Will_K

Although JLGL has made his mark drawing superheroes, he prefers not to. He loves drawing the other genres where he's also excelled. For example, sci-fi (Twilight) and westerns (Jonah Hex). So although you may not be into the story, I think JLGL would've loved the opportunity. The story looks great. And JLGL inks himself, the rendering has a different look than you'd usually see. There aren't many complete JLGL stories out there. I think there would be a premium on that, not a discount. The final price will probably surprise you even more. I doubt the bidders are really big Phantom Stranger fans, they're JLGL fans.

Out of curiosity, outside of comics, are there any ongoing debates about Lichtenstein ? If so, what are those topics ?

Well, Bob Kane did sign his name to other artists' work...

OK, so now we have a way to fish out the benefactor. Who wants to contest ownership? One can show their "bill of sale" and receipt that were signed by "Jack Kirby" and "Charles Schulz".

It has never been reported stolen. A technicality perhaps but an important one. No. But the LoC does have that base covered. Quoting the article : For Amazing Fantasy #15, the Library of Congress has any of a number of valuable pieces in its archives. For its part, it makes sure it has its legalities covered. “We have what’s called an Instrument of Gift,” Duke says. “We ask that the donor sign that they own legal right to the art, manuscript, books, or whatever they’re donating, that they possess the legal property.” And Duke says that’s the best they can do. Many of the Library’s pieces are hundreds of years old. “We’re not going to go chasing through the halls of time trying to figure out how did it get from point A to point B,” she says.

I've always wonder about the "why" about the anonymity. Is it just to avoid having collectors come out of the woodwork asking for "more" ? It seems like the donation was made while the benefactor was still living. Was there a danger of being sued ? The LoC seems to be OK with the art having been stolen. They just accept the benefactor's word that it wasn't. It seems like making the donation was an easy way of getting rid of a stolen property. There was also the option of making the LoC donation upon death, just put it in your Last Will Unless you didn't trust your Executor. The benefactor supposedly got the "OK" from Ditko. So was Ditko told who had the art? What if Ditko said he wanted his art returned to him? What if Ditko did give his blessing but then changed his mind? Did Ditko sign something where he gave up any rights to the art ?

Why did HA even list this ? Does the seller pay a listing fee even if it doesn't sell ?

That kind of goes along with the... "untold" part.

If you don't receive the CAF Weekly Newsletter, Bill Cox mentioned this transaction and provided 2 links. @RS88's https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=195772 and a new pinned CAF forum topic, Best Practices When Buying/Selling/Trading Original Comic Art https://www.comicartfans.com/forums/comic_art_collecting/CAF_announcements/threads/4346

You may also start asking more questions. What does that mean?  Malvin What I meant was... @RS88 may be more skittish when people try to buy from him and HE will start asking more questions.

You may also start asking more questions.

If you guys are will to go that far, how about going to the LCSs ??

If so, all the more reason to file a police report.

"one-n-done" might've come in handy in this case. The guy must be a true and proud Dell’Otto fan to commit fraud and theft. But I feel sorry for Dell’Otto.

Out of curiosity, would CollectInsure.com cover this situation ? They say they cover "theft". So a police report is required to file a claim, correct ?