AF 15--1.1 milliion--which would you choose?

[JLA22fan-migration]

delekkerste

states :

"I hope the buyer has money to burn and really loves the book. I mean, if you offered so much that even Eric Roberts couldn't say no, you overpaid."

 

I have dealt with Eric on occasion and I don't think he is a fool. Why the need to insult members just because they aren't (h or w)edgies or quasi (w or b)ankers ?

[Bronty]

that's a shot at the buyer, not eric. Eric is the seller.

[JLA22fan-migration]

whoops & duuuhhh

how embarrasing

those double negatives get me every time

[Claudio]

1.1 million for the art is a bargain. 1.1 for the book is expensive.

[Speedy-D]

I can't imagine it even being a thought? I would think just about anybody even the pure comic guys would pick the cover

 

To me its worth several times what the book is worth

 

I don't know about that. This is a nostalgia-driven hobby and people remember reading the book (or a reprint/TPB of it), or saving up to get a low-grade copy of it and admiring that unusual dark brown cover, which you don't necessarily get with the art. I imagine a lot of people would rather own the highest graded copy of that book vs. the cover art alone.

 

That said, I'm not one of them. I think the cover would be a unique piece in its own right, and I personally don't value very highly the difference between this 9.6 copy and the multiple 9.4s out there - certainly not in this age of chicanery and maximum potentialization via the press (not saying this copy has been, but not saying that some copy in the future couldn't be either). I'd rather have the art. Now, if you had asked me whether I'd take the OA to the cover of Action #1 or the MH copy of Action #1, I'd take the latter in a heartbeat, as I imagine most people would.

 

Also, just because someone paid $1.1M for this book doesn't mean that's what it's worth now if nobody else will pay that amount. I just think it's a bit krazy to be paying hyperinflationary prices before we actually get any hyperinflation! I hope the buyer has money to burn and really loves the book. I mean, if you offered so much that even Eric Roberts couldn't say no, you overpaid.

Why? If resale value were out of the equation, I'd much rather have the original art. I can't think of a single comic related thing I'd rather have than the cover OA to Action #1.

 

If it's about resale value, that's way above my pay grade and I'll defer to the smart kids.

[NelsonAI]

At $1.1 million, both items would be vastly overpriced.

However, given Scott's conditions, I would take the artwork.

 

Cheers!

N.

 

 

[glenbru]

I'd rather have 1.1 million copies of the adjectiveless Spider-man book from the nineties at a buck a piece. Was that not an option?

 

I bet I could find at least one 10.0 in that stack.

[tth2]

Easy. Unless the AF 15 cover you`re selling me turns out to be a forgery, there is only one AF 15 cover. In contrast, it`s conceivable that another 9.6 AF 15, or maybe a 9.8 copy, could appear. Not likely, but conceivable.

[tth2]

Now, if you had asked me whether I'd take the OA to the cover of Action #1 or the MH copy of Action #1, I'd take the latter in a heartbeat, as I imagine most people would.

Not me.

[comicartfan]

I am going to play devil's advocate here and say I would take the book. Why ?...Well, as Gene stated, it's a nostaliga driven market that's true. It's also true for most collectors, they are driven by that boyish feelings they get when they obtain something that reminds them of their youth.

The feeling of opening a package and getting that toy or baseball card of a key player or the excitment over reading the adventures of Spider-man and his arch rival the Green Goblin....It takes us back to 8 yrs old all over again.

 

Now, obtaining the item is nostalgia...obtaining the best is pure ADULT ego. After I had read the book surrounding the Gretsky T206 Wagner card and the incorrigable behavior of the people involved, I realized something. It makes little or no difference if we are talking comic books, original art or baseball cards....or Lionel trains. We all want the best, we measure ourselves on some level with other collectors on what we have in our collection and we want the bragging rights of owing the best...Or in some cases, the ONLY known copy. It's shallow, egotistical and completely immature...and I am just as gulity of doing it as the next person.

 

That being said, I think the AF 15 is a better long term investment. Why ?...Well, having an 18 son of my own, now to be 2 stepsons under the age of 10, I see the fascination that boys have over Spider-man....PJ's, toys, games, dvds...They even have Spider-man comforters and Marvel sheets and matching wall paper border !! - Kids and adults all over the world know Spider-man...and Superman and Batman...They know little difference between a 9.6 AF 15 and a reprint....but they know the book. It means something to them. I don't think they look at original art of any kind and really know what it means. They don't realize it's unique, it's one of a kind and all that stuff.....

 

Comics have a bigger mass market. Comics are accessible. They are everywhere and they can cost under a dollar....It makes them more mainstream and more people collect them....The more people collect them, the bigger the market. The bigger the market, the more potential buyers to sell the book(s) to when the time comes.

 

I don't know if comics will or won't be a good investment in 25 yrs per se. But I do know that in 25 yrs, we will still have little boys running around on Halloween dressed as Hulk or Wolverine...We will still have cartooons of Batman and we will still have comic book collectors....and original art colllectors, who USED to be comic book colllectors...just a smaller audience.

 

over....

[Speedy-D]

A lot of good stuff in there comicartfan, but I didn't quite catch why you'd go for the comic over the OA. Was it because little kids don't get what OA is?

[adamstrange]

Easy. Unless the AF 15 cover you`re selling me turns out to be a forgery, there is only one AF 15 cover. In contrast, it`s conceivable that another 9.6 AF 15, or maybe a 9.8 copy, could appear. Not likely, but conceivable.

I would think that we are still early in uncovering and slabbing copies so I think it's pretty easy to choose the artwork, though my heart wouldn't be in it. I'm not that fond of the Kirby Spidey and I would vastly prefer to own the original story which was done first and truly defined the character.

[Speedy-D]

Easy. Unless the AF 15 cover you`re selling me turns out to be a forgery, there is only one AF 15 cover. In contrast, it`s conceivable that another 9.6 AF 15, or maybe a 9.8 copy, could appear. Not likely, but conceivable.

I would think that we are still early in uncovering and slabbing copies so I think it's pretty easy to choose the artwork, though my heart wouldn't be in it. I'm not that fond of the Kirby Spidey and I would vastly prefer to own the original story which was done first and truly defined the character.

I'd take Adam Strange over Spidey!

[MattAllen]

There's a reason the library of congress owns the art, and doesn't have a single comic book. The art is history, the book is somewhere between paper waste and nostalgic ephemera for everyone but people like us.

[comicartfan]

A lot of good stuff in there comicartfan, but I didn't quite catch why you'd go for the comic over the OA. Was it because little kids don't get what OA is?

 

thanks Dan...It's because I think the AF 15 would be more liquid over the long haul......Of course, that doesn't negate my feelings for the OA. I am mearly thinking dollars and sense (sic)

 

 

[Terry Doyle]

So you are given 1.1 million dollars on the condition that you can only buy either a high grade AF 15 comic book, or the original art to the cover of AF 15 alone, which would you choose?

 

I know. Stupid question over here on this side of the tracks, and yet we're still the red headed step child niche hobby to the slabbed comic book side of things.

 

What a world.

 

Scott

 

I'm probably in a minority here . . . perhaps a minority of one . . . but the passion of owning comic-books has long since diminished for me.

 

Nowadays, I'm quite happy to own reprint material . . . so I can actually read the stories and look at the pictorial content - rather than gaze at a front and back cover of a valuable comic-book encapsulated in plastic.

 

The thousands of comic-books I amassed (pre-1970s) were sold off years ago as my interest in collecting original artwork took off.

 

I have my artwork to study and admire.

 

I have my reprint material at hand to read and re-read (without the edginess of worrying about the handling of a valuable comic-book).

 

I'm a happy collector.

 

[CollectingFool]

I'm probably in a minority here . . . perhaps a minority of one . . . but the passion of owning comic-books has long since diminished for me.

 

Well, it's a minority of at least two then. It's neat to have the books but ever since it became more about the commodity of a plastic coffin with a 9.x number and not about the comic itself I lost almost all interest.

 

I'm sort of starting to feel the same about modern art where the pencils and inks are done separately. Just can't get excited about it. The uniqueness of a single piece that is what was published is now gone. I know, the inks technically are what was published but for me it's incomplete if the pencils weren't done on the same sheet.

 

 

[comix4fun]

I'm probably in a minority here . . . perhaps a minority of one . . . but the passion of owning comic-books has long since diminished for me.

 

Well, it's a minority of at least two then. It's neat to have the books but ever since it became more about the commodity of a plastic coffin with a 9.x number and not about the comic itself I lost almost all interest.

 

I'm sort of starting to feel the same about modern art where the pencils and inks are done separately. Just can't get excited about it. The uniqueness of a single piece that is what was published is now gone. I know, the inks technically are what was published but for me it's incomplete if the pencils weren't done on the same sheet.

 

 

 

Make it 3.

 

I still love reading some of the stories, but my taste has changed pretty dramatically over the years, but owning the books themselves lost the allure they had when I was a kid.

 

Call it innocence lost, it happens to just about everyone when they bought a book as a NM and when they went to resell it the same dealer called it a FINE. It became a shell game, like coins, like stamps, like anything else. It's what originally drove me to OA as a hobby.

 

OA is a hobby rife with its own vagabonds, sharks, and parasites but at least when a piece is unique you don't have to worry about the grade on the label being so utterly, life and death, important.

[tth2]

I'm probably in a minority here . . . perhaps a minority of one . . . but the passion of owning comic-books has long since diminished for me.

 

Well, it's a minority of at least two then. It's neat to have the books but ever since it became more about the commodity of a plastic coffin with a 9.x number and not about the comic itself I lost almost all interest.

 

I'm sort of starting to feel the same about modern art where the pencils and inks are done separately. Just can't get excited about it. The uniqueness of a single piece that is what was published is now gone. I know, the inks technically are what was published but for me it's incomplete if the pencils weren't done on the same sheet.

 

 

 

Make it 3.

 

I still love reading some of the stories, but my taste has changed pretty dramatically over the years, but owning the books themselves lost the allure they had when I was a kid.

 

Call it innocence lost, it happens to just about everyone when they bought a book as a NM and when they went to resell it the same dealer called it a FINE. It became a shell game, like coins, like stamps, like anything else. It's what originally drove me to OA as a hobby.

 

OA is a hobby rife with its own vagabonds, sharks, and parasites but at least when a piece is unique you don't have to worry about the grade on the label being so utterly, life and death, important.

I already said I would prefer the OA.

[buyatari]

There's a reason the library of congress owns the art, and doesn't have a single comic book. The art is history, the book is somewhere between paper waste and nostalgic ephemera for everyone but people like us.

 

Well that may be true, but I would guess that if the owner of this copy which sold for 1.1 mil called them up that they would consider this donation.

 

I'd take the art as well.