the condition to inflate the value and thus increase profits. Likewise a buyer could dispute the condition of a book with the intention of purchasing at a lower price. CGC's primary service is to provide a reliable, consistent, and non-partial comic books grading and authentication, which can greatly mitigate all these challenges and pitfalls that are inherent with comic book collecting. Grading Condition is a significant factor in the valuation of a comic book. An example is Action Comics #1, the first published appearance of Superman. In 2010, two copies sold on the comic book auction website comicconnect.com for record prices. One copy was CGC graded 8.0 and sold for US$1 million. The second book at a later auction, a copy CGC graded at 8.5 sold for a record-setting $1.5 million, the most ever paid up to that time for a comic book. A 9.0-rated version sold at a 2014 auction for $3.2 million. This underscores CGC's ability to provide a grading service as a neutral third party from a transaction, this created a degree of impartiality that did not exist before. This has shown that there is a demand for graded books as consistently these books have set sales records. Signatures CGCs gold label Signature Series is a signature validation service in which a CGC representative witnesses a comic being signed by a specific individual as requested by the comic book's owner. Furthermore, the CGC establishes a chain of custody of that specific comic until it is “slabbed” and subsequently returned to the individual who ordered the signature series grading and verification. This mitigates signature forgery concerns. Identifying restoration and counterfeits For highly valued comics, a higher grade can result in a price difference of thousands of dollars. Similarly, a comic book marked by CGC with the purple "Restored" label can suffer a significant price reduction. A part of CGC's service is to identify the authenticity of a comic, as counterfeiting is a problem. One of the first steps CGC takes upon receipt of a book is the determination, made by a pre-grader, as to whether a book has been restored. Generally, an original book will be of more value than a restored book. CGC labels a comic book it has identified as restored with a purple label. Another grade that CGC implemented in 2008 is the "NG" or no-grade label, which identifies a comic missing cover or an