Potential of OA to be Devalued by circumstances outside collectors control?

[Ares]

We all talk about age and condition when considering the value of a piece going up. We look at time and artist in determining future value.

 

With the up comming One More Day storyline and Spide-Man's Id being hidden again it got me wondering about the huge price paid for the page where he revealed his ID.

Wont the fact his ID is no longer known knock it down in value?

 

Are there other factors that can affect the value of OA like this?

 

 

 

[irchooker]

Wont the fact his ID is no longer known knock it down in value?

 

Yes. Or no. There will be a portion of collectors that think 'yes'. There will be some collectors that think 'no'. There will probably be a whole lot of collectors that think, like me, 'who cares, I never had any interest in that piece and the guy that bought it paid 100x too much'. At $250 I might have thought about it for a second, yet still not purchased the page. It wasn't something I was interested in. There's the rub, right?

 

To oversimplify this hobby, (and my own collecting motives) there are two mindsets: art vs nostalgia. To me, the true great tell for the price or value of a piece is how it passes the 'inner-12-year-old' test, because that time, the books you read when you were 10 to 15 years old, that's the action is. Right now there are a lot of collectors who are in the 30 to 40 range, paying a lot of money for comic art published 1984 to 1992 and who own very little 'current' art.

 

This might constitute SPOILERS for people who aren't reading Spider-man!!!

 

Right in line with your example, how about the values pages from the 20 year old Amazing Spider-man Annual 19. If something happens and there is no longer a marriage, it all gets reversed, would anyone be interested in these pages? Did the guy that paid a LOT of money for the covers get screwed? I don't think so. The difference between 1987 and 2006? No one collecting art pages today was 12 years old in 2006. I would be very pleased to own an 'important' page from Amazing 292, Annual 19 and PP Annual 7. I'd even consider something from Amazing 290, though she says "no" in that issue. Heck, I'd be interested in a daily/Sunday from the newpaper run that reflected the proposal/acceptance/wedding/honeymoon aspects of the character. The difference is: my 12 year old self thought that wedding was a pretty big deal, while my 32 year old self couldn't give a about Civil War -- even though I collect and read Iron Man every month.

[Ares]

Spiderman is only one example..

 

Lets look at Crisis on Infinite Earths 12

We have the page where Alexander Luthor tales Superman and Lois and Superboy to "Paradise"..In theory that page could be heralded as the last appearance of Original Superman and sold for a good amount.

 

 

Now years later He is back...That crisis page is changed is no longer Last appeareance. Value of the page might fall.

 

Im trying to reasearch factors that might cause OA value to fall that are outside of the control of the artistic proces.

[Brian Peck]

Considering what Marvel and DC has done to characters there are alot of events in comic history that get undone way too much. I don't collect much modern comic books so I pretty much ignore thse new "events". I own one of the Spider-man strips where Pete and MJ get married and the events in one more day doesn't effect my enjoyment of the art in the lest. Same can be said of them killing Jean Grey off for the millionth time and putting Scott with the former villian White Queen. It doesn't effect what I think about the art from the wedding of Scott and Jean which I collect.

[mrpunch0]

Spiderman is only one example..

 

Lets look at Crisis on Infinite Earths 12

We have the page where Alexander Luthor tales Superman and Lois and Superboy to "Paradise"..In theory that page could be heralded as the last appearance of Original Superman and sold for a good amount.

 

 

Now years later He is back...That crisis page is changed is no longer Last appeareance. Value of the page might fall.

 

Im trying to reasearch factors that might cause OA value to fall that are outside of the control of the artistic proces.

 

Or that same "last appearance" could be by a collector as the catalyst for some great new stories - so they want to own the page that started it off. So by ruining an old story for one collector - another potential collector is created. (That works for this one - but the Spidey ID? Not so much.)

 

 

It seems to me that in comic books - if you are going to buy an "event" OA (death, marriage, etc) as an investment, the only one I'd spend ANY money on is a first appearance. Everything else can be retconned.

[matewan1990]

Just the opposite happened to me.

I made a trade with a dealer who had the DC Comics Presents 87 cover art, which is the first appearance of Superboy Prime. I had never read the issue, so I didn't know who Superboy Prime was. Heck, I couldn't find a copy of the comic and thought it was just a Superman-Superboy crossover with a Crisis tie-in. So, I tried my best to trade it away and no one wanted it. My wife saw the art and said she loved it, so I held onto it for her. Then, a couple years later, Infinite Crisis makes Superboy Prime into a major villain and I own the cover that features his first appearance ever. Talk about trade offers coming in from everywhere! The estimated value of the piece went up 2.5 times and I wanted to trade it. However, since I gave it to my wife, I haven't traded it away. I guess whatever happens in Sinestro Corps War will determine the current value of the piece. It may go up or it may go down! Whatever happens to the value, I'm glad I got it, glad I held onto it and even happier that my wife loves the piece.

Mike B.

[Artemaria]

Ares -

 

Excellent question. Unfortunately, I have no real insights as to this phenomenon.

 

I recently went to the Montclair Art Museum, and the page in which Spidey's ID was revealed was listed as part of the collection of Steve McNiven. I remember the page being on Spencer Beck's website for $5K or $7K, or something ridiculous like that, with the phrase "if the page doesn't sell, Mr. McNiven will be just as happy to keep it for his family."

 

Based on the fact that all this time later, its still in his collection, I guess no one paid.

 

But, McNiven seems to have lost some money in the process of holding onto it.

 

Or has he?

 

- A

[Tatterdamillion]

I think people who buy the "hot right now" pieces are apt to be disappointed with the regarded value of said piece in the long term. I think the cat is out of the bag and modern artists and collectors know it for the most part. When Watchmen or whatever other masterpiece came out, the OA community was definitely slower to react than they are now.Everyone was waiting with watering mouths for Barry B. to knock that one out of the park and any potential landmark page is known of three months in advance via Previews or what have you allowing you and I to anticipate buying said piece. I think a piece's value IS determined in the long run and just because some piece busts out of the gate in first place doesn't guarantee a strong finish. For example if the Spidey revealing his identity remains a fan favorite moment to Peter Porker fans then perhaps that page will remain expensive regardless of whether he becomes unknown again. I don't think that it will really resonate with fans for very long and it seems like a footnote in his history.

How much is the page where Batman had his back broken worth? That has obviously been forgotten about, but I think it would still sell for a fair amount of money despite Bruce's recovery. If given the choice between the broken bats page or the page where Cypher from The New Mutants died I would take the NM page myself.

[MONSTER]

I have a feeling the page where Bane broke Batman's back would go for a pretty penny.