any low CAF email offers?

[artoholic]

Hello Everyone.

 

Decided to join in all the fun.

 

Interesting topic posted regarding lowball offers. I've had a few in my collecting life (10 years now), but one stood out above all others.

 

Back in 2004, I posted my Mcfarlane ASM 316 to the Lowry Gallery. Someone contacted me and said..."this is my grail. I will pay you crazy money for this". In this email, this guy offered me $2k for the cover. He even offered to wire me the $2k the next day.

 

What made the offer even more ridiculous was he prefaced it by saying he was a big Mcfarlane collector and that covers were in the $1500 dollar range.

 

Of course, I passed but I always remembered that email.

 

Joe Le

[comix4fun]

Hello Everyone.

 

Decided to join in all the fun.

 

Interesting topic posted regarding lowball offers. I've had a few in my collecting life (10 years now), but one stood out above all others.

 

Back in 2004, I posted my Mcfarlane ASM 316 to the Lowry Gallery. Someone contacted me and said..."this is my grail. I will pay you crazy money for this". In this email, this guy offered me $2k for the cover. He even offered to wire me the $2k the next day.

 

What made the offer even more ridiculous was he prefaced it by saying he was a big Mcfarlane collector and that covers were in the $1500 dollar range.

 

Of course, I passed but I always remembered that email.

 

Joe Le

 

 

 

Welcome Joe...

 

 

Glad to see you here.

 

Love the story.

 

Best,

Chris

[invisibleghosts]

Hello Everyone.

 

Decided to join in all the fun.

 

Interesting topic posted regarding lowball offers. I've had a few in my collecting life (10 years now), but one stood out above all others.

 

Back in 2004, I posted my Mcfarlane ASM 316 to the Lowry Gallery. Someone contacted me and said..."this is my grail. I will pay you crazy money for this". In this email, this guy offered me $2k for the cover. He even offered to wire me the $2k the next day.

 

What made the offer even more ridiculous was he prefaced it by saying he was a big Mcfarlane collector and that covers were in the $1500 dollar range.

 

Of course, I passed but I always remembered that email.

 

Joe Le

 

Alright, I'll up it to $2.1K...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the boards!

[Ares]

Hello Everyone.

 

Decided to join in all the fun.

 

Interesting topic posted regarding lowball offers. I've had a few in my collecting life (10 years now), but one stood out above all others.

 

Back in 2004, I posted my Mcfarlane ASM 316 to the Lowry Gallery. Someone contacted me and said..."this is my grail. I will pay you crazy money for this". In this email, this guy offered me $2k for the cover. He even offered to wire me the $2k the next day.

 

What made the offer even more ridiculous was he prefaced it by saying he was a big Mcfarlane collector and that covers were in the $1500 dollar range.

 

Of course, I passed but I always remembered that email.

 

Joe Le

 

Alright, I'll up it to $2.1K...

 

Welcome to the boards!

 

2.11K

 

Welcome

[Bronty]

that's a good one.... welcome joe

[Bronty]

Why not? My advice is always make an offer on anything you are interested in.... they can always say no. And, more importantly they will remember you later when it comes time to sell. When you rack up many years in this hobby you will come to see many, many nfs pieces that you coveted quietly change hands... *sob*... the early bird (or in this case the vocal bird) often gets the worm... Keep in mind though, if you are really, really interested, telling someone that is not the same as saying 'I will give you $x for it.' May sound like a small distinction, but it is actually huge.

 

I've picked up a few choice pieces because I inquired about one that was marked NFS (why, just today as a matter of fact).

 

What is insulting is when you contact me about a piece marked "NFS" and you insist that I name a price.

 

I agree, that's pretty annoying

[buyatari]

Hello Everyone.

 

Decided to join in all the fun.

 

Interesting topic posted regarding lowball offers. I've had a few in my collecting life (10 years now), but one stood out above all others.

 

Back in 2004, I posted my Mcfarlane ASM 316 to the Lowry Gallery. Someone contacted me and said..."this is my grail. I will pay you crazy money for this". In this email, this guy offered me $2k for the cover. He even offered to wire me the $2k the next day.

 

What made the offer even more ridiculous was he prefaced it by saying he was a big Mcfarlane collector and that covers were in the $1500 dollar range.

 

Of course, I passed but I always remembered that email.

 

Joe Le

 

According to the 1st edition Original Comic Art Identification and Price Guide Mcfarlane spiderman covers sell between 600 and 1200

 

 

 

1992 edition

[comicartcom]

 

According to the 1st edition Original Comic Art Identification and Price Guide Mcfarlane spiderman covers sell between 600 and 1200

 

 

 

1992 edition

 

In my opinion, they aren't worth that much today..

 

[buyatari]

 

In my opinion, they aren't worth that much today..

 

 

You wouldn't buy the best cover in Marvel's 70 year history for $600 ?

[comicartcom]

 

In my opinion, they aren't worth that much today..

 

 

You wouldn't buy the best cover in Marvel's 70 year history for $600 ?

 

. I certainly would.. but in the case of that piece (best cover of Marvel), it most definitely isn't a MacFarlane piece.

 

However, I am being humorous.. I know his art is valuable and I have sold some for what I consider to be outrageous prices. In my personal opinion - he's a hack artist - and I have never seen a MacFarlane piece that I would have ever put in my own collection.. Different strokes for different folks.. I'll let someone else stroke MacFarlane

 

[buyatari]

 

In my opinion, they aren't worth that much today..

 

 

You wouldn't buy the best cover in Marvel's 70 year history for $600 ?

 

. I certainly would.. but in the case of that piece (best cover of Marvel), it most definitely isn't a MacFarlane piece.

 

However, I am being humorous.. I know his art is valuable and I have sold some for what I consider to be outrageous prices. In my personal opinion - he's a hack artist - and I have never seen a MacFarlane piece that I would have ever put in my own collection.. Different strokes for different folks.. I'll let someone else stroke MacFarlane

 

 

Well seeing as my price guide is outdated how much do mcfarlane covers go for these days? When is the last time one traded hands?

[artoholic]

That's one thing about the hobby that is great. We all have different tastes and that makes collecting much more fun. I'm glad that there are people out there who don't care about McFarlane's art. I personally would love it if the prices on his artwork would drop.

 

Joe Le

[Bronty]

 

In my opinion, they aren't worth that much today..

 

 

You wouldn't buy the best cover in Marvel's 70 year history for $600 ?

 

. I certainly would.. but in the case of that piece (best cover of Marvel), it most definitely isn't a MacFarlane piece.

 

 

I don't think (I really hope he's not ) Adam's saying that a mcfarlane cover is the best marvel cover ever, just that it was #1 on that silly list that marvel themselves published.

 

I don't think anyone but kirby could get the #1 spot, for the combination of nice art (acquired taste though it may be) and the historical importance of the covers he happened to illustrate.

[comicartcom]

Bronty.. I know he was joking... That list was a joke too

 

:-)

 

on the #1 cover for Marvel.

 

well my vote would have to be FF #1.... and I don't consider Timely's or Atlas' as Marvel comics..

 

but many of my top marvels would include things like FF #4, Avengers #4, Fantasy #15.. Of course, trying to get a true consensus of the best Marvel cover would be near impossible. It's obvious the voters for that 70 list were generally younger.. Where are the 50+ demographic

[Bronty]

Fair enough

 

I agree re ff1. I've always viewed it as the #1 silver age marvel. Do you know if that's out there? I've heard some of the big covers exist but collecting art in a small way and of recent vintage I wouldn't know.

[batman_fan]

I have had a few people ask if I am willing to sell an item. If I really have no interest, I reply with "it won't be available until my wife sells it shortly after my death".

[itssmeeeeee]

Hey Im new to the forum but i would like to add into this. Im 19 years old and in the past year just started to get into collecting Original Art. Seeing as how im 19 and in college i cant afford such expensive comic art. My grail pieces i own are $600-$900s only. Gotta aim low for now...

 

But I absolutely have lowballed a couple times. I made an offer on a Jim Lee Batman Hush Splash. I know its forth at least 5K but most of the time i lowball just to see with there will be a counteroffer. I dont purposely offer the person $600 for a page over 5K because i blindly believe they will accept. I offered the guy 2K and he countered but i couldnt afford his asking price. But the reason i lowballed worked for my sake in hoping for a counter.

[heartened]

Only problem with this is that if you lowball initially, you may not even get a response. Then, eventually, your reputation becomes tarnished as someone not to be taken seriously, or unaware of the market dynamics/values.

 

[comix4fun]

If a piece is not for sale, and you know it's value, you are better off not making an offer at all than to intentionally make an offer that is 40% of real value.

 

You have to realize that for most collectors the stuff they collect is a source of nostalgia, joy, emotion, or all of the above. This isn't a blender at a garage sale where the person has no attachment to the piece.

 

By making an offer that is intentionally and knowingly so far below market, on pieces that are not for sale to begin with, the only thing you are really going to do is insult the guy, tarnish your reputation (this is a small small hobby, believe me), and guarantee that 90% of folks will just ignore any future emails you send.

 

I know you are just starting, and you can feel free to ignore our advice but I've been collecting almost as long as you have been alive and I don't think I am wrong on this one.

 

C

[westform]

Good point Hari and Chris; you can do yourself more harm than good by trolling CAF and making a bunch of lowball offers. When I referred to making an offer earlier I meant, although I didn't say it, that you should make a fair or high offer. Of course this is presupposing you know values. But, I generally err on the high side when I am going after a piece I want. I figure there is a premium for me being able to cherry pick someone else's efforts/collection, so say a piece is worth 3 to 4k, I may very well offer 5k for the privilage. Otherwise, you can be one of those guys who waits for ebay or Heritage to get random pieces you may want and then you can bid against the world... just sayin'...