1Toy2Many

It's the final 4 days, with the auction ending on Thursday.

The original owner to the Spidey sketch reached out to me and wanted to buy it separately. It's gone, but I'll sell the Cap alone for $350 shipped.

ROM original art by Steve Ditko $1,600 Inked by P Craig Russell. Will remove from frame to ship

Spidey sold separately. Will take more pics for serious buyers. $350 shipped OBO

I'm glad I was able to make that show because I haven't had a chance to get to the shop in York since, so I wouldn't have been able to see those frames in person. They're definitely unique and Dan did a great job creating them. Pictures just don't do them justice!

This is the second auction I've been involved with and we've been working really hard to build upon the momentum of the last one. We've actually had to hold back a half-dozen nice pieces of art for the NEXT auction in order to keep the product balance where we want it, which is a great place to be. I truly appreciate the support and feedback as we continue to grow this thing. https://www.hakes.com/Auction/CategoryItemList/7/Original-Art-Related?dgv-page=1&dgv-sortCol=Itemcode&dgv-sortDir=asc&dgv-rowsPerPage=ALL Speaking of feedback, we've got a Wish List of changes for the website based on discussions I've had here and other places online, with collectors at shows, and from prior meetings at Hake's. The changes won't start to take place until 2018, but know that they are listening. In the meantime, if you're concerned about the final day of bidding I strongly recommend that you utilize the option to have a staffer call/text you whenever you're outbid. With this you won't have to feel like you need to sit and watch the auction all day, but if you are outbid you'll be notified immediately along with the option to bid again right there over the phone. Feel free to shout at me with any questions or comments.

Thanks for taking the time to take the pics and then share with the rest of us!

And so you can plan for it, Thundarr cels are usually $400+ when you can find a seller (I think the relatively bad side profile shot of Thundarr's face went for less, but again I'm sorry that I can't recall where I saw it. Good full-body cels always demand a premium). One mixed lot of them hit the market in the early 2000s and all of the more recent sales that I've seen have been rehashes from this same lot.

Ruby Spears and Sunbow studio production cels are notoriously scarce, from a combination of past destruction and current black-hole collection status. Thundarr had a (sadly) short run, so there weren't too many cels to spread around in the first place. They are out there but it has been many years since I have seen any and I can't even recall the source. It is high on my Want List as well.

Congrats, man!

I appreciate your reviewing the Hake's auction. I've read your blog since its inception and was hoping we'd pop up on there at some point. This was my first auction with Hake's (started just after the last auction's catalogs went out) and I appreciate any outside insights on our progress. Great article as usual!

Congrats!!

Yeah, it's killer, man. Special breed of art right there. Congrats!

This clown really does have a never-ending supply of bunk garbage.

It's not just the legacy customers; it's also the fact that I can only bring about so much change at any given time. This past auction was about Comic Art Fans, with a few other minor shifts. My goals for the next auction revolve around providing more clarity with the website, along with another key detail that I can't share now because it'll take some real work to accomplish and I can't guarantee I'll succeed in making it happen. If I do, though, I'll post it here immediately.

Well, I had a nice, eloquent answer all typed out a couple hours ago, but I must have X'd out without submitting.... All I can promise you is that everything here WILL be discussed. The conundrum that I keep running in to with the bidding time limits is that every solution to one problem either ignores another benefit or causes a different problem. Billing will be discussed, too. There will be incremental changes but wholesale shifts will require quantifiable metrics and a flawless sales pitch. I appreciate all of the feedback (ammo) and, proactively, your (hopeful) patience. My MAIN goal at this point, maybe even a NEED, is that everyone at least understands the system as it exists now so that you're able to bid - and WIN - on pieces that you want. People are already asking me about the Byrne FF cover I just consigned for the fall auction and I don't want anyone who's interested in that piece or any other to be unable or unwilling to bid on it, for whatever reason. Overall improvement is the long-term goal, but it'll happen in stages and in the meantime I don't want anyone to miss out.

Thank you! Any changes I attempt to integrate are only good if the people who matter don't like them or don't want them.

You are correct in that there's no guarantee that Piece B will hang around while you're fighting over Piece A. But it does offer a chance at least, and I know that's part of the argument in favor of the current system. Yours (and many others) offer arguments for change.

Thank you for posting this!

We are definitely in it for the long haul as far as I know, and if we're not it's really going to suck for me because I've got plans and a great deal of energy committed already! Personal and professional. I am here to integrate changes and that will absolutely involve breaking away from the status quo. Otherwise, why I am here at all? I'm just saying that there is a well-earned success bias that I need to respect when trying to make recommendations and modifications within a 50-year-old company. I'm the new guy, so I have to earn the right to change things and the only way to do that is with a planned approach. That's why all this input you all are sending is so valuable and appreciated, as it gives me more leverage beyond my own opinion when I'm sitting in a meeting. The one aspect of the funnel that's being overlooked is that many times, buyers will tap out late on pieces they're fighting to buy, but then they will shift their bidding to OTHER pieces that are still active and still at a lower price. In other words, you like a particular cover more than any other piece and you're winning it, but you also really like a splash page. You don't have the budget to win both. You're winning the cover but suddenly a bid comes in at $5200 and you can't match it......if that splash page is still active at $2600, you can now switch to it. This is another reason the SELLERS like the extended clock, because that splash page just got another bidder it didn't already have. It also gives you as a buyer a chance to still walk away with a piece you wanted. I'm just saying that if/when changes are made, these are all current factors that will need to be respected and answered. What is it about the 10 minutes that bothers you, Philip?

I thank you all for the suggestions and ask you to keep them coming. It is all beneficial and is either strengthening my own arguments or providing new ones in several cases. This literally just hit the web today and I post this not as a ham-handed attempt at promoting myself, but as a way to share with you MY perspective on where Hake's is now and what I hope to persuade it into as time progresses. You can skip the top of the interview as it's mostly personal profile stuff, but the last couple questions offer a bit of insight into what I'm trying to maximize within the brand. It does not include my proposed changes because this interview was before the auction and I wanted to see how it played out before speaking to it. At the very least, it should hopefully give you more ammo for feedback. http://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1017?articleID=196757

I get what both of you are saying and the rebuttal to the time delay is that the live auctioneer system employed by other auction houses is also difficult to predict and requires you to sit and watch. For example, if you're trying to win item 6794, you've got to wait an indeterminate amount of time while other pieces bid out to finally GET to #6794. We do offer text and phone alerts from a live person who will contact you at any point when you're outbid as well, and they can proxy a bid for you directly over the phone, so if you can't watch or don't want to watch you're not forced to do so. You also get an email that immediately lets you know you've been outbid, which at least offers a direct and specific time stamp. Now, if this happens late in the auction, you really don't have any way of knowing how much (maximum) longer you have, so I always personally default to the 10-minute minimum at this point. The big thing is that the consignors - especially the ones who've been loyal for decades - like to maximize their items' visibility and bid-ability. Buyers, on the other hand, want the ability to snatch it quick and know they've won without the stressful wait, so the trick is trying to compromise for both. I'm not offering these responses to belittle your suggestions. They are legit and I understand them. I'm only trying to illuminate the fact that there are many repeat users who LIKE the old way, so if I'm going to get any traction to make changes I'll need to have a strong argument and, more importantly, a stronger solution when I bring it to the table. It is absolutely a bullet point on my list, though.

Good stuff. Keep it coming and I will check on this. Thanks!

I'm glad to hear it and I truly appreciate the insights!

I'm Sean Rutan and I consult with Hake's specifically in OA. I've been a fan of their auctions for many years and a buyer as both a toy collector and an art collector, but this was my first auction with any specific role or input. We are integrating new things to broaden our impact in comic art and I absolutely value any input you all are willing to provide.