grapeape

Yes....comicArtLive....HA.....and C-Link all with superb pieces. I’m jonesing to buy something also my friend. Mrs. Ape watches me suspiciously.

SSB

SSB

SSB

SSB

Man I've been there so many times malvin. Disappointed at not getting something ( especially getting back a piece you liked and gave up). Relieved that you kept money in your pocket haha! I'll bet that piece makes another for sale appearance some time in your life.

Omaha native Bob Hall with a nightmarish Freddy doing his thing. Excellent Matches!!!!

ShallowFan handled his business. He adapted and overcame. No need to be a victim. You outsmarted the shill and employed excellent strategy to ultimately win the page. In my situation the very same behavior. The seller was very aggressive “DO YOU WANT IT OR NOT?” It was obvious they had worked together. Winners don’t change their minds 5 minutes after winning and get out of paying.

🥤🦍

Geof Isherwood Silver Surfer pencil on artist paper.Commissioned 2001

StumbleBum you gave ebay a pass praising them for having a policy making shill bidding “illegal.” You said I have no proof and I guess you have no proof? Sigh This isn’t personal. ebay does not get a pass. It is not in their best interest to enforce anti shill bidding because they make more money turning a blind eye. Proof. I bid on a page many years ago. I watched incredulously as a 0-1 feedback bidder “found” my high bid by chipping away $25 at a time. I lost the page by ten dollars to this “bidder.” Five minutes later the seller contacts me saying, “uh the winner backed out so the page is available to you.” My first taste of being shilled. I reported it and nothing was done. The seller obviously had a partner “find” my bid but oops he played too much and wound up “buying” the page. The bizarre bidding patterns and future collusion enforced my righteous contempt for the shenanigans. Other times I’ve seen (redacted) with a page in their possession “sell” on eBay only to reappear in short order back on their site or collection. Many of my friends here have experienced the same bs. Monitoring many eBay auctions for years you see the behavior, the “clues” like hot cakes. Comic books, art, posters, collectibles doesn’t matter. Rampant shill activity unchecked. All things being equal and with eBay having infinitely larger inventories of products on auction 24/7 there is quantitatively more shill bidding taking place on eBay then anywhere else. It’s very easy to track deviant bidding patterns and the culprits. No doubt HA has shilling too. My point is to warn and protect collectors especially new collectors that I try to mentor here (not that they’ve asked me too😂) but I don’t want collectors, myself included to get taken for a ride. I believe you also wanted to warn others here so I really don’t want to go back and forth. Look, for all collectors out there. This is supposed to be fun. But it depends on how you play the game. Don’t get played. If you wanna be a hustler and jump in with the big boys they’ll let you win for awhile. Then when you’re feeling cocky they run you off the table, off the field whatever. Stay in your lane. Don’t go after a piece that’s beyond your budget. If you bid and win something, then get a sinking feeling you got hosed (shilled for example) learn from it. FMV is only part of this. A pro knows when to pay more then FMV for a piece with mass potential. Everyone else is stuck in FMV. I recently sold a page. The interested buyer presented me with examples of comps to tell me why my page should be lower in price. I went back and sparked his imagination with the art itself. Look at every panel on this page. Do you see what I see? I asked. For comps he had similar issues, dates and prices. He was lacking the actual eye test comparison. My page had a major character in every panel kicking A. To his credit the interested buyer saw it my way and paid up. No question he will do very well in the future. Pursuing OA has some risk. It’s worth it. Shilling makes me angry. I don’t like it. But I’m not packing my portfolio and walking away. Im using my knowledge that shill exists, using my skills to detect it, and offering what I’m happy to offer anyways. I never walk away anymore worried about what any other bidder does. Be true to thine own self. 🍇 + 🦍

Fact: You won’t find the quality of items on eBay that you do on HA.Not so easy to exclude the worlds premier auctioneer of comic art if you’re a serious collector. The biggest shill bidding bar none takes place on.....wait for it.....eBay. Im not knocking your opinion at all. I just want collectors especially new ones to know the score. I hate reserves as a buyer. I hate shill bids. Never make a bid unless you honestly hope to own a piece. We joke all the time about “punishment bids” where you bid to keep a rival from getting a piece on the cheap ( think Dave from Storage Wars “drop it on him.” “Yep!!”) Still even there there is the risk that a bid could be a winning bid. You could be stuck with a piece you didn’t really want! Art is listed and bought back all the time by the original owner (lister) that is it never leaves their hands. I know this because I watch everything and have for many years. The seller sees his piece is going to sell too low and has a partner “buy the page.” The seller absorbs the fee and finds a different strategy to sell. Thats why “bargains” are virtually impossible to find. If you want to buy in to this market, research it exhaustively and buy bid accordingly. some sellers are terrified of the prospect of “losing” big money by letting art list without a reserve. Sad solution we get reserves which are the same as no auction at all and do not excite buyers. Worse we get 1) scardey cats afraid to take a bath list an “auction” piece and have their friends protect them with shill bids. 2) Auction houses or sellers that privately promote “price protection” with buy backs and shill bids. Whats the cure? Don’t bid on anything you’re not happy with at your max bid. Then you can’t lose. Grapeape almost extensively 1) lists a nominal starting bid say 99 cents and let the market decide...scary but I’ve almost always matched or exceeded my expectations. 2) listed at HA or Comiclink no reserve and excepted my fate with no shills. Heres the good news. Are there shenanigans within the original comic art market? YES Should that preclude or discourage you from collecting, buying and selling art? HELL NO Information is the key. Learn the score and you will enjoy, thrive and do well in this hobby.

The historical significance of this art cannot be understated. This would take an unprecedented cohesive networking to scare these out of the Fox holes. The reward would be immeasurable. I sincerely hope that most pieces can see the light of day again and be accounted for.

The waters are chummed 🦈 If this was a seventies cop show they’d call it Mod Squad

Comic_Zone stepped up and grabbed a high quality page. Who’s next to jump on some great art? Open to serious offers on all art and grape ape will take good care of your transaction!!!

Why is everyone taking a dump on Gene COLON.???...I hear his work as attributed is selling like hot cakes on the black market auctions along the likes of art drawn in the manner of Jake Kilby and Kneel Adams.

One of the coolest/worst things I own... A mint copy of Verotik 1 Had a quick second to have Glen Danzig sign it when it came out and he signed a dark cover with a black sharpie( you can’t barely make out his signature)😂 Glen I love ya buddy but enough with black ok!!! Black line Fever 666 and on and on....come to the light...buy something with white ink brother

The Voord (Terry) is a true friend and has a lot of experience in this great hobby. Some of you are too young to remember Sinbad (no not that A Clown running around with the Terminator in Jingle All the Way) but Sinbad and the Golden Voyage....talk about nostalgia. As for helping my friend last year I pointed him in the right direction but it was he who acted boldly, put his money where his mouth was and landed just a mind blowing piece. The Voord = 🍇+ 🦍 Approved 🏅

The ape much love and respect for gumbydarnit. And CGC and to all newbies noobies rookies and new kids on the block ape loves hearing from you!! New blood greases the wheels on this “thing of ours” ( sorry watching Soprano reruns again) With topics of concern that challenge experienced collectors and the new kids on the block this is the place to come ask questions. You’ll get varied opinions and even a bit of good advice from time to time. You’ll also get razzed and no one I mean no one is above it: But it’s all in good fun and when someone steps over the line it’s usually pointed out in a firm/fair manner: 1) How not to get ripped off 2) FMV fair market value 3) Dealers vs. Auctions 4) Flip of the Day 5) Help identifying the artist 6).......whatever else you can think of reach out to your friends here on the board!!! grape + ape

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I thought you would be celebrating! Don’t be hard on yourself. In fact tell yourself, “move on and get the next page I really really like!”

I’m hoping the Buscema family meant it wasn’t easy ( time constraints etc) to post all 45 pics. It would be sad if some of the missing are not cataloged either by number, photo and or description. A few of the pics had a number (exp 38) with a pic of the page.

Here’s one of the 45 STOLEN A dark day

Ben an outstanding human being to deal with. Paid immediately he bought a great piece of art and let me know the moment he received his happy 😃 package!!!! Deal with confidence and kudos to Ben!!! 🍇🦍 Seal of approval 🏅

I want to play poker ♦️ ♠️ with Blastaar..... I hope you get it buddy. No punishment bids from 🍇🦍