artcollector9

Yes, the person who transcribed the notes made some mistakes in order to get the info up asap. Sorry about that. Indeed this is an unpublished version. They are in the process of correcting them now. Any inquiries in the meantime are given the correct info when there was a mistake. This will be sorted out asap.

Hi Ankur, I think around 30 of the pieces came from Mike's convention and online stock, but the rest of Mike's consignment are new to market, as are the majority of the 175 pieces which came mostly all from private collectors. I hope you find something of interest.

Hi Mitch, Actually by late next week, the 175 pieces of art should be on the Society website with a photo, info and prices.

Hi all, I’m so sorry the art price list has been delayed— the Society has been working hard preparing to post the photos, information and prices for each piece. They said they’d be up as soon as they can, I think some time mid next week. There are over 175 pieces of art in this sale! Perhaps 50 or so are known dealers stock I think-- that means 125 pieces have not previously been available! Once photos and prices are posted please feel free to contact me if there are any questions, at robpistella@mac.com or text me at 804-363-1365.

I get asked periodically to provide scans. I will definitely ask for a comp copy. if the answer is no, I usually do not provide it, since I usually have to de-frame art and bring it to a professional scanning place. However for books that are pricey, I've been offered to be able to buy the book wholesale and I did that, i.e. $125 retail book and I paid $60 and got a mention in the book. Everyone who loans the Society of Illustrators art gets a comp copy of the catalog (if there is one). It's the least we can do! Rob

looked pretty decent to me... i was sick or I would have tried to attend. I hope he can get other dealers to participate in future shows.

Mike I completely agree with you. Last year I curated the Profiles in History Comic Art sale, and we sold the Frankenstein Wrightson cover for over $1.2 Mil. Someone here said he didn't believe it and wanted the new owner to post a picture with the daily newspaper (for the date) and the piece! (As if this multimillionaire could be bothered to read that, and PROVE he bought the piece to this troll)? It's laughable. I gather there is no moderator here to keep things civil? So, I too almost never post here because the few trolls seem to have complete freedom. 'Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are'. Proverbs. Rob

Well I ordered their catalog in the late 70s. I still have it here. I've attached photos. It took around 80 days to get the catalog. I wrote to complain and they said they mail bulk rate and they had to wait until 100+ catalog requests came in and I had just missed the last one. I said to myself if they take almost three months to send a catalog, I don't think I'm going to get any kind of customer service if I order something, so I didn't.

Hi all! I was there today. Joe did a great job making sure that the show was in compliance with state mandates. Everyone followed the rules it seemed. Eight dealers: Anthony Snyder, Albert Moy, Bechara Maalouf, Nathan Rose, Brad Savage, Hans, Will Gabri-El, and another dealer of collectibles and art and comics, who I didn't know. It was great to be back among comic art fans. Big rush in the morning, full capacity, then it trickled down. I think a lot of NYC fans and others too, are still reluctant to attend these type of more social events. I hope that changes soon. I thought asking prices were (too) high and sellers unwilling to budge. I came home without spending a penny, though I was certainly there with the intent of pick up something. I like seeing stuff priced. I get tired of asking prices. Most stuff was not priced. Some pricing seemed to depend on whim, the day of the week, the way the wind blows, and any number of other unimportant factors. Today' 14K is yesterday's 9K is tomorrows ?? it's kind of fun. Ask ten times, get five different answers. When you get the price you like, take it, if not, pass. I later spoke to a few collectors who went, and as Ankur said previously, there is generally a dealer fear of leaving money on the table, so prices are high. (Maybe they should fear collectors spending that convention money at auction instead!) If you really MUST HAVE something fair enough. But otherwise prices were high enough to pass on and wait for another day, rather than sellers lowering prices a bit and closing a deal. There's always new art tomorrow...

I'm not feeling any love for this one... signature is off... the art isn't confident.

Hi Scott! I really didn't try to take representative pictures as I was busy discussing the sale. FOR SURE there were a lot of younger collectors entering our hobby and interested in buying. I don't think they were tire kickers. There were many 20s-30s I just didn't photograph. It was refreshing to see that. Also they were very interested in the craft involved in making a comic age. Earlier that day a NYC art school (Fashion Institute) came in and they LOVED the art and the fact that the art was hand penciled and inked and lettered and not done via computer.

thanks all! We had a great time at the Society of Illustrators where we hosted a preview of our December 12 sale at Profiles in History. Best way to register for this sale is here: https://profilesinhistory.com/auction-registration-landing-page/?auctionid=23891 Here are some photos from the preview, we had over 75 enthusiastic collectors preview the art... Rob

here's a little something I put together this year, each original art piece is around 4-5" x 6-7"....a homage to the Studio !

Here is Icarus...

I've owned Age of Innocence for the last 10 years or so.... I have it hanging very high in my foyer....

A fellow Studio collector Mark Wilcox and I approached all the Studio members perhaps 15 years ago and suggested that we do a followup book called STUDIOS, giving each of the four ¼ of the book to do as they please (presumably dedicated to each of their 'solo' post Studio work), and at the same time reprint properly the original Studio book. Book distributor Bud Plant was very enthusiastic about the project, we talked about signed editions, etc. We didn't draw up contracts or anything but tried to gauge the artist's interest. Jeff, Bernie and Mike said 'sure' send details, and Barry said 'no way' and that was that. Rob

Thanks Nelson! I will be there all day those days and people can either come on in, or make an appointment to see the art! You can email me at robpistella at mac.com. I will have a very nice selection of this landmark collection that has been off the market in one collector's hands for many years.

James Pascoe does a great job and is reasonably priced too!

dud. not Frazetta. An especially awful signature. Rob

Great report Gene as usual. It's not that prices are normally high for good stuff. It was the alarming and annoying mantra of dealers justifying ridiculous prices by saying, "I don't really want to sell that." I was told that at least seven times. I laid into the dealer the seventh time. It went something like this: ------- Hi Dealer X, I really like that piece. How much is it? $10,000. OK. Heritage usually sells those for around $4500-5500. Can you share with me any information as to why it is priced 2X that? Is there something special about it? I don't want to sell it. What? That's your sale pitch? It's hanging on your for sale wall here at comic con. What do you mean you don't want to sell it? Why not leave it home? I wanted to see if I could get stupid money for it. Well, I'd have to be stupid to pay stupid money, yes? I never heard it put that way. If I don't sell it I will just bring int home and be happy that it didn't sell. --------- I heard this throughout the show. I don't want to sell that, I'm happy to bring it home. I went to spend money and with a few small exceptions, came home with most of it. I'll spend it privately or at auction I guess. At least the auction house won't whine to me that they don't want to sell what I'm bidding on. I had a great time otherwise, but in speaking with some deep pocketed collectors, they too had the same complaints. It wasn't that we weren't willing to spend large sums on the right pieces; It was that increasingly we were unwilling to pay multiples of fair market value for appealing art for no other reason than the sellers desire to score sales at multiples of fair market value. Rob ..the flip side of SDCC 2019 is that I feel that dealer pricing this year was the most disconnected from reality that I've ever witnessed (and I was not alone in this characterization - I heard it from two auction house reps and a number of collectors as well). I mean, it's not just that prices are at/near record highs, but, the pricing spread to FMV was just beyond the pale this year. I mean, sure, collectors always complain about dealer pricing, but, normally at least prices are at a level where you can start a conversation or negotiation. This year, many prices were just so far in la-la land, having jumped by hyperinflationary levels since just last year, that few would even want to bother. I'm not going to name names, and will point out that it's not all dealers (but, enough of them to make this characterization); the ones who post here on the Boards are not the ones I'm describing.

Thanks guys! Here's a mention with images in the New York Times (today) It's worth seeing! https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/arts/batman-comics.html

Here's a possible reason for a Lucas purchase of EQ: The Egyptian Queen's outfit was the inspiration for Star War's Princess Leia's costume. I could see THAT as a plausible reason for George to buy it for his museum.

the show didn't seem well attended... any info?

I own the original to #3, here below...

I'd cancel the PayPal asap. Then if you still want the art, negotiate from a position of strength (you still have your money) and not weakness (you are out your money and no art in hand).