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Highest prices for interior comic book pages?

Started by tb,

67 posts in this topic

tb

tb

Posted
Posted

The highest recorded price I could find in Heritage's archives was $86,250 for the Bill Everett Submariner page from Marvel #1. Is anyone aware of other recorded sales of interior pages above this level?

 

I've been offered one of my Holy Grail pages at a price of over $100K, which I think isn't completely unreasonable since the quote is in euros. While I don't have the cash for the full page, I am seriously considering buying it with a friend (1 halfpage each) or financing it by selling less important pieces from my collection.

 

I would be interested in any thoughts on what $100-110K could buy for different artists in the current market if you only consider known originals of story pages? The page in question is an unpublished interior page (not a splash page).

 

Thanks, tb

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tb

tb

Posted
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Posted

No, it is not by Herge. Unfortunately, I can't say which page it is since the seller has not made the offer public yet and I don't want to steal his thunder. Once he does, I'd be glad to give the details.

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Frederic9494

Frederic9494

Posted
Posted

My guess is that it's from a European artist that never sells his stuff : appart from Tintin, my only other guess would be an Asterix page by Uderzo...Other European giants like Pratt, Moebius & Bilal don't command this kind of price...

 

Curious to know what page it is...

 

...and if it's American, a Golden Age gem maybe (shrug)

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Frederic9494

Frederic9494

Posted
Posted
Well, I can think of Herge, Franquin and Uderzo as the likely suspects. And I know there are people willing to pay so much for unpublished panel pages from all three of them. ( Tintin, Spirou, and Asterix respectively)

 

You're right, I forgot Franquin. I wonder if a one-page Gaston LaGaffe story would reach that level hm Any sale comparables between Spirou and Gaston ?

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omegaman

omegaman

Posted
Posted

Unpublished? $100K? Interior page? :insane:Since I only buy published I'm not sure I can conceive of paying ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS for something that is not. I guess I would have to reserve final judgement until I know what the piece is.

 

The problem for you is that you are paying in dollars as the buyer is asking 64,000 euros. Just think...if the dollar was par with the Euro you'd be saving 36%! Maybe you should wait for the exchange to improve.

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NelsonAI

NelsonAI

Posted
Posted

TB

You are such a tease.

An unpublished 7 panel interior page but not a splash in the $100K range? Not Herge? Let the speculation begin !!!

 

My guesses would include a title page from:

 

Bob Kane Batman

Joe Schuster Superman

Carl Barks Scrooge McDuck

Alex Raymond Flash Gordon (although this would be a comic strip so definitely a longshot).

Jack Kirby Forbush-Man? (shrug)

 

Do I get a No-Prize if I am correct?

How do 2 people share the art?

Cheers!

N

:grin:

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tb

tb

Posted
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TB

You are such a tease.

An unpublished 7 panel interior page but not a splash in the $100K range? Not Herge? Let the speculation begin !!!

 

Sorry, I honestly didn't mean this to be a quiz since it wouldn't be right for me to reveal the answer; it could also put a potential deal in jeopardy. Feel free to guess, but unfortunately I can't give confirmation before the seller officially lists the piece.

 

I was just genuinely surprised when I was unable to find examples by other (American) artists in this price range. I suspect the answer would be very surprising to most people who post here. Is it possible that any Silver Age pages would sell in the 6 figures? Any interior page from AF 15 would surely have brought much more than $100K if it had been available(?)...

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clemso

clemso

Posted
Posted

Unpublished? It must be a try out page for the first appearance of an important character. Otherwise, no I can't see it. $100K for a published splash or cover would be more believable.

 

Clem...

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comicartcom

comicartcom

Posted
Posted

Alex Raymond Flash Gordon (although this would be a comic strip so definitely a longshot).

 

Nelson

 

that is an interesting aspect as there actually are several unpublished and never seen (in other words, not known to exist) sunday pages for Jungle Jim

 

the pages in full page format from 1935 has a storyline that is broken by non-publication of 7 or 8 pages.

 

Backstory: in 1935, in response to rival papers from the Tribune syndicate announcing "32 comic strips", Hearst's Journal syndicate went to full page format and told all teh artists to do full page comics instead of the main strip taking the bottom 2/3's and the top cartoon 1/3 of the page.

 

These sections started out as 32 page sections but were scaled down to 24 pages after a few weeks to cut down on printing costs and 8 comics were left out, Jungle Jim among them.

 

however, all the full page Jim & Flash examples that are known to exist - including the one I sold to a European client after hanging in my home for 15 years - were all sourced from a single person back around 1972-75 (but in one sale, just can't remember the year) and therefore if he had an unpubbed JJ we would have known 30 years ago.

 

However I don't think that one of these pages could fetch anything near 100K and I don't think that a Flash would either if an unpublished page existed (unlikely. I've never seen anything Raymond did that was unpubbed except personal drawings)

 

Going to other art.. it's hard ti imagine any unpublished page of anything going for 100K except the three aforementioned French artists and considering I think that bronze art is valued at 10-200 times what I think is real value, can you imagine what I think of 100K for TinTin..?? Not that I don't know there are plenty more people who will pay 100k for TinTin than there are to pay $100,000 for a Thunda story by Frazetta.. which in itself is upside down too...

 

 

 

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Mister Trent

Mister Trent

Posted
Posted
However I don't think that one of these pages could fetch anything near 100K and I don't think that a Flash would either if an unpublished page existed (unlikely. I've never seen anything Raymond did that was unpubbed except personal drawings)

 

Actually, at least one unpublished FLASH GORDON Sunday does exist.

 

It was sold by Russ Cochran years ago (I have a catalog containing the image).

 

If memory serves me right (I'd have to dig out the info to confirm), the unpublished FG was for the first episode. The syndicate requested changes, so the whole thing was re-drawn.

 

I'm pretty sure Cochran got the art directly from Raymond's widow, so the authenticity of the art was without doubt.

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Bronty

Bronty

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I think its safe to say that what we are looking at here is a rejected or censored page - part of a published story but later changes were made, with this page being the original, unaltered art. Am I warm tb? ;)

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SignatureSelect

SignatureSelect

Posted
Posted

I find It hard to believe there are that many unpublished pieces worth 100 K. It really makes for some narrow choices.

 

Maybe a character design for superman By Joe Shuster

 

Maybe a Carl Barks disney Try Out Page

 

Maybe Something By Walt Disney

 

Maybe Alex Raymond

 

H. R. Giger Rough Sketches

 

We were told it isn't Herge

 

Possibly one of the unpublished Ditko Dr. Strange stories ( though I think that would be more than 100 K)

 

Maybe a real high end unpublished Frazetta.

 

 

 

 

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