Comic Link Fall Featured Auction Nov 17 2 2

[delekkerste]

On 12/7/2023 at 12:23 AM, tth2 said:

$36,552.  If it previously sold for $43k, then the consignor took a serious bath, particularly after factoring in Clink's commission.  Roughly a 23% loss!  

I was watching the Fastner & Larson X-Men portfolio plate. Sold for $7100, which, after CLink's 10% cut, amounts to only an 18% increase over nearly a decade after it sold at Heritage. 

[comix4fun]

On 12/7/2023 at 9:23 AM, delekkerste said:

I was watching the Fastner & Larson X-Men portfolio plate. Sold for $7100, which, after CLink's 10% cut, amounts to only an 18% increase over nearly a decade after it sold at Heritage. 

Fastner & Larson pieces always seem to be the "Cash Equivalent" portion of the art appreciation portfolio. 

[Bronty]

On 12/7/2023 at 10:23 AM, delekkerste said:

I was watching the Fastner & Larson X-Men portfolio plate. Sold for $7100, which, after CLink's 10% cut, amounts to only an 18% increase over nearly a decade after it sold at Heritage. 

I like fastner &larson artwork but how many people even know who they are?   The portfolios and whatnot they worked on just aren’t as well known as the books themselves.     If their images had been used as covers it’s a different story I suspect. 
 

There’s  going to be a pretty hard cap on the value of most comic art from artists that did very little comic art .    Portfolio plates aren’t going to cut it except in rare cases. 

[vodou]

On 12/7/2023 at 10:33 AM, Bronty said:

There’s  going to be a pretty hard cap on the value of most comic art from artists that did very little comic art.

It's also the painted art lag effect at play. That lag, in trajectory, has always been there and is even more apparent when any general market softness is present. I could make some guesses why this is, beginning with the sticker prices were always higher because the artists asked more to begin with and that cools demand, but really I don't get it now where everything is pricey. (No more $25 Buscema SSIC pages anymore!) Mostly the art is more attractive (to collectors and non-collectors alike) than pen/brush India inks only but...that's the market!

[comix4fun]

On 12/7/2023 at 9:33 AM, Bronty said:

I like fastner &larson artwork but how many people even know who they are?   The portfolios and whatnot they worked on just aren’t as well known as the books themselves.     If their images had been used as covers it’s a different story I suspect. 
 

There’s  going to be a pretty hard cap on the value of most comic art from artists that did very little comic art .    Portfolio plates aren’t going to cut it except in rare cases. 

They just don't move or jump in value over time. They've done a lot of books and portfolios and simply don't run on the same appreciation curve as everything else. 

[delekkerste]

On 12/7/2023 at 11:04 AM, vodou said:

It's also the painted art lag effect at play. That lag, in trajectory, has always been there and is even more apparent when any general market softness is present. I could make some guesses why this is, beginning with the sticker prices were always higher because the artists asked more to begin with and that cools demand, but really I don't get it now where everything is pricey. (No more $25 Buscema SSIC pages anymore!) Mostly the art is more attractive (to collectors and non-collectors alike) than pen/brush India inks only but...that's the market!

I believe it was Rob Pistella who once told me over dinner, "Ours is a black & white hobby". 

As a big fan of illustration as well as comic book art, I used to wonder why color pieces so often played second-fiddle, being more attractive to many and closer to gallery/museum fine art (which obviously has a much higher ceiling in terms of financial value and critical acclaim). But, I agree with Rob - when people in the hobby (not outsiders) think about comic art, they think of B&W pieces. Not that there aren't great color pieces out there (some of my favorite pieces in my collection are color, and I definitely prefer it when it comes to illustration art), but, B&W is really what most collectors associate with the medium, given that color pieces only make up a small part of the hobby by quantity and an overwhelming majority of the better/best pieces are B&W examples. 

[delekkerste]

On 12/7/2023 at 10:33 AM, Bronty said:

I like fastner &larson artwork but how many people even know who they are?   The portfolios and whatnot they worked on just aren’t as well known as the books themselves.     If their images had been used as covers it’s a different story I suspect. 
 

There’s  going to be a pretty hard cap on the value of most comic art from artists that did very little comic art .    Portfolio plates aren’t going to cut it except in rare cases. 

I have huge, huge nostalgia for the X-Men portfolios they did, but, yeah, they were very much of that time and don't check off all the boxes that people look for today - not main run, not pen & ink, not by a creative team tied to a run on a title, odd size, the portfolios not kept in print, etc. 

I'm happy to have my favorite of their X-Men portfolio plate originals and would have had interest in the one last night at a lower price.  Although not expensive by mainstream superhero comic art standards at $7100 (probably close to $8,000 including tax and shipping in that frame), that's still a good chunk of change to spend on something that's considered to be niche and whose inflation-adjusted value has eroded over the past decade and so I decided that I didn't need a second example at that price. 

Edited December 7, 2023 by delekkerste

[vodou]

On 12/7/2023 at 11:33 AM, delekkerste said:

Although not expensive by mainstream superhero comic art standards at $7100 (probably close to $8,000 including tax and shipping in that frame), that's still a good chunk of change to spend on something that's...

Some pretty hard fade going on too, all grays shifting to light brown?! If so, my hard cap on such is hundreds not thousands 😉

[cstojano]

On 12/7/2023 at 8:33 AM, Bronty said:

I like fastner &larson artwork but how many people even know who they are?   The portfolios and whatnot they worked on just aren’t as well known as the books themselves.     If their images had been used as covers it’s a different story I suspect. 
 

There’s  going to be a pretty hard cap on the value of most comic art from artists that did very little comic art .    Portfolio plates aren’t going to cut it except in rare cases. 

I know this isn't a great example but I couldn't help think of this piece that closed last night. Never heard of the artist but a cover for an 80s era Conan portfolio I thought would do more than 200 dollars, arguments about execution aside. I have a weak spot for older material like this and get hammered all the time by overspending. I did not bid here though because I thought, well who really cares.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/covers/jim-fletcher-conan-the-fearless-portfolio-cover-original-art-sq-productions-1986-/a/322349-46080.s?ic2=mytracked-lotspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyTrackedLots-101116

[BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES]

On 12/7/2023 at 8:26 AM, delekkerste said:

I believe it was Rob Pistella who once told me over dinner, "Ours is a black & white hobby". 

As a big fan of illustration as well as comic book art, I used to wonder why color pieces so often played second-fiddle, being more attractive to many and closer to gallery/museum fine art (which obviously has a much higher ceiling in terms of financial value and critical acclaim). But, I agree with Rob - when people in the hobby (not outsiders) think about comic art, they think of B&W pieces. Not that there aren't great color pieces out there (some of my favorite pieces in my collection are color, and I definitely prefer it when it comes to illustration art), but, B&W is really what most collectors associate with the medium, given that color pieces only make up a small part of the hobby by quantity and an overwhelming majority of the better/best pieces are B&W examples. 

I have also wondered about the lack of added interest in color pieces and even a preference for B&W.  I find pieces created to be published in black and white with lots of shading, etc, are sometimes more appealing to me than the ones created to be presented in color.  Sometimes the ones without color have enough blacks and greys that they look just as appealing in B&W.  But much more often, if the drawing is a busy image with thin lines and little or no shading, it feels, to me incomplete.  I clicked on a few examples I had in files that felt to me as good in BW as in color.  Some have lots of shading and some not as much (and I realized afterwards the latter examples were printed either with all or mostly one solid color    

Edited December 7, 2023 by BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES
adding examples

[Twanj]

3.5 months later. ouch.

[Twanj]

2.5 years later.

Hakes to CL.

[batman_fan]

On 12/7/2023 at 1:08 PM, Twanj said:

2.5 years later.

Hakes to CL.

Buy high, sell low wins again !

[batman_fan]

Two pieces I was watching.  Hard to say whether high, about right, or low.  I am going to go with about right.  Would have gone on the high side had I decided to bid but I am still trying to sneak my last two Peanuts purchases in to the house.

Edited December 7, 2023 by batman_fan

[vodou]

There some truly brutal punishment in this thread. I know it happens but I'm a little shocked how often and how broad some of the spreads are.

[cloud cloddie]

On 12/7/2023 at 12:29 PM, vodou said:

There some truly brutal punishment in this thread. I know it happens but I'm a little shocked how often and how broad some of the spreads are.

I feel like since the pandemic, everyone thinks their kids are stars. Sometimes you’re the only one who loves your ugly rugrat. 

[artdisease]

I had three pieces in this auction. I broke even. I bid on a few lots, won one. Not the one I really wanted. On to the next auction.

[cstojano]

On 12/7/2023 at 1:29 PM, vodou said:

There some truly brutal punishment in this thread. I know it happens but I'm a little shocked how often and how broad some of the spreads are.

2024 is my year to finally take the beating I deserve. I have stuff I bought 20 years ago that won't sell for half of what I paid (not comic art). Its been sitting waiting for the market to rebound (it won't). I should make the "worst of" reel for the year  I have found that losing the money stinks, for sure, but in the end I am usually glad to get whatever I can out of a piece and move on. Lost about 30% on some props this year. The lesson there is that buying fresh to market stuff is VERY costly (props came from the maker's estate - what a time to be a collector) and the excitement of the first auction viewing is rarely replicated in the bids the next go around.

Edited December 8, 2023 by cstojano

[DJRome]

That Jimmy Olsen splash was a steal. I know cuz I'm the one who stole it! Thank you for being a Peanuts collector.

On 12/7/2023 at 3:13 PM, batman_fan said:

Two pieces I was watching.  Hard to say whether high, about right, or low.  I am going to go with about right.  Would have gone on the high side had I decided to bid but I am still trying to sneak my last two Peanuts purchases in to the house.

 

[batman_fan]

On 12/7/2023 at 7:16 PM, DJRome said:

That Jimmy Olsen splash was a steal. I know cuz I'm the one who stole it! Thank you for being a Peanuts collector.

It was a nice splash, Guardian + the Newsboy Legion = 

Couple that with Kirby an you have pure goodness