Heritage June Auction 7 7

[John E.]

On 6/22/2022 at 11:57 AM, tth2 said:

If Gene is involved, there'll be no cash, only crypto.  Of course, the problem with crypto these days is that at the exact moment it's paid, it'll be worth whatever the agreed price was, but by the time the seller actually exchanges the crypto for good old fashioned cash, it'll be worth 20% less.

This shows how pedestrian I really am. I still think in terms of cash, not crypto. I may as well have said postal money order. 

This started off as a sincere question then it devolved into my usual ‘tupidity. I did think it odd this art is kept hush-hush AND that it may be available for the right price. Old school buzz marketing perhaps. Just seems like there’s a lot more here than Felix is allowed to say <wink wink> and that we may be in for a treat in the next two or three years. 

[John E.]

On 6/23/2022 at 6:58 AM, vodou said:

Very, very public money laundering; unlikely to be investigated...ever.

I'll suggest that hosting the venue but not taking any piece of the action is a pretty decent plausible deniability defense, just in case. PR value - huge, and 'free', of actual spend and legal concerns. Smart move Dallas.

Things that make me go 🤔

[romitaman]

On 6/17/2022 at 7:00 PM, drdonaldblake1 said:

Hey gene, does the cover OA for hulk 181 actually exist? For real??

Would be fantastic if it does!

yes it does.

[batman_fan]

It looks 1000x better in person, drawing of Snoopy are huge.

[J.Sid]

On 6/16/2022 at 11:14 AM, delekkerste said:

OMFG, this is shocking. I thought it would go in the mid-$4Ms, plus or minus $1 million. 

I said before the auction that it better not sell for just $2 million (the low estimate and potentially some kind of guarantee) hammer, because people will question whether the buyer was even someone other than Heritage. 

He was smart to use Felix to get out ahead of the story on his "win."

Anyone remember how far in advance of the Live Auction his $2m bid was placed? 

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by J.Sid
snark removed

[John E.]

On 8/11/2022 at 3:54 PM, J.Sid said:

Anyone remember how far in advance of the Live Auction his $2m bid was placed? 

 

The only record I have is that on Thursday, June 16, at 8:41am central time, the bid was at $1,625,000 or $1,950,000 with the BP. 

I watched the auction and in my vague recall of memory, the piece had already hit the $2M mark by the time the live bidding started with no bidding during the auction. What does everyone else remember?

[Bronty]

I thought there were a couple bids at the live session to get it to 2m, but I don't recall it super clearly.    My sense was that there were some live bids though.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Bronty

[John E.]

On 8/12/2022 at 11:53 AM, Bronty said:

I thought there were a couple bids at the live session to get it to 2m, but I don't recall it super clearly.    My sense was that there were some live bids though.

And you're likely right. 

Any idea what the bidding increments look like at $1.6M? I guess this can be easily looked up. I do recall from Halperin's first interview with Felix that Jim said Heritage employees were allowed to bid on lots but they weren't allowed to bid live, bids had to be put in before. Just thinking that proxy bids kicked in when the auction started.

[vodou]

Ah, so now we’re getting to the meat of the question, “what is the definition of an employee?”  

[Bronty]

On 8/12/2022 at 1:06 PM, John E. said:

And you're likely right. 

Any idea what the bidding increments look like at $1.6M? I guess this can be easily looked up. I do recall from Halperin's first interview with Felix that Jim said Heritage employees were allowed to bid on lots but they weren't allowed to bid live, bids had to be put in before. Just thinking that proxy bids kicked in when the auction started.

Could be!

[KirbyCollector]

On 8/12/2022 at 1:20 PM, vodou said:

Ah, so now we’re getting to the meat of the question, “what is the definition of an employee?”  

None of this smells right, at all. I dislike the fact that people refer to him as "the most influential person in our hobby," considering his influence consists of a conflict of interest directly tied to his own compensation.

Edited August 12, 2022 by KirbyCollector

[Kryptic1]

On 8/12/2022 at 1:06 PM, John E. said:

And you're likely right. 

Any idea what the bidding increments look like at $1.6M? I guess this can be easily looked up. I do recall from Halperin's first interview with Felix that Jim said Heritage employees were allowed to bid on lots but they weren't allowed to bid live, bids had to be put in before. Just thinking that proxy bids kicked in when the auction started.

Bid increments at Heritage for live bidding is $50k for $1M - $1.999M, then $100k for $2M - $10M.

My recollection of the auction was that it went into live bidding somewhere around $1.2 - $1.5M.  When the lot opened and all of the Heritage Live bids were posted, it immediately went to $2.0M.  The auctioneer tried to coax out another bid for a minute or two, then closed the lot.  This is consistent with what Halperin told Felix about placing the bid in advance.  However, I think he said that bid was $2M and he would have gone higher, so that would mean he was prepared to place live bids too.

[Bronty]

Not necessarily no.   It could just mean that his proxy was more than 2m

[Nexus]

On 8/12/2022 at 11:06 AM, KirbyCollector said:

None of this smells right, at all. I dislike the fact that people refer to him as "the most influential person in our hobby," considering his influence consists of a conflict of interest directly tied to his own compensation.

IIRC, I referred to him as "the most prominent and influential person in the hobby". Which I do believe he is. Everyone can listen and decide for themselves how they feel about that.

Over the years, I have been very open with how I feel about HA bidding on their own auctions. But this is just how things are. We either accept it or we don't. There are other things I don't like about the hobby as well. But the things I DO like outweigh those. So I'm here for now. I imagine that's how it is for pretty much everyone in the hobby.

On 8/11/2022 at 1:54 PM, J.Sid said:

He was smart to use Felix to get out ahead of the story on his "win."

Like so many others, I suspected Jim had gotten the cover. And I was going to ask him about it. I did not expect that he would volunteer it. Still appreciated that he would share that.

Over the course of the two podcasts with Jim, I think there's enough stuff for people to consider, if they listen carefully. And again, decide for themselves.

[Rick2you2]

On 8/17/2022 at 6:24 PM, Nexus said:

IIRC, I referred to him as "the most prominent and influential person in the hobby". Which I do believe he is. Everyone can listen and decide for themselves how they feel about that.

Over the years, I have been very open with how I feel about HA bidding on their own auctions. But this is just how things are. We either accept it or we don't. There are other things I don't like about the hobby as well. But the things I DO like outweigh those. So I'm here for now. I imagine that's how it is for pretty much everyone in the hobby.

Like so many others, I suspected Jim had gotten the cover. And I was going to ask him about it. I did not expect that he would volunteer it. Still appreciated that he would share that.

Over the course of the two podcasts with Jim, I think there's enough stuff for people to consider, if they listen carefully. And again, decide for themselves.

In a way, it’s like he’s concluded that a lot of collectors, with a lot of money, behave just like big babies lacking impulse control who demand instant gratification of their needs regardless as to cost. I know that sounds harsh, but if Heritage can keep prices artificially high by buying product on its own auction site which expressly tolerates it, that’s the logical conclusion I draw. The only other thing to add is that other auctioneers do it, too (but not necessarily so blatantly).

[amphoman]

On 5/5/2022 at 8:42 AM, Bird said:

in 5 years it will be all garfield strips and slabbed amphoman comics

I can live with that