Hammer price on CA Image "Swimsuit" pinup OA...Yowza! 0

[Dr. Balls]

Definitely not a big dog piece of art here, but it's in my area of collecting - and I've been tracking "swimsuit" pinups from the 90's for awhile now. Marvel stuff is always quite valuable - I think because of the combination of well-known artists working on it along with well-known characters.

This Al Rio 'Allegra' piece from one of the Wildstorm Swimsuit issues just ended last night with a final price of $2500. This is a big jump from previous - albeit less detailed - Image "pinups" from the 90s, and it contains a lesser-known character. There's not many that make it to market, so the rarity of it likely plays a factor. It's a very solid Al Rio piece and it's inked, I have my personal feelings about it which are irrelevant to the pricing.

My question is for the people watching Copper original art that might add a little perspective to the sale price. It's pretty common to think to yourself "I thought it would go for XXX" and it could just be an anomaly, but I am curious if there might be something I'm missing that I can factor into my research the next time another turns up. Image stuff seems (to me) to be getting into the Marvel area of popularity and price.

I picked up a Brandon Peterson Darkchylde swimsuit issue pinup (with much less detail) for a little over $400 a few months ago. I set a low bid to watch this Rio piece - but wasn't going to bid higher, and I was amazed at the final price. I thought it'd be in the $1000-$1200 range max.

[RBerman]

Something similar happened here. The market for drawings of women in bathing suits appears to be accelerating.

[Dr. Balls]

On 10/12/2022 at 5:11 PM, RBerman said:

Something similar happened here. The market for drawings of women in bathing suits appears to be accelerating.

Yeah, I think you’re on to something!

[alxjhnsn]

Dan DeCarlo images of Betty and Veronica in swimsuits, especially bikini's, sell for a lot more than his other B&V centered work and have for years though the numbers are not this high.

[The Voord]

If cartoon bikini girls are your thing  . . . may I recommend the CAF galleries of Chris Vickers?  Who knows . . . maybe he could be persuaded to do some commission work?

Comic Art Gallery of Chris Vickers at ComicArtFans.com

No shortage there of scantily-clad women to sate your deepest desires!

 

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by The Voord

[Bronty]

On 10/12/2022 at 6:25 PM, Dr. Balls said:

Definitely not a big dog piece of art here, but it's in my area of collecting - and I've been tracking "swimsuit" pinups from the 90's for awhile now. Marvel stuff is always quite valuable - I think because of the combination of well-known artists working on it along with well-known characters.

This Al Rio 'Allegra' piece from one of the Wildstorm Swimsuit issues just ended last night with a final price of $2500. This is a big jump from previous - albeit less detailed - Image "pinups" from the 90s, and it contains a lesser-known character. There's not many that make it to market, so the rarity of it likely plays a factor. It's a very solid Al Rio piece and it's inked, I have my personal feelings about it which are irrelevant to the pricing.

My question is for the people watching Copper original art that might add a little perspective to the sale price. It's pretty common to think to yourself "I thought it would go for XXX" and it could just be an anomaly, but I am curious if there might be something I'm missing that I can factor into my research the next time another turns up. Image stuff seems (to me) to be getting into the Marvel area of popularity and price.

I picked up a Brandon Peterson Darkchylde swimsuit issue pinup (with much less detail) for a little over $400 a few months ago. I set a low bid to watch this Rio piece - but wasn't going to bid higher, and I was amazed at the final price. I thought it'd be in the $1000-$1200 range max.

You have to take the cup size, multiply by lack of coverage of the bikini at hand, adjust for the fullness of the female's lips, divide by the female's waist size and deduct 20% if a male character is present and 50% if more than one male character is present.    Yours hits in most areas.       That's just math.

[Dr. Balls]

On 10/12/2022 at 9:13 PM, alxjhnsn said:

Dan DeCarlo images of Betty and Veronica in swimsuits, especially bikini's, sell for a lot more than his other B&V centered work and have for years though the numbers are not this high.

Very true. A regular DeCarlo page with B&V might be $200. Put them in a bikini and the page jumps to $600. 

[The Voord]

On 10/13/2022 at 3:24 PM, Bronty said:

. . .  deduct 20% if a male character is present 

What if Borat is in the composition?

 

[Dr. Balls]

On 10/14/2022 at 1:22 AM, The Voord said:

What if Borat is in the composition?

 

Front view, deduct 20%. Back view, deduct 100%.

[Michael Browning]

On 10/13/2022 at 8:40 PM, Dr. Balls said:

Very true. A regular DeCarlo page with B&V might be $200. Put them in a bikini and the page jumps to $600. 

$600? Nah. Try $2,000.

[The Voord]

On 10/15/2022 at 4:07 AM, Michael Browning said:

$600? Nah. Try $2,000.

How about B&V as sexy rock chicks with a spaced-out Jughead?  I've had this cover for a while:

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by The Voord

[Michael Browning]

On 10/15/2022 at 1:06 AM, The Voord said:

How about B&V as sexy rock chicks with a spaced-out Jughead?  I've had this cover for a while:

 

Great cover! I’m not sure it gets to the price level of a B&V bikini cover or pinup, but it’s definitely a fantastic and memorable image by DeCarlo.

I have said it before, maybe somewhere in these forums, but I have always believed DeCarlo was Archie’s Dave Stevens.

I also believe his early-1980s bikini covers were some of the best - and most daring - art of his career because he really seemed to be trying to push editorial to see how far he could go. His covers and pinups were still great all the way up to the end, but his early-1980s art pushed a lot of boundaries.

[Dr. Balls]

On 10/14/2022 at 9:07 PM, Michael Browning said:

$600? Nah. Try $2,000.

Wow. I have not seen a $2000 DeCarlo bikini interior page. I've seen some awesome pin-ups and title pages, but $2K for a panel page? I'm glad I have my one DeCarlo piece locked up!

[Michael Browning]

On 10/15/2022 at 12:03 PM, Dr. Balls said:

Wow. I have not seen a $2000 DeCarlo bikini interior page. I've seen some awesome pin-ups and title pages, but $2K for a panel page? I'm glad I have my one DeCarlo piece 

[Michael Browning]

On 10/15/2022 at 12:03 PM, Dr. Balls said:

Wow. I have not seen a $2000 DeCarlo bikini interior page. I've seen some awesome pin-ups and title pages, but $2K for a panel page? I'm glad I have my one DeCarlo piece locked up!

My fault for thinking we were talking about the pinups and not just regular panel pages. Honestly, I haven’t seen many panel bikini pages sell over the last couple of years, though I do know of some private sales that have hit some high numbers.

Pages from the 1960s and 1970s with bikinis do sell for $600 and up, depending on the images.

[Dr. Balls]

On 10/15/2022 at 10:21 AM, Michael Browning said:

My fault for thinking we were talking about the pinups and not just regular panel pages. Honestly, I haven’t seen many panel bikini pages sell over the last couple of years, though I do know of some private sales that have hit some high numbers.

Pages from the 1960s and 1970s with bikinis do sell for $600 and up, depending on the images.

I probably should have specified, since the original thread topic was talking about pinups. I was tooling around CAF and saw these two masterpieces from 1964 (I think) - and I'm sure these examples are way beyond $2k. I'm guessing the frequency of when they pop up, era and size moves that price around quite a bit.

I liked your comment about 80's DeCarlo work, I'm going to have to take a closer look at that era. His work spans so many years, I imagine there is a lot to discover about his work on Archie.

 

[Michael Browning]

On 10/15/2022 at 12:35 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I probably should have specified, since the original thread topic was talking about pinups. I was tooling around CAF and saw these two masterpieces from 1964 (I think) - and I'm sure these examples are way beyond $2k. I'm guessing the frequency of when they pop up, era and size moves that price around quite a bit.

I liked your comment about 80's DeCarlo work, I'm going to have to take a closer look at that era. His work spans so many years, I imagine there is a lot to discover about his work on Archie.

 

His covers and pinups from around 1982-1984 are racy compared to the tame work he had done before and the work he would do AFTER the Cheryl Blossom problem (parents complained she was too sexy for Riverdale and their young readers).

Archie editorial didn’t really do much editing of DeCarlo during those years and he pushed the boundaries, for sure. After CB was banned from Archie Comics, you can see on original art pages where Archie editorial made DeCarlo shrink cup sizes and white out cleavage lines.

Edited October 15, 2022 by Michael Browning

[davidtere]

DeCarlo + Betty and Veronica + Bikinis = 

The two below are two of my favorites (mostly because they're mine). I might add that IMHO Dan's best work regarding B&V were done twice up. Usually there is a premium for that even for non bikini B&V. 

Sorry if I contributed in steering the conversation away from modern OA. Some of that is great too, just not my jam (which leaves it for others)

[davidtere]

On 10/15/2022 at 10:05 AM, Michael Browning said:

His covers and pinups from around 1982-1984 are racy compared to the tame work he had done before and the work he would do AFTER the Cheryl Blossom problem (parents complained she was too sexy for Riverdale and their young readers).

Archie editorial didn’t really do much editing of DeCarlo during those years and he pushed the boundaries, for sure. After CB was banned from Archie Comics, you can see on original art pages where Archie editorial made DeCarlo shrink cup sizes and white out cleavage lines.

I liked it when Dan pushed the boundaries. 

[Dr. Balls]

On 10/15/2022 at 11:50 AM, davidtere said:

Sorry if I contributed in steering the conversation away from modern OA. Some of that is great too, just not my jam (which leaves it for others)

I think transforming this into a DeCarlo thread works just fine for me.