PhilipB2k17

I have Clay's e-mail address. I asked him a question about a piece I was interested in a couple of months ago, and he responded. So, let me know if you want it and I'll send it to you via private message.

I have some oversized pieces that don't fit in my Itoya. I put them in a Poly bag, taped down the flaps with acids free tape, then slipped them into a toploader. I put my Itoya & my toploaded pieces all into a zippered portfolio Carrying bag.

I agree with you on the exposure part. People have to know the book and the art exists to see it and fall in love with it.

Nexus does have the "Steve Rude" factor going for it, however. And I'm with you on Nexus art, which I assume means "Steve Rude" art.

Hey Felix, I did not mean to suggest that the collectors buying this art do not like and enjoy it. I think the hotness of a book actually increases exposure to that books art and artist, so that those pages sell out fast. That's somewhat understandable, but a lot of great art is sitting around because it lacks the exposure of a hot selling title. There is a direct correlation between the hotness of a book (an independent one, not an established superhero book from the Big Two, which have their own dynamics), and its art sales. This goes to the whole debate about whether people buy the art for its own aethestic value, or as an investment. I think it's a combination. People will buy NEW art on spec, to a great extent. But, the new art they do buy will be pieces that they also like and enjoy. New art has no market established for it yet, aside from what the brokers or the artists sell it for. I have not seen any of the hot book pages you've sold, for example, go up to be flipped yet. So, people are holding onto them. But, I expect we will start seeing that in 6 months to a year.

Yes. That's likely what happened. But, probably at the request of the Buyer, who wanted to finance the cover and buy it via eBay rather than private sale.

One of the most important issues of What If? - from a content standpoint - aside from the great cover art. Congratulations.

Well, aren't you plugged in with the Kirby family? Have they expressed any objections?

I know a current artist for one of the Big Two that has a first appearance splash page they drew of a character, and is very reluctant to sell it. At least so far.

Fred Ray Supes Cover went for $65K

To me, this entire discussion is academic, because I am priced out of getting any of these pieces. The only way I'd ever get a "best in class" piece if is I get lucky picking up a modern page, and that page ignites in the market for some reason or another.

Would you rather own the nicest house in a nice, but not particularly special neighborhood? Or an average house in Malibu? I personally like the FF 77 cover better. The more I look at it, the more I like it. It's almost like a Kirby FF greatest hits poster. I have zero nostalgia interest in Gambit. And the UXM 266 cover doesn't really appeal to me.

Ignored isn't the right word, I don't think. Felix does a great job promoting his guys, but even some good stuff from lesser known or less popular books is still available. And I see this repeated on most art broker sites. I see a lot of gems that aren't picked up yet. So, I'm not going to tell people about them before I have a chance to get some of them! ;-)

I can't afford that big ticket stuff, so whether that sees a huge market correction is not relevant to my collecting experience. But, the low end prices are preventing more people from entering the hobby, IMHO. The price barrier is a big deal for a lot of comic collectors who would be expected to naturally graduate to OA. But, are you going to spend $300-400 on a piece of art, or on 35 new comics? Or a nice slab or two? The higher entry price point, combined with how much infomation and knowledge required to be a smart OA collector is a huge barrier. I already see a speculative bubble on new art, as the stuff from hot books goes fastest. There is a ton of great new art from books that are not the hot new thing that just sits there. Nobody has "nostalgia" for art from a comic that came out two months ago from a relatively new artist. That's all speculation. And I'm not saying that art isn't good! It is! But there's lots of tremendous stuff that is not selling

It's in the subtext of the Heroes donation blurb.

I do want to add that I really enjoy these podcasts as well. And, I Hope I get to meet this cast of characters in person at some point. It seems like such a good group of guys. I know I have interacted with a couple here, but I feel somewhat isolated where I am as an OA collector. These podcasts help.

Have you tried searching under "Panel pages" or "covers?" I can see where splashes wouldn't filter out much.

Yeah. That will top $200K. That has everything you want in a Kirby. 1. Classic FF period, or really close 2. Sinnott inks 3. Kirby hardware galore 4. Cover 5. All four of the FF; plus Galactus and the Surfer. Plus Crystal from the Inhumans for an added bonus. 6. Great composition and aethsthetics 7. Imprimatur from the Kirby estate UPDATE: Yeah. The FF 76 over sold for $170K. So, I think my $200K guess is probably pretty close. http://www.comiclink.com/itemdetail.asp?id=975091&showprice=1

You just have to learn how to refine your searches.

It depends. You have to do some legwork. I stick to pure auctions or BO pages. The BIN's almost literally never sell. They might as well be in a CAF Gallery. There's several Preacher pages that went up recently, including one from issue #1. (Probably about 40-50% too high, but maybe not!) http://www.ebay.com/itm/PREACHER-1-ORIGINAL-ART-PAGE-STEVE-DILLON-JESSE-CUSTER-TULIP-CASSIDY-1ST-SOK-/151308633158?hash=item233ab28446:g:AWQAAMXQ1d1TKC6H You can definitely find stuff. Here's that Wrightson Starlord. http://www.ebay.com/itm/BERNIE-WRIGHTSON-Original-Art-Marvel-Previews-4-Starlord-1st-Appearance-1976-/352096244270?hash=item51fa92522e:g:iHwAAOSwcj5ZTaBE

Exactly. You can still find some great stuff there. And no buyers premium.

You'd be surprised. I posted a link to one here a couple months ago. It was the Berni Wrightson inside cover Starlord splash from Marvel Preview 4. Should have been on CLink or HA. It was nuts.

There was a nice David Finch batman page, with full Batman and Robin in action that sold on eBay for significantly less (in an actual contested auction) than I expected. And this was after it had been listed with a BIN and didn't sell, then got relisted with a bit of a discount, and didn't sell. Obviously, it was overpriced, but it eventually went for a little more than half of what I expected, or what it probably would have 6 months ago. And I also track a lot of eBay auctions, and the BIN stuff almost never sells. A while ago someone here posted about the Defenders#28 Starhwak page that sold on eBay for a sum that was a steal, IMHO. I was following that auction, but could not bid on it. I probably didn't pay that much attention to it, because I assumed it would go for much more than it did, and it was going to be outside my price comfort zone. I'm not a high end collector. I'm, I guess, a budget collector (even though that is still expensive to most people!). I just think the mid and lower tier stuff is cooling off. That's what I see, anyway. Doesn't mean that the big ticket items won't do really well.

I'm just referring to seeing final hammer prices on many pieces not getting anywhere near what they probably would have 6-12 months ago. At least in the moderate to low end. It may be different from premium pieces. There are two Watchmen pages up right now at HA, which are going to go for a pretty penny, I'd assume. One of which is Ozymandias monologuing his plan.

I have been seeing a cooling off in the OA market recently. I think prices are starting to regress to the mean on a lot of these pieces.