First Wolverine Page sells for $657,000!

[delekkerste]

I would certainly put grail status on it

.

 

I suspected that this was going to be a two horse race - I suppose congratulations are in order, Tom?

[delekkerste]

Eventually, the museums will wake up and look to acquire these from collectors who pass.

 

Nah. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? All the exhibitions to date have had pieces borrowed from collectors, while those few institutions with "permanent" holdings have gotten them through donated art. I think this virtually zero chance that we will ever be competing with museums at auction for OA in any meaningful fashion.

[heartened]

!

 

 

I think on a separate note, for this piece a fun question would be...

 

"If you could have this Hulk 180 page, but never the ability to ever trade or sell it, but just own it, would you rather have..." :

 

A) The Hulk #180 1st Wolverine page original art (with no prospects of profiteering off of it)

 

B) A free home, valued at $500,000 paid for, so you never fret about mortgage nor rent, can even use it as investment or rental property, but are responsible for property taxes and upkeep of course.

 

C) $300,000 in cash to spend on whatever you want whenever you want

 

Or

 

D) To meet a true romantic soulmate and life partner who loves you with equal passion (this option may be less desirable for those who are already in happy relationships, but based on going to comic conventions, this seemed like an option worth throwing out there to those whore are married n' miserable or the socially akward single folks desiring love)

 

 

 

I'll take "E", a classic Silver Age cover everyone knows, recognizes and loves. For example, ASM 50. A display piece, to boot.

 

Technically "E" would be "C" and you can use the $300,000 to buy a silver age cover

 

Nope, in that case "C" would have to be 657K to do as you please, as the ASM 50 (up until this sale) cost more than 300K.

 

[heartened]

Eventually, the museums will wake up and look to acquire these from collectors who pass.

 

Nah. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? All the exhibitions to date have had pieces borrowed from collectors, while those few institutions with "permanent" holdings have gotten them through donated art. I think this virtually zero chance that we will ever be competing with museums at auction for OA in any meaningful fashion.

 

You missed my point, I meant "pass away".

 

[delekkerste]

You missed my point, I meant "pass away".

 

Ah, OK, that makes more sense.

[Mephisto]

The odd thing to me is I have never, ever, heard anyone say that the last page of Hulk 180 was their grail. I don't recall anyone in all the CAF interviews done saying this was one of the top 5 pieces they coveted. This piece, as historical as it may be, if an afterthought to most all OA collectors. Do they want it when they see it? Yes,of course. But it is no one's true grail as far as I can tell. No one's!

 

In certain terms it is not so odd...

 

One of the rules of savvy negotiation is to not show your cards.

 

I think whoever is buying a high profile pice would want to temper the marketplace and show as little interest and draw the least amount of attention so to avoid the prices climbing on hype.

 

It's counter productive to get excited and publicly fall in love with anything you are buying in front of the seller or in this case the competition. It goes by the adage "you have more to lose than to gain" when it comes to talking aloud of your intentions when dealing with purchase like this. It's the very reason why people wait until the end to bid or "snipe" as they say with timed auctions and fly underneath the radar.

 

The term "grail" is an overused and subjective term nonetheless, as it means different things to different people. If you polled every collector, without leading context but only the question "What 10 pieces of art would you consider to be the grains of the hobby?" you would not get majority consensus agreement. There's too many fractions. Some love golden age, silver age or even just modern age. Some hate Kirby, Ditko and Romita but love Campbell, Turner, McFarlane and Lee, while there are fans of Miller, Byrne and Adams. Some love DC and Batman, where others love Marvel and Spider-Man. Some will name pieces based on legacy and state what they think others want to hear, where others will name what is important to them personally.

 

I think on a separate note, for this piece a fun question would be...

 

"If you could have this Hulk 180 page, but never the ability to ever trade or sell it, but just own it, would you rather have..." :

 

A) The Hulk #180 1st Wolverine page original art (with no prospects of profiteering off of it)

 

B) A free home, valued at $500,000 paid for, so you never fret about mortgage nor rent, can even use it as investment or rental property, but are responsible for property taxes and upkeep of course.

 

C) $300,000 in cash to spend on whatever you want whenever you want

 

Or

 

D) To meet a true romantic soulmate and life partner who loves you with equal passion (this option may be less desirable for those who are already in happy relationships, but based on going to comic conventions, this seemed like an option worth throwing out there to those whore are married n' miserable or the socially akward single folks desiring love)

 

 

 

I love Wolverine but I will go with C. I recently took a much higher paying job but have to commute an hour. I'd pay off my student loans and buy a place closer to work. A $500,000 home in the area close to where I work would be way more space than I want. The left over money could be used to buy a good portion left on my small want list (It's a pretty small list). Maybe a sappy younger version of me would have picked D some years back but not now.

[Peter G]

657k is the magic number this weekend

 

https://tv.yahoo.com/news/early-george-harrison-guitar-fetches-657-000-beatles-033547085.html

[COMICKINGS]

Anyone know who the buyer was? I wonder if it's an artist.

I thought for sure it must be (choose one):

 

Hugh Jackman

Eminem

Kobe Bryant

Kirk Hammett

Stephen Spielberg

George Lucas

Samuel Jackson

Leo DiCaprio

Bill Gates

Paul Allen

Mark Zuckerberg

Steve Jobs

 

One of those will be the next person to buy it...when it's over a million.

 

This piece is so iconic it's above grail status. Congrats to the temporary owner!

[sofistocat]

Anyone know who the buyer was? I wonder if it's an artist.

I thought for sure it must be (choose one):

 

Hugh Jackman

Eminem

Kobe Bryant

Kirk Hammett

Stephen Spielberg

George Lucas

Samuel Jackson

Leo DiCaprio

Bill Gates

Paul Allen

Mark Zuckerberg

Steve Jobs

 

I say Jackman. Pretty sure Jobs isn't coming back from the grave for this one... Though maybe Apple dropped all the lawsuits with Google to finance this page

 

[inovrmihd]

So, how many first appearances of Wolverine does it take to buy a statue of Popeye?

 

I think current buyers are looking at a whole different world of comps.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631881/Steve-Wynn-purchases-Jeff-Koons-Popeye-statue-nearly-28-2million.html

[heartened]

So, how many first appearances of Wolverine does it take to buy a statue of Popeye?

 

I think current buyers are looking at a whole different world of comps.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631881/Steve-Wynn-purchases-Jeff-Koons-Popeye-statue-nearly-28-2million.html

 

This is why I think there's so much room for growth in this hobby. Just because prices seem high to us, does not make them so in the grander scheme. To be sure, I'm not looking forward to this, as I in some ways long for the "old days" when we could get all this stuff for "reasonable" amounts, but I think it's inevitable.

[tth2]

So, how many first appearances of Wolverine does it take to buy a statue of Popeye?

 

I think current buyers are looking at a whole different world of comps.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631881/Steve-Wynn-purchases-Jeff-Koons-Popeye-statue-nearly-28-2million.html

 

This is why I think there's so much room for growth in this hobby. Just because prices seem high to us, does not make them so in the grander scheme. To be sure, I'm not looking forward to this, as I in some ways long for the "old days" when we could get all this stuff for "reasonable" amounts, but I think it's inevitable.

Apples and oranges, or maybe more like diamonds and oranges.

 

Whatever you may personally think of Koons, his work is considered to be "high art" by the cognoscenti. Comic art will never be considered to be "high art" because by definition it was made for commercial purposes, and therefore will never be considered pure enough for the big moneyed art collectors to even contemplate for a nano-second.

 

If the Hulk 180 page ever goes for $28 million, that will mean that Koons' pieces will be going for around $500 million.

[heartened]

So, how many first appearances of Wolverine does it take to buy a statue of Popeye?

 

I think current buyers are looking at a whole different world of comps.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631881/Steve-Wynn-purchases-Jeff-Koons-Popeye-statue-nearly-28-2million.html

 

This is why I think there's so much room for growth in this hobby. Just because prices seem high to us, does not make them so in the grander scheme. To be sure, I'm not looking forward to this, as I in some ways long for the "old days" when we could get all this stuff for "reasonable" amounts, but I think it's inevitable.

Apples and oranges, or maybe more like diamonds and oranges.

 

Whatever you may personally think of Koons, his work is considered to be "high art" by the cognoscenti. Comic art will never be considered to be "high art" because by definition it was made for commercial purposes, and therefore will never be considered pure enough for the big moneyed art collectors to even contemplate for a nano-second.

 

If the Hulk 180 page ever goes for $28 million, that will mean that Koons' pieces will be going for around $500 million.

 

I'm glad we settled that.

 

[tth2]

So, how many first appearances of Wolverine does it take to buy a statue of Popeye?

 

I think current buyers are looking at a whole different world of comps.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631881/Steve-Wynn-purchases-Jeff-Koons-Popeye-statue-nearly-28-2million.html

 

This is why I think there's so much room for growth in this hobby. Just because prices seem high to us, does not make them so in the grander scheme. To be sure, I'm not looking forward to this, as I in some ways long for the "old days" when we could get all this stuff for "reasonable" amounts, but I think it's inevitable.

Apples and oranges, or maybe more like diamonds and oranges.

 

Whatever you may personally think of Koons, his work is considered to be "high art" by the cognoscenti. Comic art will never be considered to be "high art" because by definition it was made for commercial purposes, and therefore will never be considered pure enough for the big moneyed art collectors to even contemplate for a nano-second.

 

If the Hulk 180 page ever goes for $28 million, that will mean that Koons' pieces will be going for around $500 million.

 

I'm glad we settled that.

I've decided to adopt the Gene Park method of speaking with absolute certainty on all things. It's very liberating!

 

Just to clarify, I'm not a fan of Koons AT ALL. If he was creating his art in the early 1960s, I might give him some credit for being part of the pop art movement. But given that he's been operating decades later, his work is not ironic or insightful in any way--it's just hopelessly derivative.

 

It's also a great example that not only is the "high art" crowd afraid to admit that the emperor is wearing no clothes, but as long as they all convince themselves that he IS wearing clothes, then for all intents and purposes he IS fully clothed. And that the delusions of the wealthy and powerful are a hard thing to overcome.

[PurpleZeke]

Love original art work for sure and hope to acquire more going forward. Got hooked a few years back picking up a couple pages from Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #1 at Heroes Con!

 

[drdroom]

So, how many first appearances of Wolverine does it take to buy a statue of Popeye?

 

I think current buyers are looking at a whole different world of comps.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631881/Steve-Wynn-purchases-Jeff-Koons-Popeye-statue-nearly-28-2million.html

 

This is why I think there's so much room for growth in this hobby. Just because prices seem high to us, does not make them so in the grander scheme. To be sure, I'm not looking forward to this, as I in some ways long for the "old days" when we could get all this stuff for "reasonable" amounts, but I think it's inevitable.

Apples and oranges, or maybe more like diamonds and oranges.

 

Whatever you may personally think of Koons, his work is considered to be "high art" by the cognoscenti. Comic art will never be considered to be "high art" because by definition it was made for commercial purposes, and therefore will never be considered pure enough for the big moneyed art collectors to even contemplate for a nano-second.

 

If the Hulk 180 page ever goes for $28 million, that will mean that Koons' pieces will be going for around $500 million.

 

I'm glad we settled that.

I've decided to adopt the Gene Park method of speaking with absolute certainty on all things. It's very liberating!

 

Just to clarify, I'm not a fan of Koons AT ALL. If he was creating his art in the early 1960s, I might give him some credit for being part of the pop art movement. But given that he's been operating decades later, his work is not ironic or insightful in any way--it's just hopelessly derivative.

 

It's also a great example that not only is the "high art" crowd afraid to admit that the emperor is wearing no clothes, but as long as they all convince themselves that he IS wearing clothes, then for all intents and purposes he IS fully clothed. And that the delusions of the wealthy and powerful are a hard thing to overcome.

 

This is absolutely right. It's almost a sort of Schrodinger's box situation in which the authentic value/ utter fraudulence of Koon's work exists in a binary state until the box is opened; i.e. the money goes elsewhere. I wouldn't be too quick to throw rocks at those insufficiently_thoughtful_person high art collectors, though, looking at some of the relative valuations in our little pond...

[Kevin76]

Eventually, the museums will wake up and look to acquire these from collectors who pass.

 

Nah. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? All the exhibitions to date have had pieces borrowed from collectors, while those few institutions with "permanent" holdings have gotten them through donated art. I think this virtually zero chance that we will ever be competing with museums at auction for OA in any meaningful fashion.

 

You missed my point, I meant "pass away".

 

Even I know what you meant

[Dan.Adrians]

Congrats to the owner, it's a great piece.

[delekkerste]

This is why I think there's so much room for growth in this hobby. Just because prices seem high to us, does not make them so in the grander scheme. To be sure, I'm not looking forward to this, as I in some ways long for the "old days" when we could get all this stuff for "reasonable" amounts, but I think it's inevitable.

 

Where arguments like this break down for me is that no one in the hobby was willing to pay more than $657.2K for the Hulk #180 page. So, even if that seems "cheap" compared to a $28 million Koons, no one in this hobby has both the financial firepower and the willingness to pay more than $657.2K. And, I bet that the buyer of the Hulk #180 page will have to stretch more financially than the buyer of the Koons Popeye. They're just different markets, with different levels of price potential.

 

Whether either market has reached its price potential is certainly open to debate; both markets continue to surprise on the upside to be sure. But, I think that comparing anything to top-end contemporary art is an exercise in futility, as that market makes everything else in the world look cheap by comparison, no matter how overpriced that item may be on its own merits.

[suspense39]

I would also add that you are not just buying a Koons but all that comes with it, the status of being part of an elite group etc.