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Near six figure MTG art sales
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Started by Bronty,

619 posts in this topic

B-Smooth

B-Smooth

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Any of the Moxes, Juzam Djinn, and most certainly the Black Lotus would fetch six figures without question, in my mind.

 

Well considering Daniel has stated he sold Juzam Djinn for 20K in the last few years I'd find tht doubtful. Also considering I recently saw an ad for his site listing that Juzam sale as a major highlight sale along with the recent relaunch of his site I find these "reported sales" highly questionable...

 

Ehh I dunno. I know we've had this debate privately and what you are saying is certainly possible - I acknowledged the source in the OP. But if I was relaunching my website I might look at timing my announcements that way without any malicious intent, as well.

 

If new art can crack five figures, first set, (legitimately acquired - not stolen) art for big cards at 50k+ doesn't seem so unrealistic. The game is pretty popular worldwide and there are very few originals that would check all those boxes.

 

That Juzam sale was several years ago as I recall. If he's having to use that as a recent announcment if anything that says to me he's not making up the sales, but they aren't flying off the shelves at high prices either (wouldn't expect them to anyways).

I'd pay more than $20K for it, if I had it. The Juzam, while an outdated card, was the face of the game for a long time. And the chaos orb is also a great piece. All of Tedin's work was the best MTG ever had.

 

 

 

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Bronty

Bronty

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Gee whiz. I can't help but feel these are the highest prices they will ever sell for. But that's stupid thinking, I know.

 

My guess?

 

Some will look expensive in time, and some will look cheap. Depending mostly on whether the card is used in regular rotation by players for many years, or whether it fizzles out quickly.

 

A piece bought for 10k now that's for a killer card will look cheap in time, a piece bought for 10k now where the card is yesterday's news in six months will look expensive.

 

I forgot in this discussion that I have a friend on another website that was a pro tour player during the early years, so he still has close connections to some big players/collectors, and he mentioned his buddy bought necropotence for 35k cash.

 

So, whoever bought that for a couple grand or whatever when it was new did awesome. But if they spent that same money on a card art for a card that doesn't do much in the game itself, or that quickly became obsolete, they probably did creppy.

 

Its more or less about how much 'mindshare' the particular card has, to use a cheesy term. For all the same reasons that batman TDK#2 cover goes for a lot more than, say, the cover to batman #394 despite the fact they are roughly from the same time, and for the same character. One was memorable, the other forgettable

 

2290.jpg

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Bronty

Bronty

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PSA 10 and BGS 9.5 alpha/beta Magic cards are easily topping 4 figures. The 9.5 Lotus should gather 5 figures, if it already hasn't? Dan is correct, there is a big future for the OA of these cards.

 

I'm not necessarily even saying that really. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. But there are some interesting developments at play of late.

 

And yeah, hg Lotus = five figures easy, and not 9.5s either.

 

8.5 @ 16k = http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_nkw=black+lotus+mtg&_sop=3

 

as with everything, alpha gets a big premium, then beta, then unlimited

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B-Smooth

B-Smooth

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Gee whiz. I can't help but feel these are the highest prices they will ever sell for. But that's stupid thinking, I know.

 

My guess?

 

Some will look expensive in time, and some will look cheap. Depending mostly on whether the card is used in regular rotation by players for many years, or whether it fizzles out quickly.

 

A piece bought for 10k now that's for a killer card will look cheap in time, a piece bought for 10k now where the card is yesterday's news in six months will look expensive.

 

I forgot in this discussion that I have a friend on another website that was a pro tour player during the early years, so he still has close connections to some big players/collectors, and he mentioned his buddy bought necropotence for 35k cash.

 

So, whoever bought that for a couple grand or whatever when it was new did awesome. But if they spent that same money on a card art for a card that doesn't do much in the game itself, or that quickly became obsolete, they probably did creppy.

 

Its more or less about how much 'mindshare' the particular card has, to use a cheesy term.

 

2290.jpg

That card ruled the scene back in the day. As well as being a stunning piece in my eyes. Necropotence. :cloud9: 35K will be thought of as relatively cheap in the future. The game is still a monster after 22 years, and is big in a vast array of countries. I could see rich Japanese, German, and French collectors buy these just because of the popularity of the better cards.

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Bronty

Bronty

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You mentioned the prices on cards.

 

I decided to just type 'black lotus record' into google, and got this. First 10.0 lotus, priced @ 100k, seller is the same guy, Darren Adams, that sold the 9.0 action 1 for 3.2m.

 

Also mentions him having sold the Lotus OA (waaay back in 96).

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MTG-MAGIC-THE-GATHERING-BETA-BLACK-LOTUS-BGS-10-THE-HIGHEST-GRADED-/310327005845

 

 

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Peter G

Peter G

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You mentioned the prices on cards.

 

I decided to just type 'black lotus record' into google, and got this. First 10.0 lotus, priced @ 100k, seller is the same guy, Darren Adams, that sold the 9.0 action 1 for 3.2m.

 

Also mentions him having sold the Lotus OA (waaay back in 96).

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MTG-MAGIC-THE-GATHERING-BETA-BLACK-LOTUS-BGS-10-THE-HIGHEST-GRADED-/310327005845

 

 

100k seems cheap

 

No ?

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Terry Doyle

Terry Doyle

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Volkan Baga posted the following on his FB page, so I thought it might be of interest to replicate here:

 

"Recently I was asked what sort of time-scale is involved with creating a MTG painting from start to finish. I thought it might be of general interest. Here is my answer:

 

Creating art is different to lots of other professions where you can measure the effective working time in hours. E.g. a production line is running constantly and the handling/working must take place continuously. The period of time the machine is running is more likely the effective working time. You’re able to stop the time. Everyone can imagine this right away. It’s a bit different with my job.

 

When I say that I work all day, it does not mean that I continuously swing the brush for 8 hours. While I indeed actually do paint most of the time, there are also moments in which I only stare at the painting for a while to make decisions how to proceed. There are moments when I sit down and respond to emails. There are small breaks in which I brew some tea, or feed the cat or pet him. There are moments in which I have a creative down and look for inspiration in books. There are moments where I think about options and ideas on the art. All this is part of my working day. And I see it as full time as I realize that the art absorbs the whole day, either mentally and physically.

 

I usually start in the early morning with answering emails. Then I go over to my painting/sketch and work until dinner. Sometimes I add another hour after dinner to finish up some details and clean my brushes. I work from Monday to Saturday. On Sundays I take off, except when I'm a bit behind with my schedule. Some situations make me to work through the night.

 

I always work on only one painting. I paint with fast drying mediums and also rarely in layers, so there is no need to fill in some time with other work while the paint is drying. Once a painting is done, I start with the next one. Multitasking does not work with me.

 

For ideas, thumbnails, sketches, board preparation and collecting reference I usually need 1-2 days. For the paint job itself I need something between 5 to 25 days in the way of working as described above. The time depends on the complexity and size of the painting. More complex images with many characters and elaborate background need more time than simple compositions with a single character with a plain background. On average, however, it takes 8-13 days for the paint job. The max of 25 days are very rare. My Elspeth painting took that long. But that was also because of re-painting and revising some areas till I was completely satisfied with the result.

 

You can’t really compare artists and their working hours. We all have different techniques, muses and grades of abstraction and detail. I might be on the slow side in comparison to other professionals. Actually when I mentioned my time-scale to a gallery owner in CA, she was very surprised how fast I work compared to the artists she represents. It’s all relative and individual.

 

In the end, it all comes down to the impact of the piece. Art could not really be measured by the hours you put in. Moebius or Picasso had done mind blowing simple line drawings in just a few minutes, while other artists might had invested months on a piece that looked average in the end.

 

Nevertheless, I do have to make a price tag. I don’t calculate it by hours. In most cases it’s an emotional and personal price. Some pieces are personally hard to let go, and that makes me to add the emotional let-off bonus.

 

This is how I work right now. Things always change in time...."

 

 

 

 

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vodou

vodou

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Volkan Baga posted the following on his FB page, so I thought it might be of interest to replicate here:

 

"Recently I was asked what sort of time-scale is involved ..."

 

Terry that's a real answer from Volkan. Absolutely artists (at least 'real' artists, not dudes that couldn't make it somewhere else and 'fell into' art through some basic above average ability to ape reality with a pencil/brush) live and breathe the art world and their work. There is no clocking off for the day or vacations (even on vacations artists are thinking art, visiting art, seeing 'art' in the most mundane of circumstances). Life is art. I would expect the majority of his time is spent working up those highly detailed pencil/tonal pieces in preparation. Transferring that to the final support and fleshing it out is largely workmanlike labor, excepting whatever ingenious nuances he comes up with in the moment and applies (maybe not Volkan?, not all artists, but certainly some).

 

Thanks for sharing here, and encouraging Volkan to explain (if it was your question/s that did that).

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zhamlau

zhamlau

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You mentioned the prices on cards.

 

I decided to just type 'black lotus record' into google, and got this. First 10.0 lotus, priced @ 100k, seller is the same guy, Darren Adams, that sold the 9.0 action 1 for 3.2m.

 

Also mentions him having sold the Lotus OA (waaay back in 96).

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MTG-MAGIC-THE-GATHERING-BETA-BLACK-LOTUS-BGS-10-THE-HIGHEST-GRADED-/310327005845

 

 

100k seems cheap

 

No ?

 

You know, its off center. It shouldn't get a 10 centering, its almost 60/40 east/west and 45/55 North/South. I thought 10's had to be 50/50. kinda surprised at that grade.

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Bronty

Bronty

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whether prices go up down or sideways from here, its clear to me they are UP from a few years ago.

 

Here's the art to just a garbage card from the first expansion @ nearly 1500 with almost a day to go. Even 3-4 years ago this sort of thing was 500 bucks.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Chris-Rush-Art-Antiquities-Artifact-Possession-/201448889579?hash=item2ee74a1ceb:g:Cb4AAOSwo0JWHn7c

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Solar

Solar

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I used to have the pencil prelim for Donato's "Razia, Boros Archangel." It was very detailed and 11x17ish. Just curious what that would bring these days. Do the Magic people care about prelims at all? They certainly didn't back then.

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