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On 9/15/2022 at 7:52 PM, Taylor G said:

Otherwise anybody can make another scan of the art, and since no two scans are the same, you can't claim exclusive ownership of [the COA for] the original art.

You are also building a public record of all transfers of the art.  That should go down well.

Note: I think NFT's are fine, but the market for them seems a bit inauthentic and fake. Nevertheless; the "providence" of an NFT matters. It's absolutely feasible for someone to make a duplicate of a piece of NFT art, but if it wasn't minted by the original creator, it doesn't have any value.

On 9/12/2022 at 8:50 AM, Twanj said:

 

Anything about this that I'm missing?

"Commission Information for Jim Lee
Blank cover comic, only bust shot with no background $8,000. And 12k if it a wraparound.  Jim Lee will supply the blank cover comic but you can supply at the show if you like."

These were actually incentive covers for that comic (1:5000). Each one came with a sketch by Jim. The book itself is pretty rare, add on the price of Jim's art nowadays, along with the Heritage effect, and boom, you got that price.

And since these were pre-done sketches, you won't see one of these with a gold/yellow CGC label.

On 7/17/2022 at 3:47 PM, grapeape said:

Don’t know why 5+ years later this makes me laugh. I mean a dealers job is to flip right? Still any reference to this juggernaut of immobile dusty artifacts puts some form of smirk on my face.

You have to hand it to them. In a 2 year period with blistering, streaking prices, where money seemingly was no object, a vast majority of Los Hermanos inventory went largely untouched.

 

 

I had reached out about an inked Josh Middleton Catwoman cover in 2019 and the outrageous cost for it was $3,950.

Figuring they had a slow pandemic, I reached out again in Sept 2021, and the price had gone up to $9,950 (which included a $1,000 discount lol).

Dusty artifacts, indeed.

On 8/3/2022 at 2:18 AM, ExNihilo said:

Piggybacking off this post, I've been going back and forth on the best way to present some OA (9x12).  I love what @GreatEscape did with their collection, but I only have 4 pieces and really don't see myself growing out my OA commissions pieces much more than that.  What I'd like to do is place the art in a mylar bag and then display it in a floating frame (an idea I saw elsewhere on these boards).  This would allow me to easily change out the art and alternate between the 4 pieces every so often.  I think GE was able to achieve such low costs per piece because of the large number of art in their collection.  The problem I'm seeing is that eGerber offers a 950M2, but in a pack of 50 which means most of it will just go unused.  There is a 950R available in quantities of 10, but these have no flaps so it sounds like the top just remains open(?)  I guess not an issue when pressed between the glass of the floating frame.  However, I don't see that product online anywhere but eGerber (which requires a $100 minimum order).  Bags Unlimited sells a pack of 25.  BCW's closest product is the Graded Comic Mylar measuring in at 9x14 1/4 in a pack of 25.  (eGerber, of course, also has the 914M2 in a pack of 50).

The benefit of eGerber is the mylar is UV resistant.  Are the Bags Unlimited and BCW mylar products UV resistant as well?  I suppose if I got the 9x14 1/4 sized bags, at least I could use the majority of bags for my collection of graded books.  Just trying to figure out the most cost effective way of storing a few pieces.  (I used to just frame everything, but the cost of frames and museum acrylic is just becoming too much, especially since the amount of wall space away from direct sunlight is limited.)

Firstly, do you even know if eGerber has the product you want in stock? Through the pandemic, I called every other month and they simply didn't have the supplies to create those same bags that @Great Escape recommended. Hell, I reached out to Dino and bought some bags from him! In any case, it's kind of a pain in the to order from them. 

eGerber has a special mylar that has some injection that makes it UV resistant. I can't vouch for the other brands. However, the ARCHIVES bags from eGerber are 4mil, and that is THICK, which means any folds you have in the bag are going to be pretty hard to work with if you plan on putting it in some sort of frame, which I personally loathe (who the hell puts art in mylar before framing?). Also, mylar is glossy, which isn't an issue for storage or for quickly rummaging through your collection, but for something framed and on the wall, it makes for an inferior viewing experience.

Your Turner/Lee piece is wonderful and deserves a proper framing job. Just store the rest in a small portfolio.

So many people commenting regarding how they store their art without actually reading the post, which simply ask not how, but where.

Storage units are absolutely out of the question. You said relatives were not ideal. Do you not have any friends that you can trust to hold your art for a while?

On 6/9/2022 at 12:13 PM, timguerrero said:

I don't remove tape if a DPS comes with it. I store them in a proper sized Itoya that someone in Comic Art Live recommended and the DPS look wonderful fully displayed in them, I can't recall what size those are but I can look after work if you are looking to purchase them. I have to look into getting Mylars for that size art. I had a DPS that wasn't taped together so I kept it that way before sending it off to Heritage to be auctioned.

I'd imagine artists don't go out of their way to use archival tape to tape those DPS's together. They probably just use scotch tape or masking tape. You might want to reconsider your stance on leaving the tape.

On 6/14/2022 at 2:17 PM, The Bomber said:

It is? Since when?

Since pretty much always. Polyethylene and polypropylene are chemically inert. They're just not as clear or rigid.

On 3/1/2022 at 9:49 PM, RBerman said:

I can just fold the art to fit it in a smaller bag, right?

Make sure you cut along the lines. That way, when you paste it all back together, you'll be able to hide the cuts better.

On 2/14/2022 at 9:25 AM, RBerman said:

Is it detrimental to the art if I use it to back the art long-term?

I have a piece still in the bag and backing that I got from Heritage. Been a few months, just been lazy about it, but i'm not sweating it.

Any type of acid migration between materials takes a LONG time. If you plan on doing something with it soon, i wouldn't worry too much about it. But if you plan on keeping it indefinitely in there, I'd advise you to get some mylar, but good luck getting larger sized bags!

On 12/17/2021 at 7:14 PM, Alex Keyfes said:

That's a great point and one I learned with Jim Lee.  I really wanted a few X-Men pages.  Found a few Superman/Unchained ones and thought, well, the X-Men gotta cost about the same.  Boy was I wrong!  More like tens of thousands IF you can find them, otherwise its waiting until one comes up for auction I guess.

 

This alone tells me you have a lot of research you need to do before you even think about buying ANY art from ANY artist. A Jim Lee Xmen panel page will probably run you a minimum of 15k. 

On 12/17/2021 at 12:49 PM, Alex Keyfes said:

If you had to pick 10 or 15 of the following, who would it be?

Jorge Jimenez, Stephen Segovia, Paulo Sequeriera, David Finch, RB Silva, Cassaday, Adam Kubert, Bachalo, Rod Reis, Ivan Reis, Leinil Yu, Pepe Larraz, Philip Tan, Jim Cheung, Paolo Rivera, Danny Miki, Marcio Takara, Ryan Stegman, Clayton Craig, Dan Mora, Javier Fernandez, Brett Booth, Marcio Takara, Mark Brooks, Jason Fabok, Clay Mann, Tony Daniel, JP Mayer, Guillem March, Mahmud Asrar, Mike Deodato, Rags Morales, Humberto Ramos, Mikel Janin

Jorge Jimenez and Mikel Janin are all digital.

Kubert, Bachalo, Rivera, Brooks are all outside your price range. Covers usually start around 8-9k.

Fabok, Finch, Mann, and Daniel all price themselves like they're legends. Covers for each general start around 5k assuming it features a prominent character.

Actually, just thinking on this now.. if what you're after is a published piece of art, you're likely in for some sticker shock.

Otherwise, you might try to buy an old sketch off of someone.

I had a piece that was "lost" by USPS. After weeks of communicating with them and a couple of different case numbers, they eventually had someone walk the distribution line (or whatever sorting machine they use) and found it had fallen off the conveyor belt and was just sitting on the floor. Since it was a flat package, no one caught it or some mess.

Hope it turns up and hope the original buyer is no longer interested, cause I am! =)

On 1/27/2022 at 8:18 PM, Peter L said:

I think any opportunity to think out of the box is a good thing.  

Why did you pick ETH rather than other crypto options?

What would he opt for? Doge coin? Polka dot? Shina inu?

Bitcoin has a ceiling, ETH has a better future and is much more accessible.

On 1/27/2022 at 9:43 AM, Twanj said:

You're comparing something at an all time high to a current price. I'm just saying compare it to an earlier price. It's higher cash value at around $25k right now, but if they're only in it for a few hundred (and I assume not going to pay taxes), why not?

But if it's not that, then I really don't get it either!

Well, even at the low point right now, it still would have been less expensive to cash out what they needed to buy it at the original 17k asking price.

On 1/27/2022 at 9:24 AM, Twanj said:

I think it's been discussed but...

Some people bought crypto at a time where this would only be a couple hundred $. If they're art fans, it's pretty convenient.

There is still some type of equivalence between how much crypto you have and what it's currently worth.

I was lucky enough to buy into crypto and had more than enough to cash out a portion of it to buy that cover (had I wanted it). It would have cost me about 3.5 ETH a few months ago (equivalent of $17k, the old asking). But now it was listed for 10 ETH and it is on hold? Still, makes no sense.

On 1/27/2022 at 7:46 AM, kbmcvay said:

This doesn't make sense to me either. Most of these dealers will sit on a piece for years and not lower the price ever (even behind closed doors and off the record). If you've had a page for 3+ years and it never sells it's because it is priced too high and not because buyers' pockets aren't deep enough. There are a some dealers out there that want to make deals, move product and make some profit on the stuff and others that are basically smarmy used car salesmen. I'm not naming names but I think people that have bought/inquired about art from enough dealers know which are which. Note: I'm actually excluding the Donnellys as "dealers" because I don't think they are dealers in a real sense, but collectors that will sell stuff at very high prices if somebody is willing to pay them.

Something similar happened Paolo and Cadence. He had a large amount of art by Rafael Albuquerque, maybe a cover here and there I had my eye on if the price was right. These covers sat for a couple of years, and then all of a sudden all of Rafael's prices get raised by about 25%. 

Maybe it was a directive from Rafael himself. I just don't see why you'd raise the price on something stale.

On 1/26/2022 at 10:02 AM, vodou said:

I've never watched, is it indeed a disaster?

It's abysmal.

CAF Live Auctions, Mike and Anthony at least have personalities and a lot of what they do is cringe, but they don't take themselves seriously and its somewhat entertaining.

I've watched Dealmakers once and I had to shut it off, it was like watching paint dry.

It really makes zero sense to me. He's had that Batman 98 cover by Finch for a LONG time priced at 17k IIRC and it wouldn't move.

So he prices it higher and demands crypto and it's on hold?

WTF.

On 1/20/2022 at 7:27 AM, fsumavila said:

WOW. Beautiful piece, but yeah. Sky-high for a recreation

Yeah, it's a LARGE piece too, at 18x24. I know the consigner of this piece and we were both watching it going out of our minds. I gave it a 3500 cap, and it just kept rising and rising.

On 1/14/2022 at 6:50 AM, Bird said:

well I am looking for someone with a bulging wallet to take out for a few nights on the town, aka the seller. I am assembling a whole team, Oceans 11 style (Frank, Dean, Sammy, Joey and Peter...not the new crew but Clooney is damn handsome, innit he?).

many are looking at the market implications, so yes the buyer and underbidder are of interest there. BOR-ING!

Why do I get the sense that you're seeking out the seller and/or buyer?

On 1/12/2022 at 4:36 AM, Shin-Kaiser said:

There's always exceptions to the rule, but in this case I feel your 'old timer' probably isn't adept at using a keyboard/mouse/stylus pen over a pencil marker. Obviously - as you mentioned,  they've had far more experience using traditional methods so that way will always be faster for them...as for creative use of panel design.. I don't think there should be a digital/traditional divide for this. Surely that depends on the artist?

 

Once again, I feel this depends on the artist. I do agree there are some artists whose digital work pales in comparison to what a traditional artist can produce, I've never cared for Russell Dauterman's work which I find too plain and as you say, lacking in soul.

Then there's a few artists who use both mediums, digital and traditional and I struggle to decipher which is which (Pepe Larraz, Werther dell'Edera).

And then there Jorge Jimenez, who works 100% digital as far as I can tell. In my opinion his work easily rivals the popular traditional artists of today....I'd be hard-pressed to call it soulless.

I think it all really comes down to style.

Jorge's style is fast, fluid, dynamic. Despite it being digital, you can sense how his art flows.

Bermejo's digital work is absolute insane, and it's truly hard to tell if his work is digital or traditional. Also, according to various interviews, he works largely on ONE layer, using that digital layer much like a traditional layer. That's insane to me.

Sampere's art above just doesn't have style. It feels flat and souless.

What a mess time to get started, too. Prices are at an all-time high for OA in general.

If anything, just try to be VERY VERY picky about what you ultimately buy. I regret most of my earlier purchases.

On 12/14/2021 at 4:46 PM, Rick2you2 said:

The light is typically warmer for living in, but, I don’t know if that is still true. Or maybe, I’ve just gotten used to the cold glare of reality.

 

Times have changed, old man! They have LEDs in a variety of temperatures. There is absolutely no reason anyone should ever use anything other than LED lights.

On 12/14/2021 at 5:34 PM, ExNihilo said:

I used to have incandescents (thought they were LED and was sadly mistaken when a bulb burned out and went to get a replacement bulb from the box only to realize it was incandescent).  Thankfully I'm just getting my feet wet with OA so I didn't have anything of real value on display or for that long.  I immediately switched to LED and can confirm there's no noticeable difference in color warmth vs the incandescent bulbs.  Just steer clear of the daylight white because it feels unnatural...almost sterile.  I use soft white in all my rooms.

I cringe every time I walk passed a house that is outfitted with cool lights.

On 11/27/2021 at 8:05 PM, alxjhnsn said:

@Heidjer Staecker, the big worries are heat, humidity, and ultra-violet light. A/C will handle first two. LEDs (unlike fluorescent bulbs) emit very little UV so if the shutters are closed, you should be fine. I'd prefer incandescent lights, but ...

There's a lot on the web about UV from LEDs and they all say the same thing.

 

 

Why in the hell would anyone prefer incandescents?