2013 May 16 - 17 Vintage Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction

[jjonahjameson1]

was soooo tempted to bid on the Williamson/Fraz page...

[drdroom]

We should get a chat room for these auctions, would be fun

 

Yes, a live stream of non-affiliated kibitzing in a little corner box would be hilarious and great. Anyone know how to do it?

[alxjhnsn]

Sigh, I don't bid much, but I had high hopes for the Swan Adventure 333 cover recreation. I loaded my bid and waited. For a brief moment, I thought I had it and then that last seen bid.

 

Oh, well. That leaves $ for the con circuit or Clink, but, man, that would have looked nice to my Superman.

 

 

[batman_fan]

Well it's official, I am out of the Kirby Demon splash market. Really liked the one in this auction but at that price, just can't justify it. Guess I will just have to be content with the one I have

[buttock]

There were 3 pieces I would have loved to have won, but I couldn't afford them all. All 3 ended about 10% less than I would have expected them to, including the one I won. I even won with a cut bid, IIRC. Very unusual for a Heritage auction, IMO.

[t3quila]

Underbidder on several items, I really have to up my game, I have won nothing in the last 3 auctions now

[buttock]

Underbidder on several items, I really have to up my game, I have won nothing in the last 3 auctions now

 

That just means you're a smart buyer, not a chump like me

[drdroom]

Well it's official, I am out of the Kirby Demon splash market. Really liked the one in this auction but at that price, just can't justify it. Guess I will just have to be content with the one I have

 

Yeah, that went high, even into Cap cover territory, but it was exceptionally good.

[Pete Marino]

So bummed. Only bid on 1 lot

 

I set my internet bid because I didn't think I'd make the live auction...

 

Get home from picking up the kid from daycare. Check and to my results, and it says I won!

 

Log in about 20 mins later and says I was outbid....

 

sucks...

 

But there will always be another, and it wasn't a huge page for me (or the wallet)

[delekkerste]

Someone is owning that X-Factor Cover FOREVER

 

Just add it to the growing list of what I call "white elephant" pieces in the hobby that this manic market has spawned in the past few years. These are pieces which I define as having virtually no chance of ever being able to be resold at a price that will let their owners break even after adjusting for inflation as well as accounting for any transaction costs (e.g., auction house fees). The most obvious examples would include the $657K ASM #328 cover and the $448K DKR #3 splash, though there are many other examples, both public and private, that people can point to.

 

That said, there are clearly some people in the hobby who know they're overpaying, can afford to overpay, and just don't seem to care. Of course, there are also collectors who will overpay for the privilege of owning a nice piece for a while, and then often take a hit when they re-sell.

[delekkerste]

So, I got outbid on the piece I wanted most - the Schulz Peanuts Sunday. I hadn't had any interest in ever owning one (still don't, really), but this one just grabbed me in a big way (just loved the hilarious facial expressions on young Snoopy). These Sundays had been selling fairly cheaply of late, so I thought my left bid, which was well above other recent Sunday sales, had a good shot of winning it. Unfortunately, I ended up as the underbidder...I just wasn't willing to chase something that's not firmly in my collecting wheelhouse into the $40Ks.

 

I was also the underbidder on the ASM #85 cover, which got no further bids in the live session. There's the benefit of early price discovery at work - I was outbid in the Internet session and that allowed me to refocus my attention elsewhere instead of mentally tying up a large part of my budget in a piece that I was not going to win. It was a huge benefit to know that before the live session, as it allowed me to bid more on the Perez Bats cover than I had originally intended, and that extra amount proved to be the difference between winning and losing the piece.

[malvin]

Someone is owning that X-Factor Cover FOREVER

 

Just add it to the growing list of what I call "white elephant" pieces in the hobby that this manic market has spawned in the past few years. These are pieces which I define as having virtually no chance of ever being able to be resold at a price that will let their owners break even after adjusting for inflation as well as accounting for any transaction costs (e.g., auction house fees). The most obvious examples would include the $657K ASM #328 cover and the $448K DKR #3 splash, though there are many other examples, both public and private, that people can point to.

 

That said, there are clearly some people in the hobby who know they're overpaying, can afford to overpay, and just don't seem to care. Of course, there are also collectors who will overpay for the privilege of owning a nice piece for a while, and then often take a hit when they re-sell.

 

At least for the examples cited, there was an underbidder, so the price the winner was willing to pay wasn't an order of magnitude greater than everyone else. Of course the underbidder might not be willing to pay their top bid if approached today (and using your example, even if they did it wouldn't cover inflation and transaction costs)

 

I too sometimes overpay, because I recognize that sometimes you need to do that in order to convince the previous owner to part with something. Of course when I do that, it's only a few hundred max, not thousands and thousands!

 

Malvin

 

 

 

 

[pinupcartoonguy]

Amazing--it wasn't that long ago when 1950s Peanuts Sundays were going for double that . . .

 

So, I got outbid on the piece I wanted most - the Schulz Peanuts Sunday. I hadn't had any interest in ever owning one (still don't, really), but this one just grabbed me in a big way (just loved the hilarious facial expressions on young Snoopy). These Sundays had been selling fairly cheaply of late, so I thought my left bid, which was well above other recent Sunday sales, had a good shot of winning it. Unfortunately, I ended up as the underbidder...I just wasn't willing to chase something that's not firmly in my collecting wheelhouse into the $40Ks.

 

I was also the underbidder on the ASM #85 cover, which got no further bids in the live session. There's the benefit of early price discovery at work - I was outbid in the Internet session and that allowed me to refocus my attention elsewhere instead of mentally tying up a large part of my budget in a piece that I was not going to win. It was a huge benefit to know that before the live session, as it allowed me to bid more on the Perez Bats cover than I had originally intended, and that extra amount proved to be the difference between winning and losing the piece.

[delekkerste]

Amazing--it wasn't that long ago when 1950s Peanuts Sundays were going for double that . . .

 

Yeah...and now most Peanuts Sundays go for less than that X-Factor #1 cover. There has been a sea change in relative valuation in the hobby - Marvel art has done better and has become relatively more expensive than everything else. It wasn't long ago that the ratio of the price of a 1950s Peanuts Sunday to something like an X-Factor #1 cover was maybe 5 to 1 in price. Now it's almost down to 1:1. I appreciate all quality art - why wouldn't I be more interested in the Peanuts Sunday at current relative valuations?

 

I paid a healthy price for the Perez Bats #441 cover in this sale - but what would that get me in high-end Marvel art? Less than half the X-Factor #1 cover? I've been publicly seeking a Kirby/Sinnott FF example - but $54K for a 9-panel page from #57? Really? I've also been very publicly and openly looking for a great Byrne X-Men Wolverine example - I love the first two panels of the #113 page in this sale, but really didn't care for the rest of the page (not that it's bad, just that it's not the content that I thought would justify the egregious price tag - and I know several people who have concurred with me on that behind the scenes). Would I pay $30K for a page where I really only love the first two panels? It just seems to me like imperfect pieces are being priced for perfection, so much so that it's driven a Marvel guy like me into looking more at things like DC art and strip art to find value. :doh:

[tth2]

Good grief, what's so special about this GL #84 page that it should fetch $22,705??

Are you being serious or are you just being sardonic in your disdain of pre-Copper art?

 

This is Neal Adams, one of the titans of comic book art, and a really nice page from his legendary GL run. Very few Adams pages from his GL, X-Men or Batman runs ever come up in the open market.

 

I also see the Barks Uncle Scrooge page almost reached $20K.

 

In a market where so much mediocre routinely goes for $10K+, it`s nice to see some genuinely quality work going for decent amounts.

[tth2]

No kidding! To this day I still don't "get" Jim Lee. To me that's not a great cover at all. But, lots of people seem to like his art.

Really? I like Jim Lee a lot (as do lots of other fanboys from the late 1980s who made him part of the Late 80s Marvel Holy Triumvirate).

[jbud73]

Good grief, what's so special about this GL #84 page that it should fetch $22,705??

Are you being serious or are you just being sardonic in your disdain of pre-Copper art?

 

This is Neal Adams, one of the titans of comic book art, and a really nice page from his legendary GL run. Very few Adams pages from his GL, X-Men or Batman runs ever come up in the open market.

 

I also see the Barks Uncle Scrooge page almost reached $20K.

 

In a market where so much mediocre routinely goes for $10K+, it`s nice to see some genuinely quality work going for decent amounts.

 

I will concur with Tim here, this is a fabulous example from Neal Adams peak period on a now iconic run. I think of it in these terms (though the 2 examples in this auction went for much less than recent examples) I would rather have this piece everyday of the week than a McSpidey splash at 20K.

 

Of course if I'm plopping 5 figures on a Neal Adams interior piece its gonna have Batman in it

[delekkerste]

Are you being serious or are you just being sardonic in your disdain of pre-Copper art?

 

Disdain of pre-Copper art? Have you seen my collection? Just off the cuff I'd guess that the majority of it is Bronze or older. :doh: And I love Neal Adams art from the '60s and '70s. One day I will find that X-Men, GL or Bats page that I want to buy as my singular example of his work from that era.

 

Anyway, I'm questioning the price, not the art, just like I questioned AAPL's stock price at $705/share, not the company itself. I never said it wasn't a nice page, though the full body figure looks a little weird to me...not sure if the anatomy is off or if the pose just makes GL look a bit...flamboyant shall we say. Yeah, the Wrightson inks are gorgeous...but I think the content is more consistent with a mid-teens price tag than something closer to mid-$20Ks. And that's all I'm saying.

[delekkerste]

Of course if I'm plopping 5 figures on a Neal Adams interior piece its gonna have Batman in it

 

Well, and that.

 

I guess people are also so jaded by this market that $20 and $30-something thousand dollar price tags for interior pages are these days. I guess I just expect more from panel pages that carry these kinds of price tags than other people do.

[tth2]

Are you being serious or are you just being sardonic in your disdain of pre-Copper art?

 

Disdain of pre-Copper art? Have you seen my collection? Just off the cuff I'd guess that the majority of it is Bronze or older. :doh:

I guess I will always associate you with Copper art because of GI Joe.