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Permalink Reply by Mike White on May 19, 2022 at 9:30pm

If I had the opportunity to buy this piece, I'd pass, even if the price was good.

The "S", if it can even called that, is setting off alarm bells for me.

Stan would sign some of the most cramped signatures with the most blunt marker imaginable. They'd look like the most indecipherable mess of a blob. But the "S" was pretty much always legible.

Here, you have an example where I can make out every single letter except the "S". That's not something I've ever seen from him.

When he signed legibly, you could tell that it said "Stan Lee".

When he signed illegibly, you could generally tell that it said "S ?????". In the few cases I've seen where he signed so quick & carelessly that you can't even make out the "S", like this one, you'd have absolutely no chance with anything that followed.

This one reads "?tan Lee".

It looks, to me, like someone realized a bit too late that Stan uses the top of his "S" to cross his "t" and wound up with something that looks like a Greek Sigma. It does look a bit like a more spaced out version of the example with the illegible "S" that I linked above, just written with more care, but my (albeit limited) experience tells me that if Stan would've written it with more care, it wouldn't have looked like that in the first place.

I've also never seen example where Stan signed that legibly ("S" aside) in the era where "Excelsior!" stickers were available.

Something like this, where you can make out the letters, but the "a", "n", & "L" are still smashed together, is what I've seen as the best case scenario for a modern signature.

What you posted, with the letters spaced out to have noticeable tails, reminds me of how Stan used to sign, but that long before those stickers were available.

I also wouldn't put any stock in those stickers.

There was no control in convention environments over who got one or what they put it on. As long as you stood in line and paid your $10 (I think--might've been $20), they gave you a sticker. They didn't care if you actually went through Stan's line, they didn't care what Stan signed for you (if you even went through his line), and they didn't care what you did with the sticker after you bought it.

Outside of convention environments, where they'd sell the stickered items via their website, there were allegations of impropriety levied against the company & owners.

If you read the depressing stories coming out around the end of Stan's life, you've seen some names come up, along with things they allegedly did. One of those names was the man who owned/ran the company that made those stickers, sold them at conventions, and sold the material online that bore those stickers.

So. In conclusion. Is it real? I don't know. There are very few situations in which I feel comfortable answering that question, as anyone who's seen my posts here or elsewhere knows.

But the question I do know the answer to, and am comfortable answering about this piece, is "Would I buy it if the price was good?" And, in this case, my answer to that question would be "No".

But if you're still wondering about authenticity, Pete at SWAU does "Modern Entertainment" now for $10--I'd imagine that'd include Stan Lee. Here's the link.

I trust Pete's eyes and analyses far more than my own. If he were to say it's good, I wouldn't doubt it, but it wouldn't change how I feel about the atypical nature & desirability of the piece.

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Permalink Reply by Justin B. on May 20, 2022 at 9:12am

Thanks for the tip. Already submitted and and confirmed it to be genuine. Rushed, but genuine. Thanks for your input!

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