PhilipB2k17

You didn't ask me, but I'd say about $5k-$7K. Interior pages are going for about $2K-$3k. Sometimes less. It's the title splash from issue 1. But it's Patterson inks. If it hits 5 figures, it's because it's the #1 Title splash (and a very nice example from the series by Bolland), but I don't think it has any spillover effect onto other pages.

I never said a contract existed. So, I'm not sure what you are talking about. But there are ways that a contract can be implied, or where you have induced someone to act in reliance upon your assurances, that don't require a per se contract.

If you paid me several million dollars consideration to do it, I might agree to the contract. As would Bouvier. That's my point. Your pedantic nonsense about how it requires two people to enter into a contract, isn't even worthy of a cheap law school exam question. The Billionaire has enough money to convince a greedy art dealer to act as his agent/fiduciary in procuring art for him. The contract would not have been to jump into a vat of acid or roll around in a pile of razor blades. If the dealer then acts in a self-interested manner, it's a lot easier to sue him.

I rest my case.

It's only ridiculous to people who do not know how contracts work.

Since I don't even have any 5 figure pieces, this is not a problem I have to deal with.

How much do you think the Omega Men #1 cover goes for?

Me likey! Brian Bolland and Bruce Patterson Camelot 3000 #1 Splash Page 1 | LotID #48001 | Heritage Auctions (ha.com)

"Fiduciary" is a legal term of art, and can easily be used a proxy for all of the other statutory or contractual, or common law duties you specified. When you are talking about a multimillion-dollar art purchase, I should think you'd want your art agent to have a fiduciary responsibility to act solely for your benefit and in your best interests, rather than rely on a particular forum's law. But, again, it's a matter of taste, really. How much layering of legal protection do you want to put into a contract?

You would think a Billionaire could afford to have a lawyer draw up such a contract.

Again -- you can enter into a contract with the Dealer to make him or her adhere to certain fiduciary principles. IN Real Estate, you can hire a Buyer's Agent, who only represents the buyer and is not also a listing agent who steers clients to their own listings, etc. The entre real estate brokers system just suffered a massive loss in a class action suit where they were double dealing and making buyers pay the commissions of the listing agents, rather than the seller. Unscrupulous people will manipulate any system to their own benefit.

Well, you need to enter into a contract with the middleman whereby he agrees that he has a fiduciary duty to act in your bests interests when he is doing the legwork to find a piece of art. In other words, you either pay him a commission, or a flat fee, and he agrees that he will not double deal, or conspire to defraud you -- and that he acts in good faith subject to breach of contract, etc.

Someone (who I am not naming) just posted the "first appearance" of Godzilla in a Marvel Comic for $25,000. And its technically not even that, because it's the first interior appearance in Godzilla #1, and not the cover, which is the true first marvel appearance of Godzilla. Oh, and it's not even the first Godzilla appearance in comics. A decent Godzilla page by Trimpe is about $1500-$2500 depending on content. Maybe you get a premium for a good page from issue #1 -- so $3000-$4000? Max? Why not put that page on Heritage if you think you'll pull $25K?

There are plenty of small cons in the Detroit area. It almost seems like they go every couple of months now. I was just at one on Saturday

Color v Black & White art. I think it’s an authenticity thing. If there’s a painted cover on your wall, there’s no trade dress that says “this is a comic book cover,” unless the viewer is familiar with it. And even then, is it a print? Recreation? Copy? Is psychological. Unless the painting is great as a stand alone piece of art.

Somebody's cashing out.

If there a Marvel Character that is cooler than Galactus in a color commission/cover/splash, I don't know who that would be.

Looks more like Amy Winehouse to me, but that obviously can't be correct due to the date. Maybe she copied Death's look?

I think the Michael Turner bubble is deflating. Except for maybe Supergirl, or pure cheesecake, stuff.

Theory. The 2021 auction was a year before Thor: Love & Thunder came out. And about a month after rumors started circulating that Hercules would be in the film. So, this page probably benefitted from a bit of speculation at that time. Fast Forward to Wednesday night. Thor: Love & Thunder had been out for more than a year and had been disappointing. The MCU seems to be in crisis mode. Hercules was only a cameo. And this page reverted to a pure aesthetics buy, which dropped its value. This also explains why the owner is flipping it, because it's not a particularly great Kirby Thor example (with Colleta inks to boot), and he/she is probably clearing it out to buy other stuff.

Basically, describes me. I can swing an occasional $4k-5K piece, but that blows my budget for the year. I'm not going after $25K pieces. If a great piece comes along that stretches me above $5K, or I've already expended a couple grand, and a great $5K piece shows up, I might stretch. But otherwise, I have to bargain hunt.

Seems to me that bronze age Kirby Marvel Art does fine if it has desirable Kirby characteristics, like Krakle, complex machinery, and character action. Some of the DC stuff is hot or miss, but New Gods related stuff seems to do a lot better.