Rick2you2

I generally consider myself lucky to find something new in any year as the Phantom Stranger is not the most popular of subjects. Nevertheless, would still like to pick up good representative pages of the character from: Perez Byrne’s Legends series. Carmine Infantino (May not exist anymore. He was the penciller for the first series in 1952). Willingham (Shadowpact) Demon (Val Semeiks).

If you like this one, another full length version popped up today on EBay Europe for only 789 Euro’s. I would post it, but I can’t figure how to do it from an iPad.

And that’s what I get for not noticing the date. Still and all, the mark-up is light.

Price wise, his margin, by dealer standards, isn’t that bad. Makes me wonder about the marketplace for Silver Age DC, because if Bechara could get away with a higher margin, he would.

I think it’s just the cleanliness of the line as compared to the subtlety of color. Some movies, for example, are best when not colorized, like film noire. They lose their grit. People also collect Chinese and other calligraphy where the pieces are purely black and white. Likewise, some of their scroll art falls into that category (not all), and often have more “sharpness” to them than the colored ones. Yet the more typical person doesn’t feel that way. I have a few colored pieces, and my better half invariably prefers them to black and white—even really good B&W. Same with my kids, when they have deigned to look at Dad’s art (mostly out of a sense of filial duty).

The increase in the money supply absolutely fueled inflation— but so did supply-push inflation due to the restrictive supply chain, which only really cleaned itself up this past year. One result is that the increased supply of durable goods prices showed deflation (of 2 percent as recall). With the economy slowing down a bit but still healthy, I think we’ll be in pretty good shape for the next 6 months (absent war or other major disaster). Those extra dollars also saved us from an economic freeze up due to Covid. That could have produced a catastrophe.

The Dow is up 9.3 percent since Jan. 1, 2023. On Dec. 15, 2022, the Prime rate moved up to 7.5%. It is now at 8.5%.

Yes, I would spend it without difficulty. For me, the driving force is scarcity and quality. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find quality Phantom Stranger pages which fill a gap in my existing collection? If the quality isn’t there, or I don’t l like the artist very much, I may still buy it, or not, but not at an excessive price. An advantage I have is that the character is not in high demand. So, I don’t usually pay an excessive amount.

Perhaps I’m missing something, but rates have been going up most of the year. So did the stock market. That’s atypical.

That’s the historic rule, but in this case it looks like both the market and interest rates went up. So, we may have a different dynamic at play.

I’m not rich; I just don’t care for most potential purchases. And I don’t spend much, either. Bought a cheap car (by preference), gave the house to the ex-wife, and the kids are almost off the dole.Don’t like fine dining very much, don’t care for wine, not much interest in travel, anymore. As for what I leave behind when I die, that’s my heirs’ problems. My artwork similarly reflects my spending habits. I just don’t think the amounts spent, or commanded, for a lot of this stuff is worth it to me. You don’t have to spend a lot to get great memories, but letting them go? No, getting them was hard enough. I spent 4 years trying to get a Sinkewicz cover. I won’t part with it now, and it isn’t even a favorite.

Good thing you said “almost”, since you already know my views. And, as you know, I have acted accordingly. If I had a large pile of stuff that wasn’t near and dear to my heart, then I could sell it or trade it. But money won’t change my life, or my tastes. My father had a collection of Persian rugs he loved, but he would never sell them. They reminded him of his trips abroad, as well as times with my mother and his family. During the last few years of his life, he liked to make kimchi, gazpacho, and count the pelicans while sitting on his deck. Money didn’t matter. What did were his memories. And I guess I pretty much feel the same. My purchases embody my personal sense of nostalgia, and the pleasure of meeting artists and other collectors, or even scoring at an auction. It isn’t the art. It’s the memories.

Nov. 26, 1922, Schultz’s birthday.

If you are investing. Many people here, like Cstojano, don’t.

I hope she steered clear of the January 6 “insurrection”. I would have to wait a long time between sending over something and getting it back.

I don’t take it personally; I do think that there is a difference which deserves to be observed. Would Alex Johnson not be considered a smart guy because he likes fake Sugar and Spike recreations? What about people here who collect things like commissions, even though they have the least likelihood of appreciation? The smart guys who consider the investment value of their collection may own a lot of valuable art, which isn’t always the case, either, nor do brains give one precognitive powers, but I am definitely not one of those who looks at the value of his collection and I am no dope. To me, this is all play money, never to be recouped, and I suspect I am not alone. That point deserves a defense on behalf of all us dumb-dumbs.

They may own the most valuable art, and coveted art, but “best” is in the eyes of the beholder. Since I don’t care for most Silver Age Marvel art, does that make me dumb?

What you are describing could be evidence of the beginning of a price bubble collapse. Or, it could be just a temporary, broad price retrenchment. Or, perhaps, changing market interests. We won’t know until we can use hindsight to figure it out. So long as dealers have stock purchased at low prices, and particularly if they are only part-time, it could be a very long wait.

I have no doubt you are mathematically correct, but I did not care. It’s just money and I am quite comfortable, so why gild the lily?

I have probably lost a lot of money over the years in that sense, but to be candid, I just don’t care. Money has pretty much has taken care of itself for me. But, the fields of economics and business do interest me, a lot.

I did lose money in 2020, but it came back in about 12-18 months. So, I effectively lost 1-2 years worth of asset growth. Not tragic. The economy always runs in boom/bust cycles; usually every 7 to 9 years there is a recession. But then, like in the old Fred Astaire/Ginger Rodgers song, it “picks itself up, dusts itself off and starts all over again.” 2008 and 2020 were exacerbated by special conditions. Same with an earlier recession involving the S&L debacle. Without anything special on the horizon, the worst case scenario should be a retrenchment not a collapse. Of course, if we find out something surprising, like all those medium sized banks are holding too many commercial real-estate mortgages, that’s a wholly different problem. In terms of comic art, I think the biggest long term issue is the aging out of people who collect from earlier eras, like the Silver Age. Much like semi-collectible pre-war cars, they live and die by their market age.

I don’t see it. So long as profits are decent, employment is low, and the Federal government continues to engage in deficit spending, we should be okay unless there is a major war or consumer spending dries up (slowing down isn’t enough, it has to actually shrink). Money has to go somewhere, and the stock market is as good a place as any. So, I think you’ll see relatively stable times (maybe a market correction for a short period of time).

Which is an example of why I don’t expect a lot of top notch art being placed for sale until either the market turns up again or people decide they have to get out.

“Visual excitement”? Must be a number of high-rolling coprophiliacs out there.

“Visual excitement”? Must be a number of high-rolling coprophiliacs out there.