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Cool Lines Art Work Inquiry
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210 posts in this topic

Adding titles, logos, and trade dress to an actual published cover doesn't bother me since they are stats anyway, as long as it's disclosed.

 

At least it's an actual cover and not some convention commission, or sketch, or some random piece that's being passed off as the original published piece, or mis-attributed to a much more appreciated (read: $$$) artist, or a piece that's just plain fake.

Agree. Except that overlays aren't always used, nothing worse (imo) than cheezy b/w photocopier trade dress glued down directly onto previously bland/pristine board space. The "work" coming out of CL seems to be a bit higher quality now, still not on overlays that I've seen though, but ten years ago...ugly b/w photocopies of the comic blown up and all around shtty, even out to arm's length + distance. And glued/pasted down (using non-archival ??? no doubt!)

 

 

I was speaking less on a preservationists level and more on a "holy that's a con sketch and they're calling it an unused cover" level. lol

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Yep I over-quoted, should have clipped to just your first sentence there Chris!

 

 

But I agree with you. There's no reason, today, to go back to the rubber cement school of logo affixing.

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Looks like they are back to their old tricks:

XMen11CoverSketchRestored.thumb.jpg.ce14c8b9466ebf6600e8d5c8b527b029.jpg

I watched this pretty intently when it was going for auction on Comic Link and  based on what it was it went for pretty cheap (I think $700ish). The original though (of which I can't seem to find a picture of, but will scour my computer later on) was presumed to be a prelim for the early 90s X-Men #11 without actual confirmation, I believe. It also ended very clearly at the top of the page where it says trim-copy (hence the extra bright whiteness above it) and the corner box, X-Men logo and Maverick blurb have all been added and no doubt will sky rocket the price. 

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On 12/30/2016 at 2:32 PM, Bird said:

 

we should start a cool lines pricing thread and anytime anyone gets an actual price it gets listed in the thread!

 

 

I just got a whole list of their recent XMen prices.  If anyone wants to see them, I will post.  

I have done several successful deals with Steve in the past.  But, these prices just elicited a “no thanks” from me...

Allen

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3 hours ago, Doc67 said:

I just got a whole list of their recent XMen prices.  If anyone wants to see them, I will post.  

I have done several successful deals with Steve in the past.  But, these prices just elicited a “no thanks” from me...

Allen

The most interesting thing we'd see if the "floor" and "ceiling" of their price ranges on the same exact item, since from what I hear, it's very subjective, not based on a timeframe of what they wanted 3 months or 3 years ago, but literally 3 minutes ago, where increased inquiries warrant their escalating price quotes as well as their feeling the temperature of the buyer's interest trying to price based on perceived desire.

I'm not sure if they price to negotiate either like many eBay "buy it now or best offer" sellers who list things for double or more of what they're willing to take and accept, but hoping to get that sucker to buy impulsively at the asking price.  I think a completed sales vs quotes prices element to this list will show their willingness to accept lower offers and that avg % counteroffer others can benefit from knowing about, if that exists.

They do a lot of conventions, so I'm not sure if they've actually sold anything substantial or is it just a traveling art gallery just for show.

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The never ending Saga of the Donnellys.

A few further random thoughts:

I think they likely do part cash/part trade a fair amount (as opposed to straight sales.)

Rich is not as tough to deal with as Steve so if Rich has the art you have a greater chance of getting it - although Steve has much, much more art than Rich. 

A fair amount of their art on CAF and their website is already sold/traded but isn’t marked that way. 

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5 hours ago, Bill C said:

Not interested in the X-Men price list- but I'm very interested in stories/details of successful deals, if you feel like sharing.

I have made probably 6 or 7 deals with the Donnelly’s.  Nothing was cheap.  And at least a few of the deals took time.  They would initially give me a price.  But, then would email me back a month or so later and tell me that they needed to raise some funds.  And the prices would get a little better.  

I would say, on average, that I got a discount of about 15% off the ask price.  But, this was in a group deal involving 3-4 or more pieces.  I have only once done a deal for a single piece.  I got a 10% discount.  But it took an all cash payment at SDCC.  

My advice on dealing with the Donnelly’s.  Be polite.  Ask for prices on multiple pieces.  Pick whichever pieces that you feel are the most reasonable.  Then, ask for a group price on those.  Make them an offer.  And wait.  When/if they need the cash, they will get back with you.

In my experiences, I had one piece that they allowed me to return because it had a ton of white-out that did not show up in their scan.  And I had one piece that they “lost”.  But, they eventually found it and agreed, eventually, to sell it to me for the original price.  

I will say, their prices will be at a minimum about 50% above FMV.  So, expect to pay top dollar.  But, they haven’t been unreasonable to deal with.  For me.  Personally.  

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9 hours ago, Doc67 said:

I just got a whole list of their recent XMen prices.  If anyone wants to see them, I will post.  

I have done several successful deals with Steve in the past.  But, these prices just elicited a “no thanks” from me...

Allen

Yes please!

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I made a deal with them around January of this year. Ive been inquiring about this  page for years, depending on which brother responded, the price would change. I’ll admit I was a bit aggravated years ago, as we agreed to a price, I sold some stuff and when the time came, price increase. I pretty much told myself F-them. But time passed on, and the page was still there, so I took a shot. Obviously the price increased, so I made an offer, art and trade. Part of the trade was 2 CGC books, which I literally had nothing invested in. To my surprise, he took the offer. He sold one book on eBay for much less than we valued it for, and the other he still hasn’t sold, but it’s 800 cheaper than what we valued it for. So a part of me giggled inside. In the end, I got the page I’ve wanted, sure it’s like dealing with a shady used car salesman, but I got something I’ve been wanting for a long time. What a crazy hobby this is

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Very interesting. 

I did two deals with them. Difficult. 

I had several deals ALMOST happen. One, we were 10K apart (it was a big deal) and they suggested I add in a 60K piece. Really?  I walked. 

Another time I got something that had been photoshopped to remove discoloration. I mentioned it and they offered a credit, no refund. 

I wrote them 5 times to say how did the discoloration not show up and to confirm they manually manipulated the image. They ignored my emails. 

I mentioned the photoshop story to a pal and he said the same thing happened to him. 

 

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Years ago I bid on one of Steve D's eBay auctions submitting a maximum bid.  The reserve wasn't met, which didn't really surprise me (based on what I then knew about the eBay offerings that seemingly found few if any buyers).  After the auction, Steve messaged me offering the art privately at a much higher price than my maximum bid.  I declined saying that my maximum was exactly that, and that there was no extra cash in the pot.

In recent years, Mike Burkey had a John Romita Jr cover sell to Steve Donnelly that I quite liked.  Mike's web-site asking price was around $10k.  As I liked the cover I later reached out to Steve to explore the possibility of a trade deal.  Since acquiring the cover from Mike, Steve had John Romita Snr sign the cover and the price went up to $30k.  I could find no evidence that Romita Snr was involved as an inker for the cover (I did some research), but Steve was adamant that Romita Snr's signature proved otherwise.  Needless to say, our exploratory talks went nowhere fast . . .

Edited by The Voord
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17 hours ago, Ironmandrd said:

A fair amount of their art on CAF and their website is already sold/traded but isn’t marked that way. 

I can certainly confirm this. Something I had bought over a year ago is still posted as for sale.

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15 hours ago, artcollector9 said:

Another time I got something that had been photoshopped to remove discoloration. I mentioned it and they offered a credit, no refund. 

This is something that I find truly unconscionable.  There will always be variations in settings among internet devices, etc.  But not disclosing intentional image manipulation is just wrong.  David

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I think I told this story a few years back on the list, but many years ago I really was hankering for a Kirby/Wood Sky Masters Sunday.  So that year at SDCC, probably mid 2000s, that was my goal.  The Donnellys had two - I think it was Rich (tall, thin) that I was dealing with - and he trotted out two Sundays.  One, he said, was inked by Ayers.  But the other was certainly inked by Wood, so a deal was made.  At this point, I knew that Wood only inked a portion of the Sunday strips, but I didn't know which ones.  But I literally thought, "A dealer wouldn't lie to me." Of course, he lied to me; I found out later it was inked by Ayers.  

I bear my portion of the responsibility for this: I should have done my research, but at the time I didn't know how to tell what was done by whom (I later found out when I bought a copy of the Jack Kirby Collector on a whim and they were all right there under Sky Masters, broken down by inker/date).  But I had assumed, having purchased most of my art though auction houses, which are generally pretty reputable, that dealers were as well.  

Another lesson: listen to your gut.  The whole time, my gut was screaming that this was wrong, that it wasn't Wood, and it didn't look right.  And the subject matter of the strip is odd.  I'm sure they were thrilled to unload it.  Still have it - I figure it's not totally worthless; there are Kirby pencils under there, but the whole thing left a horrible taste in my mouth.  

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On 5/26/2018 at 5:08 AM, Doc67 said:

I just got a whole list of their recent XMen prices.  If anyone wants to see them, I will post.  

I have done several successful deals with Steve in the past.  But, these prices just elicited a “no thanks” from me...

Allen

Would also love to see the price list!

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Tips for dealing with them. 

  1. pour a full glass of scotch. 
  2. bang you head against the table 3 times.
  3. email them about a page similar to the one you really want. they will then give you prices on many pages of that artist/comic title. While the specific item you asked about will be marked 100% over FMV, the others which include the page you really want will range from 40-70% over FMV. 
  4. If its  a must have piece then go back and forth to get 10% more off. Bite your tongue/hold your nose and pay.
  5. take a shower.
Edited by dirtymartini1
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27 minutes ago, dirtymartini1 said:

Tips for dealing with them. 

  1. pour a full glass of scotch. 
  2. bang you head against the table 3 times.
  3. email them about a page similar to the one you really want. they will then give you prices on many pages of that artist/comic title. While the specific item you asked about will be marked 100% over FMV, the others which include the page you really want will range from 40-70% over FMV. 
  4. If its  a must have piece then go back and forth to get 10% more off. Bite your tongue/hold your nose and pay.
  5. take a shower.

6.  Consider the artwork as "burned in a fire" and add 5 years to your life, because NOTHING is worth subjecting yourself to that mess.

 

fire-flames-burning-close-up-animated-gi

 

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