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Heritage May Auction
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81 posts in this topic

The auctioneer is Elyse Luray.  She's been on History Detectives on PBS.  Do you think she is getting lower final prices than someone like Barry who might talk more (and maybe know more) about the books?

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Just now, Alzabar said:

The auctioneer is Elyse Luray.  She's been on History Detectives on PBS.  Do you think she is getting lower final prices than someone like Barry who might talk more (and maybe know more) about the books?

Yes.  At least she could have perused the list in advance so she would know it was Doc Savage comics #1, for example.

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12 minutes ago, Alzabar said:

The auctioneer is Elyse Luray.  She's been on History Detectives on PBS.  Do you think she is getting lower final prices than someone like Barry who might talk more (and maybe know more) about the books?

Definitely.  I wouldn't be happy if I were a consignor.  Barry is excellent at highlighting the positive aspects of a book, whether it's a pedigree, a key, or just a beautiful copy for the grade.  It definitely can generate another bid or two.  Vancouvers rarely come up for sale, and she didn't even mention it.  Cap 37 has a classic Schomburg cover, but his name wasn't mentioned.  I'm not even sure she mentioned that All-Star 8 is the first Wonder Woman.

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My impression is that Heritage is working to further set itself apart from the comic auction competition with things like the first Platinum Night and auctioneers who are celebrities in the antiques world.  I don't think that this will make any difference for the core comic collecting community, but it might be an attempt to lure collectors from other categories into the game.  I do agree that with the really important books (e.g All-Star 8) something should be said about how wonderful the book is.

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48 minutes ago, nearmint said:

Wow, the Okajima Fighting Yank #8 CGC 8.0 just went for $5975.

Doesn't surprise me.  Okajima Japanese war covers are going to go high and that was a particularly striking one.

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28 minutes ago, nearmint said:

Definitely.  I wouldn't be happy if I were a consignor.  Barry is excellent at highlighting the positive aspects of a book, whether it's a pedigree, a key, or just a beautiful copy for the grade.  It definitely can generate another bid or two.  Vancouvers rarely come up for sale, and she didn't even mention it.  Cap 37 has a classic Schomburg cover, but his name wasn't mentioned.  I'm not even sure she mentioned that All-Star 8 is the first Wonder Woman.

You are absolutely right.  Sandoval is great and the other auctioneers usually sound like they were just called in from the coffee room with five minutes notice.  No indication they have spent any time prepping for the auction.  Sandoval knows what a book should go for and isn't going to rush to closing if the book is underperforming. 

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2 minutes ago, Alzabar said:

It was a nice 4.0, but is $35K a bit high for an AF 15?

It's insane.  About triple what they were going for in that grade just a couple of years ago.

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According to the census there are 163 other copies in 4.0. It seems likely to me that you could find another one for less than $35K.  That said it is not a book that I follow closely, so maybe that is where the market is now.

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19 minutes ago, Alzabar said:

According to the census there are 163 other copies in 4.0. It seems likely to me that you could find another one for less than $35K.  That said it is not a book that I follow closely, so maybe that is where the market is now.

I think a lot of people have convinced themselves that this book will never do anything but go up.  Which it will ... until it doesn't.  

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A Red Ryder #1 in 9.0 went for about $4000. Whoever bought that book is an insufficiently_thoughtful_person....

...savant.

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