Peter L

On 3/10/2019 at 7:00 AM, vodou said:

Sorry to read of your woes Peter L.

I am always a friend to the hobby, even if few would call me their friend

My offer stands:

 

I missed your offer.  What is your offer?

I am really blessed to have finally gotten a piece I wanted for over 10 years at the last HA auction and that I was able to outbid the other people who wanted it.  But there is less money out there because of the taxes and fees.  If I really wanted the other pieces I would find the money to buy them.  But I think these lesser buys are going to be overlooked with the taxes.

I bought something big at this Heritage auction.  It was something I really wanted for years.  In the amount I paid for the Heritage fees and the increased taxes, I would have used that money to buy something I am watching from another art dealer.  I like it and it may be gone by the time to get more money to buy it, but it is lower on my want list.  I think the taxes do take money out of the hobby.  

13 hours ago, delekkerste said:

Finally, I'm sure everyone remembers the recent furore regarding the expansion of sales tax collection by the auction houses? Well, I did not realize until a year or two ago that, even before the legal ruling that opened up greater state sales tax collection, there are already laws on the books in many states saying that you have to pay a "use tax" when you buy something from out of state and don't get charged sales tax. So, if you live in California and were buying things from, say, ComicLink the past few years and not getting charged sales tax, you were meant to report this on your tax return and send in the CA state sales tax amount that you would have paid. Now, I'm sure that 99%+ of people had never even heard of this law, and that 99%+ of them wouldn't have complied with it even if they had.  Well, here's the kicker: it turns out a couple of prominent OA collectors (one of whom was the one who told me about this use tax) actually paid this tax on their out of state OA purchases!   I'm not going to name names (not even in private, so don't bother asking), but, one of them is a semi-regular participant in this Forum .  This just blew me away; I mean, seriously, the concept of voluntarily reporting your out of state purchases so that you can cut another check to the tax man...why is this tax even on the books; it must be the least complied-with law in America. 

Yes you need to pay the use tax in CA.  One of my friends bought a machine for his business at a professional convention in California.  He figured he paid taxes on it and bought it in the state.  The Tax Board went to him and said you bought this in CA but the company is out of state so you are delinquent in paying the use tax.  So he had to pay the use tax.  He wasn't even aware but the state knew he was delinquent.

Most out of state companies now collect the state tax for CA sales.  One year a few years ago I forgot to pay the use tax because I wasn't sent the card reminder with my code on it.  The Tax Board called me at my work and said I was delinquent.  I told them I didn't owe anything and they said I still had to fill out the forms.  So they have been pretty aggressive in finding out if you neglected to pay.  

Collectibles won't be carved out unless there was a big lobby giving a lot of money to the politicians to change this.  I don't see Heritage or the other auction houses doing this.  As someone pointed out above, I think the current political climate is unfavorable to anyone with any assets because the concept of success is demonized by the media.  The media and politicians are pushing the idea that you didn't earn any of this, you only have it due to taking advantage of others.  

Hi all,

I'm having a nice piece of art framed by a recommended high end framer from a dealer.  He wants to use acid free tape on the edges of the work.  Is this good or bad?  In the past my local guy used corners.  What is your opinion?

On 1/18/2019 at 8:42 AM, Nexus said:

I've written about this a few times here over the years, but it's been a while. I went to Japan roughly 60 times in the late '90s/early '00s. Spent a fair amount of time hunting Kojima LW&C art specifically. Learned a lot. Met several collectors. Nothing published is available. There are many, many sketches out there. The one you show at the top is a common go-to pose; of all the Itto Ogami/Daigoro pieces he did, this is the one you'll see the most. All variations on a theme. Daigoro pieces were most plentiful at that time...anecdotally, it's something like 10-1 ratio of Daigoro to Itto Ogami sketches. Daigoro is considered the "hero" of the story; the original collections mostly featured Daigoro alone on the covers.

Learned a bit more as well, but those are the main bullet points. I wrote about all this in a CFA-APA article years ago. I don't have it at my fingertips, but anyone who has the back issues can probably find it.

Thanks.  When you say nothing published is available, do you mean it is in the hands of collectors that won't let them go or it has vanished?

I have heard original Speed Racer cells do not exist.

I think those Lynn Varley painted colors on Frank Miller bluelines are terrific.  

I also have an original Watchmen color guide with a lot of notes on it which I am glad I have.

Looks great!  Are pieces like these common in Japan?

My thoughts:

1) This is probably the real art.  I bought a cover from Mike Choi.  The stylized signature on the cover did not match the signature on the art.  I asked him about it.  He said the photoshop person made a stylized signature logo for him.  It didn't sound like he asked the photoshop person to do that but he didn't mind.   But the art was the published art.  I don't think this is that uncommon in the modern era.

2) I found Mike Deodato pretty easily online before and he was very kind and accessible in answering a question for me.  

3) I think that was a good price.  Deodato is still making great art and is active and he is still accumulating fans.  I think he is the definitive Wonder Woman artist.

On 12/29/2018 at 12:26 AM, Brian Peck said:

Bill is working to get the Lowry setup for the Best of 2018. I will post when it is ready for you to post your entries. 

Here are the rules and information on Best of 2018. Do not add any images to Lowry until after I post the Best of 2018 is ready. If you do the Best of 2018 option will not be present and you would have to repose when it officially opens for entries.

Below is instructions on how to upload images and descriptions for the entries. We have set aside a week for people to upload their stuff and then voting will begin. 

Best of 2018 Published and Unpublished (happens at the same time)
You will have up to 5 entries and they can be in any of the 7 categories:Published Covers (Unpublished covers as well)

Does this mean 5 entries total over all of the categories or 5 per category?

Happy New Year!

On 12/23/2018 at 8:26 PM, delekkerste said:

It's certainly enough to ruin a Sunday.  It's like if "2 Girls, 1 Cup" was spliced into "The Shawshank Redemption" - it's all anyone would talk about regarding the movie.  

How do I make this quote a footer on all of my future comments?

7 hours ago, comix4fun said:

I think the TOS was Sotheby's 1992-1993, I have the catalog somewhere. I'd have to confirm. Those early 90's Sotheby's and Christie's catalogs are great. Those, along with the Profiles in History 2002 auction catalogs are my favorite as they were crammed with great piece after great piece. 

 

7 hours ago, vodou said:

These were both seen publicly much earlier too, can't remember which years but were in either Christie's or Sotheby's early 1990s auctions. Some pretty major (and often not seen again) stuff moved through both houses back then. For those that don't have those catalogs it's worth the $5/$10 per each to assemble sets, one sale per each per year so maybe 20 catalogs total for the entire decade?

What's the history behind the move of comic art sales from Sotheby's and Christie's to Heritage today?

I was flipping through some of Bill Sienkievich's art at the last SDCC.  He is amazing because some of his variant covers are full painted, some are a combination of physical art that he photoshops and others are full digital, but all are amazing.  One of them you would swear that it had to have been distorted on the computer but it was watercolor effects.  When I asked about if particular pieces were physical art or digital or prelims or not, you couldn't tell.  I asked him about some pieces and if they was physical art or digital or both, I got the feeling that he didn't remember either because he has been so prolific especially lately.  

I saw a popular artists latest variant covers which were amazing.  He posted that it was a combination of digital artwork printed, along with paints and pastels.  So maybe this is what the future holds for some artists who want to sell something.  During the Thomas Kinkade bubble, I saw some of his nice artwork prints where for a large added fee, he can add some touch ups and fluorescent highlights that would glow with the correct lighting.

I agree and think that most of the posters on an art collectors message board would still want great physical art to be produced.

One of the downers in my life is asking an artist for art and being told that there is no art.  The first time was when Clayton Crain responded and I didn't understand his email response and I kept looking at the screen trying to figure it out.  At first I mistakenly thought his response was a kind of European insult.  :P

On 12/11/2018 at 2:26 PM, delekkerste said:

Was your purchase price anywhere near current FMV, though?  20x historical purchase price could easily be 1x FMV today.

At some price, anything in my collection is theoretically for sale.  But, 10x FMV would not be enough in some cases - if someone offered me that for my X-Men #172 cover, I would turn it down in a heartbeat.  On the other hand, if someone offered me 100x FMV for it, it would be out the door in a heartbeat.   That said, no one is going to offer me 10x, let alone 100x, so these discussions fall into the realm of mental mas-...tication.  

I never thought I would sell anything.  But as time goes on, and I don't have places to put stuff anymore, my opinions are changing.  I would probably sell anything I own for the right price.  I agree with Gene though.  Some pieces have great sentimental value to me so it would need to be enough money to change my lifestyle, which may be doubtful.  I don't look at it as multiples of FMV.  I see it as is there a better use for this money than enjoying this picture.  

I was just transferring some art to new mylar and boards I got and the new archival boxes and it did give me a good feeling, more than just looking at my CAF.  It was fun to look at just like when reading great comic stories.  

On 12/6/2018 at 10:01 AM, Grant Turner said:

I don’t even really see any in anyone’s collection either. Over the last couple of years I’ve seen maybe 2 or 3. Does somebody own a whole bunch and is just quietly sitting on them? Did they not survive the 60’s? 

On 12/6/2018 at 10:03 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

I heard from a well-placed source that Ditko did not have many, if any, classic Marvel pages in his possession when he died, so do not expect a flood of Ditko DS pages to suddenly appear on the market, or be consigned to a Heritage estate sale auction.

An article in a 2002 issue of Wizard magazine included an anecdote by artist Greg Theakston about a visit to Ditko's studio where Theakston observed that the back of a page of Ditko-drawn original art looked to him like had been used as a cutting board. 

It IS true that, according to Theakston, Ditko DID once use a page of his own original artwork for a cutting board. Theakston visited Ditko in his studio in 1993, and said he was shocked to see Ditko using the back of a page of his original art in this manner. Theakston recounted the story in detail in PURE IMAGE #1.

“He’d been using it as a cutting board,” Theakston said. “I looked a little bit closer and I detected a comics code stamp on it.” 

He asked Ditko to turn the board around, a request met with a deadening gaze from the artist. “I didn’t think he was going to do it,” the historian recounted. “It looked like a ‘Screw you’ look.” 

Slowly, however, Ditko reached out and flipped over the board. It was a page of original art from a late 1950s issue of [Charlton's This Magazine is Haunted], a splash featuring a diver. 

Theakston couldn’t believe it. Not only was Ditko not displaying, preserving or prizing this piece of original art, he was using it as a cutting board. Theakston quickly offered Ditko a deal: “Steve, I will go down to the nearest art supply store and buy you a cutting board that will mend itself -- a plastic cutting board that’s so smart that when you cut on it, it mends itself-and you’ll have the finest cutting board on the block.” 

“Nope,” Ditko replied, twisting the artwork-turned-cutting-board back around.

Theakston pleaded, “Steve, geez. That’s worth a fair amount of money. At the very least -- damn, Steve -- it’s an artifact. It’s an important piece of publishing history in terms of comics.” 

The artist turned and pointed to the drapery-obscured window next to Theakston’s chair. 

“Lift that curtain up,” he said. The curtain, the historian estimated, was about 18 inches off the floor. He pulled the drape aside and saw a stack of original artwork from Marvel standing roughly a foot-and-a-half high. 

“Can I look at these?” Theakston excitedly asked. 

“No.” 

The writer was dumbfounded. “I was sitting next to a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand dollars, maybe, worth of Ditko artwork and he was cutting it up without letting people look at it.” 

http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/695/ditko11.html

Posted before I could write anything.

On 12/6/2018 at 8:16 PM, Panelfan1 said:

so in another thread - folks were beating up on Greg Land for photo reference work.  Tim Bradstreets method is to TRACE photographs. to the best of my knowledge he takes the photos - but he traces them to get this look. If someone knows otherwise, feel free to chime in. That's the story as I recall him saying so at a convention many years back.

That doesn't bother me as long as the art is good, even though I know others don't like that.  

15 hours ago, vodou said:

Awesome story; congratulations on your patience paying off.

Thank you.  

15 hours ago, kat123 said:

Soon after this movie came out, my house got a phone call from a Disney pollster.  They wanted to speak to a child under a certain age.  They were wondering why this movie didn't do well, and I told them why I thought it sucked.  I asked them, where was the action?  Why didn't you just ask kids for their input in the first place?   

For Christmas I was given an LP which was the movie in a condensed version like a radio show.  I was mad at the world at that point.

8 hours ago, comix4fun said:

Or, maybe.....

 

 

 

I wish I would have seen when this went for sale.  I would have loved to have had it.  I guess I'll have to wait for the Alex Ross painted modern version.  

15 hours ago, The Voord said:

No collecting goals for 2019;  I'll just wait and see what turns up . . . and if it's for me.

I'm mostly out of comic-book art nowadays, preferring Movie Poster original paintings.  I started a Movie Poster OA Facebook group about a year ago which is now at over 1,000 members and we recently had a  get-together in Hamburg, Germany, where Italian artist Enzo Sciotti put in a guest appearance.  Next year a Rome venue is on the cards.  Paintings frequently come up for sale on my FB group, so I've effectively created a source outside of Dealer and Auction offerings . . . 

As we near the end of 2018, I did manage to acquire four nice 1950s Reynold Brown Movie paintings in recent months.  He's my all-time-favourite Movie Poster artist, so I'm ending the year on a roll.

Does any original art of French film noir posters come up?

My goals are:

1) To catalogue all of my art and where I bought it and how much I bought it for

2) Put all of my art in proper mylar and boards 

3) Put all of my comics in bags and boards

4) A good Steranko Nick Fury related item

5) Research and maybe buy Sean Murphy art

6) Not buy stuff I don't love

5 hours ago, JoeBruin said:

Hi Roger

Sorry about that. I'm only in town until Friday. 

Yes...JL is me on CAF.

(deleted comment)

2 hours ago, Nexus said:

I met Lambert very early on in my collecting. He has definitely shaped how I collect, and how I view the hobby. I've learned so much from him. One of these days, I'll sit down with him for a proper chat.

28 minutes ago, Mr. Machismo said:

Thanks, Felix, Gene. 

Consider doing a panel of this kind at SDCC.  I would love to hear a live panel discuss this stuff and collecting and things like how do you store your art, and about your favorite pieces.