Coollines looking for a sucker?

[zhamlau]

dont think your seeing the best. I once asked them about New Mutant covers...they pulled out the covers to 2 and 3 , having never put them online and only showing one of them once in a CBG listing (for like 3x market price at the time).

 

I think you dont see all they have. To be fair, it might just be the most expensive when you add up all the 1k-5k pages (actual market) they have. Regardless, its insane.

[comix4fun]

dont think your seeing the best. I once asked them about New Mutant covers...they pulled out the covers to 2 and 3 , having never put them online and only showing one of them once in a CBG listing (for like 3x market price at the time).

 

I think you dont see all they have. To be fair, it might just be the most expensive when you add up all the 1k-5k pages (actual market) they have. Regardless, its insane.

 

 

 

 

Oh I know we aren't seeing it all, but the quality just doesn't match unless they are hiding AF 15 or Action 1 covers...I just don't think their collection trumps collections that include (in the same collection) Giant Size X-men 1, Silver Surfer 1, DD 181, multiple Ditko Spider-man covers, Iron Man 1, Star Wars 1, and thousands more.

 

Over the years seen personal collections that have over a dozen Adams Batman covers, guys with complete Ditko ASM books.....just the craziest stuff....all A+. There are 10-12 guys that , if they sold their top 25 pieces, could buy an island an have enough left over to build a runway for their new gulfstream and still not feel the pinch.

 

We might be talking about different things. I was going for private collections filled with A+ stuff. I have no doubt Los Bros Donnelly have many people beat in sheer weight and number of middle ground pieces.

[zhamlau]

Yeah, thats a strong point actually. Its a mountain of great great stuff, and some epic elites...but does quantity of awesome good stuff and the range it covers, surpass a collection of like 10 amazing instantly recognized pieces?

 

When life happens and that unreal massive pile of stuff (more pre 1990 than any other collector by a mile, i would assume?) comes to market, the effect on prices should be telling.

[comix4fun]

Can you imagine if Coollines stuff came to auction with no reserve? They'd see an 80% devaluation of their (self-valued) portfolio.

 

I can only hope they walk away and don't look back as the auctions finish. For their own sake.

[theflashunc]

I tend to view anything they own as lost in a fire. Makes it easier, as they've got a few Paul Ryan FF examples I'd be interested in, but not at their Looney Tunes prices.

[comix4fun]

I tend to view anything they own as lost in a fire. Makes it easier, as they've got a few Paul Ryan FF examples I'd be interested in, but not at their Looney Tunes prices.

 

 

That's my stance too!

 

 

Been using the "lost in a fire" philosophy with them (and a couple others) for a good 15 years now.

 

It makes everything easier if it's just not an option.

[Hekla]

I've often wondered this about them; how much indirect influence do they have on market prices? I know they only buy a small percentage of what's being sold, but numerous times, pieces I bid on and lost ended up on their site. Do they purchase enough to move the needle when it comes to overall supply? or to put it another way, how much more saturated would the market be if they stopped purchasing pieces today?

[Hekla]

Looney Tunes prices.

 

Several years ago I inquired about a Kirby Destroyer Duck cover (don't judge)... when I got the quote from them I had to double check my request email to make sure I didn't type FF or Captain America by mistake... it was a crazy price

[rrichards]

Everybody has a similar story.

I've been interested in those large art Heck Antman pages that they list on EBay. I asked one brother at a convention about them and he said they belonged to his brother .

Next I tossed in a reasonable "or best offer " via eBay and they came back with "those eBay prices have to be updated ,here's the real price"which was about $800 more than listed. A week later that listed price doubled again.

 

I'm still looking for those Large art Heck Antman pages but they seem to have the only ones available.

If anybody else has large art Heck to sell ,please let me know.

[mister_not_so_nice]

All of these smart, well informed OA buyers still patronizing coollines

[JadeGiant]

Ive dealt with them before, back when they were San Mateo. It was always the same game, id talk to one and he would have to ask his brother since "it was his". I like Rich better than Steve, he seems to have become the public face now.

 

In the end, they probably have the nicest private collection in the world between them, and they got their by buying up art from the artists after beating down on price, then charging 3-5x market and doing that till they sold enough to pay for the rest of their buys (along with turning every sketch and 1/2 finished layout into "alternate covers" and passing them off on collectors who dont know any better). .

 

I think you have to treat them and their pieces like they are lost at sea, if its in their hands its beyond time/space/reason and should be written off.

 

 

 

I have no doubt they have a metric ton of artwork....but the best?....Given just what I've seen in a small circle of friends I doubt what they have hits the top ten in terms of number of A+ pieces.

 

Agreed

[JadeGiant]

They have a lot of stuff I would like to have at FMV. I reached out to them a couple times many years ago to inquire about pages. After reviewing the prices and mulling a purchase, I responded to start the conversation back up and EVERY piece I had inquired about had increased in price significantly. At that point I wrote them off as won’t deal with people with unscrupulous business practices (plus, I didn’t need the art as much as they were hoping I did).

Even as my buying habits have increased, I still won’t even open their web site. I have also (subconsciously I think) learned to train my eye to quickly move past their CAF listings (and re-listings to make sure they are near the top when other similar pieces are listed from other sellers). It’s almost like I don’t even see them (it’s easy to see their listing quickly due to the “inquire” in the price line).

They did get me on eBay recently as I saw the thumbnail of a piece on my phone and could not see the eBay ID and did not recognize the art as being theirs. I opened it and looked over the art and thought to myself “This looks kind of like a piece where CL adds stuff to a piece to make it look like something it isn’t” … sure enough it was them. I literally laughed out loud.

 

My advice to new collectors (or those unaware of CL) is to avoid. If you do want to consider a purchase, decide going into the inquiry where the price you are willing to pay resides. If they give you a price you can live with (a rare case), you have to buy it on the spot as any time between inquires will surely see a price jump (and multiple jumps if you inquire multiple times).

 

I have gone from very intrigued in their artwork (early in my collecting days), to very frustrated/angry in them as a “business” (mid way in collecting), to very amused in all the CL stories (currently).

 

[NinjaSealed]

I was lucky enough to put them into my do not bother with category based on others thoughts on them but eventually I requested a few prices just to see what it was like.

For some reason everything has an extra 0 on the end. It was craziness.

[cloud cloddie]

I had a transaction with Steve at the beginning of the year. I'd never dealt with them, so figured I'd inquire on some pieces. I got quotes on about 20 pieces. Many of them were wildly overpriced, but 4 that I was most interested in were actually market range, and cheaper than what other dealers and boardies offered to sell me stuff at. For some of my pieces for trade, I said what I was willing to take for them and he was fine with it. I sent my art/cash out, got the pieces I wanted. Took about 3 weeks from start to finish.

 

I was honestly amazed, because reading all the threads over the years I expected complete nonsense. It was smooth and surprisingly fair, and we left it at I'd hit him up down the road for some other pieces.

 

Fast forward 4 months to last month. Emailed again inquiring on some pages. Everything was now 2-3 times what it was in January, and my pieces for trade were now apparently worth half of what they were. We emailed back and forth for a week or two to try to find a trade within the realm of reason, but I guess he got bored and stopped replying.

 

Almost every seller I've ever dealt with gets better with multiple purchases and usually offers incentives or discounts. His tactic was the exact opposite. Maybe he had sellers remorse that I wasn't completely fleeced from the first transaction. Who knows.

 

I'm extremely happy with the pieces I got, but I can't see myself ever inquiring about art again from them.

[Terry Doyle]

By Jove, I WILL write a Coollines/Donnelly Brothers Q&A so we can have a standard answer to this topic.

 

Anyone want to offer up some common questions?

 

How about:

 

"Is Richard Rae employed as a copy writer for Coollines?"

 

I think . . .

[comix4fun]

I had a transaction with Steve at the beginning of the year. I'd never dealt with them, so figured I'd inquire on some pieces. I got quotes on about 20 pieces. Many of them were wildly overpriced, but 4 that I was most interested in were actually market range, and cheaper than what other dealers and boardies offered to sell me stuff at. For some of my pieces for trade, I said what I was willing to take for them and he was fine with it. I sent my art/cash out, got the pieces I wanted. Took about 3 weeks from start to finish.

 

I was honestly amazed, because reading all the threads over the years I expected complete nonsense. It was smooth and surprisingly fair, and we left it at I'd hit him up down the road for some other pieces.

 

Fast forward 4 months to last month. Emailed again inquiring on some pages. Everything was now 2-3 times what it was in January, and my pieces for trade were now apparently worth half of what they were. We emailed back and forth for a week or two to try to find a trade within the realm of reason, but I guess he got bored and stopped replying.

 

Almost every seller I've ever dealt with gets better with multiple purchases and usually offers incentives or discounts. His tactic was the exact opposite. Maybe he had sellers remorse that I wasn't completely fleeced from the first transaction. Who knows.

 

I'm extremely happy with the pieces I got, but I can't see myself ever inquiring about art again from them.

 

 

 

 

Once you actually agreed to the deal, they realized they must have made some kind of mistake.

[Mr. Machismo]

^!

[Terry Doyle]

Everybody has a similar story.

I've been interested in those large art Heck Antman pages that they list on EBay. I asked one brother at a convention about them and he said they belonged to his brother .

Next I tossed in a reasonable "or best offer " via eBay and they came back with "those eBay prices have to be updated ,here's the real price"which was about $800 more than listed. A week later that listed price doubled again.

 

I'm still looking for those Large art Heck Antman pages but they seem to have the only ones available.

If anybody else has large art Heck to sell ,please let me know.

 

Used to own the "Voice of Doom" complete story but traded it away a while back (but not to the brothers grim who, I think, ended-up with it).

 

If memory serves me right, Conrad E owned a few Heck Ant-man stories.

 

The handful of times I talked with Steve D put me on the path of matching his outrageous expectations with those of my own but, hey, he started it!

[Ironmandrd]

Some random thoughts re Cool Lines and the Brothers Donnelly.

 

I echo the "sometimes you have to view the piece as lost at sea" perspective given, for example, the difference between generally perceived FMV and their perceived FMV (using apparently at least 5 years from now pricing). I also disavow their practices of "converting" non-covers into covers or inked covers into pencil and inked covers.

 

On a few occasions, though, I'm one of the apparently few collectors who have acquired pieces from them in recent years--it's always been difficult though.

 

I've found it "easier" dealing with Rich (and always only at NY or NJ shows) and have averaged buying at least one or two panel page from him each year for the last few years. While above what I viewed as FMV, the prices were within striking distance and after some effort I've negotiated Rich down a bit nearly every time or bought more than one page and negotiated an overall "discount."

 

Steve is exponentially harder. I have done some things with Steve (a few covers and several panel pages) but they took a lot of effort and could be very frustrating. If 5 similar pieces sell for X on HA, CLInk, ComicConnect, Ebay etc., how could a 6th similar piece be suddenly worth 2X or 3X?

 

And I agree that you should try to maximize your one shot at a piece you want because if you do not get it for any reason, it will be more the next time you inquire (even if a few months later). Apparently Steve believes that every contact/inquiry he gets on a piece raises the value (price) and enough interest raises it significantly. Steve apparently also believes that every year his unsold pieces go up in value (notwithstanding they did not sell at the prior price) and he raises the prices accordingly. He still has some covers I'd love to buy if they were FMV but they are currently 3x - 5X FMV.

[Claudio]

 

I'm extremely happy with the pieces I got, but I can't see myself ever inquiring about art again from them.

 

Picked up some bargains from them at Wondercon and even a few times on eBay. Circa 2007-2009. Then I read about them on these boards and just won't do business with them anymore. The outright fraud is disheartening. Labeling sketches as covers, not disclosing stats, etc... it isn't worth it to me.