Sept Heritage Signature Auction 3 3

[grapeape]

On 8/22/2023 at 5:37 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

One of the highlights of the auction?  

😂 this went for $2000 ? Give or take 😆 jeez. Listen. Back in 1998 I cornered writer Mark Waid and asked him for a sketch. I wouldn't take no for an answer. I thought it would make for a good natured memory.

mark was a great sport. And the words he wrote came from him.

If interested in art done by a writer I'm your man. 😉 let's talk cheddar. Who's got the moola in the coola?

[Verbow]

On 9/17/2023 at 8:36 PM, NinjaSealed said:

Congrats it is fantastic, the splash was one of my targets in the auction but went for a lot more I thought(hoped) it would. 

Thanks!   Yup - it certainly exceeded my target as well - but what good is sensibility when emotions are at play 

[Bronty]

On 9/18/2023 at 12:57 PM, Jeremyamoto said:

I think the price is okay given it is the special version cover of Ultimate Spider-Man for PS2. Many video game art collectors would be happy to have a Spidey game cover in their collections.

Jeremy,

is the published version of the ps2 a line for line match to the inked version that sold?   Or were the initial pencils digitally inked for the game and then the pencils reinked as a private commission or something?

[Bronty]

On 9/18/2023 at 1:18 PM, comix4fun said:

Right, with an interesting sentence or paragraph of disclosures attached. Whomever owns it needs to keep the description printed out and in the mylar behind the artwork if they ever think of moving it. 

Well, if what I think happened (inked for publication as the game) is what actually happened, it can be sold as the game cover without any disclosures necessary.    Its only if its sold as the comic cover that you'd need to get into all that.

[Jeremyamoto]

On 9/18/2023 at 11:49 AM, Bronty said:

Jeremy,

is the published version of the ps2 a line for line match to the inked version that sold?   Or were the initial pencils digitally inked for the game and then the pencils reinked as a private commission or something?

Going over it, it looks like the inks don't match the game cover. So now I am curious what it was inked for.

[Bronty]

On 9/18/2023 at 2:06 PM, Jeremyamoto said:

Going over it, it looks like the inks don't match the game cover. So now I am curious what it was inked for.

Oof.   If that's the case, I'm running out of ways to justify 11k

[Twanj]

On 9/18/2023 at 2:06 PM, Jeremyamoto said:

Going over it, it looks like the inks don't match the game cover. So now I am curious what it was inked for.

It's an (unpublished) commission inked over the original published pencils.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Twanj

[cstojano]

On 9/18/2023 at 7:00 AM, Bronty said:

It does.

Anyone else think her bathing suit bottom doesn't look quite right in that pose?   I'm probably the only one that cares, but I always though it looked off.

I think it looks ok. My first impression of this piece was that YES it was babes and barbarians but all things considered it wa spretty tasteful. I was also drawn to the way the back was painted more the bikini in this picture.

Looks a bit blown out though, perhaps flash? Some surface abrasion as well, not that it mattered much.

[Bronty]

On 9/18/2023 at 6:11 PM, cstojano said:

I think it looks ok. My first impression of this piece was that YES it was babes and barbarians but all things considered it wa spretty tasteful. I was also drawn to the way the back was painted more the bikini in this picture.

Looks a bit blown out though, perhaps flash? Some surface abrasion as well, not that it mattered much.

I was referring to the bikini bottom on the Veronica cover.   It’s not drawn correctly IMO.   The bottom on the Boris is fine.

[Michael Browning]

On 9/18/2023 at 6:11 PM, cstojano said:

I think it looks ok. My first impression of this piece was that YES it was babes and barbarians but all things considered it wa spretty tasteful. I was also drawn to the way the back was painted more the bikini in this picture.

Looks a bit blown out though, perhaps flash? Some surface abrasion as well, not that it mattered much.

This caused me to go back and study the picture of the Veronica cover and I was wondering what the heck you were seeing that I wasn’t. 😳

[Matches_Malone]

On 9/18/2023 at 2:11 PM, Bronty said:

Oof.   If that's the case, I'm running out of ways to justify 11k

It is still original pencils by Bagley, and I think It might have gone cheaper if it was pencils only, but it would have been much higher with original inks. So...a bargain  

It's a nice-looking piece, nevertheless. 

[Bronty]

On 9/18/2023 at 11:33 PM, Michael Browning said:

This caused me to go back and study the picture of the Veronica cover and I was wondering what the heck you were seeing that I wasn’t. 😳

I did the same thing     Barbarian....?   Archie does look thirsty I guess..   

Edited September 19, 2023 by Bronty

[Bronty]

On 9/19/2023 at 1:10 AM, Matches_Malone said:

It is still original pencils by Bagley, and I think It might have gone cheaper if it was pencils only, but it would have been much higher with original inks. So...a bargain  

It's a nice-looking piece, nevertheless. 

Maybe you're right.    Looking from my own POV if the inks aren't published anywhere, I just kind of lose interest altogether.    Other people may not have that issue.

[AlexG_art]

On 9/18/2023 at 10:10 PM, Matches_Malone said:

It is still original pencils by Bagley, and I think It might have gone cheaper if it was pencils only, but it would have been much higher with original inks. So...a bargain  

It's a nice-looking piece, nevertheless. 

It was original pencils by Bagley. Now, it's considered a commission piece IMO. But congrats to the seller. I thought it would go half of the 11k price tag.   

[Michael Browning]

On 9/19/2023 at 9:57 AM, AlexG_art said:

It was original pencils by Bagley. Now, it's considered a commission piece IMO. But congrats to the seller. I thought it would go half of the 11k price tag.   

I thought it would go for HALF of that! I mean, the original, published cover and video game art is all covered under the inks, so they're basically destroyed, gone. It's a commission now, so I was surprised at the high price that it sold for. I would almost bet the current buyer won't be able to get his money back if he decides to resell anytime in the next decade.

[Twanj]

On 9/19/2023 at 5:31 PM, Michael Browning said:

I thought it would go for HALF of that! I mean, the original, published cover and video game art is all covered under the inks, so they're basically destroyed, gone. It's a commission now, so I was surprised at the high price that it sold for. I would almost bet the current buyer won't be able to get his money back if he decides to resell anytime in the next decade.

 

Yes, I believe it sold for around 4k in the last 2 years but wasn't described accurately, so the buyer canceled and it was auctioned off for half that:

("I won, but later cancelled because I found out the inks were done after publication. It was later auctioned off again at half the price...

I contacted HA directly and sent them links from Banning's Instagram post mentioning the inking process over Bagley's pencils. It took a few days, but I was able to retract my bid.")

[AlexG_art]

On 9/19/2023 at 4:02 PM, Twanj said:

 

Yes, I believe it sold for around 4k in the last 2 years but wasn't described accurately, so the buyer canceled and it was auctioned off for half that:

("I won, but later cancelled because I found out the inks were done after publication. It was later auctioned off again at half the price...

I contacted HA directly and sent them links from Banning's Instagram post mentioning the inking process over Bagley's pencils. It took a few days, but I was able to retract my bid.")

Yep, I went after the other commission ink piece. But cancelled after the fact. 

[PhilipB2k17]

On 9/15/2023 at 11:07 PM, drdroom said:

I believe you're referring to this? Perhaps I can be of assistance. It's neither unpublished or a sketch, though it went unpublished at the time. It's a panel from the legendary unfinished EC story, "Came the Dawn," a remake of an earlier Wally Wood story, set to be published in Shock Illustrated 3 before that title was cancelled. Shock Illustrated was one of the black & white adult magazines EC briefly published after the comics code wiped out their classic line. This would have been only the second solo story by Frazetta for EC and the sex and violence quotient is absolutely off the charts. Someone, maybe Frank himself, cut the pages up, had him sign all the panels, in whatever state of completion, from pencils only to a couple with full inks, and sold them into the market. The story has many owners! This panel is one of the two most finished panels of the heroine, and I would say one of the top three most desirable panels in the story. It's three years later, and more subtle, than the Personal Love panels, and it's earlier and more finished than the ink sketch that went for half the price. In short, it's peak Fritz for collectors of his comics work. It might not seem like all that to you, but as a collector of a certain vintage, this is a grail.

I appreciate the explanation, and that makes sense. But the problem is that the provenance aspect of it is not going to matter that much in 20-30 years. I'll concede it's better aesthetically, but not twice as good (imho) as the panel page, which has a clear Marilyn Monroe analog in multiple panels. I just think that the value of the two pieces is going to converge over time once the provenance and story behind the above piece kind of fades from living memory. Yeah, it's a cool story, but how many people are going to care about that in the future? I'm in my 50's, and I didn't know any of this background. 

[Bronty]

On 9/20/2023 at 4:26 PM, PhilipB2k17 said:

I appreciate the explanation, and that makes sense. But the problem is that the provenance aspect of it is not going to matter that much in 20-30 years. I'll concede it's better aesthetically, but not twice as good (imho) as the panel page, which has a clear Marilyn Monroe analog in multiple panels. I just think that the value of the two pieces is going to converge over time once the provenance and story behind the above piece kind of fades from living memory. Yeah, it's a cool story, but how many people are going to care about that in the future? I'm in my 50's, and I didn't know any of this background. 

 

What do you mean by twice as good?   You seem to be implying one went for twice as much as the other, but HA seems to indicate that the 'personal love' panel page and the 'came the dawn' panel went for almost  the same price. 

It seems to me the panel is aesthetically the best single shot, but the personal love is complete and more substantial, and that's how we ended up at the same amount of 'hot girl tax.'

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Bronty

[tth2]

On 9/21/2023 at 4:26 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

I appreciate the explanation, and that makes sense. But the problem is that the provenance aspect of it is not going to matter that much in 20-30 years. I'll concede it's better aesthetically, but not twice as good (imho) as the panel page, which has a clear Marilyn Monroe analog in multiple panels. I just think that the value of the two pieces is going to converge over time once the provenance and story behind the above piece kind of fades from living memory. Yeah, it's a cool story, but how many people are going to care about that in the future? I'm in my 50's, and I didn't know any of this background. 

I think Frazetta is one of the few commercial/illustrated art artists whose work has transcended "published-ness".  People are willing to value, and buy, his art based solely on aesthetic merit without concern as to whether it was published or not. 

Of course a piece having been published will never hurt, but it's not as critical a factor for him as it is for just about every other commercial/illustrated art artist.