wood83

10 hours ago, Meeley Man said:

How many times must I say "if you don't like a price, discuss it with me" before it takes? And the BIN are higher, so that people can use the "best offer" option. Again, so prices can be discussed. Seeing a trend here?

And you aren't discussing prices with me. You are telling me "it's too high, sell it on the cheap." That's not discussion. That's closer to demands. If you see a piece on the gallery you like, but not the price, discussion goes like this: "Hey, I like this page, but the price seems a bit high. Would you be willing to go $X on it?" Then I reply and accept, or give you a counter offer, and we DISCUSS it, to see if a compromise can be found. THAT is discussing it. Have you ever done that? Now you don't have to imagine what the discussion would be, I've just laid it out for you.

As to you comments on me and other sellers, yes, I don't have massive inventories of stuff they do. But all your blather on that only proves what I said about this being an "old boys club." How can a new guy get there, when he's cut off at every turn. You insult my artists and the work I have from them. You call my attempt to get people to engage "spam." Well, I'm sorry I wasn't doing this 20, 25, 30 years ago or longer. 30 years ago I was 13. Not even old enough to work. I wasn't even into comics yet. So, I'm sorry I didn't buy up massive amounts of art in the "glory days" and sit on it until it was high dollar inventory. I'm sorry the artists I work with aren't named McFarlane, or Finch, or Wrightson, or Lee, or Adams. I'm sorry you see the ones who I've been fortunate enough to work with as just "hacks with sub-par work." I'm sorry they didn't put in long runs on Batman or Amazing Spider-Man, in the days of yore. I guess there is just no room at the table for someone else.

I buy a ton of stuff from Jason at Essential, Felix, Paolo at Cadence and Neil at Out of Step Arts. They're all new OA reps (sub 10 years). And I'm a "new" collector who is very much outside of the Old Boys Network you're referring to. 

Since I just discovered your existence I can't speak for why others haven't made you an offer but I can tell you why I haven't. Generally I won't negotiate unless it's a piece I really want and think the price is just a bit too high such that negotiation has a reasonable chance to lead to a transaction. With no disrespect intended to your artists, there was nothing in your gallery that I wanted even at half the price. And I assume it would be futile and insulting to ask you to sell something for 30 cents on the dollar.

The Donnelleys have an incredible inventory, but they also don't really want to sell most of their stuff. So it's priced astoundingly high.

James, my first ever interaction with you was about two weeks ago when you messaged me on CAF introducing yourself and your gallery. I took a look and then politely expressed that you didn't have anything I wanted right now but I appreciated the introduction and would keep an eye out.  The proper response to that would've been, "Thanks Jason! Please do keep an eye on what we are listing as we add new pieces all the time. In the meantime is it okay if I reach out to you occasionally if there's a piece I think fits your preferences?'

Instead this was your response:

Quote

James Meeley wrote:

 

Really? Hmm, that's odd, considering I have severla Power Man and Iron Fist pages I'm selling for Gerry Acerno and you said Luke Cage is one of your favorite hcaracters. Ah well. No problem.

Do you really think a passive aggressive response like that was going to make me do a 180 and say, "Oh that's right! I DO love Luke Cage and that means I will buy any page he's ever been on regardless of vintage, price or artist!' 

Instead it put me off of doing business with you on the very first day you introduced yourself!

But here's the truth of it, if you had pages I coveted, I would still test you out and buy something even though you made a horrible first impression. But your inventory doesn't appeal to me. 

You seem to be hung up on the idea that your prices are in line with prices for inventory pages at many other dealers. Well guess what? That's why there's no market for them! The Donnelleys have an insane collection but their prices all but guarantee they won't ever sell most of it. They don't really want to sell most of it. They only want to part ways with something if the buyer is willing to pay a price they literally can't fathom saying No to.

One of the biggest issues in OA collecting is stale inventory. 90% of what's at dealer sites is 100% known and frankly has no market at the listed prices. There are thousands of pages out there I would buy at a different price interval, and if a dealer ever feels the need to unload inventory aggressively many other buyers will be ready to spend. Until then, we wait and pick our spots when something comes to market that truly blows our socks off.

14 hours ago, RabidFerret said:

There are a lot of Liefeld fans and a very limited amount of prime early work. Less than 20 issues at his peak of NM/XF.

Highest priced public Liefeld cover was $23k on Heritage. Until there are pricier public sales there's little reason for most owners to sell.

- A proud owner of many Liefelds

No doubt. Unfortunately I started buying OA just a shade or two too late to capitalize. Rob's become a personal friend over the years, and Domino is my favorite female character (I've got a ton of Domino art), so the fact I don't own any early NM/XF art is crazy to me. 

Hi All -- I'm constantly amazed by the lack of available Liefeld NM and XF artwork. Looking for interior pages for sale or trade, with a particular emphasis on Domino, although I'm open to any great pages with other members of the teams, too.

Thanks

Jason

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerydetail.asp?gcat=62259

Hi All --

Relatively new poster but a long-time collector. I'm a big fan of Domino, and have a ton of her art via pages and commissions. Am always looking for more published work (or commissions that perhaps are available for sale/trade), so keep me in mind.

You can find a bunch of my collection on CAF if you're interested in talking trade for said pieces instead of an outright sale. 

Thanks!

Jason Wood - Comic Art Fan Gallery

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerydetail.asp?gcat=62259

This was my first one so I can't compare to prior years, but it was divided up into two rooms. The main room had Snyder, Romitaman, Wil-Gabriel, Moy and others. The other room was tiny and had a few smaller dealers with limited inventory. 

Overall it was much more of a reunion for local high end collectors than a place where product was looking to be sold. 

I forced myself to spend two hours looking at inventory just to feel like it was worth my drive, but saw nothing new in the inventory that I hadn't seen on the dealers sites many times before. 

5 minutes ago, Bird said:

Albert is fair in my opinion. I have never had any luck haggling with him and was wary of trading. But I found him surprisingly open to trade and thought that it had a far different feeling than dealing with money with him. Not that he is unfair with money, just firm. But with the trade I kept waiting for him to lower the boom and ask me to add cash or something but we worked out a great deal. I got 2 BWS and Sandy Plunkett and maybe even one other thing (going from my head here) and he got some Gene Colan and something else. Don't make an offer, just target some pieces and then talk to him and show him your stuff. I find Albert very approachable, just not very talkative. Have a basic value plan of your stuff and see where you guys go. And if you go, you can see a Donnelly Brother with actual prices on the art!

 

Thanks for the thoughts.

1 minute ago, Bird said:

Oh, now you should really go. I have brought portfolios often, and have sometimes left them in the car rather than try and wheel and deal. But I have also traded with Albert Moy, 3 pieces for 3 pieces, and that was a very worthwhile transaction. My plan that day was to walk in with a pencap, trade it up and walk out with a Frazetta but instead I did that thing with Albert. 

Now I am going too. Even for 30 minutes at the end (and that is a dead room at the end, dead energy). 

 

I've heard so many different things about Moy, pro and con. Is he willing to deal at FMV? I worry that he'll want to offer me 20 cents on my dollar and try to trade me $1 in return for $2 of my own. Fair? Unfair?

6 minutes ago, Bird said:

I have not been to every one lately, but it is generally easy to walk around. I myself generally hit the same few dealers and you may have to wait as one person looks through a portfolio before you but in general I never have much problems seeing what I want.

You should go.

You will see things you want and you will see new things.

Scott Dunbier is setting up at this show from what it says. I have never met Scott but his art collection is legendary and he started as an art dealer so...that alone is worth it.

I am taking my daughter to new student day at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and that runs 9-2. I may still try and get to the con just to see what Scott Dunbier has and to see what stuff Scott Eder brought that will floor me.

 

Thanks. Yes, I think I will go even if it's just to see some OA in person that I've never seen before. What I'm not sure about is whether I should bring a portfolio of my own OA collection. Frankly, I've never sold or traded a piece before, but have become more open to it in recent months as my collection gets rounded out and I have pieces I would love to acquire. 

I'm considering coming for the first time. Admittedly, I'm unclear what to expect. Roughly how many people will be there? I'm talking attendees vs dealers. Dozens? Hundreds?

Making the annual journey to Heroes. Always one of my favorite shows, particularly for art!