Owning a King's Ransom in Art and Living Like a Pauper

[delekkerste]

By now we've all read about Charles Martignette and the potential $20 million illustration art collection that he left behind. His friend and business partner described him in an interview as being as "cheap" as a person could be (in an affectionate, not malicious, way), and it was mentioned in the news stories that he used to shop for clothes at thrift stores, all while sitting on a fortune in art.

 

Similarly, a friend and fellow Board member remarked to me in a conversation this week about some long-time comic art collectors he knows who own "7-figure art collections but who live like paupers" - to them, it's not just a hobby, it's "in their blood" and they know no other way of life. I said, as much as I love the art, the medium and the hobby, it will always be just that - a hobby to me.

 

Anyone here willing to own up to that characterization of themselves (not necessarily 7-figs, but a pricey collection compared to the rest of your means)? I'd be curious to hear the life philosophy behind it. Anyone with any good stories or anecdotes about people putting OA above other life priorities? I'm reminded of the story in that Glen Gold article on OA in Playboy a while back, something about a seller delivering a piece of art to a collector in a homeless shelter or cardboard box or something.

[Bronty]

perhaps he planned on cashing some of it out a little later (or perhaps not). But he did die quite young at 57... makes me wonder what his long term plans for the art were.

 

I don't know if its the cause or the effect, but I think you have to be single (as I think I read that he was) to have that pure a devotion to your hobby. Kids/mortgage/wife will bring some balance... and if they don't you won't be married long

[comix4fun]

I was living out of my Aston Martin for a while.....

 

 

C

[Pirate]

I just sell some books when I want a piece of art. I keep my collecting completely independent of my household finances.

[AvengersFan]

I start to scare myself sometimes just thinking about the amount of money I have "invested" in comic art and comic books. I would venture to guess that most "serious" art collectors, you know who you are, have to have between 10-30 percent of thier liquid assets in art. I think Mike Burkey says on his website somewhere he'd rather have his money in art than in the stock market, and over the last 10 years now that doesn't look like such a bad strategy. I like to be diversified, and I am, but it still makes me wonder sometimes how and why I have accumulated so much art.

[Bronty]

I don't have too much art but if you took the paragraph above and considered all collections, not just art, I'm in the same boat and feel the same way sometimes. Sometimes I just want to sell everything and apply it to my mortgage. But I guess I share Burkey's optimism for the right collectibles investments (I don't put comic books in that category, broadly speaking) and also his cynicism of the stock market. I'd rather have money in something I know and can control than buy some random stock because some other guy (who is wrong half the time and/or may be working with false or misleading data) thinks its a good idea. I just don't see how anyone can honestly, if they look themselves in the mirror, think they have any frickin clue about what's going to happen to their stock investment... I sure don't and I have a finance degree.

 

Buying some random stock on a broker's recommendation amounts to trusting a ton of money with a person you don't know that well, based on their guess that the price will go up, based on someone else's (an analyst's) guesses about the future demand and supply attributes of the company's goods/services based partly on financial statements that a) are based on the past and therefore largely irrelevant as predictors b) can never hope to be truly accurate, and c) may be false or misleading depending on what upper mgmt wants to signal to wall street that month.

 

I know it works for some people, but guesses based on guesses about guesses aren't for me.

 

 

[Eric Seffinga]

I"m sure the OP meant the Vogels in his original mention of the collecting couple...

 

http://www.silverplanet.com/lifestyles/around-house/uncommon-art-collectors-subject-new-documentary/54238

 

As I understand it, they bought work primarily by unknown avant garde artists tho. Much of the value came later, as i understood it. Still want to see the flick.

 

-e.

[CollectingFool]

I know at least one collector who has high value stuff and lives in conditions I wouldn't stand for if I could help it. I may not be living as well as I can be due to buying art but I sure as hell will not sacrifice my general comfort/standard of living to below the norm for a hobby. I'm as addicted if not more than the next guy but some things have to come first and a decent place to live is way up on the list.

 

Ruben

http://www.collectingfool.com

 

[tth2]

I was living out of my Aston Martin for a while.....

 

 

C

[tth2]

By now we've all read about Charles Martignette and the potential $20 million illustration art collection that he left behind. His friend and business partner described him in an interview as being as "cheap" as a person could be (in an affectionate, not malicious, way), and it was mentioned in the news stories that he used to shop for clothes at thrift stores, all while sitting on a fortune in art.

 

Similarly, a friend and fellow Board member remarked to me in a conversation this week about some long-time comic art collectors he knows who own "7-figure art collections but who live like paupers" - to them, it's not just a hobby, it's "in their blood" and they know no other way of life. I said, as much as I love the art, the medium and the hobby, it will always be just that - a hobby to me.

 

Anyone here willing to own up to that characterization of themselves (not necessarily 7-figs, but a pricey collection compared to the rest of your means)? I'd be curious to hear the life philosophy behind it. Anyone with any good stories or anecdotes about people putting OA above other life priorities? I'm reminded of the story in that Glen Gold article on OA in Playboy a while back, something about a seller delivering a piece of art to a collector in a homeless shelter or cardboard box or something.

Different people have different values. Art was important to Martingnette. Nice clothes, nice house, and other examples of conspicuous consumption, weren't important to him.

 

I admire that, actually. God knows there are plenty of people out here do nothing but conspicuously consume and surround themselves with all the trappings of wealth, but are empty, vacuous people.

[adamstrange]

By now we've all read about Charles Martignette and the potential $20 million illustration art collection that he left behind. His friend and business partner described him in an interview as being as "cheap" as a person could be (in an affectionate, not malicious, way), and it was mentioned in the news stories that he used to shop for clothes at thrift stores, all while sitting on a fortune in art.

 

Similarly, a friend and fellow Board member remarked to me in a conversation this week about some long-time comic art collectors he knows who own "7-figure art collections but who live like paupers" - to them, it's not just a hobby, it's "in their blood" and they know no other way of life. I said, as much as I love the art, the medium and the hobby, it will always be just that - a hobby to me.

 

Anyone here willing to own up to that characterization of themselves (not necessarily 7-figs, but a pricey collection compared to the rest of your means)? I'd be curious to hear the life philosophy behind it. Anyone with any good stories or anecdotes about people putting OA above other life priorities? I'm reminded of the story in that Glen Gold article on OA in Playboy a while back, something about a seller delivering a piece of art to a collector in a homeless shelter or cardboard box or something.

Different people have different values. Art was important to Martingnette. Nice clothes, nice house, and other examples of conspicuous consumption, weren't important to him.

 

I admire that, actually. God knows there are plenty of people out here do nothing but conspicuously consume and surround themselves with all the trappings of wealth, but are empty, vacuous people.

I do know several people who would fit the description and they are generally very interesting and most definitely off-center compared to the norm.

[buyatari]

I knew someone with a hemi cuda convertable. Upon divorce his soon to be ex-wife said what about that car? Its worth X dollars and I get half. He replied "Only if you sell it and I'm not selling it. I'm keeping the car." She didn't fight him on it.

 

The point is art is art. It only becomes millions of dollars when you sell it.

 

edit

 

OR as this guy above ^ says

 

"You want me to trade you my comic for small rectangular sheets of green paper with the images of dead white men?"

[MutantKeys]

Sounds like he died a virgin

[comicartcom]

By now we've all read about Charles Martignette and the potential $20 million illustration art collection that he left behind. His friend and business partner described him in an interview as being as "cheap" as a person could be (in an affectionate, not malicious, way), and it was mentioned in the news stories that he used to shop for clothes at thrift stores, all while sitting on a fortune in art.

 

Similarly, a friend and fellow Board member remarked to me in a conversation this week about some long-time comic art collectors he knows who own "7-figure art collections but who live like paupers" - to them, it's not just a hobby, it's "in their blood" and they know no other way of life. I said, as much as I love the art, the medium and the hobby, it will always be just that - a hobby to me.

 

Anyone here willing to own up to that characterization of themselves (not necessarily 7-figs, but a pricey collection compared to the rest of your means)? I'd be curious to hear the life philosophy behind it. Anyone with any good stories or anecdotes about people putting OA above other life priorities? I'm reminded of the story in that Glen Gold article on OA in Playboy a while back, something about a seller delivering a piece of art to a collector in a homeless shelter or cardboard box or something.

Different people have different values. Art was important to Martingnette. Nice clothes, nice house, and other examples of conspicuous consumption, weren't important to him.

 

I admire that, actually. God knows there are plenty of people out here do nothing but conspicuously consume and surround themselves with all the trappings of wealth, but are empty, vacuous people.

 

Charlie was a weirdo, but he always wore nice clothes is my understanding and he had quite a large house in a very nice neighborhood

 

he and I could never get together on any deals because he was changing his mind whenever he was dealing with you.. the painting was $5000 today, it was $6000 tomorrow and next week it was $9500. He was always that way.

 

That withstanding, he did have quite a collection of material and though he was "cheap", he did not live cheaply

[Mighty Hal]

Thanks for posting a new and different topic. It's certainly food for thought.

 

Myself, I appreciate Charles Martignette. If he hadn't scavenged and scraped, we'd have lost some great artwork.

[Cimm]

I have always spent anything above and beyond bills on comics... lately, that hasn't been much. I haven't owned a car in several years, and don't care to anytime soon... The simple explanation for this is that I prefer comics and pulps to any other form of consumer product. I don't own a television (no cable bill), I don't own a car (no insurance, no monthly payment, no maintenance fees, no property taxes), I don't own a cel phone (I do have a home phone, because you gotta bundle SOMETHING with the internet for the group rate )... What I do own is a modest collection of fairly decent books that I take great pleasure and pride in the ownership of, and get great joy out of reading, admiring and appreciating... I have never been rich, and I probably never will be, but I have great quality and appreciation of life. Isn't that what it is all about, regardless of the trappings that you choose to surround yourself with?

[pinupcartoonguy]

I knew a gentleman who had seven figures worth of classic pin-up art on just one wall, and the rest of his place looked like sty.

 

 

[jjonahjameson1]

I have always spent anything above and beyond bills on comics... lately, that hasn't been much. I haven't owned a car in several years, and don't care to anytime soon... The simple explanation for this is that I prefer comics and pulps to any other form of consumer product. I don't own a television (no cable bill), I don't own a car (no insurance, no monthly payment, no maintenance fees, no property taxes), I don't own a cel phone (I do have a home phone, because you gotta bundle SOMETHING with the internet for the group rate )... What I do own is a modest collection of fairly decent books that I take great pleasure and pride in the ownership of, and get great joy out of reading, admiring and appreciating... I have never been rich, and I probably never will be, but I have great quality and appreciation of life. Isn't that what it is all about, regardless of the trappings that you choose to surround yourself with?

 

What? No TV?

[Shootydog]

I have always spent anything above and beyond bills on comics... lately, that hasn't been much. I haven't owned a car in several years, and don't care to anytime soon... The simple explanation for this is that I prefer comics and pulps to any other form of consumer product. I don't own a television (no cable bill), I don't own a car (no insurance, no monthly payment, no maintenance fees, no property taxes), I don't own a cel phone (I do have a home phone, because you gotta bundle SOMETHING with the internet for the group rate )... What I do own is a modest collection of fairly decent books that I take great pleasure and pride in the ownership of, and get great joy out of reading, admiring and appreciating... I have never been rich, and I probably never will be, but I have great quality and appreciation of life. Isn't that what it is all about, regardless of the trappings that you choose to surround yourself with?

 

What? No TV?

 

TV is overrated. If I could pry my wife away from the DVR I would drop cable like a bad habit.

[buyatari]

I have always spent anything above and beyond bills on comics... lately, that hasn't been much. I haven't owned a car in several years, and don't care to anytime soon... The simple explanation for this is that I prefer comics and pulps to any other form of consumer product. I don't own a television (no cable bill), I don't own a car (no insurance, no monthly payment, no maintenance fees, no property taxes), I don't own a cel phone (I do have a home phone, because you gotta bundle SOMETHING with the internet for the group rate )... What I do own is a modest collection of fairly decent books that I take great pleasure and pride in the ownership of, and get great joy out of reading, admiring and appreciating... I have never been rich, and I probably never will be, but I have great quality and appreciation of life. Isn't that what it is all about, regardless of the trappings that you choose to surround yourself with?

 

What? No TV?

 

TV is overrated. If I could pry my wife away from the DVR I would drop cable like a bad habit.

 

I don't watch TV either. Perhaps one show every 1-2 weeks if that. Mostly antiques roadshow. I do watch more TV when the NFL is on.