whats the deal with the price of altered cards?

[BuckNutty]

A signed card goes for, generally, not much more then what an unsigned card goes for. The artist throws a couple sharpie strokes on the pic and the price sky rockets? Whats up with that? A local guy wants $250 for a 4 set of altered non-foil welders, 4 sets on ebay of anything altered goes for good coin. Think the market will hold up on them?

[Matt]

Because now the card has ART by an ARTIST on it? Duh?

[CrashTest]

I do not like the simple marker alterations that are more common, to me they damage the art. The full alternations are fairly nice, though - like the ones Spencer does.

           Signed cards do up the price, often significantly, especially on eBay. A signed Mana Crypt went for $52, where unsigned goes for under $30. That was a rare occasion, but things like this do happen.