Michael Browning

Never expect to lose on C-link - no matter how low you bid.

On 5/13/2023 at 10:17 AM, ak47po said:

Anyone ever buy comic art from "jimmy the Greeks son?

https://www.anthonyscomicbookart.com/default.asp

How's the pricing? I'm new to buying comic art.

Why would you not just ask using his name? Anthony is a longtime and very reputable dealer, well known in the comic art community and a good guy. You could have just asked if anyone could give you a recommendation for Anthony Snyder.

The listing has been taken down, I see. Maybe the seller took it down or eBay removed it after I and others filed reports on it.

On 5/13/2023 at 3:17 AM, thethedew said:

I've never really looked at this thread, apologies if I've misinterpreted the intent.

Star Wars Weekly # 46 page pg 01 sold on Heritage a month ago (April 2023). 
Star Wars on HA

Since it's:
1) Published in the U.K. only 
2) A 'recap of our story so far' type page, standard for weekly books, but usually retards the result considerably
3) Attributed to Howard Bender, not Infantino.  'H.B.' written in pencil along the top.
...it was only able to muster a $1,320 win.

A month later, here's the same page on eBay, Howard Bender not mentioned, but Infantino certainly is.  The price is a little... hopeful?  Aggressive?
Star Wars on eBay

He can try to get whatever price he likes, but trying to sell that as published Infantino shouldn't be accepted.  I dropped him a line, but I doubt he'll change anything.

I sent him a note as soon as it popped up for sale. I’ve attached the screenshots from our messages. I also posted it on Facebook and reported it to eBay. I caught a lot of flack from guys who didn’t see anything wrong with what he was doing, but I just didn’t want a buyer to get scammed because that is definitely not Infantino art.

On 5/8/2023 at 12:35 AM, BA773 said:

To be sure of what be posted here, no ebay find, right?

Just dollar box finds, is what I’ve always believed it to be.

On 5/2/2023 at 3:30 PM, Varanis said:

Plenty of his non-SSB Tradd art has traded hands publicly and privately. In my experience it all sells for 3x-10x what Felix originally sold for and it's not hard to find buyers. SSB is typically 8-10x+. Felix priced the Doctor Strange drop around 25-35% under SSB secondary, which I think makes perfect sense. The book is unproven but the art is comparable in aesthetic to what we got in SSB.

I'm not sure how not receiving a lowball offer on a Tradd piece on a DOND Facebook post means anything. It's not like the poster would have sold at that price. I'd pay $250 any day for a Tradd page, but I'm not going to insult someone by making an offer like that. I'm not sure I even saw the post in question and I frequent DOND daily. It may have been taken down too quickly for the right buyers to see. 

Where do you get those crazy numbers? I don’t know how SSB pages could sell for 8-10x what they were sold for because the resell prices would be Frank Miller DKR numbers.

On 5/1/2023 at 3:51 PM, GotSuperPowers? said:

Is this the Ghost Rider page with no main characters (or no costume characters), with no action?  That's not even close to a fair comparison if it is.  Different style, and lack of content.  But more lack of content than the style.

Quality notwithstanding, that page, if Moore art is so in demand, should have gotten at least a typical Deal Or No Deal offer of $100. It is Tradd Moore art, after all, so it should have at least gotten a lowball offer of $100 and … nothing. Not an offer. Not even someone saying “I will start it off - $50.” Everything else gets a lowball offer. Reselling a Tradd Moore page… nothing.

Don't get me wrong, Tradd Moore art is amazingly beautiful and psychedelic and trippy and I wouldn’t turn one down for a lot, LOT less. He may be the nicest guy in the universe and I’m sure he truly is a wonderful person who is blessing his fans with his pages and covers. But, when his pages are selling for $50,000 the day they’re put up for sale, there’s no way possible the buyer recoups his money when his love of Tradd Moore art fades.

A Tradd Moore Marvel page went up for sale in a few Facebook groups about a week ago and the guy got no offers and it didn’t sell and he took it down. Not even the lowball offers that are always made. He was reselling it and I’d almost guarantee he was very disappointed that he couldn’t get a ROI.

On 4/30/2023 at 1:23 PM, Dirtcheap31 said:

What a beautiful page I expect there will be little c-link discount here

They’ll make up for it on every other piece, though. 😉

On 4/29/2023 at 6:57 PM, alxjhnsn said:

I have to disagree. I have lots of commissions that will be difficult for my heirs to sell for any amount. They are for my pleasure and to support the artist; that's payback enough for me. Even the printed pages that I have are not the ones that most people will want. 

I really don't care what the girls get from selling the collection. I'll be dead and there are other assets of more value to them.

I consider my spend here similar to the spend of my friends on their golf course memberships, lessons, and other expenses. That money is gone and so is what I spent on comic art.

I stand corrected, then, because you have said that before and I truly believe you mean it. But, you are not the norm in this hobby, that's for sure.

On 4/29/2023 at 6:27 PM, JC25427N said:

We should all just drop the pretense then and start talking more honestly, starting renaming some threads

"the OFFICIAL 'this week in your ORIGINAL ART investment portfolio' thread"

"new to OA investing,  Advice, tips?"

"how about one little thread for vintage illustration investments?"

"New podcast/video from Felix Art Brokerage (UPDATED 1/3/17!)"

We're all just bored of buying ETFs at the end of the day

 

But yeah jokes aside, I would agree for most people and especially above a certain price point (relative to each person of course) theres some consideration as what ROI the piece could bring, but the extremely strong version of the claim as you put it (or at least how I interpreted it from what you said) that "investing" is the number one intent/priority of every person who buys original art (meaning that no one would ever buy a piece if they thought they would lose money on it) and anyone who says otherwise is lying, I just don't agree.

Nope. I'm not saying that is anyone's intent when they buy OA; I'm saying that no matter how much we love this stuff and never intend to ever sell it, we all are aware of how much we spend on it and none of us wants or intends to sell below what we paid. We all know that, like comic books, original art goes up in value and we know that going in. Original art isn't a car that we expect to drop in value the minute we get it. No one wants to lose cash.

Like a lot of collectors, I buy art because I enjoy owning a piece of a comic that I love, but I also know that whatever I spend, whether it be $50 or $5000, one of these days, I or someone in my family will sell my art and I don't want it given away or sold at a loss. I do hope it brings in some sort of profit one of these days for me in retirement -- or for my family after I'm gone.

On 4/29/2023 at 5:29 PM, cloud cloddie said:

1000 to you may not be 1000 to someone else. I’d imagine the numbers are looked at differently when it’s 50% of your discretionary budget vs .1%. 

Yup. I’m for sure at least mindful of ROI when buying published art. But not on commissions. I’m positive I’d lose money on 99% of the commissions I have, and I’m okay with that. 

Nah, Rich people look at $1000 like I look at my payday. They don't just throw money away with abandon. It's how they stay rich. ;)

Believe me, if something happens and you NEED to sell, you are NOT going to want to sell below what you have in it.

On 4/29/2023 at 3:39 PM, JC25427N said:

Sometimes I feel like we should split the forum into "Original Comic Art Collecting" and "Original Comic Art Investing" 

If anyone says they buy art and don’t look at it as an investment or say they don’t care if they get their money back when they resell it, they’re lying. Original art costs too much cash to not consider it an investment.

Sorry, repeat post.

As far as investments go, in my opinion, Skottie Young art is the Beanie Babies of OA collecting and Tradd Moore art is the Funko Pops.

On 4/29/2023 at 8:20 AM, Rick2you2 said:

Nice work, but I’ll pass.

Tradd’s art is pretty neat, but I cannot see any of these pages reselling for a profit or at break-even in the future. I’m my opinion, it will take years for the art to mature into what people are paying.

I have had this opinion for many years: new art is a bad investment. Once the heat dies on this series, I think people are going to sit back and wonder to themselves “what the heck was I thinking?”.

Kudos to Felix for being a great artist rep and helping the art sell out. No one can ever doubt his marketing ability.

On 4/26/2023 at 1:52 PM, adamstrange said:

He hardly has the originality of a Warhol or Lichtenstein.

How can you say that or even compare Frazetta’s originality with Warhol and Lichtenstein? They didn’t do sword and sorcery/fantasy and he didn’t do work even close to what they did.

Huh. Again, and then there was Lichtenstein. (Look at all that background detail!)

On 4/23/2023 at 6:19 PM, cstojano said:

Serious question, do Frazetta paintings have pencils under them? I have watched a few "how to" videos by modern fantasy artists and am surprised how common this seems to be. It seems a bit like cheating to me, in a way. (note: am not a painter).

My oil doesn’t have pencils under it. He did a lot of prelims. I have a pencil prelim and a watercolor prelim and it is colored over the pencils.

On 4/22/2023 at 6:58 AM, KirbyCollector said:

There is no paradox. Frazetta was an accomplished artist, whose skill we can appreciate and acknowledge. He was,  however, not a very original artist -- by his own admission, he swiped everything from comic books to magazines to fine art paintings, and thus falls short of inclusion into the higher category of fine art.

I have read this a few times and, no matter how hard I’ve tried, I just can’t understand the dislike you have for Frazetta’s art. It seems your dislike is so strong that you do your best to convince others that his art is hack work and all swipes. It’s just not so. In my opinion, and, after having read it numerous times before I decided what to say, it just drips with the “I don’t own a Frazetta so I don’t like Frazetta” sentiment.

I understand he’s not everyone’s favorite artist, but I’m sure more people like his art than don’t - and those who don’t usually are in the “I don’t own a Frazetta” camp. I mean no disrespect to you and it’s your opinion, but you attempt to make your case so strongly that it seems like you’re bitter against his art for a reason.

On 4/22/2023 at 6:58 AM, KirbyCollector said:

There is no paradox. Frazetta was an accomplished artist, whose skill we can appreciate and acknowledge. He was,  however, not a very original artist -- by his own admission, he swiped everything from comic books to magazines to fine art paintings, and thus falls short of inclusion into the higher category of fine art.

Huh. And then there's Roy Lichtenstein.

On 4/19/2023 at 4:01 AM, barneythecantankerous said:

I think the way CLink runs their auctions is also a factor, I forever see comments when their auctions come up that people forgot about them. 

So they preview stuff like a month before the auction then the auction can last a month and there's no way to save/watch pieces on their super outdated site. 

It's an ineffective way to run IMO, as that length of time is way too long, especially with the amount of art of that comes to market today. 

In my opinion, C-link running an auction that starts a month early is like putting something on eBay with a Buy It Now price and it sitting there for 30 days. it loses its urgency. It's also like a 10-day auction on eBay versus a seven-day auction. I think an auction that long loses its urgency and collectors forget about it or simply lose interest.