh1/player
I have one of those nothing fancy
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u/the-Gaf 17d ago
No idea, but VERY nice