grapeape

😃

That’s my page 3

Early nineties Conrad bought the six page story for $22,000 or there abouts.

That was savage.

I wonder if Conrad Eschenberg still owns this? Wow neato splash that I remember and I grabbed the battle page of Spidey and Torch also from this six page story. Conrad held on to this for a long time then I saw it finally offered maybe fifteen years ago for $60-$70k. I don't know if it sold or went back into his collection. Anyone else remember that? Of course we are experiencing a much different OA market today. I think this HA auction coming up is the key to whether or not we see a coming flood of the very best art pieces pried from stubborn collector hands. Never thought I'd see TOS 39 art at auction in my life time. I thought the book would stay together longer. I do understand why its broken up. Money money money.

Oh man four days left there’s a very good chance “we” can help make this stamped sketch free after all. Tell your friends. BID BID WIN Maybe the artist can commemorate the eBay sale. Piggy back off the event and sell a stamped, signed, limited edition photoshopped picture of the hundreds of fans in line watching as he poured his blood sweat and tears into your daughters zombie punisher. * ps found this picture taken of dad the moment he saw what his daughter paid $20 for.

Some people rely solely on comps. Problem with comps are they present as many questions as they do answers. Comps alone tell you virtually nothing. In fact some of my best acquisitions have come from paying well above market value. Yes sometimes you pay more for the best. • anything that comes up at auction you must consider that there is price manipulation @ka bids without the intention to buy, rather the goal is driving up the final price. I always look at comps first. I automatically dismiss using comps as a guide for anything that sells on eBay. I look at comps from dealer sales only when I can compare those sales to a representative sample of auction house sales for like material. Rick2you2 mentioned 3-4 samples and I agree with him use at a minimum that many comps. * so if a dealer shows a representative sample of “sales” of artist A subject matter A in a range of $4500-$7500 and claims to have sales SOLD I then look for at least the same number of representative sales at auction house within the same $4500-$7500 for like material. • Detective work: I will ask dealers flat out on work I’m interested in if they are really getting full cash value on announced sales of like work m or if it’s trade involved. I also ask for anecdotal evidence that I can try to verify ( I sold to so and so ) in attempts to see if a market is real, created or a bit of both. But grapeape, how do you know if the dealers are being truthful? Wait. You mean dealers sometimes stretch the truth 😂 I try to track down the buyers of these pieces. I quiz them on what they paid or had to trade to get a piece. But 🍇 🦍 how do you know the collector is not stretching the truth? 😂 I know a lot of you guys you wouldn’t lie to ole grape ape would you? Information is king for a checkmate, sure fire way to win at this thing of ours. But it has to be good information. It takes a lot of work. Reported sales and auction results alone tell you very little. Here’s food for thought. Too often we get stuck on questioning legitimacy of auction and dealer sales without doing the real detective work. That is how do we go beyond who is being deceptive ?manipulating FMV. How does one get comfortable spending above established FMV (GASP) in a speculative collectors market when future ROI may just prove to reward that brash move. That ebay auction was sketchy af. That being said my gut feeling is that splash page in question could probably be worth up to $7500 at auction if the owner trusts a legitimate auction house and submits to the risk vs. reward we all face listing our art without guarantee. • Use Pros like HA, whatever their flaws, to find the proper legit competitive market • Zhamlau is using common sense addressing the real market for Bagley. I think average pages would go in that range $3500-$4500.If I had that Bagley splash I would try to get at least $7-8k. I’m not going to find published recent comps for that but I’m going to try and set a new comp for it. I’m sure the owner is terrified of selling it and seeing it listed at $10-$12k by years end. I wouldn’t of said that six months ago. So here’s what comps can’t tell you about the nineties market. We are in that 30 year window when Bagley took on ASM in 1991. You may love Ditko, McFarlane or Romita more. I can tell you Bagley has a huge fan base and I’m betting the money is coming for Bagley. It’s come for all his predecessors on Amazing Spider-Man. In the next three years I can see this discussion about Bagley art prices and there will be comments like “should’ve bought when I had the chance.” I am with you guys that the eBay auction smells, just look at the bidders and recency of seller history. The Comiclink auction appears legit and imho it was a fantastic page. Trust, but verify. I doubted Erik Larsen market for same reasons brought up in this thread having to do with verifying FMV. Now I will never own a Larsen ASM page because I didn’t do my own homework. Pages I could’ve had for $1,000-$3,000 are now five figure $30-$60k. I think about how I didn’t bid on one of those pages on eBay because I was worried about FMV and shill bidders. • Full disclosure I have 3 Bagley ASM pages in my black hole. I am biased. • I have zero knowledge of the pages in question, their buyers or sellers. But you can be sure I’m asking questions. In fact would the CAF member who had the unsuccessful eBay auction because the buyer “backed out” please join us here on the boards? The way that auction went down upset the integrity of our collecting hobby. More information from you on why the buyer backed out and what you are doing with eBay to sanction that bidder would be appreciated. Like I said you might get more than you were looking for if you open the page up at HA for example. • I’d also like the winner of that awesome Bagley ASM page sold on Comiclink 2/7/22 to feel welcome to come on the board and share his or her thoughts. I think it’s a really sweet page how did you feel about the competitive bidding?

I will keep my eyes open. Really absurd for this to be “lost.” Luckily insurance covers the financial loss. I empathize with the buyer and with you the seller. The buyer is not out of pocket financially but most likely will never get to cherish the art work they evidently cared enough about to purchase. I empathize with you the seller. It’s always a bit of “hold your breath” gut test until the package you mail off arrives safely to the buyer. That didn’t happen and you feel awful that you were unable to get the art into the sellers hands and make them happy. Most collectors on the buying or selling end of art feel a responsibility to act as a conservator, a protector of one of a kind art. When art goes missing be it theft or loss, there is an awful wound to that protective soul. I am sorry this happened to both of you. You handled this professionally and the seller is lucky to deal with someone like you. God willing I truly hope the art surfaces and maybe you two can hit the refresh button. 🍇 🦍

This page just sold on 2/7/22 C-Link for $6655. 66 Bids.

Made kid pay for sketch Took up too many tables Arthur Suydam lame?

Please ask your daughter to list this on eBay and see if she can get more then the $20 she paid for it. Its the Super Bowl tomorrow—what’s the over under on if Joe Burrow will be passing for more yards vs. today’s FMV of that stamped “sketch?” wow 😂

Vodou where are you? Hoarding X-Men art to sell Twenty thirty-two?

Bargains are long gone Record prices why oh why? Wallet empty cry.

You’re absolutely right about Marie. She was very talented and did a great job on most anything I remember them putting her on. She also was a warm and kind human being. She’s one of the beautiful people I miss talking to back in the day @ SDCC. Great post with art. Thanx Ron. 🍇 🦍

Not to mention agreements on BP for sellers that go below 20% (well below, you’d be surprised) the deals HA makes for some sellers. “outsmarting yourself” by overbidding on your own item say 10% and eating the cost of buying your own listing (actually advertising for developing a new Fair Market Value) some of these bidders adjust their own pricing for lucrative private sales and easily make up the loss on BP. Or relist the item at a new auction with more realistic shill bids. The new falsely created FMV draws new fresh blood bids, and makes for a robust actual sale to make up for the fake shill listing (allegedly). There are a fair amount of items that “sell” at auction and are listed again within a short period of time (1-12 months) Most collectors assume these are flippers. I contend IMHO that some of these quick reauctioned pieces could be failed shill shenanigans (allegedly) I don’t h8 the game anymore. I try to beat it. Or I stay on the sidelines and keep my hands from getting burned. 🍇 🦍

I would think this will be a recorded high for Bob Larkin art when this auction hammers. Not sure though. I agree with Matches_Malone this is going to be another fun auction. However my money is on the sidelines. I’ve stopped “competing” for the last year as I feel I’m only chasing the 🐉 😂 Too much 💰 in competitive auctions limits the options of a buyer like me. This is a sellers market right now. I am a spectator.

To your point they just removed To Kill a Mockingbird in Missouri. It’s allowed in the library but not the classroom. The language is frank and real. A must read for understanding that time period. Deemed offensive. Many of these choices will not be undone. What the hell are we doing? Maus should be read by the students in my humble opinion. As Janes addiction sang in my youth NOTHINGS SHOCKING

Would it also be an “overstatement” to call this bottom right hand MK image iconic?

I think this is probably the sweet spot although no doubt breaking $1000 at auction would not surprise me at all. Someone on the boards recently said to sell your art privately is limiting your imagination in terms of price you might achieve. In this heated auction environment I agree whole heartedly. The more people see this page the more money you’re going to make. I’d go to ComicLink probably. It’s not valued high enough for Heritage. It would sell quick on eBay at $400-$500 but let me give you 3 examples of the immediate listed resale of the page if bought by one of the dealers. Dealer A: 2-3x = $1250-$1500 B: 5x= $2500 C: Inquire They know who they are 😃 I would definitely auction it.

What if a Bizzarro Jerry comes to auction and for some reason he loved all things Peanuts instead of Superman? 💰 💰 💰 💰 💰 Good Grief

Let’s just say depending on who you talk to, trying to communicate with Spencer can be maddening. You are going to get more responses here that I hope are helpful. My first time contacting Spencer he was very polite. It was concerning two pages he had listed for sale for a very long time. • His response came 3 weeks after my inquiry • to tell me the pages I had interest in were gone— sold long ago Some people love Spencer and swear by him. I found him polite and his site quirky but I like quicker responses and inventory shown to be available for sale or marked sold.

“makes me question the legitimacy of the sale.” 😢 ”Ultimately, I do believe the sale is legitimate.” 😆 ”I can’t help but be a tad suspicious.” 🤷‍♂️ You've got me twisted homie 😂

I’ve been away for awhile fellas. Did something unusual happen today? 😆 Concerned in sunny Southern California grape8pe 🍇 🦍