I Need Beginner's Tips

[Scheradon]

I've been collecting Comic Books for awhile and have been increasingly interested in obtaining some original art. This is my first post in this thread and am not sure where to begin.

 

I've read a couple threads here and have done a little searching onlne in regards to OA, but am such a newbie at it that I'd really appreciate any advice/tips that others may have.

 

I basically want to get a couple of BA Marvel covers and possibly some pages. (this is my goal for this year )

 

So here are some questions:

 

1)How much can I expect to pay (high/low) for an OA cover from the BA (Marvel)? -Are there condition problems I should look out for that would downgrade a cover art and lower the price?

 

2)Does the price revolve more around the artist or title?

 

3)How rampant are fakes and what should I look out for?

 

4)What are some trusted sources for buying?

 

5)What are "splashes"? - And what can I expect to pay for them?

 

6)How much should a page cost? -Does it depend on which significant character appears? Or artist?

 

7)Are prices advertised by dealers on sites negotiable? if they are, how much less should I offer?

 

8)What's the best way to store or display OA? Should it be framed with archival glass, etc.?

 

Thanks for any help/suggestions. I realize it's a bunch of newbie questions, but with the prices of these pieces it's best I learn to swim before diving into the deep end.

[comicartfan]

So here are some questions:

 

1)How much can I expect to pay (high/low) for an OA cover from the BA (Marvel)? -Are there condition problems I should look out for that would downgrade a cover art and lower the price? Prices range from around 300 to 30,000. It's all relative to content, artist, history of book, character, etc....is there any stat work ?

 

2)Does the price revolve more around the artist or title? Artist...and if it's a title that the artist is well known for, then that affects value. A Kirby FF piece is more desirable than a Kirby New Gods piece.

 

3)How rampant are fakes and what should I look out for? Being one of a kind, there are usually people who alert others of this type of thing. On here and the Comic-L group. I would watch, learn and ask questions. Never buy a big ticket item without asking around. Get to know other collectors and become familiar with dealers

 

4)What are some trusted sources for buying? Albert Moy, Mike Burkey, Artists Choice, Graphic Collectibles , FanFare, Gotham Art, Anthony Synder are a few off the top of my head. there are many and most are well known and have been in biz a long time.

 

5)What are "splashes"? - And what can I expect to pay for them? Depends...see answer 1

 

6)How much should a page cost? -Does it depend on which significant character appears? Or artist?

 

7)Are prices advertised by dealers on sites negotiable? if they are, how much less should I offer? you could offer 10% less and without offending anyone. It really comes with time and learning what the market is and how things should be priced. sometimes you overpay, sometimes you get a deal. It's that way with any collecting.

 

8)What's the best way to store or display OA? Should it be framed with archival glass, etc.? some of us frame the art. Acid free backing, UV glass, etc...it's gonna be around 100-150 for framing. So most of frame a few pieces and put the rest in mylar sleeves and/or art portfolio. Anthony Snyder has them and they are very reasonable. Don't go to an art supply store. you will overpay.

[Scheradon]

Thanks for the response! I appreciate you taking the time to answer my post and will check out some of the sellers you mentioned. I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future, until I get a feel for what I'm doing, but this should help me get started.

 

Thanks again, John

[Sharkey]

Be sure to check out www.comicartfans.com

 

It's a great site with a lot of stuff for sale, and a lot of stuff posted by collectors for you to drool over. And it has links to most of the major comic art dealers.

 

Good luck and have fun! And when you get something, take a pic and post it here!

[Scheradon]

Be sure to check out www.comicartfans.com

 

It's a great site with a lot of stuff for sale, and a lot of stuff posted by collectors for you to drool over. And it has links to most of the major comic art dealers.

 

Good luck and have fun! And when you get something, take a pic and post it here!

 

Will do. I actually went to that site and have emailed two dealers from there. One has already contacted me back, so we'll see.

[*paull*]

Do a lot of reading here on the Boards and at Comicartfans before spending money, if you are about to make your first purchase.

 

The key is to buy what you love... don't waste your time on lesser pieces that don't exactly fit what you are looking for.

[Sharkey]

Be sure to check out www.comicartfans.com

 

It's a great site with a lot of stuff for sale, and a lot of stuff posted by collectors for you to drool over. And it has links to most of the major comic art dealers.

 

Good luck and have fun! And when you get something, take a pic and post it here!

 

Will do. I actually went to that site and have emailed two dealers from there. One has already contacted me back, so we'll see.

 

 

You can also search members for sale pieces (some are dealers some are collectors with items for sale).

 

Sometimes a fellow collector is easier to deal with. And then again, sometimes not....

[shapip]

I'm in the same boat - I've been collecting comics for a while but I'm also new to collecting original art. I recently purchased my first two BA marvel covers. For me, one of the most frustrating aspects of OA collecting is the pricing. There's no gpanalysis or price guide that I'm aware of (if there is I'd appreciate it if someone let me know). Anyway, my question to forum members is whether it makes sense to use overstreet to get a rough idea of the comparative prices between covers. Of course the artist is huge variable. E.g., Kirby and Adams go for big premiums. But it seems to me that checking OSG for determining comparative value between comics in the same genre is a useful indicator. Do people disagree?

[adamstrange]

I'll give you some advice that most people won't follow: Don't buy anything for 6 months.

 

Nothing. Not a single piece of art.

 

Chances are you won't know what you want or what you should pay for it before spending at least that much time researching. And, as a newbie, it's unlikely you'll miss out on anything significant during this time as the art market is like an iceberg, only 10% of it is visible and you'll need to learn how to purchase in the "invisible market."

 

Assuming you can't make it to shows, then start reading back through the threads on this forum. Some of your questions have been thread topics. Join the community on Comic-art-L. Post more specific questions, one at a time, on this board.

 

Look at original art on ebay every week and track the prices of art that seem interesting to you. Ditto Heritage. Heck, track prices of art that doesn't seem of interest to you just to get a sense of what the market values. All pages are not created equal and price does matter. Check the dealer websites every week, but don't believe that the pieces sold for cash at the advertised price.

 

Get Jerry Wiest's book on original art prices and collecting. It won't educate much, but it won't cost much either and for a newbie it can be helpful. Don't trust the prices in it.

 

Good Luck!

[RDK]

I'll give you some advice that most people won't follow: Don't buy anything for 6 months.

 

Probably not bad advice for most, but that really doesn't work for me. Having recently caught the bug, i just had to buy a few pieces. The first one i agonized over, though it only cost <$200 (but i love it!), then I spent a lot of time searching for more. I suffer from the "gotta have it now" syndrome, so waiting is hard. What works for me, though, is to look for some real bargains and get some quick buying out of my system. I bought two pieces from Heritage for a total of $60 shipped. They weren't pages that i was yearning for, but they turned out to be really nice (imo) and helped pad my small collection. I think it's important to pull the trigger on a few cheaper pieces just to get the monkey off your back. Just having them in hand helps me learn more about collecting OA, gives me some confidence and experience to seek out better, more expensive pages, and now the patience to wait for something that i really want. If I later want to get rid of them, I'm not out much, but the experience and insight was invaluable in regards future purchases.

[comicartfan]

I'll give you some advice that most people won't follow: Don't buy anything for 6 months.

 

Nothing. Not a single piece of art.

 

I agree with this 100%. As would most seasoned collectors. It was the advice I heard and followed. What I found when I did this was that I bought pieces I really liked and didn't get the "buyers' remorse". Course, I bought a few pieces that I ended up selling or trading, but that was only to get better pieces. You might miss a great piece by waiting, but there will always be something else....

[Scheradon]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I had two sellers offer me some nice pieces and am close to finalizing one one of them. I'll post as soon as it's a done deal.

 

BTW, shapip, what two covers did you get?

[shapip]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I had two sellers offer me some nice pieces and am close to finalizing one one of them. I'll post as soon as it's a done deal.

 

BTW, shapip, what two covers did you get?

 

Marvel Feature 2, second defenders appearance and Defenders 57. Both in excellent condition. Thanks for asking. Once you deal is done please let us know what you purchased.

[Scheradon]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I had two sellers offer me some nice pieces and am close to finalizing one one of them. I'll post as soon as it's a done deal.

 

BTW, shapip, what two covers did you get?

 

Marvel Feature 2, second defenders appearance and Defenders 57. Both in excellent condition. Thanks for asking. Once you deal is done please let us know what you purchased.

 

Nice pieces! Mine is going to pale in comparison, but I'm still thrilled with it as it's a childhood favorite of mine.

 

I did go ahead and send the deposit on the piece I decided to go with. I was pretty undecided between a nice splash page and a cover. After doing a little research in Heritage archives, I realized the dealer trying to sell me a $1,000 splash page, just paid $488 (including BP) for it just last month. I don't know if this is customary mark up in the OA world, but to me it didn't sit well...especially since I wrote and explained I'm a newbie putting my trust in him. Wow, so he takes that and marks a piece up more than double last months purchase price.

 

Hence, that helped seal my decision to go with the cover from another dealer. I'll post a pic, once I have confirmation that he recieved my deposit.

[adamstrange]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I had two sellers offer me some nice pieces and am close to finalizing one one of them. I'll post as soon as it's a done deal.

 

BTW, shapip, what two covers did you get?

 

Marvel Feature 2, second defenders appearance and Defenders 57. Both in excellent condition. Thanks for asking. Once you deal is done please let us know what you purchased.

 

Nice pieces! Mine is going to pale in comparison, but I'm still thrilled with it as it's a childhood favorite of mine.

 

I did go ahead and send the deposit on the piece I decided to go with. I was pretty undecided between a nice splash page and a cover. After doing a little research in Heritage archives, I realized the dealer trying to sell me a $1,000 splash page, just paid $488 (including BP) for it just last month. I don't know if this is customary mark up in the OA world, but to me it didn't sit well...especially since I wrote and explained I'm a newbie putting my trust in him. Wow, so he takes that and marks a piece up more than double last months purchase price.

 

Hence, that helped seal my decision to go with the cover from another dealer. I'll post a pic, once I have confirmation that he recieved my deposit.

 

Consider yourself lucky to have been able to verify that you were disatisfied with the one dealer now. (BTW, there are circumstances which would justify that type of markup, if for example, the auction was an anomoly and the artist's work normally goes for more.) Having information about multiple collectibles markets, I can confirm that it is not wise to give your money for a dealer to manage for you.

[shapip]

 

Nice pieces! Mine is going to pale in comparison, but I'm still thrilled with it as it's a childhood favorite of mine.

 

I did go ahead and send the deposit on the piece I decided to go with. I was pretty undecided between a nice splash page and a cover. After doing a little research in Heritage archives, I realized the dealer trying to sell me a $1,000 splash page, just paid $488 (including BP) for it just last month. I don't know if this is customary mark up in the OA world, but to me it didn't sit well...especially since I wrote and explained I'm a newbie putting my trust in him. Wow, so he takes that and marks a piece up more than double last months purchase price.

 

Hence, that helped seal my decision to go with the cover from another dealer. I'll post a pic, once I have confirmation that he recieved my deposit.

 

I'm glad things ultimately worked out for you. Looking foward to the post. That was my biggest fear. Diving in to a big purchase only to find out a month later that it was marked up 2x or worse from a recent sale. With my purchases I tracked the covers through the last heritage signature auction (they didn't meet reserve), then saw the covers for sale somewhere else and contacted the seller. The seller was a straight shooter and accurately told me how much he would have made after the premiums (I had an idea from the known reserve prices anyway but kept that to myself during negotiations as a sanity check) and we were able to reach a fair deal.

 

Now I've promised myself I would sell an equivelant dollar amount from my comic collection. I better start the unpleasant process of going through and seeing what I'm going to put up on ebay.

[Scheradon]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm just following up with some pics of my first OA purchases.

 

I appreciate all the advice I received in this thread and tried to take that into consideration with my purchases.

 

I'm now halfway through my payments on my first cover art which I'll post in a minute. Although it was the first peice of OA that I began purchasing, another has made it's way to me first as I got this nice page off eBay the other day (at a very cheap price too).

 

Shogun Warriors #15 page 14 with pencils by Mike vosburg and inks by Bruce Patterson. This piece fits nicely with my collecting habits of BA Marvels and my Toy/Hobby collection of Shogun Warriors items.

 

[Scheradon]

Here is the pic of the cover I'm halfway done paying for from Will Gabri-El. He's been great to work with and very accommodating.

 

Shogun Warriors #17

 

[comicartfan]

Very nice....Will is one of the good guys in the hobby and has been around a long time....at least in terms of OA. He was one of the collectors mentioned in the Playboy article by Glen Gold.

[shapip]

Nice! Thanks for following-up and posting your art.