Old art-for-sale ads

[Lee B.]

Good morning! Last night I posted six old art-for-sale ads in my CAF gallery. I believe these ads are from the 1970s. You can see them here:

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=70452

 

Warning: these ads may make you cry. Best regards, Lee Benaka

[Big Daddy]

Those ads just make you want to cry now. Good to see you found the boards Lee, I bought some of your Captain America pages from you a few years ago.

[Lee B.]

Thanks Bob! I have been lurking here for a while, but it is fun to post once in a while too. I do remember selling those pages to you. Good old Batroc....

[aardvark88]

TBG June/79:

 

 

I have lots of CBG OA ads not scanned yet.

[lb jefferies]

Sickening...

[Pete Marino]

Just because I find it even more interesting, inflation adjusted:

 

What cost $200 in 1979 would cost $583.38 in 2009.

 

Also, if you were to buy exactly the same products in 2009 and 1979,

 

they would cost you $200 and $61.25 respectively.

[AtlasFan]

This is almost as bad as reading some of my old 401K statements. Pure torture...

[aardvark88]

Sickening...

 

I almost upchucked when I saw the Gene Colan Iron Man #1 pg 1 splash for $35. Neal Adams pages from the classic Avengers 94-96 trilogy "This Beachhead, Earth" for a princely $90 or less. Gil Kane ASM 98 OA Goblin cover with the CCA still attached on a non-CCA comic! O, how I weap and pine for the 1970s!

[Bronty]

TBG June/79:

 

 

I have lots of CBG OA ads not scanned yet.

 

overpriced In all seriousness we have to keep in mind that back then the books/art were only a few years old. If its $600 in today's dollars back then, and its pre-ebay, pre having any kind of liquidity.... $600 is more than it sounds like

[Pete Marino]

agreed, additional perspective, especially considering that no one thought these things would have value 31 years ago

 

you could pay for your mortgage / rent or you could get the cover...

 

Cost Of Living 1979

 

How Much things cost in 1979

Yearly Inflation Rate USA11.2%

Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 838

Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 15.25%

Average Cost of new house $58,100.00

Average Income per year $17,500.00

Average Monthly Rent $280.00

Cost of a gallon of Gas 86 cents

Sony Walkman $200.00

Jox Trainers $14.99

 

but i think we can safely say that this art has out paced inflation...

 

I remember being a kid in the 80's and someone offering me original art, and i thought it was the dumbest thing ever, as a 13 year old, i wanted colors!!!!

[Bronty]

I remember being a kid in the 80's and someone offering me original art, and i thought it was the dumbest thing ever, as a 13 year old, i wanted colors!!!!

 

I have an issue with the lack of color on most oa to this day I like painted work.

[Mephisto]

I remember being a kid in the 80's and someone offering me original art, and i thought it was the dumbest thing ever, as a 13 year old, i wanted colors!!!!

 

I have an issue with the lack of color on most oa to this day I like painted work.

 

Only 25% of my collection is B&W, which is tough to do with comic characters. Often times I have had pen and ink pieces but not kept them long and sold them. If you have a really good artist pen and ink can be pretty damn good but I wouldn't want my walls to be all black and white pieces.

[tth2]

Sickening...

 

I almost upchucked when I saw the Gene Colan Iron Man #1 pg 1 splash for $35. Neal Adams pages from the classic Avengers 94-96 trilogy "This Beachhead, Earth" for a princely $90 or less. Gil Kane ASM 98 OA Goblin cover with the CCA still attached on a non-CCA comic! O, how I weap and pine for the 1970s!

The point is not to lament about it but do something about it. In 32 years, 2011 will be to 2043 as 1979 is to 2011 today.

 

Sure everything looks expensive today, but guess what, those 1979 prices looked expensive back in 1979 too. So who`s to say that in 2043, you won`t look back and weep for not picking up OA at those low 2011 prices?

[Nexus]

Sure everything looks expensive today, but guess what, those 1979 prices looked expensive back in 1979 too. So who`s to say that in 2043, you won`t look back and weep for not picking up OA at those low 2011 prices?

 

Are you baiting Gene, Tim?

 

I find these old ads fascinating from a historical perspective, as a peek into the past. Also can be helpful to know that certain things were available one time and are out there somewhere. The "cheap" prices never give me any angst. OA today is more feasible for me as a collectible, even at current values, then it was back then. $200 in 1979 (for the X-MEN #94 cover) might as well have been $1M...I was nine and my allowance was a buck a week.

[Terry Doyle]

I remember being a kid in the 80's and someone offering me original art, and i thought it was the dumbest thing ever, as a 13 year old, i wanted colors!!!!

 

I have an issue with the lack of color on most oa to this day I like painted work.

 

Good to hear this . . . I was beginning to think I was on my own for preferring colour work. (thumbs u

[Eric Seffinga]

What I enjoy most when I flip back through old catalogs, CBGs and the like, isn't so much the prices things could have been had for, it's what has value over other art of the time. It can be a fascinating look into the "hot" artist phenomena.

 

I frequently spot examples of this, where pages that at the time were brand spankin' new and going for $$$ while some classic older work was to be had for cheaper.

Or pages from some series, that in time would be seen as a classic and become five-figure pages, are selling $25-50 a pop, while some "hotshot" artist of the time is selling pinup type work a 4xs the price. Work by an artist that has since become passe. That you might buy for what it was originally sold for, if at all.

 

And to extrapolate from an idea posted above, there are "cheap" pages out there today for series that are destined to become classics, but we are too busy spending too much on commissions and pinups that won't stand the test of time instead.

 

-e.

[glendgold]

I frequently spot examples of this, where pages that at the time were brand spankin' new and going for $$$ while some classic older work was to be had for cheaper.

 

As the guy who actually went through all those old CBGs, I have to say that's really my lasting lesson from the research: if you or I actually was there in 1975 to make those purchases, we would buy all those Trevor von Eden pages and Atlas interiors just as easily as $18 Ditko pages. If you look through the comics ads, you'll see people pursuing Howard the Duck 1 in NM condition more frequently than FF 1 in any shape.

 

Glen

[aardvark88]

This came in the same For Sale letter to me in Feb, 1985:

FF #1 nm $700

DD 1 nm $150

AF 15 nm $700

Hulk 1 mint $500

ASM 1 nm $550

JIM 83 pristine $375

S. Surfer 1 mint $37, # 4 mint $28

Avengers 1 nm $275, # 4 nm $100.

 

Too bad $200 back then was Krazy $$$ to be spending on SA Marvels or OA when you could be investing in hot Miller DD's or Giffen Legion Super-heroes comics.

 

[tth2]

This came in the same For Sale letter to me in Feb, 1985:

FF #1 nm $700

DD 1 nm $150

AF 15 nm $700

Hulk 1 mint $500

ASM 1 nm $550

JIM 83 pristine $375

S. Surfer 1 mint $37, # 4 mint $28

Avengers 1 nm $275, # 4 nm $100.

 

Too bad $200 back then was Krazy $$$ to be spending on SA Marvels or OA when you could be investing in hot Miller DD's or Giffen Legion Super-heroes comics.

 

Well, at least you can take some consolation in the fact that the "nm" books were actually "VFs" and might have been restored to boot.

 

Whereas in looking at the old OA ads, there`s no consolation at all unless they were fakes.

[aardvark88]

Paris Fred,

I fixed the OA 1985 link with authentic SA OA from a NY comic/art dealer at the time. Hopefully you can view vintage OA ad now. (thumbs u