cstojano

Hard to see the extra 400 in value on the CE. Am I missing something with that offering?

And 1900 for the caveman sketch before it. I commented to a friend the furry boots and horned helmet cost someone 4k ;)

Everyone I have spoken to who has sold TSR art in the last ten years has regretted it. You will never be able to replace this.

Stacking rock vertically always costs more. I had a 20k quote for a 5x10 bathroom remodel, I supply all materials (tile, sink, shower glass, fixtures).

For casuals like me I think there are two camps. The first rushes in and buys with limited knowledge. Dealers and auction love these people. The second tries to not get taken too much. For the latter group you develop a sense of which listings are really over the top. Whether professional dealer or collector/flipper, you mentally make a list of who is simply overpriced. Because I often don't really know a FMV for many of these pieces, I take one insane asking price and apply it across the board. I can think of several collectors on CAF who appear on the flipping thread and from their just assume their prices are too high, whether its 100 or 10,000 dollars. For this reason I buy only at auction or only from artists directly, with the latter you know you are likely paying that premium.

I had a great piece pop up in my want list email at an insane price, only to appear live another 20% higher.

Interesting, thanks for posting. The artist's section is really interesting. A few familiar names but a lot of unknowns. To me at least.

And keep in mind the HA images always show the piece in the best possible way.

Another classic is the game Archon. No clue if that is actually a piece of art though.

Nice looking site. In typical fashion I am most interested in the early days PC art, games like Bards Tale, Temple of Apshai, Hellfire Warrior. I found artist's names and emails for some of these but alas, long gone. I feel like playing the original Bards Tale was one of my fondest early gaming memories. Original Sierra PC games would be grail level as well.

There's all kinds of weirdness in those reflections, which suggests it may be intentional?? Kind of looks like an alt-universe thing going on.

Dec and Jan are two different years so they are completely uncoupled events ;)

Would also allow apples to apples comparisons between CL and HA for key books, etc.

Also Heritage archives really are a gold mine. Hard to overstate the importance of historical pricing data and transparency (despite claims of shilling, etc.) to market health. I play in some areas that have very little of this. Just a small handful of guys privately and quietly buying up the best stuff. I worry if this has a dulling effect on values for this reason.

Up or down, because I am mostly down and that takes some work in this market ;)

Make sure your phone number is accurate on any incoming shipment. If it gets stuck in customs purgatory you will want to be available. Also, once you get the tracking sign up for the email alerts to keep track of the "actions", which may be vague in what they mean (delivery exception is my favorite). Don't expect the carrier to be easily available via phone if there is a problem. Expect a possible charge of some kind for customs processing from Fedex or DHL. They will hold the package hostage until paid. Fedex tends to have some random form that needs to be completed that delays things (customs import form). The estimate delivery date is rarely accurate. Don't expect them to actually get you to sign for the package. On payment, make sure the seller and you are on the same page with fees before sending money.

Just watched the video and checked CAF. Shocked at how nice those BWS pages are in the video compared to what they look like on CAF. The video was a strong reaction of GIMME, GIMME. The CAF pics looks almost like prelims in comparison. Great stuff.

Best reason to post to CAF is to possibly attract interest from sellers of similar art. I collect niche stuff so in theory this works (in practice, not so much). Worst reason to post to CAF is trade. I don't post my best stuff online because it muddies any potential trade by drawing all the focus to the top end stuff.

A common scam for international sales on eBay. Happened to me and I was out 900 dollars and the items because I refused to paypal the known scammer what he requested in return shipping, which was predictably outrageous. This was through the Global Shipping Program. Honestly you are lucky you even got the dolls back and not a brick.

bump. Looking for <cough> one of his Return of the Jedi pages too.

I know in one case there was a double listing removed - Gimenez Metabarons vol 1, pg 13

Interesting that this is being construed as woke censorship (ie a dig on the left) because I can imagine a universe where the right wing pundits would declare the re-release of this card as a satanic, anti-Christian pedo ring conspiracy type of thing aimed at corrupting your children.

So I have a collecting buddy that only looks at the printed catalog when it arrives. He doesn't check online. This is insanity to me. I don't even open my printed catalogs anymore. I just pulp the entire thing. And that's because I am a complete junkie and follow these upcoming auction updates every day. Its my downtime activity I guess. But, and this is the point of my post, is there any way to see just the newly listed items or to sort by most recently added? Because yesterday I looked through all 784 items and now there are 813 and my brain is telling me I need to see what was added. Even seeing the names of things I am interested in, no pics, is a dopamine shot. With animation cels if they tell you the time of the movie in the description before the picture posts (often) I go find a digital copy to see what scene they are talking about. And this for listings that are sometimes months out. Rinse, wash, repeat.

The day DHL dropped of the two Uman Witchking boxes I knew I was done and wanted them out of my house as soon as possible ;) But at least their enormity explained the 900 dollars they charged for shipping. All I really have left are my bronzes.

I have almost completely moved on from statue collecting, mostly because of the room needed for the statues (ever increasing in size, seriously who needs a 1/4 scale horse in their house), their boxes, and the damn dust. But I do check SF and SSF every once in a while. I got the sense the entire hobby was in a decline. Is that the case? Seems the double whammy of escalating costs and the lack of fresh ideas was stagnating things a bit.