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Need advice on WWII Caniff Piece
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Started by sfcityduck,

13 posts in this topic

sfcityduck

sfcityduck

Posted
Posted

I'm now trying to figure what to do with this. I was going to sell the below Caniff 1943 Burma piece for $1,300 as a "hand-colored print." But then I realized that Heritage sold a very similar 1944 Miss Lace piece as original art and darned if they're not right! Both pieces are below:

1712721858647blob(1).jpg.589685c9d71d3bd68e62ec87c499be30.jpg

IMG_1631.thumb.jpg.68b5394dbc5ff2e85e71cbb26bd5d3c4.jpg

IMG_1587.jpg.4c3f164bab25572f97f700c93db624da.jpg

IMG_1586.thumb.jpg.270bef996cf38d8be8c6a91efbb07de9.jpg

IMG_1588.thumb.jpg.689c244ad4de20bd7a2d8b1073831e4e.jpg

The comparable piece sold by Heritage for $5K+ back in 2005 is this (note the similar price placement to mine in the bottom right and similar paste up residue and white out):

Milton Caniff - Miss Lace Pin-Up Original Art (undated). Hubba hubba! The men of the 63rd Infantry Division are zero-ing in ...

So here's my questions:

(1) Is there a highly skilled conservator I could submit it to who could carefully clean and press it without damaging the inked art?

(2) Where's the best place to list it for sale (here, Heritage, CLINK, etc.)? I only sell comics and comic related items, not comic book original art. So advice appreciated.

THANKS!

 

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tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/14/2024 at 12:43 PM, sfcityduck said:

(2) Where's the best place to list it for sale (here, Heritage, CLINK, etc.)? I only sell comics and comic related items, not comic book original art. So advice appreciated.

Very cool piece!  Burma is a particular favorite of mine.

I can't answer your first question, but as to your second question, I can't imagine selling Caniff OA anywhere other than Heritage.  Every Caniff piece of note that has come to market, including the very first Terry & the Pirates strip and various WW 2 miscellanea created by him, has been sold on Heritage.

Edited by tth2
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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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On 4/13/2024 at 10:22 PM, tth2 said:

Very cool piece!  Burma is a particular favorite of mine.

I can't answer your first question, but as to your second question, I can't imagine selling Caniff OA anywhere other than Heritage.  Every Caniff piece of note that has come to market, including the very first Terry & the Pirates strip and various WW 2 miscellanea created by him, has been sold on Heritage.

Would you try to get it conserved first or not? The Miss Lace piece they sold looks grimy.

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tth2

tth2

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Posted (edited)
On 4/14/2024 at 1:25 PM, sfcityduck said:

Would you try to get it conserved first or not? The Miss Lace piece they sold looks grimy.

Based on your scans, I don't think it needs to be conserved at all.  In fact, unless there are more significant issues that are not revealed in your scan, disclosed conservation could actually harm the potential resale price.  Residue and white out don't bother most OA collectors unless it's really distracting, which it's definitely not in your piece.  They're part of the charm of vintage OA since they were produced for commercial purposes. 

If you're planning on selling it anyways, I definitely wouldn't bother.   

Edited by tth2
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The Voord

The Voord

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Posted
On 4/14/2024 at 6:36 AM, tth2 said:

Based on your scans, I don't think it needs to be conserved at all.  In fact, unless there are more significant issues that are not revealed in your scan, disclosed conservation could actually harm the potential resale price.  Residue and white out don't both most OA collectors unless it's really distracting, which it's definitely not in your piece.  They're part of the charm of vintage OA since they were produced for commercial purposes. 

If you're planning on selling it anyways, I definitely wouldn't bother.   

I agree.

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Kevn

Kevn

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Posted (edited)

I've seen a lot of recommendations for https://www.vonhawklabs.com/about-alexandra-vonhawk.html by people whose opinions I respect. I've looked into her services and it appears she is much more focused on conservation rather than restoration. I believe if you send her high quality scans of both sides of the art she can give you a good idea if she can do anything about the fold wrinkles, whether it looks like it would benefit from cleaning, etc. It can't hurt to query her. 

Edited by Kevn
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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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If I was going to go the conservation route, I'd be looking for a paper conservator with experience with comic art. My experience is that the best conservators tend to specialize or subspecialize. I use a conservator for Japanese woodblock prints and watercolors, but I would not use him for US original art because his expertise is Japanese paper. I don't think I'd be interested in "restoration" - just a dry clean and press if safe and useful.

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alxjhnsn

alxjhnsn

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Here's my standard reply when asked about restorers.

In the many threads on paper conservation, the names that recur the most were:

  • Robert Dennis
Comic Art Restoration Service (on Facebook)
Robert's legal problems preclude recommending him at this time.
 
  • Gordon Christman
Gordon doesn't seem to have a web presence, but his snail mail address and phone number are:
Gordon G. Christman
Restoration & Conservation
960 Vine St
Oceanside, CA 92054
TEL:  760 439 7970
CEL:  760 458 2290
 
  • Tracey Heft - Eclipse Paper
 
I used Alexandra VonHawk to restore several pieces 
 
Alexandra VonHawk
P.O. Box 546
Paisley FL. 32767        
Lab phone is 352-669-7776 
 
She did exactly what she committed to do and I'm very pleased.
 
I've also had one recommendation for each of these:
 
I would add that most major museums know of paper conservators. You might want to contact someone at a local museum and see if there is a conservator close to you.
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drdroom

drdroom

Posted
Posted
On 4/13/2024 at 9:43 PM, sfcityduck said:

I'm now trying to figure what to do with this. I was going to sell the below Caniff 1943 Burma piece for $1,300 as a "hand-colored print." But then I realized that Heritage sold a very similar 1944 Miss Lace piece as original art and darned if they're not right! Both pieces are below:

1712721858647blob(1).jpg.589685c9d71d3bd68e62ec87c499be30.jpg

IMG_1631.thumb.jpg.68b5394dbc5ff2e85e71cbb26bd5d3c4.jpg

IMG_1587.jpg.4c3f164bab25572f97f700c93db624da.jpg

IMG_1586.thumb.jpg.270bef996cf38d8be8c6a91efbb07de9.jpg

IMG_1588.thumb.jpg.689c244ad4de20bd7a2d8b1073831e4e.jpg

The comparable piece sold by Heritage for $5K+ back in 2005 is this (note the similar price placement to mine in the bottom right and similar paste up residue and white out):

Milton Caniff - Miss Lace Pin-Up Original Art (undated). Hubba hubba! The men of the 63rd Infantry Division are zero-ing in ...

So here's my questions:

(1) Is there a highly skilled conservator I could submit it to who could carefully clean and press it without damaging the inked art?

(2) Where's the best place to list it for sale (here, Heritage, CLINK, etc.)? I only sell comics and comic related items, not comic book original art. So advice appreciated.

THANKS!

 

Is the idea here that Burma is printed and the other art is original? She doesn't look cut out as Miss Lace is on the other one.  

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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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Posted (edited)
On 4/16/2024 at 8:52 PM, drdroom said:

Is the idea here that Burma is printed and the other art is original? She doesn't look cut out as Miss Lace is on the other one.  

After a close examination, that appears to be the case. Burma appears to be printed with pressed on blacks, except for one spot where it appears Caniff wiped ink off of his brush into a black spot on her dress (or wanted to change or add texture who knows). There is no white out on Burma. In contrast, the background and balloons are a different color black, have texture consistent with brushing, have whiteout, and are carefully drawn so as to avoid touching the Burma figure. There obviously used to be a paste-up on the pilot of the near plane and there is a paste up copyright under Burma. But here, he apparently chose to put the background on the page with the printed Burma instead of pasting in a printed figure like he did with Lace. 

This is consistent with the fact that there are other Burma "hand-colored prints" with a figure of the exact same design ... except the necklace and which predate and postdate my piece. See here:

Burma by Milton Caniff - color print Comic Art

Caniff - Burma smoking - Hand colored print (2), in Pierre A ...

 

Looking closely at the necklace pendant on my Burma, that also appears to be original art.

My Burma piece is super cool. It may well be Caniff's earliest piece of this type. I have it listed for well below the Ms. Lace piece on the OA sales page. Feel free to check out the listing and I will entertain an offer.

 

Edited by sfcityduck
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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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Posted
On 4/15/2024 at 4:30 PM, alxjhnsn said:

 

Here's my standard reply when asked about restorers.

In the many threads on paper conservation, the names that recur the most were:

  • Robert Dennis
Comic Art Restoration Service (on Facebook)
Robert's legal problems preclude recommending him at this time.
 
  • Gordon Christman
Gordon doesn't seem to have a web presence, but his snail mail address and phone number are:
Gordon G. Christman
Restoration & Conservation
960 Vine St
Oceanside, CA 92054
TEL:  760 439 7970
CEL:  760 458 2290
 
  • Tracey Heft - Eclipse Paper
 
I used Alexandra VonHawk to restore several pieces 
 
Alexandra VonHawk
P.O. Box 546
Paisley FL. 32767        
Lab phone is 352-669-7776 
 
She did exactly what she committed to do and I'm very pleased.
 
I've also had one recommendation for each of these:
 
I would add that most major museums know of paper conservators. You might want to contact someone at a local museum and see if there is a conservator close to you.

I use paper conservators for both US and Japanese works on paper that are (in the case of the US watercolors on paper) recommended to me by a major museum or (in the case of the watercolors on Japanese paper) are the top choice of many institutions and at least one Asian government. 

Conservators tend to specialize and I am most comfortable with someone with extensive experience working with the paper (presumably Bristol board) and pigments of my piece.

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