Noob depressed over OA trading attempts

[comics_ross]

In my experience, no trade will occur with a dealer unless it is fairly heavily weighted in their favour.

 

This is an extremely accurate point to always remember.

 

Dealers are in the position of the power. A lot of people offer them their stock, so they could choose the one which satisfies them the most...

[Eric Seffinga]

In the 20 years I've been at it (damn, didn't think it'd been so long) I've probably made a whopping half dozen trades. I've found my favorites have been with artists who also collect. For them it's easy. They can nab something not of their own creation, and I can grab some primo art of theirs that I might otherwise be able to manage.

 

I only had one trade go sideways on me, and the others were all mututally beneficial I think.

 

-e.

[thethedew]

Hello all-

 

I'm very grateful for your willingness to share your experiences. As I suspected, trades don't seem to happen as often as one might think (or read about).

 

I now think a big part of my frustrations/expectations came from my past collecting experience. As a glance at my CAF posted collection might suggest, I'm a graduate to OA from the world of sketch card collecting. I'm sure most of you probably have a sketch card or two kicking around.

 

While sketch cards might seem have plenty in common with OA collecting, it's main difference is the sheer volume of product that's being pumped out, even to this day. So, while there are a few early card products that demand high value, the truth of the matter is that if you get your heart set upon a specific sketch card owned by another collector, it's still relatively quick and easy to assemble enough tradebait to land a deal.

 

After all, original art or not, they still are trading cards. It's their function.

 

Even sketch card dealers are easier to deal with in comparison.

 

Unwittingly bringing that kind of expectation to OA collecting is probably the prime source of my pain. My expectations need serious modification. You all have helped immensely.

 

I may have further comment later on the difficulty of bringing a dealer to the trading table.

 

Best,

Andrew

[wilypueo-migration]

Another thing to keep in mind is that it sometimes takes an investment in time to do a large trade deal. In some case, I've carved out two days at a national show to structure a deal. Some people wouldn't do that and would give up. But perseverance can pay off and lead to a successful trade.

 

And thanks for bothering with me Chuck--I recall being particularly worn out at that SDCC (it always wears me out) when we were working our deal. I still miss what I gave up, but what I got in return remains one of my favorite/key pieces.

[comicartcom]

what is a sketch card???

[thethedew]

what is a sketch card???

 

A sketch card is a type of 'chase' card for trading card products. Kind of like an autograph card, only it's got space on one side for an artist's sketch rather than a mere signature.

 

The first sketch cards came out around 1994 or so, the first two are generally agreed to be a comic book card release (sketches of Groo the Wanderer done by Sergio) and a television product (sketches of Simpsons characters by Matt Groening). The odds were very long on getting either of these sketches and they remain 'grails' for sketch card collectors to this day.

 

Around 1998, Skybox debuted the first comic book based trading card set to guarantee a sketch card one per 36 packs (one per box). To my mind, the genius of these Skybox cards was the design link to OA, as the sketch side of the card was printed with blue line patterns, like a tiny faux cover page.

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=555026&GSub=87064

A generous mix of established artists and Kubert School students were featured, but that's a lot of sketches (reportedly 10,000 but perhaps less) to try to get a bunch of different artists to draw to one deadline.

 

The banks have overflowed, though, with some values dropping due to the volume of sketch product pumped into a limited market. There have even been some enterprising artists who have had their own custom sketch cards designed and printed up (to better push quickie sketches at shows or through mailorder), Blue Line have themselves begun printing a generic sketch card based on their own blue line pages.

http://www.bluelinepro.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=BL&Category_Code=003sc

and

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4380138&gonew=1#UNREAD

Occasionally a comic convention might even spring for a batch of custom-designed cards. (I've even designed a card product for my own local comic book show a couple years back)

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=416707&GSub=65092

 

While comic book product of course dominate the sketch card hobby, you'll find plenty of other genres represented. Movies, TV shows, and now, ironically, even sports card sets have artist sketches included as 'bonus' cards. Just search 'sketch card' in Ebay and you'll get more than you bargained for.

 

Best,

Andrew