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Craziest transaction stories
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Started by KirbyCollector,

37 posts in this topic

KirbyCollector

KirbyCollector

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Someone I trust a lot in this hobby told me a story about a single piece of art being exchanged for a house (!) in Malibu years ago. I don't know whether a thread has ever been started for this purpose, but I would love to hear about some of these crazier transactions -- maybe even one you did!

Edited by KirbyCollector
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Will_K

Will_K

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Not a transaction per se… but here goes…

Some time ago, I bought a piece listed in the CBG as a Nick Cardy prelim to a DC horror cover.  I don’t remember if there was an image or not.  Even so, there wasn’t enough there that it would reproduce very well.  But at the time, I was buying just about any art that mentioned Nick.  It cost something like $110 + shipping. 

So now I have the piece.  It always bothered me… because I was pretty sure it wasn’t drawn by Nick but I never asked him.  So this is a 70’s piece that I bought in the 90’s.  Anyway, one day, in the 00’s, I settled on the idea that it was drawn by another artist.  That artist would also appear at some local shows.  So the next show, I brought the piece for the artist to sign if it was his work.

So I show him the piece.  Yes, he drew it.  He’s pointing to drawings he’s selling… see, that’s how I draw faces.   Anyway, so now we’re both holding onto the art because he won’t give it back to me.  Someone broke into his house a long time ago and stole a bunch of art.  We’re going back and forth a few times… “It’s my art”… “I paid for it”... “It’s my art”…   Now we all know there’s no way to prove any particular of piece paper was stolen.  And the art could very well have been throw in the trash at the DC offices.  It was kind of a quiet corner of the convention.  And one of the artists kind of saw what was happening and decided to leave.  And I really can’t argue this out with an older guy at a comic show.  He asks me how much I paid for it.  So I say $110 in the 90’s.  So he says, OK, for me to get the art back, I have to give him $110.  So it didn’t take that much longer for me to just let go of the art.  So then he says something like, “if you see any more of my art, give it to me”.  Like hey, he was good artist but I really wasn’t a fan of his before that day.

Edited by Will_K
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Hockeyflow33

Hockeyflow33

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On 8/19/2022 at 11:35 AM, Will_K said:

Not a transaction per se… but here goes…

Some time ago, I bought a piece listed in the CBG as a Nick Cardy prelim to a DC horror cover.  I don’t remember if there was an image or not.  Even so, there wasn’t enough there that it would reproduce very well.  But at the time, I was buying just about any art that mentioned Nick.  It cost something like $110 + shipping. 

So now I have the piece.  It always bothered me… because I was pretty sure it wasn’t drawn by Nick but I never asked him.  So this is a 70’s piece that I bought in the 90’s.  Anyway, one day, in the 00’s, I settled on the idea that it was drawn by another artist.  That artist would also appear at some local shows.  So the next show, I brought the piece for the artist to sign if it was his work.

So I show him the piece.  Yes, he drew it.  He’s pointing to drawings he’s selling… see, that’s how I draw faces.   Anyway, so now we’re both holding onto the art because he won’t give it back to me.  Someone broke into his house a long time ago and stole a bunch of art.  We’re going back and forth a few times… “It’s my art”… “I paid for it”... “It’s my art”…   Now we all know there’s no way to prove any particular of piece paper was stolen.  And the art could very well have been throw in the trash at the DC offices.  It was kind of a quiet corner of the convention.  And one of the artists kind of saw what was happening and decided to leave.  And I really can’t argue this out with an older guy at a comic show.  He asks me how much I paid for it.  So I say $110 in the 90’s.  So he says, OK, for me to get the art back, I have to give him $110.  So it didn’t take that much longer for me to just let go of the art.  So then he says something like, “if you see any more of my art, give it to me”.  Like hey, he was good artist but I really wasn’t a fan of his before that day.

You're nicer than I would be if someone was trying to steal from me

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Matches_Malone

Matches_Malone

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Not a crazy transaction, but not exactly typical either. The year was 2008, and I was living in Scottsdale, Arizona. So after finishing my daily routine of scouting for art in CAF, eBay, every dealer's website, dragonberry (remember?), and whatever other dark corner of the web offered art, I decided to check Craigslist. 
I go through my fav artist names search, And there I see it; "trading my Drew Hayes Poison Elves original art for guns."
I'm a sucker for early PE art, so I contacted the guy immediately. We met at a Walmart parking lot and agreed to a deal. No, I did not trade guns but gave him this shoddy compound crossbow that I had for years for the inside back cover of Issue # 1. 
We briefly talked about guns and original art, but I will never forget the look on his face when he said, "I can't wait for Drew to start working on a new book." And I replied, "Well...It's going to be really difficult because he died a few months ago." 
A week after, he called me to see if I would trade it back for a Smith & Wesson. I declined, and I still have the art. 

image.jpeg

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F For Fake

F For Fake

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On 8/23/2022 at 3:09 PM, kbmcvay said:

Can you provide basic descriptions of the people involved in this transaction? 

Agreed. I'm a simple man, I absolutely must have more information about this transaction. 

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zhamlau

zhamlau

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I flew across the country to buy a large collection off a guy I found online. Doing my research I find out guy caught some gun charges in his past, overall a situation I try to avoid. But the deal was good and I’m not very risk adverse so I agree and fly out. I was coming with a lot of money and I hardly knew this guy beyond the previously mentioned stuff, so a friend (a boardie here) hooked me up with a contact of his from the area who happened to be a PI. He came with me just in case mess went sideways as it sometimes does.

So I fly across country and meet up with both of them…and it was a great experience! Yeah the seller was a little squirrelly but nothing I hadn’t seen before. No violence or anything even close. The PI and I became friends on the spot and we ended up hanging with the Uber driver I hired (also a great guy). We ended up driving around the city hitting up local joints and had a blast. 

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