Kirby JIM #126 Battle Page - Sold too fast?

[Justin Case]

Last night i got an e-mail from Ted Vanliew of Superworld Comics and the subject title was test. I looked at the time received and it was just over 30 minutes ago. I went to the website to see if anything had been updated and soon realised the original art section had a few nice pieces added, in particular i spotted a nice Kirby Battle page from JIM #126 priced at $3,300. I thought it was a bit expensive so dithered for about 15 minutes trying to find out how much these sorts of pages sold for and then by the time i came back it was sold. Is there anybody here who thinks the price was just a little too much.

[dem1138]

There's no such thing as "selling too fast." Every page has a buyer - how long it takes the two to find each other is irrelevant. $3300 was a fair price for that page - it's certainly not a page that could be flipped for $5000.

 

 

[Justin Case]

The point i was trying to make was how did the buyer determine if he/she was buying at a fair price. I went through the whole of Heritage's archives but couldnt find any Kirby Thor/Hercules pages. The buyer must have just seen the page and thought 'im buying that regardless.'

[Mighty Hal]

Can a page be sold too fast? Certainly, if it's a page you've always wanted, light speed isn't fast enough to PayPal your money. But can an eager buyer overpay in his desperation to buy such a page? Oh, absolutely.

[mrpunch0]

The point i was trying to make was how did the buyer determine if he/she was buying at a fair price. I went through the whole of Heritage's archives but couldnt find any Kirby Thor/Hercules pages. The buyer must have just seen the page and thought 'im buying that regardless.'

 

Or they had a knowledge of the type of art and deals that had been made outside of heritage. When it comes to titles and artists I follow, I can usually trust my gut to tell me if something similar is worth the asking price.

[Artemaria]

The page was not cheap, but the price was not outrageous.

 

There was a Thor / Absorbing Man battle page that went on eBay for $2800 about a week ago from JIM 121. Did that go for too much on eBay? It certainly went for more than I thought it would.

 

But, then again, if the winning bidder brings it to SDCC and sells it for $3,500 (which would not be unreasonable), then there's some money for nothing right there.

 

$3,300 from a dealer is not an outrageous price for those pages. You are right that it is on the high side.

 

On the other hand, there are many people out there who love Kirby and love getting 40 year old Kirby art, so it all depends on what you like. The good thing is, our Mr. Kirby was very prolific, so there should be more pages around at some point if you continue looking hard enough.

 

Best regards.

 

- A

 

[justin]

Every page has a buyer - how long it takes the two to find each other is irrelevant.

 

wow, how...romantic.

[Sharkey]

It's OA and there's only one of that page. And I haven't seen a lot of killer Thor pages for sale lately. Is this a killer page? Depends on the eye of the beholder. It's a significant issue, there haven't been pages from this issue popping up left and right, and prices for good Silver Age pages by Kirby have being going up and up. Seeing a nice page go for north of three grand should be no surprise.

 

It's Kirby. It's Thor. It's Thor battling Hercules. It's large art. 'Nuff said! (thumbs up

[Justin Case]

It's OA and there's only one of that page. And I haven't seen a lot of killer Thor pages for sale lately. Is this a killer page? Depends on the eye of the beholder. It's a significant issue, there haven't been pages from this issue popping up left and right, and prices for good Silver Age pages by Kirby have being going up and up. Seeing a nice page go for north of three grand should be no surprise.

 

It's Kirby. It's Thor. It's Thor battling Hercules. It's large art. 'Nuff said! (thumbs up

 

Yeah i know, you are probably right. I was thinking the same thing this morning. Its Jack 'King' Kirby artwork, its a Thor v Hercules Battle Page, its a large piece of artwork, its technically from Thor number #1 and i havent seen any pages from this issue for sale for a long time. Cant think of many negatives. I was just trying to console myself in the fact that i dilly-dallyed and should have bought it as soon as i saw it.

[clemso]

Wow, I would Kill (not literally) for a Hecules V.S Thor battle page from 126. That issue is a classic and as Rhino said they don't turn up on the open market very often.

$3300??? is cheap. A nothing Kirby TTA Sub-Mariner page just sold on ebay for that and you only have to look at the recent Comiclink auction to see what real primo vintage Kirby Marvel art goes for. I was amazed at the price tag on the FF 55 pg1 which recently appeared on a dealers website and don't forget all those small Kirby Cap A pages with the Red Skull that were going for $3 -5K.

 

Clem...

[Sharkey]

I was just trying to console myself in the fact that i dilly-dallyed and should have bought it as soon as i saw it.

 

Hey I know how ya feel, brother. Dilly-dallying is an absolute contraindication to art collecting.

 

I have missed many a page from thinking " should I buy this?"

[clemso]

It's OA and there's only one of that page. And I haven't seen a lot of killer Thor pages for sale lately. Is this a killer page? Depends on the eye of the beholder. It's a significant issue, there haven't been pages from this issue popping up left and right, and prices for good Silver Age pages by Kirby have being going up and up. Seeing a nice page go for north of three grand should be no surprise.

 

It's Kirby. It's Thor. It's Thor battling Hercules. It's large art. 'Nuff said! (thumbs up

 

Yeah i know, you are probably right. I was thinking the same thing this morning. Its Jack 'King' Kirby artwork, its a Thor v Hercules Battle Page, its a large piece of artwork, its technically from Thor number #1 and i havent seen any pages from this issue for sale for a long time. Cant think of many negatives. I was just trying to console myself in the fact that i dilly-dallyed and should have bought it as soon as i saw it.

 

Nope JIM 83 will always be Thor no. 1 to me. just as JIM 84 will always be Thor no 2 and so on.

 

Clem...

[Justin Case]

Wow, I would Kill (not literally) for a Hecules V.S Thor battle page from 126. That issue is a classic and as Rhino said they don't turn up on the open market very often.

$3300??? is cheap. A nothing Kirby TTA Sub-Mariner page just sold on ebay for that and you only have to look at the recent Comiclink auction to see what real primo vintage Kirby Marvel art goes for. I was amazed at the price tag on the FF 55 pg1 which recently appeared on a dealers website and don't forget all those small Kirby Cap A pages with the Red Skull that were going for $3 -5K.

 

Clem...

 

You thought $3,300 was cheap? O.K lets say the page was in a Heritage auction. How much would you have thought the price for that page would have ended on.

 

Justin

[clemso]

Wow, I would Kill (not literally) for a Hecules V.S Thor battle page from 126. That issue is a classic and as Rhino said they don't turn up on the open market very often.

$3300??? is cheap. A nothing Kirby TTA Sub-Mariner page just sold on ebay for that and you only have to look at the recent Comiclink auction to see what real primo vintage Kirby Marvel art goes for. I was amazed at the price tag on the FF 55 pg1 which recently appeared on a dealers website and don't forget all those small Kirby Cap A pages with the Red Skull that were going for $3 -5K.

 

Clem...

 

You thought $3,300 was cheap? O.K lets say the page was in a Heritage auction. How much would you have thought the price for that page would have ended on.

 

Justin

 

Justin it really depends what is on that particular page. No ones mentioned which page from Thor 126 it is, but if its a battle page with Thor & Hercules. I think $3,300 is very reasonable when considering what other vintage Kirby Marvel hero pages are going for. Look at the recent battle page from FF 12 for $25K. Pages from this issue don't often pop up, even less involving the Hulk & FF. I know theres more to factor in the FF 12 price, but a primo battle page from Thor 126, hell yes $3,300 is cheap. Again look at the recent prices realised at Comiclink and what dealers are looking for on their website. Kirby prices have changed in the last 3 years. Were not talking Ditko Spider-Man type spikes but some thing has definitley happened.

 

Clem...

[westform]

Hi Clem; a couple things...

 

First, there is no more to the story on the FF12 sold price. Mike Burkey and Will Gabriel were wrong as I stated on the Comicart-L... at least from all the evidence. As I said at the time, Mark M. bought the page for a lot of dough and that the book is not complete. Sure enough, now Mark has it for sale on his site pretty much proving the book was not bought by the person who has quite a few pages to the issue in order to complete. He may have been bidding, but Mark ended up with it; also proving there were multiple bidders on this page. As far as Im concerned it is a real price and a real sale.

 

As for Kirby page prices in general, in my opinion they have spiked ala Ditko spidey page prices. Kirby FF pages have really gone through the roof. Not to say they will ever reach the same level but their upward progress seems at the same rate. Over and over again, I'm hearing big numbers for good pages, and actually pretty good numbers for mediocre pages. I guess now that Machine Man pages are $500 to $1000, the sky's the limit on his twice up Super-hero art! Dan

[spider9698]

Dan

Thanks for the clarification. That is a huge chunk of coin for that page and felt that the only person who could afford that would be someone trying to piece together the book. Dont know how much wiggle room Mark has on the page if he is looking to turn a big profit. Sad I won't be seeing you at San Diego this year. Have a blast.

 

 

[westform]

S; I'm not going to San Diego this year either... first time in about 12 I'm missing. As for Mark's profit, I'm thinking he probably has trade in mind. Don't quote me, but I would think it's a good thing to bargain with if you are trying to pry choice piece or pieces out of someone. I can see the logic. D

[clemso]

Hi Clem; a couple things...

 

First, there is no more to the story on the FF12 sold price. Mike Burkey and Will Gabriel were wrong as I stated on the Comicart-L... at least from all the evidence. As I said at the time, Mark M. bought the page for a lot of dough and that the book is not complete. Sure enough, now Mark has it for sale on his site pretty much proving the book was not bought by the person who has quite a few pages to the issue in order to complete. He may have been bidding, but Mark ended up with it; also proving there were multiple bidders on this page. As far as Im concerned it is a real price and a real sale.

 

As for Kirby page prices in general, in my opinion they have spiked ala Ditko spidey page prices. Kirby FF pages have really gone through the roof. Not to say they will ever reach the same level but their upward progress seems at the same rate. Over and over again, I'm hearing big numbers for good pages, and actually pretty good numbers for mediocre pages. I guess now that Machine Man pages are $500 to $1000, the sky's the limit on his twice up Super-hero art! Dan

 

Thanks for the clarification Dan,

I thought the only guy crazy enough to buy that FF 12 page at $25K would be the guy who holds the major balance of the book. I guess the new owner thinks he can trade high with this guy because I can't see it moving for more than the $25K in cash, which brings me back to my original point. Wow that Thor 126 battle page was cheap!

 

Clem...

[dem1138]

The Thor battle page is still on the site - it's an OK page - yes, Thor and Hercules are battling, but there are no "great" panels and they are obscured or small in each shot. I think $3300 was a very fair price.

 

With regards to FF #12, I understand that pages are in several hands and there was no 'foul play' with it reaching 25K. I wasn't that excited about that page - it fall under that category that many pages that do become available publicly falls under -- that being a page that is not the best, or even the 2nd best panel page in the book. The page after and before that page are far better. There are some great pages in that book - I didn't think that this was one of them. Ironically, you could have bought that page for less from Conrad directly before he put it in the auction. Like others, I was really surprised that it hit 25K.

 

There doesn't seem to be much consistency with prices - it's all over the place.

[TupennyConan]

I have never been able to take the OA market's temp with any real accuracy. Some OA sells for more than I would pay or for more than what I think its worth; other OA for less. Like all collecting, I buy what I like for what I can afford. If the page sold fast for a large chunk of change then that is the proper speed and the proper price...for that buyer. If he never wants to sell then the question from his POV (as well as the seller's) is moot. Perhaps this over simplifies the question but its all I've got today!