Near six figure MTG art sales 0

[buyatari]

2 hours ago, JesterSB said:

Yes, it's been a crazy 5 or so years of price explosion. I asked the owner of Kird Ape what he wanted for it 2 years ago and he said $50K. He's probably not too far off.

 

3 hours ago, JesterSB said:

This was after all the really good stuff had already been snapped up for similar prices.

Original Artwork Availability List
and Artist Contact Sheet

January 1995 Edition

 

 

Thanks for posting this. These are the cards that I remember. I stopping playing around this time.

How often do these early cards change hands these days?

Edited June 12, 2018 by buyatari

[JesterSB]

5 minutes ago, buyatari said:

This one?

50k?

I understand a love of the art that makes up the game that you love but this is just an image of a gorilla.

It doesn't have a magic / fantasy bone in its entire body. 

 

Yep, there are lots of reasons for this, but the main one is the card was very powerful for its day. Power of the card trumps all else when talking about the price of magic art. Being from the first expansion for the game also holds some relevance.

Edited June 12, 2018 by JesterSB

[JesterSB]

2 minutes ago, buyatari said:

 

 

Thanks for posting this. These are the cards that I remember. I stopping playing around this time.

How often do these early cards change hands these days?

Not very often, at least publicly. Maybe 1-2 a year for the really valuable ones.

[buyatari]

1 minute ago, JesterSB said:

Not very often, at least publicly. Maybe 1-2 a year for the really valuable ones.

I loved the Arabian Nights set. One day I'd like to pick up a painting from that set but not if the commons are selling for 50k !

[JesterSB]

6 minutes ago, buyatari said:

I loved the Arabian Nights set. One day I'd like to pick up a painting from that set but not if the commons are selling for 50k !

That is probably a top 10 card from the set. Picking up something like Ghazban Ogre or Fishliver Oil would probably only run you $3-10K (hard to say since I've never seen ANY Arabian Nights card art sell).

Edited June 12, 2018 by JesterSB

[Bronty]

22 minutes ago, buyatari said:

I loved the Arabian Nights set. One day I'd like to pick up a painting from that set but not if the commons are selling for 50k !

I had kird apes and ernham djinns as the main part of my deck for years early on.    I’m sure many people did.   4 Kirds, 4 Ernhams, 4 Llanowars, 4 lightning bolts, 4 taiga... and fill in the rest...  is basically the archetype early red/green deck, or at least it was in my circle.   I’m sure Ernham is worth about as much as Kird, and it’s another Arabians card since you like and might remember those

Edited June 12, 2018 by Bronty

[buyatari]

16 minutes ago, JesterSB said:

That is probably a top 10 card from the set. Picking up something like Ghazban Ogre or Fishliver Oil would probably only run you $3-10K (hard to say since I've never seen ANY Arabian Nights card art sell).

Hmm I recall seeing something on ebay in the last year or two.

Did a quick google and here is Oubliette for sale at $15k.

http://www.vintagemagic.com/arabianoublietteart.html

 

 

 

[Bronty]

34 minutes ago, buyatari said:

This one?

50k?

I understand a love of the art that makes up the game that you love but this is just an image of a gorilla.

It doesn't have a magic / fantasy bone in its entire body. 

 

I mean... you could make that argument about a million different illustrations.    Doesn’t matter if the connection to the audience is strong.    It’s kind of like saying dragon warrior 4 or FF Legend are just pictures of swords.    Well yeah they are.   But.     

[Bronty]

3 minutes ago, buyatari said:

Hmm I recall seeing something on ebay in the last year or two.

Did a quick google and here is Oubliette for sale at $15k.

http://www.vintagemagic.com/arabianoublietteart.html

 

 

 

Yeah and I bet you could get something for half that

[buyatari]

10 minutes ago, Bronty said:

I mean... you could make that argument about a million different illustrations.    Doesn’t matter if the connection to the audience is strong.    It’s kind of like saying dragon warrior 4 or FF Legend are just pictures of swords.    Well yeah they are.   But.     

Those two covers both convey the feel of the game. You know you are getting a fantasy RPG. 

If it is now a desirable card that would explain things a bit. I bought and sold the cards back in the day but didn't play much. I had a booster box and a complete set of Arabian Night at one point.

The Arabian Nights set I sold for $800-$1200 tops. It was so long ago that I don't remember but I thought that Kird Ape was a cheap common card. 

[JesterSB]

2 minutes ago, buyatari said:

Those two covers both convey the feel of the game. You know you are getting a fantasy RPG. 

 If it is now a desirable card that would explain things a bit. I bought and sold the cards back in the day but didn't play much. I had a booster box and a complete set of Arabian Night at one point.

 The Arabian Nights set I sold for $800-$1200 tops. It was so long ago that I don't remember but I thought that Kird Ape was a cheap common card. 

Juzam Djinn is now worth $1200 by itself.

[buyatari]

10 minutes ago, JesterSB said:

Juzam Djinn is now worth $1200 by itself.

The cards went straight from packs into hard sleeves. I had a full set with all the variations.

What would the unopened booster box be worth today?  

 

---edit---

looks like 30k or so. 

https://www.trollandtoad.com/p79657.html

 

Edited June 12, 2018 by buyatari

[Bronty]

35 minutes ago, buyatari said:

I thought that Kird Ape was a cheap common card. 

It is and it was but it got a lot of use in the game.

Look put it this way, one of the factors in price is how much usage a card got.     The collectibility of the card is a separate factor.

A basically worthless card like Kird that got a lot of play (substitute lightning bolt, counterspell, llanowar elves, anything that got played a lot) is going to be valuable art.

Art to cards that are or were valuable but weren't necessarily great cards  (I dunno... mirror universe ?  Lich?  Chaos Orb? etc) are valuable too because they have notoriety from the early days.

And the very best stuff is going to be art for valuable rares that got/get a lot of play (the best of both words).  Black lotus, moxes, etc.

 

To put it in game art terms.   Think Dr Mario.   Not worth anything even sealed but still a great one to have the art for right?    Because a lot of people played it.

Now think Stadium Events.    The art, humble as it is, would still be good to have just for being from a rare game right?

Now think Mega Man x3 or Little Samson.    The art those would be the best of both worlds.   Great game, rare game, great art, great art for great and rare game.   All boxes checked.

Edited June 12, 2018 by Bronty

[Bronty]

11 minutes ago, buyatari said:

The cards went straight from packs into hard sleeves. I had a full set with all the variations.

What would the unopened booster box be worth today?  

 

---edit---

looks like 30k or so. 

https://www.trollandtoad.com/p79657.html

 

Wow.    They are buying @27k so yeah, gotta be at least 30

[JesterSB]

Final hammer price on Arcades Sabboth was $30K (exactly the reserve).

[Bronty]

On 6/6/2018 at 10:19 AM, Bronty said:

hmmm thanks for sharing.   will be fun to watch Arcades Sabboth.   I'll guess more like 25-30 on that

On the money this time

[Bronty]

THIs market has come such a long way in the three years since I started this thread.    

I guess it’s still new to Heritage as they dumped Shahrazad into a Sunday auction.    Current bid 36,000.

lots of room left I wager.   Guesses?

 

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/paintings/kaja-foglio-magic-the-gathering-arabian-nights-shahrazad-card-painting-original-art-and/a/121829-14061.s

[Bronty]

Vodou I see your laughter.   Yup its ugly.   Doesn't matter

[fett]

On 6/12/2018 at 2:35 PM, Bronty said:

I had kird apes and ernham djinns as the main part of my deck for years early on.    I’m sure many people did.   4 Kirds, 4 Ernhams, 4 Llanowars, 4 lightning bolts, 4 taiga... and fill in the rest...  is basically the archetype early red/green deck, or at least it was in my circle.   I’m sure Ernham is worth about as much as Kird, and it’s another Arabians card since you like and might remember those

Ernam and Burn'em.  

[Bronty]

5 hours ago, fett said:

Ernam and Burn'em.  

You know it

other notables include a five minute old Terese Nielsen painting on eBay at 15k with three days to go and a Volkan Baga of similar recent vintage that just went for 25.    Crazy what the brand new stuff can go for