Oh how the times have changed 3 3

[gumbydarnit]

I just got an email the other day about a dealers website update. This got me thinking, when I started collecting I would get excited when there was an update, better yet, I would constantly check and ever so often, I would catch an update before it was announced and pick up an unearthed gem. Now many of the dealers announcements just get scrolled by, I doubt there would be anything new of interest and if there were a piece I know it would be double the price the dealer just bought it for (prob from an recent auction). Not their fault, they are trying to run a profitable business.

What about you, what has changed with the hobby or the way you collect since you discovered this hobby?

[Rick2you2]

When I first started collecting, art was dumped in plastic tubs, and you would sort through them to find things. Good pieces, like covers by Adams, were kept separate, in smaller stacks. I also remember a young Sienk trying to sell New Mutants pages for around $60 each, and not getting takers. And, there was no internet.

I also went to one auction where I bought a first page from a Spirit weekly, with the hand-crafted logo, for $450. He was still alive then, and pieces were almost never on the market.

Times change. 

[Silver Surfer]

I was surfing through the Heritage archives the other day and when I saw some of the low prices for OA vs today I almost wanted to cry. 

[batman_fan]

When I first started buying original artwork, $20 was a lot to spend for me.  Sadly as my disposable income increased, so did the price of artwork but I am happy with what I have been able topic up over the years.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

This doesn’t happen anymore 

[vodou]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:09 AM, gumbydarnit said:

What about you, what has changed with the hobby or the way you collect since you discovered this hobby?

I do not part with anything ever; my collection is entry only 😘

[cstojano]

Memory lane time...

Usenet groups pre eBay, auctions ran in a total vacuum, no paypal, fraud was rampant (both in the bidding and lack of delivery). I don't even think there were pictures. You took what you could because there was almost no other way to get anything. 

Ebay comes on the scene, an amazing time for collecting anything, this was late 90s. New discoveries, third party payment, pictures. Its hard to overstate how important eBay was for my early days of collecting (toys, not comics, but likely the same), which makes its downfall all the worse. I swear I have for sale listings that some algorithm buries to page 12 because I get no action (these are buy it now listings, prices are fair as well not stupid, I don't get it). 

Yahoo and Amazon auctions, both short lived, easy money to be made flipping to eBay, that didn't last long.

A 50 dollar purchase was so exciting.

Edited December 25, 2023 by cstojano

[Brian Peck]

I wish there were dealer websites where everyone saw the update for the site tat the same time. Even if its in the middle of the night. When I started back in the 80s there was just the Comics Buyer's Guide which had the ads for comic books and comic art for sale. Some of the dealers today were advertising in the CBG. It was a publication which shipped to the readers/collectors on the east coast then made it to the west coast.

Unfortunately, much of the new art offered in CBG was already sold. Some smart collectors had it shipped overnight so they had a better chance of buying artwork. Being on the west coast it was CBG, cons (only SDCC and Wonder Con) and Mitch's catalogues were the only way to buy comic art way back then.

[batman_fan]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:29 AM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

This doesn’t happen anymore 

The good old days of Ebay 

All purchased off Ebay

[cstojano]

On 12/25/2023 at 1:09 PM, Brian Peck said:

I wish there were dealer websites where everyone saw the update for the site tat the same time. Even if its in the middle of the night. When I started back in the 80s there was just the Comics Buyer's Guide which had the ads for comic books and comic art for sale. Some of the dealers today were advertising in the CBG. It was a publication which shipped to the readers/collectors on the east coast then made it to the west coast.

Unfortunately, much of the new art offered in CBG was already sold. Some smart collectors had it shipped overnight so they had a better chance of buying artwork. Being on the west coast it was CBG, cons (only SDCC and Wonder Con) and Mitch's catalogues were the only way to buy comic art way back then.

Exact same thing happened with toys with Toyshop Magazine, down to the overnight shipping and the best stuff selling ASAP. I loved the full page ads for stuff I couldn't afford to buy or auctions that I had no hope of winning. Lots of stuff on offer was stuff I had never seen before or knew existed, prototypes, etc. You'd call in your bids to the person.

A well known collector clipped these for vintage Star Wars and saved them. This amazing resource is online: https://www.sandcrawler.com/webpages/chrisgscrapbook/

I miss ogling at 1 inch black and white pictures of super rare toys

Edited December 25, 2023 by cstojano

[Lee B.]

On 12/25/2023 at 3:09 PM, Brian Peck said:

I wish there were dealer websites where everyone saw the update for the site tat the same time. Even if its in the middle of the night. When I started back in the 80s there was just the Comics Buyer's Guide which had the ads for comic books and comic art for sale. Some of the dealers today were advertising in the CBG. It was a publication which shipped to the readers/collectors on the east coast then made it to the west coast.

Unfortunately, much of the new art offered in CBG was already sold. Some smart collectors had it shipped overnight so they had a better chance of buying artwork. Being on the west coast it was CBG, cons (only SDCC and Wonder Con) and Mitch's catalogues were the only way to buy comic art way back then.

Just a reminder that you can see thousands of these old CBG and Mitch catalog ads in a searchable database:

http://www.comicartads.com/

It also has full scans of many old catalogs from the 1970s!

[cloud cloddie]

Biggest change for me - I miss thrill bidding. I liked being able to buy little pieces here and there. Stuff that I knew wouldn’t be in my collection long term, but something I could enjoy for a few years, then throw back up at auction. Didn’t matter if I made money or not, just put them back out in the world and get some new things. Money hasn’t inflated like comic art, so paying 500/1000 for the same page that used to be 50/100 isn’t a thrill. And to have money for the even bigger pieces, that have inflated even more, I really have to be more selective. I don’t necessarily want my collection to be as focused as it is, but I can’t currently justify the prices for stuff that’s C level in my collecting eyes. 

[christosgage]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:09 AM, gumbydarnit said:

I just got an email the other day about a dealers website update. This got me thinking, when I started collecting I would get excited when there was an update, better yet, I would constantly check and ever so often, I would catch an update before it was announced and pick up an unearthed gem. Now many of the dealers announcements just get scrolled by, I doubt there would be anything new of interest and if there were a piece I know it would be double the price the dealer just bought it for (prob from an recent auction). Not their fault, they are trying to run a profitable business.

What about you, what has changed with the hobby or the way you collect since you discovered this hobby?

The thing that has stayed the same is not being able to afford the pieces I want, lol. What has changed is that when I first started buying it was often still possible to buy vintage pages directly from the artists, and now that's quite rare. I always like to buy from the artist if possible. I remember cold-emailing Paul Ryan through his web site and asking if he had any pages from the Avengers issue where they fought the Blob and the rest of the Brotherhood/Freedom Force, and bought a few, one of which I still have. That was fun.

[jimbo_7071]

When I first started collecting, there were local conventions in my area (Detroit) every two or three weeks (the Encore-Cons and Xtrava-Cons).

Now there are really no small cons, just the big ones a couple of times per year, and the cost of admission is obscene.

[PhilipB2k17]

On 12/25/2023 at 8:25 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

When I first started collecting, there were local conventions in my area (Detroit) every two or three weeks (the Encore-Cons and Xtrava-Cons).

Now there are really no small cons, just the big ones a couple of times per year, and the cost of admission is obscene.

There are plenty of small cons in the Detroit area. It almost seems like they go every couple of months now. I was just at one on Saturday

[gumbydarnit]

Somehow I stumbled onto ComicartL a yahoo message board run by Gary Land. It had good conversations and you could land art on occasion from various FS postings. I landed two nice pages from a collection that Gary and another collector partnered up to buy. They kept the key A level pages and sold off some nice B level ones (if memory serves me correctly it was from a LCS called Comic Town - I could be wrong). Those were from fun times.

Also, a cool back in the day memory- with eBay being my primary source of art, you could actually see the eBay handle of who was competing against you. The primary outbidder against me was an eBay handle that I eventually found out to be Gary Land. 
 

The most painful one was a Paul Smith/Terry Austin Marvel Fanfare page featuring Wolverine and Colossus vs Sauron. It was a stunner… when all the auction snippers fired their last shot Gary was the high bidder left standing. I wondered would another 20 or 50 bucks have tipped the scales? He no longer has the page so please don’t bug him, trust me I bugged him enough ; )

Yes I was a eBay sniper back in the day, we were the talk of many “honest bidders” who wanted your high bids cast way before the auction ended so they would have sufficient time to respond with their follow up bid. 
 

hey that was 3 back in the day memories in one post, not bad.

1. eBay nemesis known via eBay handle

2. ComicartL For Sale postings

3. eBay last second sniper bidding controversy

[The Voord]

On 12/25/2023 at 4:09 PM, gumbydarnit said:

I just got an email the other day about a dealers website update. This got me thinking, when I started collecting I would get excited when there was an update, better yet, I would constantly check and ever so often, I would catch an update before it was announced and pick up an unearthed gem. Now many of the dealers announcements just get scrolled by, I doubt there would be anything new of interest and if there were a piece I know it would be double the price the dealer just bought it for (prob from an recent auction). Not their fault, they are trying to run a profitable business.

What about you, what has changed with the hobby or the way you collect since you discovered this hobby?

I started collecting OA early 1982 via the Russ Cochran Art Auctions held every three months, buying heavily (mostly EC art).for over a decade.  Over here in the UK, a lot of (home-grown) art was acquired as a result of doing the leg-work, chasing leads or contacting other collectors as they became known to me.

With the advent of the internet things definitely changed, especially ever-spiraling-upwards prices!  Nowadays, It's mostly just window-shopping for me when it comes to dealers' web-sites, as there are seldom any real deals to be had.  A lot of their inventory (nowadays) seem to rely on auction wins . . . only to be heavily marked-up in price when it comes to site updates.  If you want the art, your best bet is to compete heavily at auction level, giving it your best shot.

Edited December 26, 2023 by The Voord

[KirbyCollector]

Not exactly on point, but your question made me think of one thing which has never changed: Will Gabri-El. He is as nice today as when I first met him 20+ years ago: no fake "persona," no looking down at customers b/c they aren't millionaires, no treating them as if they were stupid. Just a regular guy, which I appreciate the older I get.

[cstojano]

On 12/26/2023 at 5:25 AM, gumbydarnit said:

Somehow I stumbled onto ComicartL a yahoo message board run by Gary Land. It had good conversations and you could land art on occasion from various FS postings. I landed two nice pages from a collection that Gary and another collector partnered up to buy. They kept the key A level pages and sold off some nice B level ones (if memory serves me correctly it was from a LCS called Comic Town - I could be wrong). Those were from fun times.

Also, a cool back in the day memory- with eBay being my primary source of art, you could actually see the eBay handle of who was competing against you. The primary outbidder against me was an eBay handle that I eventually found out to be Gary Land. 
 

The most painful one was a Paul Smith/Terry Austin Marvel Fanfare page featuring Wolverine and Colossus vs Sauron. It was a stunner… when all the auction snippers fired their last shot Gary was the high bidder left standing. I wondered would another 20 or 50 bucks have tipped the scales? He no longer has the page so please don’t bug him, trust me I bugged him enough ; )

Yes I was a eBay sniper back in the day, we were the talk of many “honest bidders” who wanted your high bids cast way before the auction ended so they would have sufficient time to respond with their follow up bid. 
 

hey that was 3 back in the day memories in one post, not bad.

1. eBay nemesis known via eBay handle

2. ComicartL For Sale postings

3. eBay last second sniper bidding controversy

Yes I think I was "that guy". First item I remember bidding on was a loose Kenner Indiana Jones action figure for something like 40 dollars. I was sniped and sent a nasty email to the high bidder. Total cringe moment now, of course. You could even leave feedback for random people back then

 

[gumbydarnit]

On 12/26/2023 at 9:48 AM, cstojano said:

I was sniped and sent a nasty email to the high bidder. Total cringe moment now, of course.

Today, it’s funny to think snipping was such a big deal, but I guess back then it was a new concept, because in the world of bidding in real world auctions the underbidder has the opportunity to up his offer. So bidders brought that mindset to eBay but with that hard auction end, users like me thought, why continue to drive the price up and give other bidders a chance to consider placing a higher bid? I and the others snippers would all throw in their max bid during the last few seconds and see who walks with the piece. It was very jarring to the traditional auction bidders.

The anger was understandable because it was against the norms of the time.

Edited December 27, 2023 by gumbydarnit