Has anyone ever refused to help another collector complete a book? 1 1

[thethedew]

Just wondering.

[thethedew]

8 minutes ago, Bill C said:

Not purposely.

There was that one time where I burned about 50 Micronauts pages because the heat was turned off and I needed to use the fireplace 

Given the blatantly rabble-rousing nature of my question, I suppose I should take that ribbing with good humor.  And I shall!

[Caltex98]

Not refused, but when I bought the pencilled cover and the inked pages för Archie & Friends #156 I knew that Bill Galvan had let the writer, Alex Segura, have the title page because it was his first Archie --script to see print. Alex provided me with a hi-res scan of the page so I can show the whole story to those who are interested. I was too late to pick up Mike DeCarlo's inked cover, but I am content with owning the pencils.

My experience is that as long as we are talking about new stories and issues it isn't really that difficult to obtain them, just call "dibs" to the creator as soon it is published and don't argue too much over the asked price (that's how I got 27% of all Giséle Lagacè's published Archie interior pages if my math is correct).

 

Edited July 3, 2017 by Caltex98

[GotSuperPowers?]

Not quite refused - more said come back to me when you've nearly completed the book.  The collector was after 2 pages from me when he had about 4-6 pages of the book himself.  In the 5-6 years since, I've not seen a new page from the book added, and he's not come back to me.

[malvin]

1 hour ago, GotSuperPowers? said:

Not quite refused - more said come back to me when you've nearly completed the book.  The collector was after 2 pages from me when he had about 4-6 pages of the book himself.  In the 5-6 years since, I've not seen a new page from the book added, and he's not come back to me.

Yeah, my answer would be similar to Simons.  No one has ever approached me when my pages are the last few they need, but someone did approach me when they were just starting and  I said come back to me when you are closer to completing.  My person never got close either.

Malvin

[glendgold]

Are you kidding?  Of course.  In fact, the best possible way to get a collector (or even a dealer) to not sell you a page is to announce you're trying to finish the book.  Just ask my friend DrewinCanada : )  

Also -- In the '90s there was an Ayers-inked FF book that a collector had managed to get 17 pages of (I think -- might have been 15 pages, something like that).  A dealer had the remaining pages, and wouldn't sell them to the guy, no matter what.  They would get close to deals, and then every time the dealer would raise his price at the last minute.  The net effect was that all Kirby FF prices started going up because these numbers kept coming out.  "X wants those pages, and offered to pay $Crazy Amount, thus my pages must be worth that." 

Dealer kept his pages, collector dumped his, FF pages stalled out for a while, and, because life is unfair, the collector really needed money at one point and the only guy who had cash at that point was...the dealer, who snapped up the last 3 pages for nothing. 

This has been your morality tale for the day.

[glendgold]

(I should add that in my friend's case, he's trying to put a book together and I'm the jerk who hasn't sold him a key page, but only because I'm enjoying his suffering.)

[DeadpoolJr.]

Probably. Though I don't have any experience myself, I could see a person owning a page or two of a book someone else is trying to complete, and not selling it simply because they want to keep the pages fro themselves.

Another scenario which I'm sure has happened a few times is when a collector is known to be trying to assemble a book others might go against him to get pages so they can sell it to him at a high price, or as trade bait for something they want that the collector might otherwise not sell.

 

[SquareChaos]

8 hours ago, GotSuperPowers? said:

Not quite refused - more said come back to me when you've nearly completed the book.  The collector was after 2 pages from me when he had about 4-6 pages of the book himself.  In the 5-6 years since, I've not seen a new page from the book added, and he's not come back to me.

I like this, but I also can't help but imagine everyone the collector approaches responding in a similar way 

[JromeSaskagograci]

A few years ago, I had a page from a 1980s Marvel book online. A collector who was trying to complete the book reached out and let me know he had most of the book's pages, and would like to buy mine. I declined, thanking him for his interest, but letting him know the page, which was the first published piece I ever bought, was not for sale.

He then proceeded to make me multiple offers for the page, each of which I declined the same way - by saying it wasn't a matter of money, and I wasn't going to sell the page.

He then got very upset, declaring that he had spent a lot of time and money tracking down nearly all of the book, and my unwillingness to sell meant he had "wasted" all of that time. He basically stalked me for a while after that, sending a note or more a day, including my favorite, when he sent me a link to his gallery of pages from that issue, as if to rub my nose in the poor, unfortunate orphan pages I was refusing to help.

Soon after, I removed my online gallery, and haven't had another since.

Long story short, I'm not certain I agree with the terminology of "refused to help." Not everything is for sale.

[Twanj]

Before your post @JromeSaskagograci I was going to say something similar.

"You can't always get what you want..."

Who's to say that the person with 1 page doesn't love it more than the person with 21? Maybe they just have more time & money.

If I had a page I didn't mind letting go that someone was after, I'd try to throw em a bone.

But if it's a page I really love or have some sentimental attachment to, no way!

[comix4fun]

If I was one of the last pages then it's something I'd consider helping out, and I've done that in the past. 

 

However, I've also been one of the "middle" pages...where the guy is approaching or just passed half-way, and let someone buy a page that I would have otherwise kept. Of course, within a couple of years that guy gave up on the quest and sold all the pages off which I didn't know about until my page was gone, which didn't give me much joy. Nope. 

[drewincanada]

On 2017-07-03 at 0:44 PM, glendgold said:

(I should add that in my friend's case, he's trying to put a book together and I'm the jerk who hasn't sold him a key page, but only because I'm enjoying his suffering.)

This  ^  just made my day.

At least I know the page is in good hands. And you're not the only one who hasn't sold me a key page from that book.

I think the "come back when you're closer to completion" response is a good one. I'd like to believe that both of you will sell me your pages once I track down most of the other nine missing pages. Given that a sum total of zero pages have turned up in the last six years, I'm fairly certain it'll never happen.

Then again, I was also certain that pigs couldn't fly... and look what happened last November.

[eewwnuk]

Yep.  I had a guy tell me this in my comments for a book i was going to try and put together:  

 

"Sorry to have to tell you that you'll never have the whole book.......Neither Chris nor I are ever likely to part with a gift from our comic art idol."

[Weird Paper]

I was contacted a few months ago by somebody who was trying to complete a story. I had a double-page splash from the story, a prime example from someone I like and admire as an artist and as a very good human being. I politely declined. It was not the last page he needed to complete the story -- that would certainly weigh in his favor -- and it was my only example by this artist. I told him I'd contact him if I changed my mind, but I guess he gave up, because he was selling his pages from the story a short while after that. 

[JadeGiant]

I think it can be difficult to remain objective on this topic when pursuing a page(s) award completing an issue. It seems that a lot of people become indignant if collectors don't roll over and offer up the page and sometimes appear like they are entitled to the page(s). I have never been contacted in this scenario but I have a feeling I would be reluctant to sell as I don't ever sell or trade away pages that I acquire. I would be open to the idea if the buyer were willing to work with me to find a suitable replacement for the art that he was looking to acquire. I like the idea of telling the collector to come back when mine is the last page they need - fantastic idea. 

[thethedew]

On 7/3/2017 at 3:01 PM, JromeSaskagograci said:

He then got very upset, declaring that he had spent a lot of time and money tracking down nearly all of the book, and my unwillingness to sell meant he had "wasted" all of that time. He basically stalked me for a while after that, sending a note or more a day, including my favorite, when he sent me a link to his gallery of pages from that issue, as if to rub my nose in the poor, unfortunate orphan pages I was refusing to help.

Since I'm the OP I might as well weigh in.  I confess to having a variety of feelings on the subject.  In no particular order:

Obviously, I must cop to 'having a dog in this fight.'  I have multiple ongoing projects to complete books, some are public and others are... more subtle.  Since opinion is divided as to the likelihood of success either way, I am proceeding with both, to see which might prove more fruitful.  So far, public has been better.

The story shared above gives an example of collecting behavior which is unacceptable.   A collector putting a book together might feel some sort of ownership in missing pages by dint of the effort being put forward, but that's just an emotional reaction.  As someone who is trying to but books together, I fight that entitlement instinct all the time.  While most collectors here would likely feel some degree of empathy for another collector who has decided to tilt windmills in this fashion, it does not demand compliance.  I'm sorry the above collector felt hounded out of keeping a gallery.

I have my own worries coming from the other side, too.  I am given to understand that most of the artwork for the Image version of MICRONAUTS #1 was sold by the penciller in one lot... except for the two pages I own.  I have those two pages because the rest of the issue was deathly dull, and I wasn't terribly interested in putting out for the whole thing.  There may come a time when the owner of the rest of the issue might approach me with a request for me to give up my two pages to complete the book, and I think I'd have to turn him down.  They're framed and on my wall, and are the two best pages from the book.  But I can't help but feel like a little bit of a hypocrite when I'm arguably asking others to make the same sacrifice for my collection. 

The way I've avoided feeling like a full hypocrite is to be absurdly generous (if I may say so) in my purchase or trade offers.  The previous owner of the final splash page from Rom Annual 2 was friendly but unwilling to part with it (framed) but he relented when I offered the cover of ROM #2 in exchange.  Expensive, but a win/win.  I got the key splash from a book I'm trying to complete, and he upgraded his wall hanging to a noted early cover.  Since then, further generosity on my part has paid dividends toward my goals.

The strategy of delay ("Come back and talk to me when you're a lot closer") is admirable.  I've heard it myself on a couple of occasions, and I appreciate it.  It implies willingness to be flexible in the future, should that courtesy be warranted.  It makes the collector have to show some commitment over time; proven sincerity on the part of the purchaser lessens the possibility of having to witness one's pages being sold off in a fit of pique to a third party.

But it's ultimately not a short-term goal, and it's best to be viewed as a journey to be enjoyed.

[drewincanada]

Of the two pages I've located from the book I'm trying to complete, the owner of one said that I would have first dibs on it when he decides to sell it (correct Glen?  ) and the owner of the other said that he would put a note on it asking that either his widow or his estate offers it to me after he dies. 

[John E.]

2 hours ago, drewincanada said:

Of the two pages I've located from the book I'm trying to complete, the owner of one said that I would have first dibs on it when he decides to sell it (correct Glen?  ) and the owner of the other said that he would put a note on it asking that either his widow or his estate offers it to me after he dies. 

So essentially, "over my dead body."

[thethedew]

15 hours ago, drewincanada said:

Of the two pages I've located from the book I'm trying to complete, the owner of one said that I would have first dibs on it when he decides to sell it (correct Glen?  ) and the owner of the other said that he would put a note on it asking that either his widow or his estate offers it to me after he dies. 

I figure it's better to know where pages are than not.