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On 5/21/2023 at 8:31 PM, JC25427N said:

To expand a bit on what I mean here, initially I came into this with the thought that people were buying this art at these insanely high prices because they just really liked the art/artist and were ok at buying them at these prices regardless of their potential as investments. And that's ok if that's what they did.  Then I was presented with some information that makes me think it's reasonable for people to feel that these do have merit as investments too and it's not completely out of line for people to buy into this thinking "I really like the art, and I feel safe with the knowledge that if I have to sell it I could get some more value out of it". Personally, I'd be in the same line of thought as Michael in that I can't really bring myself to honestly say I think these pages can be resold for substantially more than the prices they were sold at. But I believe Felix, other people in this thread, and the few past auction examples I saw when that say SSB was successful in giving the initial buyers a significant ROI when they were resold. So while past performance isn't guarantee of anything, I think there's enough for someone to have a reasonable faith in the security of their purchases when it comes to these Tradd Moore pages, even if I (and however many others) wouldn't share that same faith

I think most people buying SSB love the art and think it will retain its value well enough. I don't think it's insane to believe the prices may double over the next 10 years. That isn't the 10x return the initial buyers had, but that is a performance people would have killed for prior to the markets going bananas over covid. Things may normalize, that's fine. SSB may go down in value a bit over the next year(s) if tough times are ahead -- that's fine as well. But Tradd is a special artist and SSB was a special book. While buying Berkshire Hathaway stock would be safer investment, I don't think many here would get as much joy hanging the stock certificate on the wall. If you are just here to flip OA like NFTs, then god speed. For some this is just a hobby that has the added benefit that what is bought can increase in value -- no different than someone who collects classic cars or watches. Not everything has to be a bored ape. Just my 2 cents.

On 5/21/2023 at 7:20 PM, KirbyCollector said:

Good luck! The more likely outcome is you will see the same unsold pages at the next con with a HIGHER price 😆 

I would assume a fair amount of that will happen. Art dealers did pretty poorly compared to the regular public this weekend. I suspect the chickens came home to roost in some respects. 

On 5/21/2023 at 7:20 PM, Michael Browning said:

Every collector will sell one day. Or their family sure will.

I don't really navigate this hobby based on what people's families may or may not do in 40 years. To each their own ;)

On 5/21/2023 at 7:11 PM, Murphman13 said:

Bill just said on his recap that the 10% sell rate is in line with his previous shows. He also said that sales went over a million and are projected to finish around 1.2-1.3 million which is also in line with previous shows. 

I also assume a lot of people will be working something out later in the week as the sellers were probably waiting the weekend out to see if they would get their asking price. 

On 5/21/2023 at 6:58 PM, Fischb1 said:

Why should everything sell?

What percentage of a dealers inventory do you think he/she sells at any one 2 day show? Surely not more than 5% and probably wayyyy less than that. 10% of all listed pieces selling in a 2 day window is an amazing turnout and isn't sign of anything else. 

I agree. At the end of the day over a million dollars in art sold and it not like there was one anomaly sale that made up the bulk of it. This wasn't a heavily marketed auction or anything.

On 5/21/2023 at 6:38 PM, Michael Browning said:

Eh, I still say that all the people paying these truckloads of cash will be sorry when the time comes to resell because there is no way that these pieces are ever being resold for 2X and 3X (and MORE! according to a few people on this thread 🙄) in my lifetime.

I suspect that will be more of an issue for the Doctor Strange art than the SSB art. SSB was really what launched this rocket ship and is still held in high regard as a comic series. Doctor Strange didn't get the same attention and this might be anecdotal, but most of the people I know that went after pages rather have a SSB page. It was sort of a "next best thing" situation. There will be another DS drop, probably several, and we'll see how well it holds up. It's fully possible if Tradd just slowly rolls his art out over the years this just stays firm and the market just absorbs it. That being said, some people do buy OA because they like it and not because they want to flip it ;) I know at least two collectors who have multi million dollar collections and have no plans on selling their SSB pieces, ever.

On 5/21/2023 at 6:25 PM, KirbyCollector said:

6491 lots offered, 607 sold as of 9pm. Considering more than 90% did not sell, what was the reason? Pricing? Bad timing with HA, CL and CC auctions all around the corner? Or is the economy finally rearing its head and impacting buying?

I think a combination of factors:

1. I think some things were priced very aggressively (amazing BP juiced up auction result without the auction)
2. A lot of art had been sitting around on the market for a while and just relisted for the event. 
3. There are a ton of auctions coming up with a lot of great art. 
4. We all pretend like CAF reaches everyone in the OA community, but it really doesn't. There are a ton of buyers that weren't even aware this was taking place.
5. Not everyone wants to pull the trigger on 24 hour notice for a private party to party transaction with people they don't necessarily know.
6. Maybe things are cooling a little. Not necessarily a bad thing.

On 5/21/2023 at 5:28 PM, Michael Browning said:

With all the other great art up for sale at CA Live that DIDN'T sell, I am supposed to believe someone paid $27,000 for THAT SSB page? Come on.

It's a 4 panel action page that features Knull in all and has all of the trippy Tradd detailing on full display. It's fully consistent with what Knull pages have been selling for privately. I don't know why you are surprised, I have never seen a page from SSB sit for sale for more than 48 hours anywhere. Ever notice how all the pages that were shared on CAF in the last year as just regular NFS uploads have been removed? That's because collectors with no intention of selling are getting dump trucks worth of cash pulling up their driveways the moment they let the internet know they have a page. The Doctor Strange sellout was partially a wave of FOMO for people who have cash and can't find SSB pages.

I was wondering what everyone’s thoughts are on inked pages over blue line when the penciler and inker are the same artist and he/she penciled digitally. In this case the ink over blue line would be the only art that exists for the page. I’ve had this never buy blue line mentality for so long that I’m not sure if the art form has changed so much that I’m thinking like a dinosaur. 
thanks

Hmm it’s what I suspected, and I assume you’re correct, but it still seems a little odd.

Not a direct comparison, but I also collect watches. A watch that doesn’t have its original box and paperwork is worth less than a watch with them. You can get a new box, you can have the manufacturer issue archive papers and the watch can be authenticated, it still isn’t the same — having everything together matters.

I assume most of us collect published comic art not simply for its artistic value. If that was the case commissioned art would be just as valuable as published art by the same artist. A part of it, at least for me, is collecting history. These pages are the feats that create the legend of our childhood heroes; when ink touches paper, that is the moment Batman/Thor/whoever did that thing that makes the character special. When the comic reaches the shelves of the comic store, you’re buying it to find out what that thing was.

Stories aren’t told in single pages, and context for actions matter. Let’s take Injustice as an example. A page of joker’s face saying “boom” may look cool, but it doesn’t have meaning without the page next to it of the daily planet disintegrating. Superman’s face crying when he emotionally breaks is an important page, but it seems lost without the page before it showing Lois dying or the page before that showing superman was the one who killed her. I don’t know, I feel like keeping those story moments together should matter.

I’ll get off my soapbox. I just don’t want to view this hobby as collecting Pokémon cards and I find it weird the market is setting value that way.

Hi all,

I was wondering what your opinion was on keeping pages together as sets. Is there any value add to have all the pages of a scene or an important moment in a key comic (if the moment is over a couple of pages) together? Or is basically each page worth what it’s worth and there really isn’t a market to owning all of the pages of let’s say Joker’s first fight with Batman?

Thanks