Heritage 2013 February 21-23 Vintage Comics & Comic Art Auction

[comix4fun]

are there any that WONT break 10K? or 20K?

 

I'd be extremely surprised if #11 broke $10K

 

 

That's the recreation that was created after the original was lost, right?

[lb jefferies]

Yup

[AKA Rick]

Aside from the heavy hitters in the auction, I've noticed a few newer names in art emerging as auctionable items for sale that I'm curious to see, given the high profile nature of HA, how they'll perform.

 

Much like how HA practically established benchmarks for both Frank Miller and Todd McFarlane art by commanding high values/sales prices for the seller and attracting the right buyers, I'm curious to see how the following perform:

 

92025 - Joe Simon recreation - if this does extremely well, we might see other known established artists creating high quality cover commissions and reproductions.

 

92045 / 92046 - Mark Bagley - has he a strong enough fan following to surpass that $3k cover price range and even go beyond the $5k mark?

 

92050 / 92126 / 93339 - J. Scott Campbell - is he the next Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane whose material can break the $10k range?

 

92086 / 92087 / 92088 - Paul Ryan - will cover art of major characters from the 90's by lesser known artists command top dollar, as what seems to have happened with the Bronze Age?

 

92104 - Ed Benes - has he reached that upper echelon within the hobby as I think David Finch recently has, to command top dollar, so a piece like this, I think his dealer sold for between $5-8k, and the question is, will it sell as a loss, around $3k, at breakeven around $5k, have the seller potentially see profit at over $6k, or astonish the hobby by going over $10k.

 

92115 - Bob Brown Daredevil #132 2nd App of Bullseye - just like in sports cards where the rookie cards are valuable, but the 2nd year cards drop off tremendously, I wonder if 1st Appearances are either unavailable or outpriced, so collectors may clamor to the 2nd Appearance and consider that key "grail-worthy" artwork

 

92130 / 92131 - John Cassaday - I think his dealer was charging in the $3-5k range for Astonishing X-Men covers years ago when they were released, so I'd be curious to see if there is any demand given Cassaday isn't as high profile (yet, Whedon has surged within the hobby for his work on The Avengers) and it's sort of relative freshness (not aged that long) today.

 

92135 / 92136 / 92137 / 92138 - Frank Cho - is his art comparable to Adam Hughes, higher or lower?

 

92223 / 92224 - Steve McNiven - Civil War - is McNiven's art highly sought after and does the Civil War storyline, only less than 5 years old, resonate with fans as an epic arc, or just another Marvel made-up gimmick like the crossover stuff they're continually turning out today.

 

92262 - Werner Roth X-Men - is silver age X-Men, even 'tho by a less popular artist, strong enough to go shoulder to shoulder in value to it's peer titles like FF, Avengers, Spider-Man, despite not having Kirby, Buscema, or Romita as the artist? In other words, will a title / characters strength be strong enough to compensate for the lack of a key artist?

 

92280-92289 - Dave Sim - is this independent artist's work rare and highly sought after, 30 years upon the peak of his popularity? Does nostalgia kick in and can these be the hidden gem collectibles fans were waiting to get their hands on?

 

I would figure in a down economy and market, not all collectors can pay $10k+ for art let alone $100k+, so with these more mid-level or emerging pieces, will there be demand?

 

It seems like there's a certain amount of art being sold possibly premature to the peaking of their potential value, maybe out of lack of interest, financial distress, to raise funds to upgrade, or what have you, but I'm seeing a lot more art available that was purchased within the last 5 years, and I think some collector's are taking substantial losses or are willing to take losses on fairly decent pieces.

 

 

 

 

[suspense39]

 

 

92262 - Werner Roth X-Men - is silver age X-Men, even 'tho by a less popular artist, strong enough to go shoulder to shoulder in value to it's peer titles like FF, Avengers, Spider-Man, despite not having Kirby, Buscema, or Romita as the artist? In other words, will a title / characters strength be strong enough to compensate for the lack of a key artist?

I'm curious about that as well, i think silver age heroes will always be in fairly high demand, but how much someone will pay with out having a primary artist....who knows. they have definitely been going up but so has pretty much everything

 

 

here's a roth x-men splash from comicconnect

 

http://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?id=481842

[Bronty]

interesting questions all even if I think the answer to most of them is no. My takes...

 

 

92025 - Joe Simon recreation - if this does extremely well cant see it esp since its a 911 reimagining

 

92045 / 92046 - Mark Bagley - has he a strong enough fan following to surpass that $3k cover price range and even go beyond the $5k mark? maybe 92045 has a shot given its an asm cover and with punisher content, but I can't see the new warriors cover doing much

 

92050 / 92126 / 93339 - J. Scott Campbell - is he the next Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane whose material can break the $10k range? got a bit of a shot I guess but I don't see it on these pieces. Need more oomph to make it happen IMO

 

92086 / 92087 / 92088 - Paul Ryan - will cover art of major characters from the 90's by lesser known artists command top dollar, as what seems to have happened with the Bronze Age? yeah I think these might go for good money relative to past history

 

92104 - Ed Benes - has he reached that upper echelon within the hobby as I think David Finch recently has, to command top dollar, so a piece like this, I think his dealer sold for between $5-8k, and the question is, will it sell as a loss, around $3k, at breakeven around $5k, have the seller potentially see profit at over $6k, or astonish the hobby by going over $10k. I'd guess loss on this one

 

92115 - Bob Brown Daredevil #132 2nd App of Bullseye - just like in sports cards where the rookie cards are valuable, but the 2nd year cards drop off tremendously, I wonder if 1st Appearances are either unavailable or outpriced, so collectors may clamor to the 2nd Appearance and consider that key "grail-worthy" artwork I don't see the usual trend reversing soon

 

92130 / 92131 - John Cassaday - I think his dealer was charging in the $3-5k range for Astonishing X-Men covers years ago when they were released, so I'd be curious to see if there is any demand given Cassaday isn't as high profile (yet, Whedon has surged within the hobby for his work on The Avengers) and it's sort of relative freshness (not aged that long) today. don't know him as well but will guess loss

 

92135 / 92136 / 92137 / 92138 - Frank Cho - is his art comparable to Adam Hughes, higher or lower? bit lower I'd say

 

92223 / 92224 - Steve McNiven - Civil War - is McNiven's art highly sought after and does the Civil War storyline, only less than 5 years old, resonate with fans as an epic arc, or just another Marvel made-up gimmick like the crossover stuff they're continually turning out today. not sure

 

92262 - Werner Roth X-Men - is silver age X-Men, even 'tho by a less popular artist, strong enough to go shoulder to shoulder in value to it's peer titles like FF, Avengers, Spider-Man, despite not having Kirby, Buscema, or Romita as the artist? In other words, will a title / characters strength be strong enough to compensate for the lack of a key artist? Definite no IMHO

 

92280-92289 - Dave Sim - is this independent artist's work rare and highly sought after, 30 years upon the peak of his popularity? Does nostalgia kick in and can these be the hidden gem collectibles fans were waiting to get their hands on? I'd say the cerebus market is pretty stable and unlikely to see a big swing up or down

 

 

 

[Bird]

With McNiven you can get average pages for $100-$200. Sundays Heritage auction had 2 McNiven Civil War pages, one went for $125 and the other $200, both before vig. With Steve McNiven I think only the best pieces fetch more than a few hundred dollars, with the possible exception of Old Man Logan.

 

 

[chrisco37]

Why do OA types put in big bids so early?

 

Why around with the creeping increments? As Gene said, alot of stuff out there has a rough value.

 

Here's a little anecdote (on a much smaller scale, of course)....years ago, at Bmore Con, John Romita did two full figure originals (pencils & inks) at the show for HERO (might have still been CBDLF) at the time. One was Spidey and one was MJ.

 

So they had a little auction for each. I think they were auctioning the MJ off first. I think they started the bidding at $10 or something absurdly low. First guy bids $15, next guy $20, next guy $25....I'm not really looking to bid, but was interested to see what it ulitmately would go for....$30, $35...I get tired of waiting and call out $200 or $250...everyone looks at me like I'm crazy. It finally sold for $550 or $600.

 

Why bid small increments on say, the Watchmen #1 cover? Why even bother with a $500 "tracking bid"? If the current bid is $6K and you want it, what's the point of putting in a $7K bid? You know you're not going to "steal" it at that price.

 

I'm not saying show your whole hand off the top. But, why not just bid 10K at that point?

[Doc Joe]

its always good to do tracking bids EARLY of course, I have had tracking bids late that become Winning bids!

[suspense39]

i think also that there is not a price guide for OA, so there is more of a feeling out process in terms of bidding and assessing current prices. Its much more of a developing market than comics.For the most part comics are going to sell about the same every time unless there is a pristine example.

[Nexus]

are there any that WONT break 10K? or 20K?

 

I'd be extremely surprised if #11 broke $10K

 

I agree that it shouldn't sell for $10K or more (it's definitely not worth that to me). But I wouldn't be surprised if it did, especially if the preceding ones go for multiples of that. I would compare the cost to the value of a good page, but others may compare the cost to what the other covers sell for. And then $10K may seem relatively "cheap". Even for a recreated cover (since it's the only one that now exists).

 

But I do wonder how meaningful these covers are to the vast majority of WM readers, who read the work in collected format. Those of us who bought the books off the stands remember the covers (and even then, not necessarily positively)...for everyone else who has read it since in TPB, the covers represent chapter breaks. Or they may be looked at as no better than interiors, like the rest of the pages. I'm a fan of the covers (and think they present well as a set), but objectively, not sure if they (outside of #1) will register as much as a good page for new readers.

[Bird]

For some reason I have really targeted this auction. 2 pieces I am dead set on going hard for are still reasonable, with one still under $100 and the other not far from where I value it and 50% of where I will go for it. But the piece I moved money to go after is still under $2K so that is good. Even though that really means nothing until Saturday.

[Bronty]

I've got one I plan to win as well... good luck all!

[Rodey]

You guys better not be bidding on my new warriors stuff!

[Bronty]

only punishment bids

[drdroom]

I'm still sorting my priorities. The one I was totally focused on for a month is now seeming less important than two others. Do you think artists with names in the later part of the alphabet command lower prices because some bidders have tapped out already? Heritage should do one of these in reverse order sometime, and see if the market for Mike Zeck blows up.

[Bronty]

funny thought!

[lb jefferies]

ASM 121 up to roughly 200K already. Interesting.

 

Just jumped to $240K

[Talapas]

You guys better not be bidding on my new warriors stuff!

 

I like the cover that is listed, but not financially in position to go after it this time.

 

How much new warrior stuff do you have?

[comiconxion]

Heritage should do one of these in reverse order sometime, and see if the market for Mike Zeck blows up.

 

I do think this does happen sometimes. Being a big Zeck collector, I have benefitted from this. A few years back, there were some Zeck pieces that went for a song - I think becuase they were at the end of the auction and many people had tuned out. The other alternative could be to do it by title. Then, would X-Men art suffer?

[Bronty]

well clink does it by title, so there would actually be some comparison points to draw from...