Worst flips that have happened to you…. 2 2

[aqn83]

On 9/28/2021 at 9:43 PM, AnkurJ said:

So the facilitator took a cut from the the commission itself, and to sell it for you? Wow....

Yeah, but frankly i'm surprised they sold it for as much as they did. I wouldn't have been able to come close had I tried to sell it privately.

There were two other Batman's done in this batch and they were all abysmal. 

[The Voord]

Not quite sure why people here don't just put a reserve price on the artworks they're looking to sell . . . why risk taking a loss?

In recent years I've consigned stuff to auction and, despite re-assurances from the auction houses that competition *ought* to drive up prices on 'no reserve offerings', I just said, "No, it's a risk I'm not willing to take . . .  I want my investment covered to, at least, break even."  I'd say about two-thirds of my consignment art hit the reserve (or did better), which is fine by me.

Fact is, I'd rather not sell than sell at a loss.

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by The Voord

[Rick2you2]

On 9/29/2021 at 6:38 PM, The Voord said:

Not quite sure why people here don't just put a reserve price on the artworks they're looking to sell . . . why risk taking a loss?

In recent years I've consigned stuff to auction and, despite re-assurances from the auction houses that competition *ought* to drive up prices on 'no reserve offerings', I just said, "No, it's a risk I'm not willing to take . . .  I want my investment covered to, at least, break even."  I'd say about two-thirds of my consignment art hit the reserve (or did better), which is fine by me.

Fact is, I'd rather not sell than sell at a loss.

 

Interesting you should say that roughly 1/3 would have resulted in a loss. Just wondering if there were any patterns you noticed.

[AnkurJ]

On 9/29/2021 at 6:38 PM, The Voord said:

Not quite sure why people here don't just put a reserve price on the artworks they're looking to sell . . . why risk taking a loss?

In recent years I've consigned stuff to auction and, despite re-assurances from the auction houses that competition *ought* to drive up prices on 'no reserve offerings', I just said, "No, it's a risk I'm not willing to take . . .  I want my investment covered to, at least, break even."  I'd say about two-thirds of my consignment art hit the reserve (or did better), which is fine by me.

Fact is, I'd rather not sell than sell at a loss.

 

Many auction houses will not accept items with a reserve.

[Will_K]

To me, it's not that commissions don't hold their value.  It's the upfront cost.  When some artist prices were starting at $1000 for art created at conventions (call it a sketch or commission), that blew me away. 

I think even for the person that bought the 4 X-Men #1 covers, $1000 upfront is still a lot when you don't know how the art will turn out.

I'm not about to tell an artist that their time and talent aren't "worth it".  But I want to feel good about the money I've spent.  That goes for comic art or a good burger or whatever.

[Bird]

I consigned with clink a few times, on my initial one they pretty much took anything. Then it was items valued approx $100 or more, so no more quickies from cons or even basic con sketches, and reserve minimum was $500. Then reserve minimum went to $1000 and things got tougher on my end, but likely much easier for them!

I haven't joined in because it wasn't a flip but I bought a cover direct from Mignola at a show, $2K (witchfinder 3 or 5 I think). Then a year or two maybe went by and I was consigning to clink (maybe my last?) and I put it in, figuring it was a safe offering and didn't bother with a reserve. $1K IIRC. ouchies. my commissions especially got slammed often on clink but I also sold a starman page (not Harris) for $14 IIRC (I bet I do RC!)

Edited September 30, 2021 by Bird

[The Voord]

On 9/30/2021 at 12:11 AM, Rick2you2 said:

Interesting you should say that roughly 1/3 would have resulted in a loss. Just wondering if there were any patterns you noticed.

No.

[The Voord]

On 9/30/2021 at 1:16 AM, AnkurJ said:

Many auction houses will not accept items with a reserve.

Ah, right, understood.  For me, I'd have to go with an auction outfit that accommodates reserves.

It's only in recent times that I've started to consign art to auction . . . previously, I was either my own seller, or consigned art with dealers.  That used to work out just fine.  I think, nowadays, many collectors prefer the buzz and competitive nature of auctions.

[batman_fan]

I have only consigned one piece of artwork for an auction.  The auction house convinced me no reserve was the best path to go down and that the piece would do very well so I listened to them.  Sold for less than I had paid for it many years earlier, I think I lost about $500 on it.  Piece was a Gene Colan Daredevil splash.  I sold it because I wanted to pick up another one that had a larger image of Daredevil.  Came away with neither.

I was recently contacted about consigning some other art to the same auction house.  Told them too much risk, not interested.

[The Voord]

On 9/30/2021 at 2:44 PM, batman_fan said:

I have only consigned one piece of artwork for an auction.  The auction house convinced me no reserve was the best path to go down and that the piece would do very well so I listened to them.  Sold for less than I had paid for it many years earlier, I think I lost about $500 on it.  Piece was a Gene Colan Daredevil splash.  I sold it because I wanted to pick up another one that had a larger image of Daredevil.  Came away with neither.

I was recently contacted about consigning some other art to the same auction house.  Told them too much risk, not interested.

Auction houses want to make sales (to state the obvious), which No Reserve guarantees.  I get that, but it doesn't work for the consignor if he loses out on monies originally paid.  I guess that I never was a fan of gambling. 

[christosgage]

On 9/29/2021 at 1:33 PM, MIL0S said:

Why gamble on an overpriced commission when you can often buy a published page by the artist where you know exactly what your are getting for less? Someone on these boards put it best, commissions are the 'new car' of the OA hobby, they depreciate the minute you 'drive it off the lot'... 

I agree that commissions are not a good choice if you're trying to flip something, but I can tell you why I purchase commissions.

One, it's a way to support the artist, which I like to do whenever possible. With some of the older artists, they no longer have vintage pages to sell and likely sold those pages many years ago when they had little value. Now they sell for a lot more and the artist gets nothing. So getting a commission is a way to support them and thank them for their work.

Two, I enjoy having an artist whose work I love creating a piece specifically for me. I have two George Perez commissions I love dearly.

Third, you can get things that just aren't available as published pieces. For example, a Marvel character vs a DC character.

Of course there's a risk of not liking the result. That comes with the territory. It's also why I tend not to spend too much on commissions. But I've gotten awesome ones from Perez, Ramona Fradon, Joe Sinnott, and others. It's just something better done for love than money.

[batman_fan]

On 9/30/2021 at 8:24 AM, The Voord said:

Auction houses want to make sales (to state the obvious), which No Reserve guarantees.  I get that, but it doesn't work for the consignor if he loses out on monies originally paid.  I guess that I never was a fan of gambling. 

Yep, auction house’s motivation is to get high dollar consignments and sell them.  As a potential seller, my motivation is to get the maximum amount of guaranteed money for my item.  A no reserve action does not meet that requirement for me which is why I now pass on them now.  I would rather move an item through a private sell at what I am willing to sell the item for.

[Bronty]

I can see both sides.   Sometimes things sell at auction for more than you’d even think to ask privately.   I sold a page recently I might have asked 4K for privately, and it auctioned for 12.    
 

On balance I think one usually does better with the auction route, but there’s no denying it’s riskier so it boils down to comfort level.

[vodou]

On 9/30/2021 at 1:46 PM, Bronty said:

I sold a page recently I might have asked 4K for privately, and it auctioned for 12.    

You have the Midas Touch  

[J.Sid]

So I'm at the GraphicCollectibles booth in Comic-Con one year, and Mitch has a John Byrne Legends Cover for sale. It's like $1,000. I love Byrne, he's one of the 3 guys I consider myself to "collect" and I really only mostly had panel pages from him. I gladly fork over the cash.

Fast-forward a few short months. I'm not crazy about the way the heads on the cover aren't fully rendered, but rather ghostlike outlines, and hey, I'm more of a Marvel guy anyway. Something else comes up I want, so I put the Byrne cover on eBay.... $2,000 bucks!! Cha-CHING!! 

Great flip, right? WRONG.

Turns out the cover was the cover to Legends #3, which is the first appearance of Suicide Squad. Sure enough a couple years later they announce they're doing a movie on that team and... well, let's just say win some, lose some. In this case on the same deal.

Edited September 30, 2021 by J.Sid

[Bronty]

On 9/30/2021 at 4:44 PM, J.Sid said:

So I'm at the GraphicCollectibles booth in Comic-Con one year, and Mitch has a John Byrne Legends Cover for sale. It's like $1,000. I love Byrne, he's one of the 3 guys I consider myself to "collect" and I really only mostly had panel pages from him. I gladly fork over the cash.

Fast-forward a few short months. I'm not crazy about the way the heads on the cover aren't fully rendered, but rather ghostlike outlines, and hey, I'm more of a Marvel guy anyway. Something else comes up I want, so I put the Byrne cover on eBay.... $2,000 bucks!! Cha-CHING!! 

Great flip, right? WRONG.

Turns out the cover was the cover to Legends #3, which is the first appearance of Suicide Squad. Sure enough a couple years later they announce they're doing a movie on that team and... well, let's just say win some, lose some. In this case on the same deal.

oy

[batman_fan]

On 9/30/2021 at 2:44 PM, J.Sid said:

So I'm at the GraphicCollectibles booth in Comic-Con one year, and Mitch has a John Byrne Legends Cover for sale. It's like $1,000. I love Byrne, he's one of the 3 guys I consider myself to "collect" and I really only mostly had panel pages from him. I gladly fork over the cash.

Fast-forward a few short months. I'm not crazy about the way the heads on the cover aren't fully rendered, but rather ghostlike outlines, and hey, I'm more of a Marvel guy anyway. Something else comes up I want, so I put the Byrne cover on eBay.... $2,000 bucks!! Cha-CHING!! 

Great flip, right? WRONG.

Turns out the cover was the cover to Legends #3, which is the first appearance of Suicide Squad. Sure enough a couple years later they announce they're doing a movie on that team and... well, let's just say win some, lose some. In this case on the same deal.

The cover for Jungle Action 6 was available on eBay.  Price was not too high, $2k to $3k, cant remember exactly how much.  I passed because the panthers hand was a paste over and I didn’t care for it.  Now I think “what a bonehead”

[John E.]

I find it interesting that the last two posts dealt with lack of eye appeal (ghostlike outlines, paste-ups) as the motivator to sell or pass over, which resulted in regret. I have passed on art at great prices because the quality that you come to expect from the artist wasn’t there and boy do I regret it. Nowadays I’m more willing to overlook the flaws. 

[Rick2you2]

On 9/30/2021 at 6:28 PM, John E. said:

I find it interesting that the last two posts dealt with lack of eye appeal (ghostlike outlines, paste-ups) as the motivator to sell or pass over, which resulted in regret. I have passed on art at great prices because the quality that you come to expect from the artist wasn’t there and boy do I regret it. Nowadays I’m more willing to overlook the flaws. 

Your collection is your own; your personal opinion is what matters. I have passed on pages with what I consider flaws, and bought pages because the “flaws” don’t bother me. The whole subject only matters if you think you might want to sell it later, in which case, pay attention to the artist and the title’s popularity. A crummy Kirby page on a popular book will always pay off eventually.

“

Edited September 30, 2021 by Rick2you2

[John E.]

On 9/30/2021 at 5:37 PM, Rick2you2 said:

Your collection is your own; your personal opinion is what matters. I have passed on pages with what I consider flaws, and bought pages because the “flaws” don’t bother me. The whole subject only matters if you think you might want to sell it later, in which case, pay attention to the artist and the title’s popularity. 

“

There’s passing on just plain bad art especially from junk titles, and there’s a lot of that, and then there’s passing on so-so art from A-list artist and a-list titles. Had I bought them I would still have them, so it’s not about the money, but it sure would’ve been nice to know the art is worth multiples today! For sure I wish I was less an art critic that day and more of a shrewd collector, but it was my first year as a collector.