Comic link auction, Conan-smith, Hulk transform. page, and...

[otherworldsj33]

Batman 204 cover. Any guesses on the final bids? They end in less then 12 hours.

I say 11k on the Batman cover, $4.2k on the Hulk transformation page, and 8K on the Conan page.

 

[jbud73]

LOTS of stuff did not meet reserve, hard to say if that's because of the reserve or the bidders. Could it be resistance in the OA marketplace

[otherworldsj33]

Yeah, I thought for sure the Batman cover would get a bid higher then 4k+, and the Conan page was a little soft.

[batman_fan]

I looked at the Batman cover, but it wasn't the cleanest I have seen.

[clemso]

Yeah but $31.5 K for that ditko sketch (7 x 6 inches of art!!!!) and $22 K a piece for the Kirby Hulk 4 page and Ditko Hulk 6 page ain't bad though.

 

Clem

[westform]

Once again I disagree. The prices seemed strong to me on the better pieces. If an item is reserved too high though, it will not sell. Only the seller to blame on those pieces. Every item I was looking at ended very strong.

 

Go look at the Ditko specialty piece and cover, the Kirby twiceup pages, the Severin hulk page, etc. The Batman cover was a weak example, thus the weakish price; although really that seemed like a pretty good price as well.

 

For an auction that didn't have a lot of meat in it, the results were good or strong.

 

I just don't understand this attempt at misinformation in the OA market. Well, I guess I do, but sorry folks, we don't seem to be going backwards...

 

 

[omegaman]

Yeah but $31.5 K for that ditko sketch (7 x 6 inches of art!!!!) and $22 K a piece for the Kirby Hulk 4 page and Ditko Hulk 6 page ain't bad though.

 

Clem

 

I agree...$31,5000 for 7"x6" seems like a very STRONG to me!

[r1982rhoads]

I wasn't really impressed with their selection this time. They had a few nice pieces, out of my range, but nothing that I just had to add.

[jbud73]

Once again I disagree. The prices seemed strong to me on the better pieces. If an item is reserved too high though, it will not sell. Only the seller to blame on those pieces. Every item I was looking at ended very strong.

 

Go look at the Ditko specialty piece and cover, the Kirby twiceup pages, the Severin hulk page, etc. The Batman cover was a weak example, thus the weakish price; although really that seemed like a pretty good price as well.

 

For an auction that didn't have a lot of meat in it, the results were good or strong.

 

I just don't understand this attempt at misinformation in the OA market. Well, I guess I do, but sorry folks, we don't seem to be going backwards...

 

 

The pieces mentioned are obviously Pedigree pieces, my point was that a lot of the pieces in the auction did not meet reserve. It could be that the lack of meat in the auction hurt the lesser tier pieces, but my observation was that there definitely seemed to be a lack of proliferation whereby pieces that in the past have would have fetched hundreds now hammer in excess on a thousand, a trend that has manifested itself in recent OA auctions. While there are many factors in reserve prices not being met and correlations between that and the strength of an overall market might be irresponsible. My overall comment however still remains that when multiple pieces in an auction do not hammer reserve there is at least some indication from the marketplace of a resistance to meet the expectations of the vendors.

 

[batman_fan]

I was watching only two pages and ultimately decided to pass on both. One was the Breyfogle Batman Cover, I passed because it looked like it had ripples on it. The second was the Byrne Legends cover, but I only liked it, I didn't love it. That coupled with the price listed when it was for sell earlier and I figured "reserve not met". Now if the Legends cover had been from issues 1, 2, or 6...

[tth2]

Maybe OA owners should stop being so wimpy and just put their pieces up for auction without a reserve.

 

My experience on the comic side of things is that this leads to higher auction prices, not lower. Bidders get fired up because they know they have to take their best shot, otherwise their competitors will get it and it will then be gone for a very long time. If everyone feels the reserve is very high, bids might be tepid because no one has any urgency that the book is going anywhere anytime soon.

 

Just my

[Eric Seffinga]

That is excatly how I've always listed stuff I was selling. I start at what I think it would likely sell for, drop it just a hair, and start the auction there.

 

What happens though, is potential bidders see that market price and put the listing on their watch list, or put a snipe bid in and wait it out until the end. Instead of someone needing to drop bid after bid until they hit their pain threshold to find out what it can be bought for, they just wait until the final few seconds, bypass the bidding war and either snipe high enough to beat the other 4 snipers or not. If something rides to the last day with zero bids, people think they'll be the only bidder and snap it up for the listed price.

 

Either way, I usually get what I "need" out of the piece. I always wonder if I wouldn't get the maximum out of it trying the other way some time?

 

-e.

[Drummy]

I always start my OA auctions at $1 with no reserve these days, even on big ticket art. I get a ton more watchers, a lot more action at the end, and generally do extremely well. Marvel Bronze is very hot right now anyway on Ebay, so it's the best option for me. And the cheapest -- no fees up front from Ebay and no 10% or higher consignment fees.

 

But private sales are still the best!

 

Dan

[jbud73]

Dan,

 

That's interesting, why do you feel that private sale are still the best? After buying a few pieces off of larger dealers, I have been offered larger ticket items in the same vein before they hit the dealer site, but have to admit that i have been shy about pulling the trigger on anything over say 3K that is not in a public auction. My reasoning is probably more weighted toward the fact that I do not know the OA market anywhere near as well as I do the HG comics market, though I'm learning.

 

Another influence is how often I see pieces for sale on larger dealer sites for double what they just closed at on Heritage, the Link, All star of sometimes EBAY.

 

I guess collector to collector private sales might be different, but I have overall bought 90% of my stuff through public auctions.

 

[batman_fan]

My personal preference is private. I made my deal for my grail cover behind the scenes. Now had the cover gone in a public auction, could I have gotten it cheaper? In my mind the answer is "maybe" but since it was something I really wanted, I opt'd to buy it direct rather than take a chance on paying more or even worse, losing out all together.

[Drummy]

I just meant that I like private deals from a seller's point of view. Usually I can get a solid or good price, lose nothing on an auction house commission or from Ebay, and often establish another relationship in the OA world that may benefit me in the long run.

 

Sometimes I'll sell something to someone at a reasonable price, then later the buyer will offer me something of his before it hits the market. I just like networking, I guess -- you never know what it might provide down the road.

 

But I think I like buying privately less...hard to tell how much you're "overpaying"...

 

Dan

 

 

[Mister Trent]

Another influence is how often I see pieces for sale on larger dealer sites for double what they just closed at on Heritage, the Link, All star of sometimes EBAY.

 

 

I want to comment on dealers buying their art directly from auction houses like Heritage . . . and shortly afterwards listing the art for sale at prices double of what they just paid.

 

But, many collectors shy away from being openly critical of such practices (why bite the hand that feeds, eh?), so it's a pointless exercise.

 

Moral of the story . . . if something you want comes up for auction, give it your best shot. 'Cos if you don't, you may well see the art listed on a dealer's site a short time later . . . priced considerably higher.