What Keeps You from Buying a Piece 5X Your Normal Budget - Aside from Money? 1 1

[Dr. Balls]

On 12/7/2023 at 10:16 AM, vodou said:

[Aahz]

It's not money but it is reason, if I have see a piece sell and I missed it (or hesitated, etc) and I suddenly see it being flipped for double or more (depending on amount), it puts a bad taste in my mouth.  If  it is a $200 piece and then its $400, then maybe ... but if it is a $3K piece and its suddenly $6-7K ... no.  If its a dealer, I know that is how they make money, but if it is a year or less, it hasn't doubled in value.

[PhilipB2k17]

On 12/5/2023 at 10:24 AM, christosgage said:

 But if my budget is 5K and I see a piece for 25K it's not gonna happen. It's like when I was a student and had no money at all and the Kirby estate was selling his 70s art for $200-250 a page. I knew it was a great buy. I loved the art. But it might as well have been a million.

Basically, describes me. I can swing an occasional $4k-5K piece, but that blows my budget for the year. I'm not going after $25K pieces. If a great piece comes along that stretches me above $5K, or I've already expended a couple grand, and a great $5K piece shows up, I might stretch. But otherwise, I have to bargain hunt. 

[shadroch]

On 12/8/2023 at 6:42 AM, Aahz said:

It's not money but it is reason, if I have see a piece sell and I missed it (or hesitated, etc) and I suddenly see it being flipped for double or more (depending on amount), it puts a bad taste in my mouth.  If  it is a $200 piece and then its $400, then maybe ... but if it is a $3K piece and its suddenly $6-7K ... no.  If its a dealer, I know that is how they make money, but if it is a year or less, it hasn't doubled in value.

Perhaps it sold for a discount the first time. 

[Dr. Balls]

On 12/8/2023 at 7:56 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

Basically, describes me. I can swing an occasional $4k-5K piece, but that blows my budget for the year. I'm not going after $25K pieces. If a great piece comes along that stretches me above $5K, or I've already expended a couple grand, and a great $5K piece shows up, I might stretch. But otherwise, I have to bargain hunt. 

Ok, I'd say that's pretty much where I'm at. I like the bargain hunt, but I always struggle with finding a little *too* many bargains - and I've tried to reel back my focus to something more specific, but I can't help myself. I see a great piece of art from the era I collect, and my newly-found discipline goes right out the window.

If I'm stretching beyond $5k, it has to be a knockout that isn't going to leave my wall for at least a decade. I've only got two pieces that fit that criteria, and one for sure will only be sold after I'm in the ground.

[christosgage]

On 12/6/2023 at 2:37 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I think for the most part money is somewhat relative. A typical scenario is the guy who can spend $500 likely has the same percentage of disposable income as the guy who can spend $2500 - it's just a matter of one's economic scale compared to another. The guys spending $25k on a piece aren't forgoing other expenditures to pay for it and put them in the poorhouse for a year, they just have a larger influx of money to work with - so they can buy a piece of art and still keep their powder dry.

The curiosity I have is when you're just peeking out from your normal limit. Let's say the money is mostly there. The desire is there. But what keeps people from pulling the trigger? Thinking it's overpriced? Out of their comfort zone? Are they buying at the top of the bubble or is there room to grow? Or even inexperience in buying art that is outside their typical budget?

I see what you mean. If it's something I really like I'm going to pull the trigger under the circumstances you describe. Maybe I'm buying at the top of the bubble, but so what? This is a unique piece and I may never see it again. We've all seen the pieces that kick around the hobby forever, but there are also the ones you see, lose out on for whatever reason, and never see again...they've disappeared into a black hole collection. If I lost out on a great Trimpe Godzilla page from an issue I loved as a kid when I had the means and opportunity to buy it and never saw it again, the fact that I didn't buy at the top of the bubble or pay what I felt was over market price would be cold comfort. If factors like that were making me hesitate on pulling the trigger on a piece it would be a sign to me that I didn't like it as much as I was trying to convince myself I did. I was probably interested in it because of FOMO or something else other than genuine appreciation.

[Dr. Balls]

On 12/25/2023 at 2:27 PM, christosgage said:

...there are also the ones you see, lose out on for whatever reason, and never see again...they've disappeared into a black hole collection.

For me, that's one of the most fascinating parts of the hobby. That art can be bought and it can disappear for months, years, decades - never to be seen on CAF or anywhere. 

I just bought a cover that I really, really liked (it was pencil-only, and I collect zero pencil art) - it resonated with me almost instantly, and I pulled the trigger on it immediately within a few hours of it being posted. I didn't want to lose it to someone else, never to be seen again.

On 12/25/2023 at 2:27 PM, christosgage said:

If factors like that were making me hesitate on pulling the trigger on a piece it would be a sign to me that I didn't like it as much as I was trying to convince myself I did. I was probably interested in it because of FOMO or something else other than genuine appreciation.

That's good advice. I don't feel that way about all of the art in my collection, and perhaps part of the discipline of spending outside you Comfort Zone is waiting for that piece you can't live without, and then you just bang it for whatever it's priced at (obviously, with what's in your means) - when it's *not* one of those pieces, you take a step back and give it a little more thought.

Oddly enough, I keep going back to the piece that is the subject of this post. I go back and forth - it's cool, but I'm not sure if it's cool enough. It's an excellent example of work and style, but I'm not in love with it. I think there's something to be said between the price difference of "Great example" and "I Love It". I've got lots of Great Example pieces, but I tend to try and get them at some sort of discount. I've got lots of pieces I Love, and it's highly unlikely I did a lot of hand-wringing on the price, I just went for it.

[Rick2you2]

On 12/25/2023 at 7:21 PM, Dr. Balls said:

For me, that's one of the most fascinating parts of the hobby. That art can be bought and it can disappear for months, years, decades - never to be seen on CAF or anywhere. 

I just bought a cover that I really, really liked (it was pencil-only, and I collect zero pencil art) - it resonated with me almost instantly, and I pulled the trigger on it immediately within a few hours of it being posted. I didn't want to lose it to someone else, never to be seen again.

That's good advice. I don't feel that way about all of the art in my collection, and perhaps part of the discipline of spending outside you Comfort Zone is waiting for that piece you can't live without, and then you just bang it for whatever it's priced at (obviously, with what's in your means) - when it's *not* one of those pieces, you take a step back and give it a little more thought.

Oddly enough, I keep going back to the piece that is the subject of this post. I go back and forth - it's cool, but I'm not sure if it's cool enough. It's an excellent example of work and style, but I'm not in love with it. I think there's something to be said between the price difference of "Great example" and "I Love It". I've got lots of Great Example pieces, but I tend to try and get them at some sort of discount. I've got lots of pieces I Love, and it's highly unlikely I did a lot of hand-wringing on the price, I just went for it.

Sounds fairly normal to me; I go through similar machinations.

What generally tips the balance for me is rarity. If I know there are relatively few pieces by an artist, and the example is good, I am more likely to buy because I may never see it again. That has happened; it never shows up again in any form. I consider it a lesson learned so I don’t regret later. Generally, I use this approach regardless whether the price is within my comfort zone or not.

If it is not a good example, but just an example, I’ll pass. 

[christosgage]

On 12/25/2023 at 7:21 PM, Dr. Balls said:

For me, that's one of the most fascinating parts of the hobby. That art can be bought and it can disappear for months, years, decades - never to be seen on CAF or anywhere. 

I just bought a cover that I really, really liked (it was pencil-only, and I collect zero pencil art) - it resonated with me almost instantly, and I pulled the trigger on it immediately within a few hours of it being posted. I didn't want to lose it to someone else, never to be seen again.

That's good advice. I don't feel that way about all of the art in my collection, and perhaps part of the discipline of spending outside you Comfort Zone is waiting for that piece you can't live without, and then you just bang it for whatever it's priced at (obviously, with what's in your means) - when it's *not* one of those pieces, you take a step back and give it a little more thought.

Oddly enough, I keep going back to the piece that is the subject of this post. I go back and forth - it's cool, but I'm not sure if it's cool enough. It's an excellent example of work and style, but I'm not in love with it. I think there's something to be said between the price difference of "Great example" and "I Love It". I've got lots of Great Example pieces, but I tend to try and get them at some sort of discount. I've got lots of pieces I Love, and it's highly unlikely I did a lot of hand-wringing on the price, I just went for it.

Yeah there's nothing at all wrong with buying something for reasons other than unabashedly loving it; it's a Great Example, it's a Great Deal, etc. I've done all those. But when it comes to going outside my comfort zone financially I'm generally going to save it for pieces I love. Unless I know for a fact I can resell it for what I paid immediately if I need to (unexpected expense, something I really love comes up for sale, etc.) But that doesn't sound like what you're talking about if there's the possibility of getting caught at the peak of a bubble or whatever...you seem to be saying it's an expense that won't break me but will break my art collecting budget for a while, and there's a chance I might not be able to make my money back for a while, if ever. For that, I need to love it. I need to be able to say "I bought that on the newsstand in 1977" or I need to look at it and feel inspired every day or whatever.

[jjonahjameson11]

I’ve done 5x my normal budget a few times.

However, I will not do it if:

1. The seller is an individual (or brothers) with a ‘sketchy’ reputation, even if he (they) have my grail piece up for sale

2. Seller’s terms/payment stipulations are questionable/lopsided 

[Kevin76]

On 12/26/2023 at 4:22 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

I’ve done 5x my normal budget a few times.

However, I will not do it if:

1. The seller is an individual (or brothers) with a ‘sketchy’ reputation, even if he (they) have my grail piece up for sale

2. Seller’s terms/payment stipulations are questionable/lopsided 

Yes, Some dealers make a project out of a transaction. They can't make it a simple, here's my money now give me the piece, that's too complicated for them  

[Kevin76]

On 12/4/2023 at 11:04 AM, PhilipB2k17 said:

Agree on Jim Lee. But....caveat. I am not a Jim Lee fanboy, or collector, so I think I am approaching this from a more objective point of view. There tends to be a spillover effect on superstar artists, particularly 90's Image guys. In other words, McFarlane Spidey Art s top tier, but that began to spill over to his Hulk Art, and then to Spawn Art, and now it's even spilling over to Infinity Inc. art. 

I think it's probably fair to guess that eventually Jim Lee superman art will start seeing a spillover effect as well. People who want a good Jim Lee art example may start driving up the price of the Superman stuff because it's nice Jim Lee published art of a major DC character. Maybe this won't happen, but it would not surprise me. 

Jim Lee Uncanny X-Men stuff is top teir too, Unfortunatly, there isn't any Spawn Mcfarlane art covers/pages except maybe a few promo pieces he's done. Jim Lee is now charging 30K+ for his Batman covers/splashes on Albert's site...crazy   

[Brian Peck]

On 12/2/2023 at 2:01 PM, malvin said:

For the longest time I had a mental block spending more than $500 on comic art (this was during the days of a decent cover being $500'ish). The mental block was just an internal limitation, as I would have no problem spending $1,000 if it was 10 $100 pages.

I don't really know how I broke it, but I think once I accepted that it was ok to spend more than $500 on one piece it wasn't a problem. These days I still have a comfort zone (e.g. up to $5K) but have spent more than that when it was meaningful to me.

Malvin

It’s was my fault

[Brian Peck]

What keeps me from spending 5x my usual budget?

Nostalgia

It must be something I have a strong connection to reading or seeing when I was growing up. This basically eliminates anything done in the last 25 years.

[cstojano]

On 1/2/2024 at 11:10 PM, Brian Peck said:

What keeps me from spending 5x my usual budget?

Nostalgia

It must be something I have a strong connection to reading or seeing when I was growing up. This basically eliminates anything done in the last 25 years.

I need to print this and superglue it to my monitor (as I stare around my bedroom at art I bought and cannot sell that I have no connection to). 

[Brian Peck]

On 1/3/2024 at 11:29 AM, cstojano said:

I need to print this and superglue it to my monitor (as I stare around my bedroom at art I bought and cannot sell that I have no connection to). 

I used to be more of an impulse buyer when I started out. At a con and a See an artists I like and flip thru his pile of art. Then find. something I like that is inexpensive, years later I look at it and it isn't part of my core collecting or has a strong story I like. Last 10 years I have stopped the impulse buying and try to concentrate on stuff that really appeals to me. Impulse art is nice but over time you have art you don't have a strong connection to or attachment to visually.

[Xatari]

I just spent 5x+ my normal budget on a piece, but it was totally worth it.  Every so often a piece comes along that is a total dream, and I make the decision to push my chips.  I can maybe do this once a year if I'm REALLY lucky, but ultimately it requires selling other pieces I love on the back end.  What I will say is I have not regretted doing this yet.  Usually I find greater enjoyment in the bigger "premier" piece than I do in several smaller pieces. YMMV

[Dr. Balls]

On 1/3/2024 at 8:14 PM, Xatari said:

I just spent 5x+ my normal budget on a piece, but it was totally worth it.  Every so often a piece comes along that is a total dream, and I make the decision to push my chips.  I can maybe do this once a year if I'm REALLY lucky, but ultimately it requires selling other pieces I love on the back end.  What I will say is I have not regretted doing this yet.  Usually I find greater enjoyment in the bigger "premier" piece than I do in several smaller pieces. YMMV

I often wonder how easy or hard this might be. I have not run into a situation where I had to sell off anything significant to buy something else significant - I am never really clear on how easy my current pieces would be to sell, or if they would sell at all - my collection has not had a whole lot of time to grow into equity.

Edited January 4 by Dr. Balls
Spelling

[Xatari]

There are some pieces I am willing to consign that I expect will be a loss, so it is a matter of whether I think a different piece is more desirable or if I personally value it more.