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Jerry Robinson art collection for sale intact

Started by stinkininkin,

69 posts in this topic

Bronty

Bronty

Posted
Posted
I can understand Jerry's desire to want to keep the art together but if his goal is to provide some financial stability to his family (which is what I had heard) then he may need to make a concession and allow a place like Heritage to auction the art over several years to maximize prices.

 

Couldn't agree more but I wonder if he will go that route? His tone sounds pretty staunch. Maybe it needs to sit for a couple years unsold before he realizes he can't expect to sell it in this way for this amount:

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article quoted from another website:

 

Robinson revealed last Wednesday that he plans to sell his entire collection of original art, a staggering bit of news for the comics world. “There are hundreds of pieces," Robinsons said, and among them is the classic Superman by Fred Ray (shown above, right) with an eagle perched on the arm of the Man of Steel. "There’s nothing like [this collection] anywhere else in the world, but I’d like to sell it intact. I won’t do an auction. I spent 70 years bringing all of it together I don’t want it dispersed now.”

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spider9698

spider9698

Posted
Posted
I can understand Jerry's desire to want to keep the art together but if his goal is to provide some financial stability to his family (which is what I had heard) then he may need to make a concession and allow a place like Heritage to auction the art over several years to maximize prices.

 

Couldn't agree more but I wonder if he will go that route? His tone sounds pretty staunch. Maybe it needs to sit for a couple years unsold before he realizes he can't expect to sell it in this way for this amount:

-------------------------------------

article quoted from another website:

 

Robinson revealed last Wednesday that he plans to sell his entire collection of original art, a staggering bit of news for the comics world. “There are hundreds of pieces," Robinsons said, and among them is the classic Superman by Fred Ray (shown above, right) with an eagle perched on the arm of the Man of Steel. "There’s nothing like [this collection] anywhere else in the world, but I’d like to sell it intact. I won’t do an auction. I spent 70 years bringing all of it together I don’t want it dispersed now.”

 

 

It has sat for a few years with no takers. This is not the first time he has tried to sell his art, lock, stock and barrel.

 

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Bronty

Bronty

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Jeez he shopped it years ago and that's still his stance? So pointless. Even if someone buys the whole thing intact they will have to sell off pieces pronto to partially recoup.

 

I couldn't be happier that one of the old greats is sitting on a gold mine but he does sound like the type of seller that would be extremely difficult to do business with.

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Bronty

Bronty

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Of course its a happy ending. But I'm sure he's still a pain in the spoon to buy from. Mind you I wish some of the other guys had been as painful to buy from, they'd have more security today.

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dem1138

dem1138

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Posted
Jerry has/had great examples from pretty much every genre of comic art. Golden Age, Silver, Underground, strip, political, you name it, he had some good examples. The list is/was quite astounding.

 

Steve,

 

Why do you say that the list was quite astounding? Are you intimating that he's sold some of it already?

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BrianHoward

BrianHoward

Posted
Posted
Jerry has/had great examples from pretty much every genre of comic art. Golden Age, Silver, Underground, strip, political, you name it, he had some good examples. The list is/was quite astounding.

 

Steve,

 

Why do you say that the list was quite astounding? Are you intimating that he's sold some of it already?

 

I don't think any of it was sold out.. Jerry was very clear in his desire for the collection to be sold intact.

 

I received the list about a year ago and I've spoken to them many times about it. Most of the people who you would expect (and some that you wouldn't) to be major candidates for purchase have known about the offering for some time.

 

There is comic art, strip art & comics... Truly a once in a lifetime collection.

 

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adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted
I can understand Jerry's desire to want to keep the art together but if his goal is to provide some financial stability to his family (which is what I had heard) then he may need to make a concession and allow a place like Heritage to auction the art over several years to maximize prices.

 

$10 million would certainly fall within my parameters of "some" financial stability.

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comicartcom

comicartcom

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Most of this board is focused on comic book art, but if I remember correctly, he also has Winsor McCay Little Nemo, R.F. Outcault Yellow Kid and other similarly incredible comic strip art that fellows like myself are much more interested in.

 

but the problem with this load of art is that while Jerry would like to sell it and has entertained some offers over time, even when he was talking about 5 million about 10 years ago the price was high then and it doesn't make 10 million today look any better.

 

a purchase this size reflects one of the problems in the comic hobby which is that the only people who have $10,000,000 to spend is a very, very small group made smaller by for instance Geppi's probable inability to be a player on one hand at this moment in history, and the other side which is that most people do not have the breadth of interest that Jerry's collection represents.

 

Few comic art collectors collect political cartoons

Most who are interested in comic book art are not interested in comic strip art and the reverse as well, that comic strip art collectors don't buy much comic book art

 

If there is no money to be made by reselling the art (if there had been, don't you think it would already have sold?) then such a deal may only be able to be made if some several dozen collectors get together and try to deal with each getting their favorites.

 

Knowing how many would want the same pieces, such a group is unlikely.

 

Steve is right that if Jerry wants the collection to produce, he may well have to let Heritage sell it slowly, over a period of several years or even a decade so that it can be absorbed before more pieces are released.

 

Alternately, he'd have to find someone who would be able to buy the collection for the purpose of donating it to a museum or institutional organization for a permanent exhibit.

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spider9698

spider9698

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Absolutely. The fact is that many heirs find themselves in dire financial straights when their elders do not set up proper trusts. These people die and family members have barely had enough time to grieve when Uncle Sam comes looking for their share of the estate. In addition, the government wants these funds by the next April 15 tax deadline. Family members often have to hold a firesale to raise the necessary funds to cover their tax burden. I hope Jerry has done his estate planning....

 

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r1982rhoads

r1982rhoads

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My prediction is that this collection will either sell at a much lower price (as a block) than Jerry is asking or it will be held until his unfortunate passing and his family will parcel it out via a major auction house. I think the only way to unlock the value is to break it up. Would he realize 10 mil in total proceeds by selling pieces individually? I doubt it. The cream would realize great prices, but the so so stuff would not.

 

I met Jerry about 2 years ago at the San Diego Comicon. He was very polite and easy to talk to, but he couldn't not answer many of my questions. He is getting older (obviously) and he seemed (quite) a bit out of it. I don't mean that as a detraction to him, it is great he still does the convention circuit. However, with the news he is selling, I believe someone (most likely his family) is trying to push him to get his estate in order. With that reason alone, I do also think that he may soften up on his stance and break this collection up.

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