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All your eggs in one basket?
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Started by Panelfan1,

47 posts in this topic

JadeGiant

JadeGiant

Posted
Posted
41 minutes ago, Panelfan1 said:

  

Collecting by year is not a big deal - but collecting only one character could be an issue.  Depends on the character though.

I could see that if you collect an obscure character or maybe one that is relatively new. If you collect a blue chipper (like I do with the Hulk), it is not hard to find art that is appealing. 

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Nexus

Nexus

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Posted

I probably own more of a certain artist's work than any other collector. I bought everything I could get my hands on, and then proceeded to upgrade whenever possible. I love the stuff.

It was around the height of my mania when TO CATCH A PREDATOR became a thing on NBC's DATELINE. It occurred to me, as I was watching it, that if said artist ever "appeared" on that show, I may as well burn everything I had from him. Not just from a value standpoint, but I wouldn't want to own it anymore, either.

Luckily, he has avoided all stings so far.

 

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John E.

John E.

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Nexus said:

I probably own more of a certain artist's work than any other collector. I bought everything I could get my hands on, and then proceeded to upgrade whenever possible. I love the stuff.

It was around the height of my mania when TO CATCH A PREDATOR became a thing on NBC's DATELINE. It occurred to me, as I was watching it, that if said artist ever "appeared" on that show, I may as well burn everything I had from him. Not just from a value standpoint, but I wouldn't want to own it anymore, either.

Luckily, he has avoided all stings so far.

 

Funny you say this, Felix. In thinking about this topic more because I found an artist that checks off all the boxes on my list as a collector and whose work has the potential for growth, I thought about selling it all to buy as much as I could. Then I stopped to think, What if he committed a crime so despicable that no one including myself would want anything to do with him? What then? It's one thing if the market for his work softened--sort of like you say that if your collection's value dropped in half tomorrow, you would be okay with it. But it's another thing to be deeply ashamed of owning the art.

Even if our guys don't get caught in sting, there's always the "don't meet your heroes" scenario. What if I meet the artist and he's a total D to me? What then? (Well, at least I can sell off).

Rationally speaking, though, the chances of the artists having to register on a government list some time in the future is one in a million, while the chances of making a good "investment" call might be better.

At the end of the day, I figured owning 2-3 pieces might be best, but there too many artists out there that I like to remain...monogamous :banana:

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cstojano

cstojano

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 3/2/2017 at 1:11 PM, delekkerste said:

23% of my collection (well over a hundred pieces) consists of Vampirella artwork.  It was the primary focus for the first 7 years of my collecting experience - I loved (still do) the art, especially by the Spanish masters like Jose Gonzalez, Enric and Sanjulian, and liked that it was generally less expensive than a lot of mainstream superhero art.  And, perhaps even more importantly, that many of the very best vintage pieces featuring the character were still generally available in those years (2002-2009), whereas many of the best pieces of Marvel hero art were already sucked into black hole collections by then, or were already priced beyond my comfort zone at the time. 

Nowadays, I definitely have more Vampirella art than I need, and have actually been selling off some pieces over the past couple of years.  In hindsight, I would have been better off being less focused on the character and spreading my budget out more during those first 7 years of collecting.  But, it wasn't until about 2010 that I decided to try and build a broader collection encompassing more eras, genres, characters, artists, etc.

Don't suppose you have the cover to Vampirella 10, or know if the art exists??

Edited by cstojano
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Mephisto

Mephisto

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Posted
On 3/2/2017 at 3:11 PM, delekkerste said:

23% of my collection (well over a hundred pieces) consists of Vampirella artwork.  It was the primary focus for the first 7 years of my collecting experience - I loved (still do) the art, especially by the Spanish masters like Jose Gonzalez, Enric and Sanjulian, and liked that it was generally less expensive than a lot of mainstream superhero art.  And, perhaps even more importantly, that many of the very best vintage pieces featuring the character were still generally available in those years (2002-2009), whereas many of the best pieces of Marvel hero art were already sucked into black hole collections by then, or were already priced beyond my comfort zone at the time. 

Nowadays, I definitely have more Vampirella art than I need, and have actually been selling off some pieces over the past couple of years.  In hindsight, I would have been better off being less focused on the character and spreading my budget out more during those first 7 years of collecting.  But, it wasn't until about 2010 that I decided to try and build a broader collection encompassing more eras, genres, characters, artists, etc.

Come on we all know your wife said "No more pervy Vampirella art for you!"

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Michael Browning

Michael Browning

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Posted

For the first couple of years of collecting, I collected Charlton cover art and I traded all that away.

Then, I focused on just collecting Jonah Hex, but, after getting enough headshots of Hex and, after he'd become popular again through a new series and the potential of a movie coming out, I decided to sell or trade everything away. Trouble was, no matter how popular the character was, no one wanted to give me even what I paid for the pieces and no dealer wanted to trade with me (but, thank God for Anthony Snyder making a trade with me for most of the Hex art a few years later), because they didn't have any faith in a western character and wanted only super heroes. I learned a very valuable lesson from collecting only Hex art: commissions do not sell nearly as well as published art, no matter who the artist is and, rarely, do you ever recoup what you spend for commissions unless they are by super popular artists - and not of Jonah Hex.

Now, my only focus collecting is Bob Budiansky Ghost Rider art - but I don't collect JUST Budiansky GR art. My collection, as many of you have seen, consists of a lot of different artists and characters, ranging from covers to splashes to panel pages and only a few commissions, which are mostly recreations of covers by the same artist.

I'm much happier with my multi-faceted collection and I'm glad I got away from the singular focus art collecting. I think it's made me a better collector and given me a much better collection.

 

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John E.

John E.

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Michael Browning said:

For the first couple of years of collecting, I collected Charlton cover art and I traded all that away.

Then, I focused on just collecting Jonah Hex, but, after getting enough headshots of Hex and, after he'd become popular again through a new series and the potential of a movie coming out, I decided to sell or trade everything away. Trouble was, no matter how popular the character was, no one wanted to give me even what I paid for the pieces and no dealer wanted to trade with me (but, thank God for Anthony Snyder making a trade with me for most of the Hex art a few years later), because they didn't have any faith in a western character and wanted only super heroes. I learned a very valuable lesson from collecting only Hex art: commissions do not sell nearly as well as published art, no matter who the artist is and, rarely, do you ever recoup what you spend for commissions unless they are by super popular artists - and not of Jonah Hex.

Now, my only focus collecting is Bob Budiansky Ghost Rider art - but I don't collect JUST Budiansky GR art. My collection, as many of you have seen, consists of a lot of different artists and characters, ranging from covers to splashes to panel pages and only a few commissions, which are mostly recreations of covers by the same artist.

I'm much happier with my multi-faceted collection and I'm glad I got away from the singular focus art collecting. I think it's made me a better collector and given me a much better collection.

 

A lesson I learned about commissions early on, but not before taking some licks. SELLING ART has made me a better collector.

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