a little OT: star wars figure/vehicle art?

[Bronty]

I asked this question in the AFA thread in general but maybe its more appropriate here... can anyone speak to this?

 

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off topic, but maybe one of you SW guys can comment on the state of SW action figure / vehicle art? I'm just curious about it.

 

I know there isn't much to speak of since most of the cards are photos, but I remember a small piece of art from the early cardbacks (extremely underwhelming I thought) sold for 40 or 50k in a CIB/tom derby auction about 4-5 years ago.

 

As I recall the A-wing (?) vehicle art sold in the auction also in the 20-25k range.

 

I'm a little fuzzy on the details but it was something like that.

 

What's happened on that type of material in the last 5 years?

[Bronty]

if anyone has seen any other sales of action figure art the last few years, please chime in!

 

I know there were a couple of masters of the universe pieces that sold 3-4 years ago (actually I think Felix told us about that one at the time).

[ShaneTurgeon]

"Photo art" as it's known in the vintage Star Wars hobby, is probably some of the most highly sought after pre-production material in today's market. In terms of 2D pre-production stuff, it is, without a doubt, the most sought after.

 

Most of the art (and 2D material in general) was saved by a Kenner employee named Tom Neiheisel and sold off over the years, starting in the mid-90s. He had virtually everything and now, most of it is virtually locked up in private collections (with a couple of notable collections containing a LOT of it).

 

Because it's all locked up, many collectors interested in acquiring some are having to throw around some big sums to try to liberate it. Average price on a run of the mill piece of character/figure photo art would be $20k+ with more popular characters reaching much higher. Lots of the vehicle photo art exists in series which feature the box front, back and side panel artwork and most people want to have the whole series. Vehicle photo art usually sells for less than the figural art but given the scarcity of figural art, i wouldn't be surprised to see it start to increase in value as well.

 

The piece that you're referring to having sold in the PCA auction in 2008 for $40-50k (i can get the exact number when i'm home as i wrote down all the prices as they hammered) may have been visually underwhelming but it's likely some of the most important and iconic Star Wars figure art there is. I recently appeared on FanAddicts on the REELZ network as an appraiser on their Star Wars episode with Gus Lopez, who purchased and split the art with another well-known collector and while we didn't talk about the art on air, here's what i wrote about it in my appraisal report:

 

"-Historical or hobby significance:

The first Star Wars action figures released in 1978 included 12 figures in the set. Paintings of these twelve figures, their action features as well as the first three vehicles from the line were featured on the back of the packaging. Examples of these figures still in the original packaging have been dubbed by collectors as 12 backs and these are the original paintings for two of the five pieces of art shown on the box.

 

-Why is it so damn cool?!:

Every kid in America waited patiently for nearly a year after the release of the first Star Wars film for the toys to be made available. And when they came out, it was about the biggest deal, like, EVER! Kids drooled over the backs of the packages to see what toys they would buy next. Additionally, the first lightsabers released featured what was called a double telescoping (DT) feature which was scrapped shortly after their initial release for a more cost effective and sturdy replacement. The lightsaber artwork was also changed on the card making this depiction of the original, legendary DT saber painting incredibly iconic. "

 

Hopefully that helps answer some of your questions, Dan.

[ShaneTurgeon]

if anyone has seen any other sales of action figure art the last few years, please chime in!

 

I know there were a couple of masters of the universe pieces that sold 3-4 years ago (actually I think Felix told us about that one at the time).

 

There have been a couple of sales of MOTU art over the past few years. Mattel offered up the original art for the Battle Cat and Battle Armor He-Man two-pack art and the Battle Bones art through their Dream Hallowe'en auction in 2009 (IIRC) and i was the underbidder on both. I wish i could have went higher but alas, it was not to be. I think the former went for about $4500 and the latter around $4k.

 

They sold other examples in previous Dream Hallowe'en auctions as well but i can't recall which pieces or the prices.

 

Jordan from Toy Hunter/Hollywood Heroes has also sold and brokered several pieces of MOTU art over the years.

 

As for other toy lines, there's lots of stuff out there. I have (and had) a nice collection of GI Joe packaging and preproduction art and own two of the seven known pre-1990 pieces of figure packaging art that's outside of Hasbro's archives. I have a standing offer of $15k on each of them that i'm not entertaining.

 

I know of several great examples of Transformers out in private collections, some killer MASK art and bits and bobs from lots of other random toy lines. Some of the most significant being Ken Kelly's Micronauts aliens art.

[Speedy-D]

Wow, super interesting stuff. Thanks for the post!

[Bronty]

Thx Shane. I should have known you'd be the guy to ask.

 

Are any of the recent sales public? I'm not aware of any price points since those 2009 MOTU auctions, but 2009 is a long time ago now and those prices seem cheap now.

[Bronty]

Is the episode you're on available on the internet somewhere?

[Bronty]

"Photo art" as it's called in our hobby, is probably some of the most highly sought after pre-production material in today's market. In terms of 2D pre-production stuff, it is, without a doubt, the most sought after.

 

Most of the art (and 2D material in general) was saved by a Kenner employee named Tom Neiheisel and sold off over the years, starting in the mid-90s. He had virtually everything and now, most of it is virtually locked up in private collections (with a couple of notable collections containing a LOT of it).

 

Because it's all locked up, many collectors interested in acquiring some are having to throw around some big sums to try to liberate it. Average price on a run of the mill piece of character/figure photo art would be $20k+ with more popular characters reaching much higher.

 

this part is kind of surprising to me - not that card art would be worth money, but that its still desired when its just a photo / stats etc. I guess when its all there is, its all there is, but I can't quite wrap my mind around it.

 

Couldn't that be faked mechanically if its just photos and stats? (although I suppose the one of a kind nature and provenance would help big time). What do they look like shane, are there pics of any such "photo art" anywhere?

[ShaneTurgeon]

Thx Shane. I should have known you'd be the guy to ask.

 

Are any of the recent sales public? I'm not aware of any price points since those 2009 MOTU auctions, but 2009 is a long time ago now and those prices seem cheap now.

 

With the exception of the 2008 PCA auction, most everything trades hands very quietly so no, there aren't many public sales. The Wolverine tank box art from GI Joe just sold on eBay recently for $20k and that's really the only major public sale i know of off the top of my head.

 

The Star Wars episode doesn't appear to be online anywhere yet but they have the ET episode i was an appraiser on on the REELZ site: http://www.reelz.com/fanaddicts/clips/

 

Just look for the 6th clip in along the bottom.

[retrothecollector]

Holy mackerel !!!!! This is the best !! Thank you Shane for posting this. Man I didn't even know they had such art for these things. And yes I drooled over the toys too!! I still do sometimes find myself drooling.... I love star wars. So expensive to get a DT Luke, but he is on my grail list. I once owned a loose vinyl cape jawa but just recently sold it. Anyways great stuff!!! Thanks

[Bronty]

thx Shane!

 

Just did a quick google search and found this upcoming book on transformers package art if anyone is interested. Looks like 300 page with many all(?) of the early pieces of artwork.

 

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/generation-1-1/amazon-listing-transformers-legacy-a-celebration-of-transformers-package-art-178929/

[ShaneTurgeon]

this part is kind of surprising to me - not that card art would be worth money, but that its still desired when its just a photo / stats etc. I guess when its all there is, its all there is, but I can't quite wrap my mind around it.

 

Couldn't that be faked mechanically if its just photos and stats? (although I suppose the one of a kind nature and provenance would help big time). What do they look like shane, are there pics of any such "photo art" anywhere?

 

It's a bit more than photos and stats tho. It's a heavily airbrushed photo. No stats at all, just painting directly on the photo itself. So it'd be tough to fake, for sure, and given that it's well known where each piece resides and where it came from, provenance is pretty direct in all cases.

 

You can see several examples of different kinds of art here:

http://theswca.com/images-kennerart.html

 

The photo art, specifically, is towards the bottom of the page.

 

You can see an example i used to own here in my CAF page:

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=580148

 

I also owned an original transparency of the source photo which looked like this prior to all the airbrushing, so it gives you an indication of how much art actually went into it.

 

http://forum.rebelscum.com/photogallery/showphoto.php?photo=297266&cat=500

 

The Droids and Ewoks packaging art is not photo art and sells for about $5k a piece for produced characters and $7500+ for unproduced characters. You can see an example in my collection here:

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=580149

 

The painting itself has no hard lines and the line art has been copied onto a stat overlay.

[Bronty]

Do you have a link to that GI joe tank art auction? I've tried to google it, but can't seem to find.

[Bronty]

thanks Shane! Really cool to see the before and after shots of that photoart. Easier now to understand. thx!

[ShaneTurgeon]

thx Shane!

 

Just did a quick google search and found this upcoming book on transformers package art if anyone is interested:

 

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/generation-1-1/amazon-listing-transformers-legacy-a-celebration-of-transformers-package-art-178929/

 

Cool...i bounced a lot of messages with Jim and helped him line up some of the art for that book that's owned by some friends of mine. Should be cool to see it when it's out. He's helping out with a GI Joe book that's similar and being done by Tim Finn who posts updates to his blog here:

 

http://arealamericanbook.wordpress.com

 

There's another GI Joe development book in the works too but it's unknown if either will see the light of day.

 

Mattel also released a MOTU art book as a SDCC exclusive in 2009 but it sold very fast and typically sells for around $200 now, if it can be found at all. Luckily i got mine at the time!

 

Another MOTU fan group published an art "catalogue" but from what i understand, they were hit with a C&D and it's no longer available.

 

 

[dem1138]

This is awesome!

 

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=48146

[Guardian Comics]

When I used to be a larger fish in the pond, I created this site www.kennercanadatoys.com and there is a ton of photoart pictured there.

 

Jim

[Dave Aikins]

A good friend of mine painted the Ewok battle Wagon box art for the Power of the Force line. I think he still has it. So, some of that stuff is still around. I think he also did an X-wing painting for the Power of the Force line that was never released. I'll have to ask him what he has lying around.

In 1985 (?), Power of the Force did use some full illustration work for packaging, not photos...

[Bronty]

A good friend of mine painted the Ewok battle Wagon box art for the Power of the Force line. I think he still has it. So, some of that stuff is still around. I think he also did an X-wing painting for the Power of the Force line that was never released. I'll have to ask him what he has lying around.

In 1985 (?), Power of the Force did use some full illustration work for packaging, not photos...

 

I'm surprised the fans haven't tracked him down. He must have turned down some offers already I'd bet?

[Bronty]

looks like the cover to the friggin book is the david schleinkofer painting that sadly was already sold when I contacted david

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613779437?tag=transformers-20