CAF Live 5-20-23 2 2

[Michael Browning]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:20 PM, KirbyCollector said:

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

There sure were a LOT of retreads in this one. Probably means even more in the next. After awhile, does it all become new again if the price keeps going up? 😉

[artdealer]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:23 PM, Michael Browning said:

There sure were a LOT of retreads in this one. Probably means even more in the next. After awhile, does it all become new again if the price keeps going up? 😉

Only if you click you heels 3 times and repeat, “The art will be new again, the art will be new again, the art will……”’

[Darkly]

On 5/21/2023 at 7:20 PM, KirbyCollector said:

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

I would assume a fair amount of that will happen. Art dealers did pretty poorly compared to the regular public this weekend. I suspect the chickens came home to roost in some respects. 

[KirbyCollector]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:36 PM, Darkly said:

I would assume a fair amount of that will happen. Art dealers did pretty poorly compared to the regular public this weekend. I suspect the chickens came home to roost in some respects. 

The chickens are coming for the stock market this year, followed by a pretty decent recession. I don't envy anyone holding excess merchandise they need to sell, or new art they can't hold for at least 3 years. Things are going to get rough.

Edited May 22, 2023 by KirbyCollector

[JC25427N]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:42 PM, KirbyCollector said:

The chickens are coming for the stock market this year, followed by a pretty decent recession. I don't envy anyone holding excess merchandise they need to sell, or new art they can't hold for at least 3 years. Things are going to get rough.

Don't you get depressed preaching this in almost every thread?

[malvin]

I'm pretty content as a buyer and seller of this year's CAL. I think I sold 7 pieces and bought 3. I obviously didn't love the 7, and I like 2 of the 3 (I sort of regret 1 of them, but that's how it goes when you feel you have to pul the trigger fast ) and the dollar value of my sales exceed my purchases!

Some of my sales I actually are not tagged on the CAF website since I can no longer access my booth.

Malvin

[Brian Peck]

On 5/21/2023 at 7:09 PM, Fischb1 said:

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. 

Heritage picks and chooses what art they think will sell. On CAL, people posted art they wanted to sell, that effects what sells. Besides on auctions people bid up to a price but CAL is a fixed price, another reason all pieces do not sell on CAL.  HA and CAL are apple and oranges.

[Brian Peck]

Of all the pieces offered on ComicArtLive 50% were $500 and under, while 80% were $2500 and under. Doesn't sound like people were priced out.

Its a variety of things, people have specific tastes and didn't find something they really wanted. Some might have just used they wantlist to search, missing art they might want but didn't do a search for it.

Auction have pieces starting at 0 and being bid up, some once people start bidding most art will sell with the exceptions of the ones that have reserve which is rare. There are also some people who will only buy thru auctions. As others have said, ComicArtLive only got a small part of the collectors on CAF.

I think CAL is well worth it I sold some art and bought some and was fun to look thru all CAL art. Some art I didnt buy I have examples of, others price higher than I want or other art I am not interested in. I also came across some art I was not familar with, one pieces I purchased.

 

[thethedew]

Bought one piece only, a MICRONAUTS page, which I was not expecting.  Also; at a reasonable price, which I was also not expecting.

I don't know why I was so surprised, CAL has been pretty good to me the past few years, a DYNAMO JOE page last year.

A few people viewed it before I did but either didn't like it much, or decided to leave it for me.  If the 2nd, thanks for cutting a guy a break!  

[Rick2you2]

On 5/21/2023 at 11:40 PM, JC25427N said:

Don't you get depressed preaching this in almost every thread?

Warren Buffet once said be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful.

[Michael Browning]

On 5/22/2023 at 3:17 AM, thethedew said:

Bought one piece only, a MICRONAUTS page, which I was not expecting.  Also; at a reasonable price, which I was also not expecting.

I don't know why I was so surprised, CAL has been pretty good to me the past few years, a DYNAMO JOE page last year.

A few people viewed it before I did but either didn't like it much, or decided to leave it for me.  If the 2nd, thanks for cutting a guy a break!  

I saw that one and was hopeful you got it. 😊

[fsumavila]

As a first-time seller, I enjoyed the event. Sold 3 pieces which were not expensive (highest priced one was $800), which was nice.

I saw one Dazzler page I really liked, but was a tad more than I cared to spend. Didn't think it was overpriced, just was being a bit gun shy. 

Regarding retreads, I saw lots of familiar art at even higher prices than the last CAF Live!

I don't understand that strategy at all for an event where a large part of the potential customer base is probably as well informed about prices and availability as anywhere in the hobby.

I saw one particular page featuring Spider-Man that I like but it's been priced absurdly over market for the last 3 CAF Lives. It was back this time around, at nearly 3x the last aspirational price!

Anyway, overall I liked the event. I'll probably set up shop again at the next one and will look to again post new pages that haven't been in circulation for awhile. I think that 'freshness' helps in this arena.

 

Mike 

[Rick2you2]

On 5/22/2023 at 7:53 AM, fsumavila said:

As a first-time seller, I enjoyed the event. Sold 3 pieces which were not expensive (highest priced one was $800), which was nice.

I saw one Dazzler page I really liked, but was a tad more than I cared to spend. Didn't think it was overpriced, just was being a bit gun shy. 

Regarding retreads, I saw lots of familiar art at even higher prices than the last CAF Live!

I don't understand that strategy at all for an event where a large part of the potential customer base is probably as well informed about prices and availability as anywhere in the hobby.

I saw one particular page featuring Spider-Man that I like but it's been priced absurdly over market for the last 3 CAF Lives. It was back this time around, at nearly 3x the last aspirational price!

Anyway, overall I liked the event. I'll probably set up shop again at the next one and will look to again post new pages that haven't been in circulation for awhile. I think that 'freshness' helps in this arena.

 

Mike 

All a seller needs is one enthusiastic buyer, and since each piece is unique, neither the seller nor the buyer can replace it. 

But, it is a bit ridiculous. I have been following one cover around from dealer to dealer since it was in the $3-4,000 range. It went up to $5,500 and has now settled down at $5,000. It still won't move at that price. About 4-5 years ago, I bought a better piece by the same artist for $3,200.

[KirbyCollector]

On 5/21/2023 at 11:40 PM, JC25427N said:

Don't you get depressed preaching this in almost every thread?

Apologies. In the fall of 2007, I saw what was going to happen and got my money to safety, but didn't warn friends. As they were all passively invested in the market, and barely paid attention to their accounts, they lost 40-50%. This was devastating to some, and caused many to have to work beyond their anticipated retirement.

I won't mention this again. I will politely ask you to pay attention to your 401K/retirement account. Calculate how much a 10% loss (or whatever % you can tolerate) would be, then check your balance once a week. If you reach that figure, put your money into whatever safe option your program allows. Thanks

Edited May 22, 2023 by KirbyCollector

[Michael Browning]

On 5/22/2023 at 8:01 AM, Rick2you2 said:

All a seller needs is one enthusiastic buyer, and since each piece is unique, neither the seller nor the buyer can replace it. 

But, it is a bit ridiculous. I have been following one cover around from dealer to dealer since it was in the $3-4,000 range. It went up to $5,500 and has now settled down at $5,000. It still won't move at that price. About 4-5 years ago, I bought a better piece by the same artist for $3,200.

I’ve always wondered why you hadn’t bought that cover.

[Twanj]

On 5/22/2023 at 8:02 AM, KirbyCollector said:

Apologies. In the fall of 2007, I saw what was going to happen and got my money to safety, but didn't warn friends. As they were all passively invested in the market, and barely paid attention to their accounts, they lost 40-50%. This was devastating to some, and caused many to have to work beyond their anticipated retirement.

I won't mention this again. I will politely ask you to pay attention to your 401K/retirement account. Calculate how much a 10% loss (or whatever % you can tolerate) would be, then check your balance once a week. If you reach that figure, put your money into whatever safe option your program allows. Thanks

I enjoy a different opinion. Please don't stop.

[BVladimirHarkonnen]

I'd passively watched the shows and always found the most interesting stuff (for me) to come from other community members vs dedicated dealers.

Finally grabbed a page from this one as well a very reasonable sketch slot. It's a nice venue of sorts for art and away from the noise of auctions and dealers. 

From what I experienced, people were pretty open to negotiate as well and send out offers themselves to those who saved pieces. Prices can be aspirational but you can just ask someone if you're really interested and see where it goes. 

[vodou]

On 5/22/2023 at 8:02 AM, KirbyCollector said:

If you reach that figure, put your money into whatever safe option your program allows.

😂

There is no traditional liquid “safe” option. Too bad, too sad for those captive to a closed circuit management portfolio. Picking up that minuscule company match every two weeks will not mitigate the losses you’ll take nominally and worse inflation adjusted, trapped as you are. But at least it was all tax deferred!

It will turn out that your art purchases were actually the “safest” and by far best performing asset too, but the herd won’t realize this until it’s obvious to all and way too late to over-allocate.

No financial planner will tell you this, there’s no compensation in it for them and, God forbid, they might well be putting their CFP (another confirmation bias echo chamber micro herd) at risk. But hey, at least here we all have “some”…much better than his none 😁

 

 

 

[grapeape]

On 5/21/2023 at 4:50 AM, Dayzen said:

Looking at the Sold listings, seems like Cockrum X-Men pieces were the big winners with three of the top 10 being his.
 

The Massafera FF 48 and Vader covers are amazing. 
 

overall, I’ve sold one piece and looking forward to Sunday’s drop. 

 

 

 

Bill Cox bought a Cockrum X-Men. He seemed very 😃 happy.

[grapeape]

If I were a dealer, I wouldn't bring the same tired, stagnant art to CAL. Do you want to win collectors over? Maybe grow loyalty to your business?

How about introducing reasonably priced, never before seen art to CAL? Do you really need to save your "fresh" inventory for gimmick shows?

I went through the CAL inventory and constantly found myself saying," uggh there it is again."

I liked Dino Mauricio leading the afternoon Sunday show. He pointed out various good buys/ good looking art. Bill Cox and Dan P chimed in. CAL is improving, but I'd really appreciate a focus on honest to goodness freshly presented art, at no more than FMV pricing.