CAF Live 5-20-23 2 2

[cstojano]

On 5/21/2023 at 7:05 AM, Michael Browning said:

I agree, 100%.

I pretty much assume 90% of dealer inventory is being resold from last year's auctions. Unless its a true "one that got away" its hard to pull the trigger.

[cloud cloddie]

On 5/21/2023 at 5:49 AM, Michael Browning said:

 

I also believe that too many sellers went for the big cash grabs, rather than selling off some of their cheaper art, and they put people off with prices that were multiples of what the art sold for at auction recently. Sellers want to sell one piece that gives them a profit large enough to buy a car, rather than selling off a bunch of $250-$500 pages. Many of those sellers didn't sell much at all.

 

Yeah, Nick and Los bros had sold 1 piece between the 3 of them when I looked this morning. 

[cstojano]

Sunday is live but the site is glitching and I can't get it to just show Sunday listings. With over 6000 listings its pretty much impossible to browse and shop. You have to know what you are looking for with keyword searches. 

Edited May 21, 2023 by cstojano

[cloud cloddie]

On 5/21/2023 at 8:07 AM, cloud cloddie said:

Yeah, Nick and Los bros had sold 1 piece between the 3 of them when I looked this morning. 

And Will, Panel page, And Nostalgic investments… nothing sold from what I see. Pretty telling that 6 dealers have 1 piece sold between the lot of them. Seems like buyers are pretty tired of their s***. 

[Benedict Judas Hel]

On 5/20/2023 at 7:50 PM, KirbyCollector said:

Yes. Just make an offer and see what happens, but don't be surprised if they want quite a bit over FMV.

Thank you.  Yes, they have a piece that went up today that is much more in line with my collecting goals.  However, as you said, it is way over what I recently paid for a very similar piece from the same artist and from the same comic book series (4 times as much).  While a bit of a shame, at that magnitude of a sale price, I can easily walk away.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Benedict Judas Hel

[skrilla1212]

Guess it all depends on what you’re looking for.

I bought two Howard Porter JLA pages for reasonable prices. One had been offered last year I liked, listed this year for lower and we made a deal. Very happy.

Other things in my wheelhouse:

- Several very affordable Immonen NextWave pages which are rare to see.

-An Andy Kubert X-Men 25, A JRJR Daredevil Man without, several Sandman pages (from the Donnelley no less) all at fair prices. 

- Someone got a really great Andrew Robinson Spider-Man cover at a great price.

Just to say there’s been no let down in things that pique my interest this time. For me, It’s all about the collectors getting a chance to play art dealer for a weekend rather than anything the dealers do or expecting the same offerings as a HA feature Auction.

[Brian Peck]

Saturday I sold two pieces, my cheapest and bought one piece of artwork, from a series never read and artist never heard of. It was the inking that really grabbed me. But nothing I on my wantlist the first day.

Second day had one offer (considering it), bought three pieces. One I had been watching for  years since it was posted in CAF and the other two are great by two artists I really like. Sunday had more pieces I selected "SAVED", not as much but more interesting art I considered buying.

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Brian Peck

[Dr. Balls]

On 5/21/2023 at 11:45 AM, Brian Peck said:

...bought one piece of artwork, from a series never read and artist never heard of.

I fell into this category today. I missed a really cheap mid-90's sword-and-sorcery indy cover for $400 that I am kicking myself over. But the purchase today took the edge off.

[KirbyCollector]

6491 lots offered, 607 sold as of 9pm. Considering more than 90% did not sell, what was the reason? Pricing? Bad timing with HA, CL and CC auctions all around the corner? Or is the economy finally rearing its head and impacting buying?

Edited May 22, 2023 by KirbyCollector

[Michael Browning]

On 5/21/2023 at 9:25 PM, KirbyCollector said:

6491 lots offered, 607 sold as of 9pm. Considering more than 90% did not sell, what was the reason? Pricing? Bad timing with HA, CL and CC auctions all around the corner? Or is the economy finally rearing its head and impacting buying?

All of the above.

Prices were aspirational. Lots of buyers were tapped out due to the auctions and saving for the next one. And, the economy doesn’t help matters at all. I’d say it was a lot of factors. I went in today and thought I’d like to buy SOMEthing and still didn’t.

[Michael Browning]

I didn’t buy anything because I just might be saving up for the next Tradd Moore art drop. 😂

[Darkly]

On 5/21/2023 at 6:25 PM, KirbyCollector said:

6491 lots offered, 607 sold as of 9pm. Considering more than 90% did not sell, what was the reason? Pricing? Bad timing with HA, CL and CC auctions all around the corner? Or is the economy finally rearing its head and impacting buying?

I think a combination of factors:

1. I think some things were priced very aggressively (amazing BP juiced up auction result without the auction)
2. A lot of art had been sitting around on the market for a while and just relisted for the event. 
3. There are a ton of auctions coming up with a lot of great art. 
4. We all pretend like CAF reaches everyone in the OA community, but it really doesn't. There are a ton of buyers that weren't even aware this was taking place.
5. Not everyone wants to pull the trigger on 24 hour notice for a private party to party transaction with people they don't necessarily know.
6. Maybe things are cooling a little. Not necessarily a bad thing.

[Fischb1]

Why should everything sell?

What percentage of a dealers inventory do you think he/she sells at any one 2 day show? Surely not more than 5% and probably wayyyy less than that. 10% of all listed pieces selling in a 2 day window is an amazing turnout and isn't sign of anything else. 

[KirbyCollector]

On 5/21/2023 at 9:58 PM, Fischb1 said:

Why should everything sell?

What percentage of a dealers inventory do you think he/she sells at any one 2 day show? Surely not more than 5% and probably wayyyy less than that. 10% of all listed pieces selling in a 2 day window is an amazing turnout and isn't sign of anything else. 

Heritage sells all of its pieces, every week, because price is in line with the market. I'm sure every seller WANTED to sell their pieces this weekend -- why else would they put them up for sale? Logic tells me a 10% sell-through rate means a high percentage of the remaining lots went unsold due to prices being out of line with market.

[Fischb1]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:07 PM, KirbyCollector said:

Heritage sells all of its pieces, every week, because price is in line with the market. I'm sure every seller WANTED to sell their pieces this weekend -- why else would they put them up for sale? Logic tells me a 10% sell-through rate means a high percentage of the remaining lots went unsold due to prices being out of line with market.

No. Heritage sells all its lots because when you have no reserve auctions, everything sells. Comparing a price based system to an auction based system is not fair at all. 

Edited May 22, 2023 by Fischb1

[Darkly]

On 5/21/2023 at 6:58 PM, Fischb1 said:

Why should everything sell?

What percentage of a dealers inventory do you think he/she sells at any one 2 day show? Surely not more than 5% and probably wayyyy less than that. 10% of all listed pieces selling in a 2 day window is an amazing turnout and isn't sign of anything else. 

I agree. At the end of the day over a million dollars in art sold and it not like there was one anomaly sale that made up the bulk of it. This wasn't a heavily marketed auction or anything.

[Murphman13]

Bill just said on his recap that the 10% sell rate is in line with his previous shows. He also said that sales went over a million and are projected to finish around 1.2-1.3 million which is also in line with previous shows. 

[KirbyCollector]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:09 PM, Fischb1 said:

No. Heritage sells all it's lots because when you have no reserve auctions, everything sells. Comparing a price based system to an auction based system is not fair at all. 

Yes, they are different. But all of these auctions set a definable floor on the market -- one with direct comparables at (almost) every level, meaning there is real price transparency. If you choose to sell a page far above market, knowing full well buyers have access to the data above, you are fooling yourself and should not have tried to sell at all.

Edited May 22, 2023 by KirbyCollector

[Darkly]

On 5/21/2023 at 7:11 PM, Murphman13 said:

Bill just said on his recap that the 10% sell rate is in line with his previous shows. He also said that sales went over a million and are projected to finish around 1.2-1.3 million which is also in line with previous shows. 

I also assume a lot of people will be working something out later in the week as the sellers were probably waiting the weekend out to see if they would get their asking price. 

[KirbyCollector]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:16 PM, Darkly said:

I also assume a lot of people will be working something out later in the week as the sellers were probably waiting the weekend out to see if they would get their asking price. 

Good luck! The more likely outcome is you will see the same unsold pages at the next con with a HIGHER price 😆 

Edited May 22, 2023 by KirbyCollector