Michael Browning

Every collector will sell one day. Or their family sure will.

I didn’t buy anything because I just might be saving up for the next Tradd Moore art drop. 😂

Eh, I still say that all the people paying these truckloads of cash will be sorry when the time comes to resell because there is no way that these pieces are ever being resold for 2X and 3X (and MORE! according to a few people on this thread 🙄) in my lifetime.

All of the above. Prices were aspirational. Lots of buyers were tapped out due to the auctions and saving for the next one. And, the economy doesn’t help matters at all. I’d say it was a lot of factors. I went in today and thought I’d like to buy SOMEthing and still didn’t.

With all the other great art up for sale at CA Live that DIDN'T sell, I am supposed to believe someone paid $27,000 for THAT SSB page? Come on.

I agree, 100%.

Things I looked for that weren't there: Crystar, U.S. 1, Team America, published Bob Layton Hercules pages, Scott McCloud Zot and Bob Budiansky art. Even if I'd found any pages from any of those, I'm sure they would have been at sky-high prices. On Saturday, there was very little Frank Miller Marvel or DC art, only one published Cerebus page, only one Steve Lightle piece, only one Ploog piece ... art we used to see for sale quite frequently just wasn't there and has been getting scarcer and scarcer with every CAF Live and with every auction. I do think that means that people are holding onto a lot of their art because they are afraid of leaving money on the table and they know they can't get it back tomorrow for what they sell it for today. I also believe that too many sellers went for the big cash grabs, rather than selling off some of their cheaper art, and they put people off with prices that were multiples of what the art sold for at auction recently. Sellers want to sell one piece that gives them a profit large enough to buy a car, rather than selling off a bunch of $250-$500 pages. Many of those sellers didn't sell much at all.

I intend each year to finally set up and sell, but I usually don’t pay enough attention to know it’s coming up and I also don’t sell a lot of art nowadays. I think I’ve sold one piece in the last two years and that was a couple weeks ago when a collector reached out and asked to buy a cover I had. He offered double what I’d paid and really wanted it - and I didn’t love the art - so I sold it to him. I have numerous portfolios of art I could pull from, but I just never do it. If I did, though, I’d try to give bargains instead of trying to make my fortune on one piece, like so many of the sellers do.

You should see it when it drops for the first time! ;)

I keep a close eye on the market and probably would try to sell at discounted prices. My problem is that I don't ever want to let anything go nowadays. I'm turning into a comic art hoarder.

Congrats on the sale! I really do need to try selling in the next CAF Live so I could see how selling some of my art would do.

First and foremost, thanks to Bill Cox for putting on this great event! Bill goes above and beyond with everything he does for the art community and we should all be thanking him. There's a lot of great art on here, but I haven't bought a single piece. There's one that I kind of thought about, maybe, but I didn't pull the trigger on it. There's still a lack of Frank Miller art and that makes me believe that everyone that has Miller art is clinging to it. I only saw a few pieces by Miller. I found only one Paul Smith published piece. There were a few Mazzucchellis this year, which is good to see. I'm also not impressed with the Kirby offerings this time around. I'm looking through the offerings and I am seeing LOTS of aspirational prices and a lot of retread art that's been offered time and time again -- only this time, it's at much higher prices. I see a lot of art that's sold in the last couple of years at auction that's hiked 2X and 3X what it sold for most recently. I like to think I'm in touch with the market, but, wow, a lot of the art for sale is priced at tomorrow's prices today. I don't think such aspirational pricing is good for the hobby at all, unfortunately. I think it turns off any new collector who might be looking for a piece that fits in their budget, but then they see art with jacked-up prices that they'll never be able to afford and it may make them leave the hobby altogether. But, hey, charge what you want, because it's your art. I just don't think a lot of it is selling. One note I did make was that I saw that Anthony Snyder discounted his art offerings this time and that's very nice to see. What's everyone's thoughts on this edition of CAF Live?

I think that's a sketch by Marty.

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

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.

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.

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

My OA goal for 2023: to be able to afford a Tradd Moore page. That doesn’t mean I want to buy one, because I don’t; I just want to be able to afford one. 😂

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.

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.

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

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.

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.