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Bill Watterson aka Sam Watterson Calvin and Hobbes original art
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Started by GreatCaesarsGhost,

214 posts in this topic

Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

Posted
Posted
On 10/9/2022 at 10:20 PM, Robservations247 said:

Does that seem strange to have $400k “sitting out” like that? 

where is the armed guard?! 

I used to belong to a club that put on a high-end Western art auction every year. The ladies were in ball gowns showing off the work on stage, and I was below with a few other guys all in tuxedos and we would take the artwork from the ladies and carry it to the property room after the lot ended for that particular piece. I managed to get myself moved around in rotation so that I got to handle a $1M+ Charles M. Russell painting that sold. I remember walking down the openly public hallway 50 feet to the property room - by myself - with that million-dollar painting thinking all someone would have to do is crack me over the head with something and take off with the painting.

For some reason, publicly putting those things out seems to deter the ol' smash-and-grab crowd.

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GreatCaesarsGhost

GreatCaesarsGhost

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Well I guess no big surprise here. I know Heritage took the big piece to a show earlier this year and had a price of $400k on it. One of the Heritage people at the recent Collectors Summit said he wouldn’t be surprised if it went for $700k, and I wouldn’t have been surprised either,

I never figured the smaller piece would go for this much. This piece was also on display at the recent Collectors Summit, and I can tell you I found it to be absolutely beautiful 

2CD1D751-8D88-4500-9030-B7CA2B0D00BB.png

C113C547-9277-42A6-B299-44E51C5E8A96.png

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Bronty

Bronty

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On 11/17/2022 at 1:24 PM, stinkininkin said:

The color piece went LOW in my opinion!

I think its only low if you compare it to overpriced things.   

Isn't that a record for a comic strip of any description?   I don't recall a bigger number on HA, anyways.

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grapeape

grapeape

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Posted
On 11/17/2022 at 1:05 PM, Bronty said:

I think its only low if you compare it to overpriced things.   

Isn't that a record for a comic strip of any description?   I don't recall a bigger number on HA, anyways.

It beat's the Peanuts Sunday for sure. Back on September 28 I predicted $420,000 including BP. I added that if it some how reached $500-$600K that would be special but it was hard to predict that high. It just feels like the ultimate winner was happy offering just above where the Peanuts sold for. I agree with Scott in a sense that maybe a special piece like this went "low" but that's more opinion than comp supported. I'd love to read more about what Scott thinks this should have sold for and why. I called this one of my three clear cut winners, Scott was basically like yeah, for the buyer. 

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grapeape

grapeape

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Posted
On 11/19/2022 at 5:01 AM, vodou said:

We’ll see “who” won eventually. I don’t like when the big ones end exactly where they “have to”.

https://link.artnet.com/click/29746912.173046/aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLmFydG5ldC5jb20vbWFya2V0L2RyYWhpLWhhY2stYW5hbHlzaXMtMjIxMTMzNz91dG1fY29udGVudD1mcm9tXw/55e5def63b35d02a5e8b8f72C1ee0e5c4

 

*My response casts no aspersions on the C&H auction. Let's see who if anyone claims new ownership.

     That's a terrific article Vodou. I think clearly if anyone related to the auction house bids or wins art without revealing so publicly, they are practicing market manipulation. The false appearance is conjured that more than one collector found the art so desirable that a bidding war took place. 
     The first time I remember an auction house with comic art make a public declaration of self interest in a piece at auction was Comiclink.

    That was the ASM Hobgoblin cover where I believe Josh publicly declared he would make one bid of $100,000 on the art. I appreciated the transparency but it still felt like a conflict of interest. Like C-Link was bidding against its own customers and eliminating many hopeful early bidders with the push of a button.

     Transparency is the only way to keep our values legit. The original comic art market is able to endure a number of dishonest practices within limits. If the shenanigans of the fine art world continue to worm their way into our market, I'm not sure we will go unscathed collectively. 

 

 

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jjonahjameson11

jjonahjameson11

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Posted (edited)
On 11/19/2022 at 9:46 AM, grapeape said:

*My response casts no aspersions on the C&H auction. Let's see who if anyone claims new ownership.

     That's a terrific article Vodou. I think clearly if anyone related to the auction house bids or wins art without revealing so publicly, they are practicing market manipulation. The false appearance is conjured that more than one collector found the art so desirable that a bidding war took place. 
     The first time I remember an auction house with comic art make a public declaration of self interest in a piece at auction was Comiclink.

    That was the ASM Hobgoblin cover where I believe Josh publicly declared he would make one bid of $100,000 on the art. I appreciated the transparency but it still felt like a conflict of interest. Like C-Link was bidding against its own customers and eliminating many hopeful early bidders with the push of a button.

     Transparency is the only way to keep our values legit. The original comic art market is able to endure a number of dishonest practices within limits. If the shenanigans of the fine art world continue to worm their way into our market, I'm not sure we will go unscathed collectively. 

 

 

Grape, that’s mostly correct although I recall some details a bit differently:

Josh bid $95K on the ASM 238.  The next bid increment of $5K by anyone would trigger the $100K necessary as a promise to the seller or something written to that effect by Josh.  
 

i wanted that cover very, very badly and like you, it reeked of conflict of interest.  They lost my bid and a lot of my business shortly thereafter for this, and other reasons,

by the way, the ASM 238 cover sold on clink in 2015 and this is important to note based on your experience/recollections.

why is it important?  Well, even though Jim Halperin doesn’t publicly state what he’s going after before or during an auction, he has maintained a CAF Gallery since 2007, and he’s been quite active in posting the artwork he’s purchased.  He may not list every single piece he’s won, but based on what he’s uploaded, I think that is a type of transparency, starting 8 years prior to Josh’s bid notice on the ASM 238 cover.

 

Edited by jjonahjameson11
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BCarter27

BCarter27

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Posted
On 11/19/2022 at 9:46 AM, grapeape said:

Josh publicly declared he would make one bid of $100,000 on the art.

On 11/19/2022 at 5:29 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

Josh bid $95K on the ASM 238.  The next bid increment of $5K by anyone would trigger the $100K necessary as a promise to the seller or something written to that effect by Josh.  

This is in effect a publicly-declared guarantee. And publicly-declared is more than you'll get at most places -- including the major houses as @vodou pointed out. So, I don't really understand the issue with ComicLink here?

On 11/19/2022 at 5:29 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

Jim Halperin doesn’t publicly state what he’s going after before or during an auction,

So, then it's a hidden guarantee. Sorry, but after-the-fact transparency is not transparency.

No amount of discussion is going to stop Heritage from providing implicit or explicit guarantees. That's just a part of the art market now and the product they are offering to the consignor. But don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

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jjonahjameson11

jjonahjameson11

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On 11/20/2022 at 11:03 AM, BCarter27 said:

This is in effect a publicly-declared guarantee. And publicly-declared is more than you'll get at most places -- including the major houses as @vodou pointed out. So, I don't really understand the issue with ComicLink here?

So, then it's a hidden guarantee. Sorry, but after-the-fact transparency is not transparency.

No amount of discussion is going to stop Heritage from providing implicit or explicit guarantees. That's just a part of the art market now and the product they are offering to the consignor. But don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

I could respond, and we can have 5-10 posts back and forth, but for the sake of expediency, you see things one way and I see them differently.  I’ll leave it at that.

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GreatCaesarsGhost

GreatCaesarsGhost

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On 12/28/2022 at 6:54 PM, darkness7 said:

This just sold: https://comics.ha.com/itm/memorabilia/comic-related/bill-watterson-scientific-progress-goes-boink-autographed-book-universal-press-syndicate-1991-/a/122252-18220.s

oh, good job.  I missed that one.  Actually I've never seen him sign one of his books like that.  Wonder how many of these that are floating around out there.  This one went for $1k.

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