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Bronze Age Ebay shocker

Started by Nexus,

36 posts in this topic

comix4fun

comix4fun

Posted
Posted

Given the artist, subject matter, and characters I was waiting for the jump to $20k and when it sat at $10k for, what seemed like, forever that was more of a shocker to me.

 

Given that a really nice Starlin splash from CM could be seen selling for $6-7,000 as far back as 2 years ago I guess a cover this perfect moving for this much was probably about right.

 

That is especially true given the respect high end collectors give to Starlin's work on this title.

 

This biggest shock is that they were able to get a fair price on the world's largest flea market.

 

 

 

C

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stinkininkin

stinkininkin

Posted
Posted

Not surprised at all. Fresh to market (ooh, I know that term drives some people crazy) art of this vintage and quality, I actually had guessed 24-28k the moment I saw it. There continues to be a voracious appetite for the best of the best out there. I was just surprised to see something like this pop up on ebay in the first place. It's getting rarer and rarer.

 

Scott Williams

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Nexus

Nexus

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I wouldn't have been surprised if this piece fetched that much in a private deal (and, unsurprisingly, this went to one of the usual suspects). I'm just surprised that it fetched this much in an auction setting where there had to be at least one other underbidder at this level.

 

Yes, stuff this nice is rare on Ebay, but it happens. I can think of several examples the last couple of years (none of which I won which is why I still remember): Mazzucchelli DD cover, Neal Adams ACTION cover, Cardy Superman/Flash cover...oh, the pain!

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Mephisto

Mephisto

Posted
Posted
Not surprised at all. Fresh to market (ooh, I know that term drives some people crazy) art of this vintage and quality, I actually had guessed 24-28k the moment I saw it. There continues to be a voracious appetite for the best of the best out there. I was just surprised to see something like this pop up on ebay in the first place. It's getting rarer and rarer.

 

Scott Williams

 

I was wondering if this was a piece the poor economy finally brought forth.

I agree with the freshness of the piece. I don't know about a piece loosing appeal for merely being in someones CAF, but there are SO MANY pieces that you just see for sale over and over again but on different dealer sites. It gets to the point where you are tired of seeing the same old mess on the market. If you are slightly interested in one, you lose interest because the price hasn't gone down in price, so it must be over priced and apparently no one else in the community is interested. A lot of these pieces whether it's conscious or not do seem to wind up with some type of stigma attached to them.

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mtlevy

mtlevy

Posted
Posted

I wasn't surprised but a strong price...Starlin Captain Marvel is a classic run and there aren't many covers out there from the 70s. If you have something that people want you can sell it on eBay just fine...it is when the demand is lower that you can take a hit!

 

Couldn't tell exactly what was going on with the eye appeal from the Thanos face...might even have kept the price from going even higher.

 

Great cover!

 

One of the 80s wrap around covers went on Heritage for over 4k.

 

-- Mark

 

 

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heartened

heartened

Posted
Posted

Starlin Thanos/CM market has been strong for years. I would say that it stabilized in price for some time, but is now seeing a bit of a resurgence. This particular run of about 10 covers is a great storyline, and part of what pushed Thanos to the forefront of comic villains. His revival in the early 90s solidified that. Most of the covers are in private collections, and unlikely to move, so something fresh to market like this gives everyone a chance, and allows for a proper assessment of value.

 

I am not surprised by the price, but for a while there I thought perhaps all the naysayers were right and the economy finally hit a big-ticket (and bonafide rare, new to market, high-quality) vintage piece.

 

I agree that the Thanos image, which is the big draw to this piece, seems yellowed, and that may have actually pushed some bidders away. But, obviously, the right people were watching. Congrats to the seller and the buyer!

 

Hari

 

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Nexus

Nexus

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As it turns out, the second bidder was not anyone with a big Thanos collection, but an off-the-grid private collector. We've chatted in the past and he just wrote me about this sale. Just goes to show you never know who the wild cards will be in an auction...and it's not only the usual suspects who are willing to throw down the big money.

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heartened

heartened

Posted
Posted

That is interesting. We've all made the mistake of assuming we know who the "players" are for certain genres/characters, only to realize that our knowledge is quickly outdated by new collectors entering the field. Sometimes the "older" collector already has enough, or is not willing to go to today's prices, whereas a "new" collector is more driven to get that one, great example.

 

Nice to see public sales like this, where we can get a sense of the excitement inherent to collecting this stuff. Sounds like both buyer and seller are very happy, which is of course the way it should be!

 

 

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NelsonAI

NelsonAI

Posted
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I had this cover valued at $25-$30K with the stain as it was Starlin during his prime period, Thanos, and Captain America. I am not even a big Starlin collector and I thought this was a great cover. Given the number of transactions by the winning bidder, I suspect it's a dealer. If professionally cleaned, it'll get re-listed for top dollar.

 

Like many, I thought the seller was taking a huge risk putting this on ebay on a holiday weekend. I thought it would end up at 15K because of that.

 

Congratulations to buyer and seller.

 

Cheers!

N

 

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westform

westform

Posted
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I also had this pegged at 25 to 30k, but thought it could go a tad higher. The lousy pics, lousy description (which was actually wrong), and out of nowhere seller... plus the flea-bay factor kept it from reaching it's true heights.

 

The seller thought this cover originally would fetch $2500. Had a starting bid of $1500 and NO reserve. He is a HAPPY camper! And, the seller got a grailish cover for a non-dealer price. He is also happy!

 

I'm just happy to see it come to market and hope the new buyer will post a great scan for all to see and drool.

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Bronty

Bronty

Posted
Posted
I also had this pegged at 25 to 30k, but thought it could go a tad higher. The lousy pics, lousy description (which was actually wrong), and out of nowhere seller... plus the flea-bay factor kept it from reaching it's true heights.

 

The seller thought this cover originally would fetch $2500. Had a starting bid of $1500 and NO reserve. He is a HAPPY camper!

 

lol I bet he was!

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westform

westform

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He stated in a couple of places that the top was filled in black by some owner before him. That is most likely not the case, as it was in all likelihood done by Starlin during production. Also, he failed to have an expert look at the Thanos head area and fully describe what was going on...

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