sfilosa

I've got my eye (and maybe my money) on a number of items. Pricing is pretty high on a number of them. That said, I kind of want to know if I have any chance on some, the sooner the better. But it does seem that "quality" material at this point in time could just sell for double or triple what it might have sold for a year or two ago. And those are real dollar jumps. It's one thing for a $1k page to be $3k (I can still afford if so desired) but from $20k to $60k is a totally different level. Crazy!

Who knows what the real painting is (dare I say it isn't Lobo)?

Same here. Thought it was my browser also. And there are PLENTY of items I would want. Great selection. There are at least two pieces that are must haves , but I've lost on must haves before.

I look at it this way: * Until I see a real decline over several years in "quality" slabbed comic books (and I admit I don't follow that often) like key issues in at least decent grades... * I won't worried about the overall health of the OA market... * Simply because OA is one of a kind and from what I can gather, more people move from comic book collecting to OA than the other way around. And with the amount of money being spent on a "slabbed commodity", there is still plenty of room for OA to increase. Of course, if you buying art from non familiar artist from non familiar titles, then the chances are higher that the market prices could continue to go up while that art decreases. That said, my guess is that it didn't costs that much in the first place and hopefully you bought it for reasons other than investment. To the point of the question, I have a spreadsheet with all titles, issues, page #s, costs, who bought from, etc. and at the bottom it says let Heritage or ComicLink sell and what type of deal my wife or kids should try to get. As with most inheritance, most people are happy to get anything they weren't expecting and at least at a real auction house, they won't sell too cheaply (just pay a nice fee to avoid that). And when will I sell. When I don't want to collect anymore and I think there is better use for the money. A better use would not be "a different investment".

Can you list which issues that you are referring to. I don't have copies of all issues. I know that #9 and #10 say he did the pencils and #15 he did pencils and the inks. I would like this information for reference. Literally when the art was on CAF, I was scrambling to research if this was a pencil issue or just layouts. I finally saw on CAF that someone had the #9 splash page and it said Steve Leiaholoa "Blotting", so I pulled the trigger. Lastly, do you see a significant difference in price when a top artist does only the layouts and not the full pencils?

That is correct. I though the price was "reasonable". I say that because I was the buyer. I've been looking for a nice page for several years. The real challenge is that Jim Starlin only did the layouts on some of the issues, and while some of the layout pages look awesome (one coming up in Heritage's April 2021 auction), I really wanted one that he did all the pencils. Now, if I see a great page he did the layouts, I could buy that one too (if I had any money left).

What more interesting is on fairly high valued art at auction, we have heard examples where two people want the piece, they know each other, and one decides not to bid as high (or bid at all). The exact opposite of shilling. The Seller was the loser in that case. That's not going to happen at lower prices, with a lot of demand, but definitely can happen on pieces with five figure or higher prices tags. It looks like the old good days when they have access to premium material for cheap are gone. Two ways to look at that statement. 1) It's been gone for a really long time or 2) 10 years from now you will be referring to today as when access to premium material for cheap are gone. Cheap is relative.

I will try to answer your question. * Very few pieces of comic original art will be worth much 100 years from now. How much is "much" will depend on what everything else is worth (e.g. houses, flying cars, technological implants, etc.). There will be 100's more collectible types for people to spend their money on. * Historic or pieces by Artist that have transcended time will be worth a lot more than today. Who they are.....I don't know. * Most art doesn't really have a lot of demand at current prices or their wouldn't be so many pages available on websites. And the pieces with high demand (and are truly a good representation of the artist or of the character), sell very quickly. * But the real key (and the questions you would like to know the answer to) are 1) when will prices go down and 2) more importantly what will the prices be when they hit their peak. And that's the key. Is your art "depreciating". It probably will one day but if it is 1000% higher than it is today, you might not care. * Right now the market is STRONG. As a collector first, too strong. * Prices on ALL art will not start to go down overnight. If you start to see lots of pieces by say a specific artist/character and they sit on dealers sites for years (yes, I said years) and then you see prices at auctions for similar pieces going down auction after auction, then it's possible those pieces have peaked. My point is that you will have time to sell/get out. It won't go from 100% demand to none overnight (unless a nuclear war occurs). Enjoy the hobby.

Great episode again!!! As you discussed, it did seem that even more and more pieces went significantly higher than expected. I know that of the three pieces I really had my eye on, two went for 100% more than I hoped. Didn't get anything this auction. One comment I have wanted to make, and this is coming from someone who grew up reading late SA and BA comics (and likes to collect that OA first and foremost), I have realized that the "Age" of the art really doesn't make a difference. One of the pieces I really wanted was the Jim Starlin Warlock V2 #6 cover. I do feel better that apparently the inks are fading. That piece sold for a little less than $12k two years ago in another Heritage Auction and now sold for over $31k. And it's version 2 of Warlock and is from 1992. Except (and this has taken me a while to grasp), this cover looks as good (and probably better) as a lot of Jim Starlin's covers from the 1970s. It's just as "rare", it's one of a kind, so an argument can be made that it could/should sell for as much as any other Starlin cover. Yes, it wouldn't get as much because of the nostalgia factor (which can be a lot), but my point is simply, "Age" doesn't matter. It's not like a comic that is mass produced, so we all know there are many more high grade copies out there of books from the 90's than from the 60's. Once again, love the recaps, but it does seem like every recap episode you guys are shocked how high something goes because of the age, as opposed to saying, there is a ton of these available, or the art is not really good, or the characters are not popular, etc. Just my two cents on the market.

This is a point I make to anyone that will listen. The thing Billionaire's will spend there money on the most, will be how to live longer (and be healthier). They don't need another house, company, sport franchise, etc. but youth or longevity, they will write that check in a heart beat. It's no secret that the richest men in the world, once they are older find a woman 20-30 years younger than them. To make them feel young and it usually cost a ton of money anyway. Do you really think they wouldn't give up half their money to be 20 years young. You bet.

Quite true. When I got back into collecting art about five years ago, I only wanted Silver and Bronze Age (which is what I grew up on). I then discovered a few artist that I really like that were only in the past 10-20 years. As I have spent more time looking, I realized that there is tons of newer art that I find very appealing. I can pick up a piece or two every month (maybe more), and still feel like I'm very active. And every now and then I'll pick up a really nice piece from the SA/BA.

Dang you do have a lot of Jim Valentino art. You could probably sell all of them and maybe, just maybe, get a nice McFarlane page.

Twice-up ended before TOS and TTA ended. I don't think any Iron Man, Sub-Mariner, Hulk or Captain America issues would be twice up. I researched this before but I think everything with a 1968 (or newer) date is standard. Maybe someone else knows better than I do. So maybe say Colan TOS (2up) is in the $10-20k range. These are very hard to find. Heritage has only auctioned 11 pages in the past 15 years and maybe 5 of those could be considered A pages. There are six individual pages on Comicarttracker and two of those on dealer websites were in recent Heritage auctions. The most recent one that sold on HA for $12k is on ComicConnect for $17.5k so obviously they thought $12k was a good price. I think only Colan's TOS should be moved to the $10-20k range at this time.

My first comment (probably won't be my last). "A" pages from Gene Colan Tales of Suspense (Iron Man) should be in the $10-20k. Great page several years ago sold on Heritage for over $20k, and a really nice page (but he is fighting a soldier not a villain) went for $12k six months ago at Heritage. I know I would buy several "A" pages for over $10k if they became available. Great list. I'm building a spreadsheet of your info and will try to constantly track actual sales to see the trends.

Don't disagree. There are a few pages that I picked up that I like a lot that I bought in the past three to six months. Worst part is that there are a number of pieces that were sold in the past year that I now really wish I had bid on (or bid higher on). Especially with A-level art hitting higher prices (and getting priced out of those). Good observation!

Just so you understand, sometimes the penciler use a standard black/grey pencil and some time (not as often) they use a blue pencil. If the inker does his work on those "original" pencils, that would be "normal" OA page. Now if the penciler does his work, then scans it (usually in blue), then gives the scan to an inker, then the inked page is called an "ink over blue line". In that case, there is usually two pieces of OA. If you have both pages, you really have a "complete" OA page, but if you only have the "ink over blue line", you don't have the original pencils. Note that many dealers will use the phrase "ink over blue pencil" to noted that the pencils are actually in blue, and there is only one page of original art (e.g. not a scan). Lots of discussions about which is more important, but for me I would not buy the "ink over blue line" unless I had the pencil page also. That's just me.

I see you finally posted on CAF. Please post more. Love to see everyone's collections and makes it easier to understand what everyone collects when reading their post on this board. Wish that each person's avatar section could link directly to CAF. Great, great piece. Love Kane's work!!!!

Love his work. There is a lot of his art "out there". Wait for the right piece to come along. Every now and then a panel page (with a main character) will be available in the $2-3k range, and some of the Paradise X covers will go for $3-5k. I don't see his art going up in price much over the near term with so much "supply" out there. Make sure to get a piece you love or you will always being looking for a better one (and might need to sell the one you first bought at a loss). Good luck.

You have a very nice page. But comparing a splash to a panel page isn't really comparable. Many collectors only want splashes and covers and while I like your page (and it looks more like Colan's work than the splash), you just never know. As much as I want my art to increase in price, I usually sell because I want to buy something "better" (very subjective term). At that point, either pick a price you are willing to sell it for or put it in a auction. You will either get your price (or it won't sell) or at an auction, you will most likely get FMV (give or take a little bit). Take those dollars and buy something else, which by the way most likely went up in value over the course of your WW ownership period also. I will say that when I have sold at auction (usually ComicLink), I have not been disappointed in the sale price. I have been disappointed (a few weeks or months later) when I just picked a price, after seeing someone else sell it a while later for a lot more (oh, well, such is life).

I few random points: * On the $100k or more discussion, it doesn't matter if some one is a long time collector and has built up a million dollar collection that they bought/sold with only $20k 30 years ago. That's the same with every investment/investor. There are only a few actual "jobs" that pay incredibly high salaries. Most billionaires invested a small amount in their business, but over time but their equity/stock in their company became worth billions. It's not like they "physically worked" more than anyone else. My saying is if you are really rich, it's because you got lots of other people to "work hard" not that you had to work hard. Only 24 hours in a day. * After spending the past five years very active in this hobby, I realized how many collectors DON'T post on any boards (especially CAF). There are so many pieces that I would be interested in buying but search CAF, all of Heritage's auctions over the past 20 years and other auction sites, and maybe 10-15% of high quality material is shown or sold. So there are plenty of other collectors who have hundreds to million dollar collections that we don't "see". Maybe some dealers know most of these people. I actually went back to a Heritage Auction after six months and looked at the top 30+ sales to see how many were posted on CAF. I think it was 2.

Feel like I saw this on a 7-Eleven cup also, but not sure.

1000% correct on the contacts and how that has made my collection grow.

It really doesn't take much time to learn how to post on CAF. I will also say being a CAF Premium Member is probably the best investment you can make in this hobby. Quick example, a dealer posted a piece a few weeks ago and because I had that artist as one of my Keylist words, I was notified immediately. I saw the page and 5 minutes later I purchased it. The next day the dealer said that he had someone else interested and they would pay $300 more than I did and if I didn't want to buy it, he would send me the $300. I decided to keep the page, but I could have got the $300 and paid for 3 years worth of CAF. More importantly, one reason to share comic original art is simply, the art in its black and white form is not published. By that I mean, most art (and I do have a lot of paintings), is published very similar to how it actually looks (maybe some photo manipulation). On the other hand, unless the art is sold by Heritage (and maybe Comiclink), it's possible that no actual picture of that art exist in it's B&W form. Yes, most art that has been sold, someone might have kept a picture and it's on a social media platform, but not necessarily. Just pointing that out.

Nice pieces to add to your collection. I did review your CAF gallery. Small (but you are just getting started), but all good art. Keep it up!!!!

I have respect for him as he post his new acquisitions and puts his art on CAF. I like people that want to show off their collection. Doesn't matter if you have $5k or $5 mm, show it off!!!! Honestly, having my collection on CAF and organized, getting comments, etc. is just another way I enjoy the hobby (that doesn't cost money).