• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Latverian Tourism Board

Member
  • Posts

    275
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Latverian Tourism Board

  1. 4 hours ago, grapeape said:

    Sure passed it off as original pencil in the description. Who the hell was the high bidder at $405? 
    Thanks for always catching these.

     

    The description only says “hand drawn,” but without specifics. It’s poorly/cleverly written, too, in order to create subject verb confusion so people can’t really say it’s signed by Jack Kirby, since they threw Cap in there first. Following the language, it was signed by Captain America, and then they outed his secret identity as Jack Kirby! Oh noes!!!!

    You can also read it as claiming nothing definitively. Why is eBay letting this go? Odd. I know people here have logged complaints.

  2. 40 minutes ago, BCarter27 said:

    Here are my notes on this from a few years ago. Again, whatever you do, DON'T use a solvent. If the piece is that bad, you need to send it to Gordon Christman.

    To tape the pieces back together, you can just use 1-2 2" small pieces of archival hinging tape. It isn't necessary to tape the whole length.

    https://www.dickblick.com/products/lineco-document-repair-tape/

    Is creating a “hinge” something a collector could (should?) do on their own? Carefully? I have an EC horror page where a panel was drawn twice, and taken off sometime in the past. I wanted to attach it to be able to see both easily (and keep the pieces together, I currently have it on the next portfolio page). 

  3. I found one on one of my collectibles2D689E06-21C7-442B-B9A0-A854B2895EB7.thumb.jpeg.da9d983c34452dd9ff0d96e6e8fe4cdf.jpeg
     

    It’s a lunchbox. The others look familiar, too. I’d bet they are on other 80s-90s Marvel Super Heroes line collectibles. I don’t have a thermos in this one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the other top Spidey image was on the thermos.

    I’d also add it’s a pretty collectible toy line, so hold onto that art, buddy. :bigsmile:

  4. I’ve actually come to the conclusion that the market will be healthy going forward. I’ve spent the last year in a balancing process on my overall collection (comics, toys, and art, too), trying to look into that crystal ball to guide my moves. It’s not a finished conclusion yet, but I think I’ve drawn some market parallels. Excuse me if this isn’t exactly the discussion, but I feel it’s where the discussion will eventually go. I am not going to talk about what I’m excising and selling, because that would just confuse the message, and start a debate on what to move away from.

    First, the OA market. It’s finally here. What do I mean? I mean, it’s followed a similar value trajectory as the other, older collectible markets, and is finally maturing. My grandpa used to tell my dad he was nuts to spend $5 on a comic, now the market values are fully appreciated and realized from a mature market. The prices have moved to create a striated market, with value points from $1 to $1,000,000. People can buy in their range, get what they want, and gripe about what’s “too expensive,” as they do. A fully realized market with price points for all collectors established over decades of sales and corrections.

    Not so long ago, the most expensive art and cheaper art were close to each other in price. 30 years ago, you had $10 dollar pages and $5000 Kirby splashes (A decade or two before that, and Art was still being thrown out). That was a growing, immature market, imo. Now, OA has the same market price stratification that you find in comics; a robust, mature market. I’ve been hearing about the collapse of “enter collectible type here” market for decades because “enter price-based and supply-based argument here.” We all talk, and the message spreads.

    The major difference between the markets, is that OA is a one-of-a-kind art market, and comics/toys is only scarcity/demand based. That is why they are starting to look so different. So, I think we are in the end of the Wild West purchasing period, with lots of material and prices shooting up to properly reflect the quality art on the market, both new and old. IMO, we are 5-15 years away from a new market paradigm with mostly new art on the market, and dealers or collectors having to entice out a lot, or most, of the expensive A older stuff. We’re almost there now, it seems. New stuff will realize it’s market price more quickly, like Tradd or Sean Murphy. It’s not a death-knell, imo, but a sign of mature stabilization.

    As for the new collectors, look at your own trajectory, if you’re reading this and have lots of 5 figure or 6 figure value art. You learn, you age into bigger purchase ranges (there is a hint of that purchase maturation process in the posts above), and your “eye” changes. As Grape Ape pointed out above, he entered the art market, then moved to his segment. We all do, and now there are segments for us all. I did not see that as I started years ago only looking for Secret Wars or a Kirby/Byrne. If a comic book can be worth $1 million, why not the original art that comic book is made from?

    It’s uncomfortable, and changing, but I see us all adjusting. Stuff is getting snapped up like crazy, and creating the value we all need, over time, to keep growing our collections. Obviously, I could be 100% wrong, but I don’t see the heat death of our collecting universe on the immediate horizon, for the overall market. I would start balancing, tho. 

     

  5. On 2/4/2021 at 2:37 PM, NowOrNeverComics said:

    My Zeck Cap, and the short, goofy Iceman comic from the cardback of his Secret Wars action figure... probably the closest I'll get to an actual Secret Wars page!

    Zeck Cap.jpg

    Secret Wars Zeck.jpg

    That Iceman piece is awesome! The Iceman figure is one of the rarest and most expensive from the SW line. Your art here is a lot cooler, and more sought after, than you think. 

  6. 1 hour ago, Rick2you2 said:

    I use both, and you will probably be okay. My understanding is that Mylar is absolutely inert and is used for museum quality protection, but Itoya’s are not quite as protective. So, I keep the cheaper stuff, like most sketches, in Itoya’s and the more valuable stuff in both.

    Let me add that a few years ago, I found some pieces in my old basement stored in cheap plastic. They had never been exposed to sunlight, and were kept cool and dry. One inked sketch, about 35 years old, was slightly yellowed in spots. Another one, in a cheap frame, was as good as new. And a few, that had been exposed to humidity, had to be restored. 

    Thanks, Rick. As always, I appreciate the advice. I won’t be concerned for storage to this point, then, and start upgrading the protection for my big pieces. I guess there’s no point in wearing 3/4 of a condom. 

  7. 2 hours ago, heartened said:

    Thanks Scott.  Sounds like the hobby has changed in the 20 years we've been doing it.  People always voiced their opinions back in the day, and there was no need for minority reports so to speak!  Also, it seems there's a bit of a dealer versus collector mentality nowadays that we also didn't have, but probably because Glen, Will, and others were collectors and not dealers back then.  Active discourse is important, and this list only works that way.  I took the lack of comments to be that people agreed, but perhaps people are just much more reticent than they used to be.  This is certainly not my list, or there would be no need to share it.  On the contrary, if I had my own values and prices I certainly wouldn't share them with the world (as I'm still actively buying).  I've been away for a while, so I'm just now getting a feel for where the collectors base has evolved, for better or worse.  Voudou, you don't always have to be on the defense or be what you perceive as a contrary or minority view.  Just simply be a view.  And for the "dealers" watching, please do comment.  I saw on another thread some of them seem to be on the defense these days too, but they all know me well and know me to be fair and also only interested in the hobby as a whole.  As you know, Scott, my main interest back in the day was organizing the large gatherings.  That's what I've always wanted this hobby to be about, values high or values low that should remain.  Hopefully we're not too far off from those days.

     

    I think the main difference over the last 20 years has been the price increase! While I do now purchase in a couple of the tiers you’ve set, I’d imagine a lot of posters here do not, and don’t have input on these tiers. I understand it would get too broad in scope at the lower levels to make that list, but I would guess that’s where the majority of collecting happens for the casual readers, lurkers and forum members, hence the lack of input from them. Of course, I’m newish here, so could be way off. 
     

    For my part—not that anyone should care—I only commented on the one aspect I felt like I was knowledgeable enough to add anything, and my question was quickly addressed. I am a jack-of-all-trades collector that has transitioned into an OA collector over the last 4-5 years, and am learning the ropes, so to speak. I bought secret wars pages, but that was mostly the extent. I prefer to let the knowledgeable people inform, and soak up their info, rather than muck up the process with input that has to be “fixed.” That could be the thought process for some others, too.

    Thank you to all of you doing this, though. It’s very helpful to see prices and the thinking behind the prices, and is very much appreciated. 

  8. 6 hours ago, glenbru said:

     

    For episode #24 of Comic Art LIVE we're diving into the topic of how to discover affordable comic artworks from masters in the field, and we'll show examples on each of our moderators sites from the likes of Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Don Newton, Joe Kubert and several others. Not everyone can afford a top tier page from an Artist's most popular title, so when you really want an example of their work for your collection sometimes you have to make compromises... But that doesn't mean the art is going to be subpar! We encourage you to bring your own examples to share this evening, and if you'd like us to do some research for some Artists you're interested in, please post comments on YouTube or Facebook before tonight's live stream and we'll do our best to prepare some examples for you!

    This is a great idea for a live panel. I still regret not buying that Kirby Days of the Mob page you were selling earlier in the year with that spoke-style layout. It was beautiful Kirby art, and only around 2-3K. Some of these romance pages I’ve seen around are really opening my eyes, too.