delekkerste

Not sure if it was ever on the website for that much, but, it was initially offered by them at $150K. Don't remember if it was via e-mail blast or if they reached out privately to select customers. Later reduced to $125K.

Congrats on the Krazy Kat purchase; they definitely all went cheap, some at pre-pandemic price levels. The Great Crash Softening is here!!

Sandman #4 page consignor can't be too happy now. That page was offered at $150K, later lowered to $125K. Might have ultimately landed at $100K before going to Heritage. Sold today for $60K.

What is the world coming to when this classic Shaquille O'Neal cover only sells for $1,050?

For the avoidance of doubt, Board pundit Delekkerste is not calling for a crash. He has merely suggested that @tth2's notion that comic art always goes up with no downside volatility might be challenged at some point.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess...Byrne's clean lines are just overpowered by the scratchy inking IMO. I mean, it looks to me like a slightly more polished version of Janson inking Simonson on Battlestar Galactica circa 1980. Not saying it's terrible, just that what I see below doesn't scream John Byrne to me (or to others I've asked, for that matter, some of whom were far less charitable about the inking job than I was ):

Not a fan of Byrne inking himself on that AF #12 page...looks very loose/hurried to me. That said, I'm not a fan of that Dan Green-inked Avengers page either. I feel like a lot of the "Byrne-ness" is lost under those inks.

If there was something in your response that suggested the #190 cover should be valued above that comp range, I guess I missed it:

The #190 cover image is also superior to the other covers that sold during that time. If it was priced at $27-33K there would have been a line around the block to buy it, two boards or not.

I learned only yesterday that Conrad Eschenberg ("Conrad's Comic Art" and "Conrad's Comics-n-Art") passed away on February 14. As he was one of the early major dealers in the comic art hobby, and still in contact with a number of people, I was stunned that almost nobody seems to have heard the news either: Conrad Eschenberg Obituary I didn't know him well, but, enjoyed seeing and speaking with him at conventions, especially the early NJ art cons, which he attended despite suffering from Parkinson's disease (which he lived with for well over a decade). While he hasn't been at conventions for a long while now, I was told that he really wanted to somehow make it out to SDCC this year. I think the last time I spoke with him was on the speakerphone in the car as me and a mutual friend were driving to SDCC, probably around 2017-19. In any case, I thought people would want to know and maybe share a memory or two here. R.I.P. Conrad.

IIRC, it was considered high as the separate boards were a bit of a turn off, but, nowadays I think it would be a lot less of an issue. If it was all on one board, I don't think $75K would have been considered too high for one of the very few covers featuring Elektra (remember, this auction was 18 months after the landmark DD #188 cover sale at Heritage, which was the watershed moment that showed that even non-keys from major runs could be 6-figure pieces). I feel like there might have been an opportunity to make a deal for this one at a lower price after it went RNM at auction, but, it's been too long for me to remember at this point. I'd be surprised if this one didn't end up changing hands back then vs. the consignor just keeping it all this time; I don't remember if it ever turned up on CAF though. Whatever the case, there are many Miller DD covers that I could take or leave, but, this one I would put in the take category.

Until you realize you can get acetate overlays made for each board with the art from the other board and end up with TWO covers instead of just one!

#171 was offered privately by its former owner a long time ago (don't remember when but pretty sure it's been more than a decade ago at this point) and ended up with its current owner on CAF. #190 was auctioned off at CLink a long time ago. It was at least 12 years ago, if not longer.

The #185 was with the Donnellys at NYCC not that long ago (think it was probably somewhere in the 2016-19 range)? I think the price was either $130K or $180K; whatever it was, the consensus was that it was way high for the time. Apparently we are now at the point in history, though, where even third-tier Miller DD covers are $200K+. Not that any cover from the run is not cool, but, objectively, the #185 is likely to be in the bottom quarter or third of covers most people would choose if money was no object (YMMV of course). Personally, I'm happier owning great interiors from the run which I love more and without reservation. The only two DD covers I regret passing on (i.e., the ones that were actually available for purchase over the past 10-15 years) are your #171 after seeing it in person and the #190 (as it sold really cheap and was really the only Elektra cover from the run that's been on the market during that timeframe; at the time I was kind of put off by the images being on separate boards, which doesn't bother me at all anymore).

I think there is an overwhelmingly favorable view toward Miller's work throughout the '90s (Sin City and 300 in particular). I think DKSA (2001) marks the point where opinions about Miller become more divided.

Wow, I liked that page too but figured it would sell for $5K+ so didn't bid on it (aside from my tracking bid) after spending too much on other stuff recently. A lot of the second and third tier stuff did not exactly shoot the lights out in this auction.

This was a shocker to me: I sold this one a little over 4 years ago for what was then a very strong price during my "I don't need so many painted pieces in my collection" phase (wish I had some of those paintings back!) It's a fantastic piece, but, I definitely didn't see it doing $47.5K this time around. Congrats to the consignor, glad you made out so well!

I was one of the first to bid and was in the lead on 294 lots yesterday! Now down to winning 59 lots with a total max hammer of $492.

Yes, ir was just another line item on the invoice.

He used to require it, but, as noted, it was scrapped for the July 2016 Profiles in History sale. I bought a BWS piece in that sale; not sure I would have if the TAR business was still in place, though. I mean, it wouldn't necessarily have been a deterrent if the bidding started at zero and I could just adjust my bid to factor in the TAR, but, IIRC, the minimum bid on the lot I won was higher than I would have paid had the TAR been in place. I bought a piece of European OA recently that the auction house says its subject to the droit de suite. Not sure to whom I'm supposed to send a check to in the event of a future profitable resale, though...I guess me and my heirs are just going to keep the art until at least 2088 and not worry about it.

I like early '70s Sal. I'm pretty indifferent to most of his art after about the mid-'70s, though, some of it works when paired with a strong inker (e.g., Bob McLeod inking him on New Mutants in the early '80s).

Sal Buscema is such a god that some guy created his own ultra-high quality bootleg Sal B. Artist Edition! @tth2

Yeah, I think the 5 limit is outdated at this point with so much participation. I agree that it should be 10 so people have enough votes to spread around. I havent voted in all the categories yet, but, in the ones i did, there were definitely more pieces that I wanted to acknowledge/recognize but didn't have the votes to do so. I agree that raising the number of votes permitted would also eliminate the need to break the categories down further. IMO there are already more than enough as it is.

On the Marvel Fanfare #21 page: "I thought this was an insane price. I thought it was already high when it was $20K" - Nick Barrucci "Yeah, this is pretty stupid." - Albert Moy "Yeah, I really thought it was a $12K or maybe, maybe a $15K page" - Nick B. again