Biggest OA Prices

[Weird Paper]

215 -- Here's a link.

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=350727&GSub=54849

 

WIth a gallery like that, he really ought to pony up for the premium membership.

[tth2]

I think it`s safe to say that any of the Frazetta Famous Funnies covers would go for six figures now.

[comix4fun]

215 -- Here's a link.

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=350727&GSub=54849

 

WIth a gallery like that, he really ought to pony up for the premium membership.

 

 

I noticed that neither he nor Steve have a premium membership.

 

There's well over a million dollars worth of art posted between them. You'd think the $50 for the premium membership was less than they paid on shipping for most of those pieces.

[Bronty]

215 -- Here's a link.

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=350727&GSub=54849

 

WIth a gallery like that, he really ought to pony up for the premium membership.

 

sweet. that's my favorite one.

[bocaratondefense]

Dragging this old thread back for some updates. It is interesting to note that if the bids were legitimate and if there were no reserves, the Superman #14 cover would have topped the Frazetta WSF #29. The Detective #69 cover and the X-Men #2 splash would have been high up there on their respective lists as well.

 

Also in the Comic Connect X-Men 2 description, there is discussion about the X-Men #1 splash selling for $250,000. That would put it at the very top of the line art interiors category.

 

From the Heritage auction, there were several Carl Barks paintings that exceeded six figures and made the above list for record prices for paintings.

 

 

[Nexus]

Also in the Comic Connect X-Men 2 description, there is discussion about the X-Men #1 splash selling for $250,000. That would put it at the very top of the line art interiors category.

 

Thanks for bringing this up. Here's the auction description:

 

Hail to the King! Kirby was at the pinnacle of his prowess when he penciled this preposterously perfect splash page oh true believers! This is the first full page splash in the series and in the opinion of the art experts at ComicConnect.com, the best splash image of the original team ever! This was the centerpiece of the Kirby art display at the Hammer Museum as well as a few others. Also of note is the fact that the image of The Angel was used later as part of the cover logos. This splash is as historic and "high end" as you can get! It has stunning eye appeal and is in excellent shape with a creamy white color to the paper. The splash to the first issue is rumored to have been sold for $250,000.00 several years ago, in our opinion, this piece is a far superior full splash page of the team.

 

Set aside the fact that the selling points are verbatim to what the "former owner" said in the "X-Men2 Splash" thread, the bit about the "rumored" $250K is frankly, insulting. Why not just make it a cool mil?

 

For anyone who thinks that the "rumored" details of a transaction mean anything, then let me say that the NEXUS #2 cover sold for a "rumored" $300K. Please value my #1 cover accordingly based on that rumor. Thank you.

[ashrael]

What was the bidding for the Detective #69 up to before it ended?

 

Superman #14 was $402K and X-Men #2 splash was $72K.

[ashrael]

Updated:

 

.....................

 

Line Art Covers ($100K+):

 

$380,000 (2010): Weird Fantasy #29 (Frank Frazetta)

$200,000 (2008): Weird Science #16 (Wally Wood)

$195,500 (2005): Batman #11 (Fred Ray, Jerry Robinson)

$101,700 (2006): Amazing Spider-Man #43 (John Romita)

$101,575 (2010): Daredevil #188 (Frank Miller)

$101,575 (2007): Mr. Natural #1 (Robert Crumb)

$100,625 (2002): Famous Funnies #213 (Frank Frazetta)

 

Big Sales that are up there: Giant Size X-Men #1; Famous Funnies #215; Avengers #93; Superman #14 (Fred Ray) did not reach reserve with $402,000 bid

 

Line Art Interiors ($50K+):

 

$214,819 (2010): Tintin 1939/06/22 [2 pages] (307,785€ for pair ~ $429,637 for pair)

$88,500 (2010) Amazing Spider-Man #50 [page 1] (John Romita)

$86,250 (2005) Marvel Comics #1 [page 12] (Bill Everett)

$77,675 (2008) Big Comics #1 [page 1] (Robert Crumb)

$65,725 (2010) Journey Into Mystery #83 [page 8] (Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott)

$53,775 (2008) X-Men #1 [page 11] (Jack Kirby, Paul Reinman)

 

Big Sales that are up there: X-Men #1 [page 1] (Jack Kirby); X-Men #2 [page 1] (Jack Kirby) for "a lot more than $72,000"

 

Painted Comic Covers ($100K+):

 

$1,067,052 (2008): Tintin in America (764,200€)

$203,150 (2008): Mad #30 [front & back covers] (Norman Mingo)

$110,500 (2006): Creepy #10 [cover - "Beyond the Grave"] (Frank Frazetta)

 

Non-Comic Frazetta Paintings ($100K+):

 

$1,500,000 (2010): "Conan The Destroyer"

$1,000,000 (2009): "Conan the Conqueror"

$251,000 (2008): "Escape on Venus"

$150,000 (2010): "Warrior with Ball and Chain"

$120,750 (2003): "Savage World"

 

.....................

 

Do you know of any others? Year, issue, page (if not cover), and total price would be appreciated, along with links to info on the web if available. Thanks!

[romitaman]

ASM 50 splash just sold for 88,500 CASH in profiles in history auction today dec 17th.

 

you can add that to the list!

[ShaneTurgeon]

Just curious if any of the collectors here that are "in the know" have heard of the cover art for Zap Comix #1 selling privately in excess of a million dollars?

 

For clarity, i'm not saying it has. In fact, i have a pretty hard time believing it but a recent thread on Rebelscum veered a little bit and OA was brought up. A newer poster who has been a member here (but more in the comics section) posted some thoughts about the prices that the AF#15 pages might reach if they hit the market, to which i respectfully disagreed, and he was the one who brought up the rumoured Zap Comix sale.

 

For those interested, the thread can be read here:

 

http://threads.rebelscum.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB1&Number=4412041

 

 

[groovyedwin]

There are a lot of deals and sales that go unreported and are handled privately. Depending on your taste, this may or may not be a major source of pieces that you are looking for.

 

Deals and sales that go unreported and are handled privately involve two groups of individuals. They being the artists to collector and collector to collector transaction.

 

If both parties keep it private it would be very difficult if not impossible to determine whether a piece has been sold along with the price involved.

 

Edwin

 

 

[TheWatcher]

"As for their value's in today's market - well, let's just say if the original art to Amazing Fantasy #15 (first appearance of Spider-Man in comics) wasn't donated to the Library of Congress, those pages would be selling in the $1-$3 Million range - each (that's 24 pages)!

 

The cover alone (although not donated with the grouping of interior artwork) would probably fetch in the neighbourhood of $2-$5 Million."

 

 

Does he work for Profiles In History?

[bluechip]

ASM 50 splash just sold for 88,500 CASH in profiles in history auction today dec 17th.

 

you can add that to the list!

 

Not a surprise. You could show that piece to any ten people chosen at random on the street, and most of them would know what it is, even if they had no idea what was meant by the initials "OA." Or, for that matter, if they'd never read a comic book.

 

.

[vodou]

ASM 50 splash just sold for 88,500 CASH in profiles in history auction today dec 17th.

Not a surprise. You could show that piece to any ten people chosen at random on the street, and most of them would know what it is, even if they had no idea what was meant by the initials "OA." Or, for that matter, if they'd never read a comic book.

Not likely on the random ten people.

 

I'd say at best -- a fair number of people would recognize the Spidey costume, fewer would know it's Peter Parker (by name) walking away, and generally nobody would know the back story outside the dialogue on the page.

 

Key storyline and original art for superhero comics fans.

Of modest interest to non-superhero comics fans in general.

Of zero interest without in-depth explanation to anybody else. And that assumes they don't fall asleep during the lecture.

[Nexus]

Updated:

 

.....................

 

Line Art Covers ($100K+):

 

$380,000 (2010): Weird Fantasy #29 (Frank Frazetta)

$200,000 (2008): Weird Science #16 (Wally Wood)

$195,500 (2005): Batman #11 (Fred Ray, Jerry Robinson)

$101,700 (2006): Amazing Spider-Man #43 (John Romita)

$101,575 (2010): Daredevil #188 (Frank Miller)

$101,575 (2007): Mr. Natural #1 (Robert Crumb)

$100,625 (2002): Famous Funnies #213 (Frank Frazetta)

 

Big Sales that are up there: Giant Size X-Men #1; Famous Funnies #215; Avengers #93; Superman #14 (Fred Ray) did not reach reserve with $402,000 bid

 

Line Art Interiors ($50K+):

 

$214,819 (2010): Tintin 1939/06/22 [2 pages] (307,785€ for pair ~ $429,637 for pair)

$86,250 (2005) Marvel Comics #1 [page 12] (Bill Everett)

$77,675 (2008) Big Comics #1 [page 1] (Robert Crumb)

$65,725 (2010) Journey Into Mystery #83 [page 8] (Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott)

$53,775 (2008) X-Men #1 [page 11] (Jack Kirby, Paul Reinman)

 

Big Sales that are up there: X-Men #2 [page 1] (Jack Kirby) for "a lot more than $72,000"

 

Painted Comic Covers ($100K+):

 

$1,067,052 (2008): Tintin in America (764,200€)

$203,150 (2008): Mad #30 [front & back covers] (Norman Mingo)

$110,500 (2006): Creepy #10 [cover - "Beyond the Grave"] (Frank Frazetta)

 

Non-Comic Frazetta Paintings ($100K+):

 

$1,500,000 (2010): "Conan The Destroyer"

$1,000,000 (2009): "Conan the Conqueror"

$251,000 (2008): "Escape on Venus"

$150,000 (2010): "Warrior with Ball and Chain"

$120,750 (2003): "Savage World"

 

.....................

 

Do you know of any others? Year, issue, page (if not cover), and total price would be appreciated, along with links to info on the web if available. Thanks!

 

Just curious...why haven't you included the X-MEN #1 splash that was "rumored" to have sold for "$250K" (according to the Comic Connect auction description)? I'm glad you haven't, but I'm wondering if it was a deliberate omission or your part.

[stinkininkin]

There's another, alternative angle to this thread. As mentioned earlier, many if not most of these high end transactions stay pretty private. The cone of silence is often pretty impenetrable, and the list given so far is pretty incomplete. But even more amazing are the high, six figure level cash offers that are legitimately offered for key art that is DECLINED! I know first hand of MANY such offers that are first made and ultimately refused, and I'm not even as big an OA insider as a lot of guys even on this list. It makes sense when you think about it, in that the grade 'A' material is usually the last thing a collector wants to part with, as well as being the most liquid , so it takes really aggressive offers just to have any realistic shot at prying it out of someones collection, and even then it's often not enough. On top of that, the really good stuff is often owned by guys who frankly just don't need the money, so you've got to really blow them away with nutty offers to just to get their attention.

 

Thoughts?

 

Scott Williams

[Nexus]

ASM 50 splash just sold for 88,500 CASH in profiles in history auction today dec 17th.

Not a surprise. You could show that piece to any ten people chosen at random on the street, and most of them would know what it is, even if they had no idea what was meant by the initials "OA." Or, for that matter, if they'd never read a comic book.

Not likely on the random ten people.

 

I'd say at best -- a fair number of people would recognize the Spidey costume, fewer would know it's Peter Parker (by name) walking away, and generally nobody would know the back story outside the dialogue on the page.

 

Key storyline and original art for superhero comics fans.

Of modest interest to non-superhero comics fans in general.

Of zero interest without in-depth explanation to anybody else. And that assumes they don't fall asleep during the lecture.

 

That's a pretty fair summation to me. Do you think it would have sold for more if there was more awareness amongst the general public? Or will this always be the sole domain of us obsessives?

 

Although I have no doubt that Mike could have sold this great splash for as much privately, I can see where it would benefit him to sell it publicly-- to help establish a market value for top-end Romita ASM interiors (and make lists like this one). That he didn't go with the obvious choice of auction venue for high-end OA, Heritage, and went with Profiles instead, just speaks to their tight relationship. In the end, I wasn't surprised by the winning bid (which as far as I know, is a record for a Romita ASM interior). It didn't matter that few outside of comic fandom know or care about this particular page-- it had already been valued at "$100K" on HOLLYWOOD TREASURE. That was a pretty good clue as to where it would finish.

[Nexus]

There's another, alternative angle to this thread. As mentioned earlier, many if not most of these high end transactions stay pretty private. The cone of silence is often pretty impenetrable, and the list given so far is pretty incomplete. But even more amazing are the high, six figure level cash offers that are legitimately offered for key art that is DECLINED! I know first hand of MANY such offers that are first made and ultimately refused, and I'm not even as big an OA insider as a lot of guys even on this list. It makes sense when you think about it, in that the grade 'A' material is usually the last thing a collector wants to part with, as well as being the most liquid , so it takes really aggressive offers just to have any realistic shot at prying it out of someones collection, and even then it's often not enough. On top of that, the really good stuff is often owned by guys who frankly just don't need the money, so you've got to really blow them away with nutty offers to just to get their attention.

 

Thoughts?

 

Scott Williams

 

Without knowing the deals you're referring to or the players involved (and I'll say I'm definitely less of an OA insider than you), I would say that declined offers should not be considered data points. Declined offers are essentially meaningless. Akin to "reserve not met" bids. There are exceptions, though. If I hear that Scott Williams made an offer of X for a piece, I'm reasonably sure that it's legit. But if Dealer M makes Dealer B an offer that was refused, and we're supposed to accept that offer as FMV, then I will be skeptical.

 

Taking another angle...we are two years into the worst recession since the Great Depression. It seems to me that this hobby is primarily comprised of "average Joes". Take away the top 1-2% of this hobby, and the rest would most likely fall into the middle/upper-middle class. The group that has been hardest hit by the economy. Yet, we have not had the expected fall-out. I don't see mass fire sales. It's not surprising that BSDs aren't selling (they don't need the money), but what about everyone else? We're ALL emotionally attached to this stuff, BSDs and commoners alike (I'm speaking of collectors). Nobody wants to sell their favorite stuff. That's helping to prop up the market as much as anything else.

 

 

[stinkininkin]

There's another, alternative angle to this thread. As mentioned earlier, many if not most of these high end transactions stay pretty private. The cone of silence is often pretty impenetrable, and the list given so far is pretty incomplete. But even more amazing are the high, six figure level cash offers that are legitimately offered for key art that is DECLINED! I know first hand of MANY such offers that are first made and ultimately refused, and I'm not even as big an OA insider as a lot of guys even on this list. It makes sense when you think about it, in that the grade 'A' material is usually the last thing a collector wants to part with, as well as being the most liquid , so it takes really aggressive offers just to have any realistic shot at prying it out of someones collection, and even then it's often not enough. On top of that, the really good stuff is often owned by guys who frankly just don't need the money, so you've got to really blow them away with nutty offers to just to get their attention.

 

Thoughts?

 

Scott Williams

 

Without knowing the deals you're referring to or the players involved (and I'll say I'm definitely less of an OA insider than you), I would say that declined offers should not be considered data points. Declined offers are essentially meaningless. Akin to "reserve not met" bids. There are exceptions. If I hear that Scott Williams made an offer of X for a piece, I'm reasonably sure that it's legit. But if Dealer M makes Dealer B an offer that was refused, but we're supposed to accept that offer as FMV, then I will be skeptical.

 

Taking another angle...we are two years into the worst recession since the Great Depression. It seems to me that this hobby is primarily comprised of "average Joes". Take away the top 1-2% of this hobby, and the rest would most likely fall into the middle/upper-middle class. The group that has been hardest hit by the economy. Yet, we have not had the expected fall-out. I don't see mass fire sales. It's not surprising that BSDs aren't selling (they don't need the money), but what about everyone else? We're ALL emotionally attached to this stuff, BSDs and commoners alike (I'm speaking of collectors). Nobody wants to sell their favorite stuff. That's helping to prop up the market as much as anything else.

 

 

Not really talking about dealers per se, as I have much more contact with collectors and get whatever insight I can glean from them rather than dealers. And I was only speaking of offers made that I KNOW are legit offers and that are destined for collections, not to pump up perceived values. I offer no proof that these offers are made, just my name and reputation. And I wasn't really thinking of these non sales as "data points" to justify any pricing adjustments, just observing that these sort of non transactions take place, are genuine and not a manipulation (and I am keenly aware that market manipulation IS an insidious aspect of this hobby, ESPECIALLY at the high end). Just an aspect to the high end market that hadn't been brought up. And yes of course, by definition the type of art this thread is about will of course only concern the top tier of collectors, or BSD's if you will. The vast bulk of art collecting is not in the high end, so I don't think that reality is relevant to the specifics of this thread and conversation.

 

Scott Williams

[ashrael]

.....................

 

Just curious...why haven't you included the X-MEN #1 splash that was "rumored" to have sold for "$250K" (according to the Comic Connect auction description)? I'm glad you haven't, but I'm wondering if it was a deliberate omission or your part.

 

I am generally trying to only include items that are publicly listed as selling for a price. I stuck it under the "big sales" items, but of course those are all rumors that haven't been substantiated publicly.