hmendryk

Yes I still have the first piece of OA that I bought. Perhaps not very surprising in my case because I have never been big on trading or selling items from my collection. I probably still have something like 98% of all the art I collected. I bought the Dakota North #1 cover art by Tony Salmons over the Internet sometime in the mid 90's. I knew about OA before that but this Dakota North was my gateway drug.

Some exciting work is being shown here. I am afraid my contribution will be for a comic book genre that doesn't get much respect, romance. I was a friend to Joe Simon and when he passed away I helped to organize and empty his apartment, no small task. In recognition of my efforts, the Simon family said I could select a piece of art from his collection. Some may question my choice, but I never have. It was included in the book "The Art of the Simon and Kirby Studio" but not shared anywhere else. Since it was from Joe's collection it has never been on the market. Normally I am shy about showing it because it has great personal significance to me. Pencils by Jack Kirby.

Thanks Lee B. for reminding me about Conrad's catalogs. I didn't know about his catalog while I was buying art from him at Big Apple Con in the late 90's. But when they appeared on the web in more recent years, I found that a couple of the pieces I bought from him were advertised by Conrad. One was a Captain American page from Avengers #6 where he was asking $2300 http://comicartads.com/content/avengers-6-page-20 Another was, for me, the first appearance of Captain America in Strange Tales #114. Yeah I know Cap was really the Acrobat, but when I bought and read it as a youngster I was instantly a Captain America fan. Conrad was asking $2200. http://comicartads.com/content/strange-tales-114-page-17 Interestingly those were not the prices I paid. I paid half of that. I don't think I haggled with him, I believe that the lower prices are what he offered them to me when I asked. I do remember he later ask if I wanted to sell back the Avengers #6 page. I didn't know any other collectors at that time so I just thought that some collectors only kept art for a time until they found the next new item. But now I wonder if someone had approached Conrad about the piece at the advertised price. For a better image of the two pieces:

Sad news. He was a frequent presence in the Big Apple Con in the late 90's when I entered the hobby. As others have said, only a small portion of my collection was purchased from him. But boy oh boy what I got from him. Most of my collecting is not nostalgia driven. My nostalgia was for Kirby silver age Captain America. I don't have much, but most was from Conrad. It was always pleasant doing business with him.

My bad.

Frank Miller Sin City: Family Values Splash page 58 - Miho sold on Heritage on October 1, 2022 for $12,500. https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/frank-miller-sin-city-family-values-splash-page-58-deadly-little-miho-original-art-dark-horse-1997-/a/7273-61028.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515 Now being sold on CAF for 30K https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1901880

While I certainly see how the overlay enhances the Walking Dead page, I find actually prefer the Scooby Doo cover without the additions. But of course it is an overlay so you have both with and without.

I can't speak for timguerrero, but I once got an particularly egregious low ball offer for a piece by a current comic book artist. If the person making the offer had just done a google search for the artist they would have realized that their offer was half what the artist was selling their work for. Even if they thought the artists prices were too high surely it should have occurred to them that was likely what I paid.

In the past I posted pretty much my entire collection on CAF, although sometimes with delays. With one exception because the piece has personal significance for me. But about a half a year ago I stopped collecting and stopped posting or on even visiting CAF. I am resumed collecting, but am much more selective about what I pick up. I occasionally visit CAF to see what some of the collectors I follow have gotten, and if the piece moves me enough I will leave a comment. I suspect at some point I will get around to posting the pieces that have not yet made it to CAF. While in the past I was very much into sharing my collection on CAF, I understood why some do not. Some are very private collectors who only have an interest in interacting with other collectors that share their particular niche. As someone who for a long time also had a narrow collecting focus that was not a popular one (Simon and Kirby) I get that. Some buy into that fresh to market philosophy and want their art to have as high a value as possible when it comes time to sell any. And they are not entirely wrong because as long as there are some who believe in fresh to market, pieces that have been hidden for long enough are likely to get some sort of bump in price. And yes there are those who those who dislike getting asked to sell pieces that are marked on CAF as NFS. Personally I am not bothered by emails asking if I would sell something (all my CAF pieces are marked NFS, and I mean it). I answer with a polite sorry not for sale, even when it is a low ball offer. With one exception for someone who would not take no for an answer. Even then I just stopped replying to his emails.

Interesting comparison. A bound volume of Star Spangled Comics (#7-9 and 11-15) with a sketch by Jack Kirby went for $6000 on Heritage November 18, 2022. https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/jack-kirby-remarqued-sketch-original-art-in-bound-volume-of-star-spangled-comics-7-9-and-11-15-dc-1942-/a/7283-94074.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515 A bound volume of Star Spangled Comics (#16-27) also with a sketch by Jack Kirby went for $7100 on ComicLink December 7, 2022. https://www.comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1628230 Granted the main selling point were the Kirby drawings and IMO the ComicLink version was better.

My collecting has gone through phases. When I started it was largely Simon and Kirby, their own art and art made by other artists who worked for them. Then I largely collected art from some favorite artists who started in the 90's. Finally I went to collecting modern artists. Early in 2022 for various reasons I stopped collecting. But at NYCC I did picked up a couple pieces. Further I had built up a war chest just in case something really important for me came up. Well that happened in the last Heritage auction. For 2023 I will build up my currently depleted war chest in case some other must have piece comes up. Not so much a goal, but a plan of action.

Perfect? I don't think so, if they are not computer printouts. I have done close examinations of a number of OA covers accepted as originals only to find one of them a fake. You may think Michael's recreations are perfect, but clearly you have not done a close enough comparison.

Not sure why you make the exception for inks over blueline. I would think that art done inks over blueline can be guaranteed by a close comparison with the published piece. I don't think that even the same inker can ink two blueline copies exactly the same.

I sure understand the Escher, but if you give me Steranko I'll counter with an Eisner. I don't follow the market very well, but it looks to me like a real nice piece and well worth the money. Congrats.

Terry and Rachel Dodson Wonder Woman #7 (2007) Wonder Woman #72 (2019)