Is it in bad taste to ask a comic art dealer what he believes a piece of art to be worth? 2 2

[romitaman]

I cant speak for anyone else...dealer or collector...... but i've been asked hundreds of times actually about art values.........sometimes for insurance purposes........sometimes for possible sale......and I  have never said no to anyone if i have knowledge about that particular art.

and I give an honest opinion...I always do ask FIRST if the art is for sale i am being asked to evaluate, and i straight up tell them my thoughts....... if its art i like alot i'll tell them i'll give 70-80% of my quoted price and they get the funds immediately if they are looking for quick cash no fuss and painless done deal........or i offer to sell on consignment on my website for 15% of what it sells for as my commission to scan and give a detailed description......

but i always tell everybody....NOTHING IS SET IN STONE!!!  it's all educated guessing really.

Mike

[stinkininkin]

5 hours ago, romitaman said:

I cant speak for anyone else...dealer or collector...... but i've been asked hundreds of times actually about art values.........sometimes for insurance purposes........sometimes for possible sale......and I  have never said no to anyone if i have knowledge about that particular art.

and I give an honest opinion...I always do ask FIRST if the art is for sale i am being asked to evaluate, and i straight up tell them my thoughts....... if its art i like alot i'll tell them i'll give 70-80% of my quoted price and they get the funds immediately if they are looking for quick cash no fuss and painless done deal........or i offer to sell on consignment on my website for 15% of what it sells for as my commission to scan and give a detailed description......

but i always tell everybody....NOTHING IS SET IN STONE!!!  it's all educated guessing really.

Mike

Uh-oh, prepare to get crushed with inquires for price opinions Mike!  It's cool that you do this, but valuations are super hard for even the most seasoned collectors.  For newbies, it's off the charts.  I wouldn't be surprised if you start getting emails...

Scott

[MHoes]

7 hours ago, stinkininkin said:

Uh-oh, prepare to get crushed with inquires for price opinions Mike!  It's cool that you do this, but valuations are super hard for even the most seasoned collectors.  For newbies, it's off the charts.  I wouldn't be surprised if you start getting emails...

Scott

On the bright side, he may also be getting the first chance to make an offer for a piece that is not (yet) for sale (on the general market), because the (potential) seller does not yet know at what value he/she should price their art.

[PhilipB2k17]

20 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

There is a 'can you spare a grade' sub-forum here for asking opinions on comic grades based on an uploaded image. I don't see why you couldn't create a post somewhere in this forum and ask the collective to weigh in. Of course, then you might end up with a public record of data that you don't really want or that you don't agree with, or with people who have no flipping clue what they're talking about, or with people that have some sort of vested interest in curving the data. So... I guess that is pretty much the same as asking a dealer, but at least it'll be more spread out if a number of people responded.

But in that case, you have the "wisdom of crowd" thing going on. Someone did do that with some art a few weeks ago, and I think the board reached a consensus on it. Whether it was accurate or not, who knows! It's just a guess until someone actually tries to sell it and you get a sales price.

[PhilipB2k17]

10 hours ago, stinkininkin said:

Uh-oh, prepare to get crushed with inquires for price opinions Mike!  It's cool that you do this, but valuations are super hard for even the most seasoned collectors.  For newbies, it's off the charts.  I wouldn't be surprised if you start getting emails...

Scott

I know everyone here seems to hate eBay, but if you follow auctions there for a few months (a lot of them) you can get a pretty good handle on pricing for certain types of art. I am always following dozens of art auctions on eBay, even for things I am not going to bid on, just to see if I can peg the final price within a reasonable range. Also, for things I consider comparable to my own collection, I want to see what they sell for, and even if they do not sell at the listed price, and get relisted for a lower amount.

There is a ton of value in just following and not even bidding on auctions there. It's literally going on 24-7, so you don't have to sit around and wait for a comiclink or Heritage auction to end. Its also, more importantly, real time. And, frankly, its free. After a while, you get pretty good at pegging final sales prices within about 5-10%. But, you have to watch a lot of them. You also know what's "hot" by seeing how many people are bidding on stuff vs other stuff that sits around for a while.

[suspense39]

47 minutes ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

I know everyone here seems to hate eBay, but if you follow auctions there for a few months (a lot of them) you can get a pretty good handle on pricing for certain types of art. I am always following dozens of art auctions on eBay, even for things I am not going to bid on, just to see if I can peg the final price within a reasonable range. Also, for things I consider comparable to my own collection, I want to see what they sell for, and even if they do not sell at the listed price, and get relisted for a lower amount.

There is a ton of value in just following and not even bidding on auctions there. It's literally going on 24-7, so you don't have to sit around and wait for a comiclink or Heritage auction to end. Its also, more importantly, real time. And, frankly, its free. After a while, you get pretty good at pegging final sales prices within about 5-10%. But, you have to watch a lot of them. You also know what's "hot" by seeing how many people are bidding on stuff vs other stuff that sits around for a while.

you can also check the "sold" box in the left hand column for history on ebay

[vodou]

1 hour ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

I know everyone here seems to hate eBay, but if you follow auctions there for a few months (a lot of them) you can get a pretty good handle on pricing for certain types of art. I am always following dozens of art auctions on eBay, even for things I am not going to bid on, just to see if I can peg the final price within a reasonable range. Also, for things I consider comparable to my own collection, I want to see what they sell for, and even if they do not sell at the listed price, and get relisted for a lower amount.

There is a ton of value in just following and not even bidding on auctions there. It's literally going on 24-7, so you don't have to sit around and wait for a comiclink or Heritage auction to end. Its also, more importantly, real time. And, frankly, its free. After a while, you get pretty good at pegging final sales prices within about 5-10%. But, you have to watch a lot of them. You also know what's "hot" by seeing how many people are bidding on stuff vs other stuff that sits around for a while.

I do the same thing, eBay is a great free education.

[SquareChaos]

Those of us watching eBay OA are all experts on terrible art depicting naked female superheroes  - as soon as that market blows up you'll find us in the 'flip' thread  

[PhilipB2k17]

1 hour ago, SquareChaos said:

Those of us watching eBay OA are all experts on terrible art depicting naked female superheroes  - as soon as that market blows up you'll find us in the 'flip' thread  

Only if you haven't learned to use the refine search function. ;-) 

[SquareChaos]

13 minutes ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

Only if you haven't learned to use the refine search function. ;-) 

I don't see how you can filter them all out without missing a great deal of other items, but if you have a strategy please do share - though feel free to PM it as well as I don't want to totally derail with my nonsense.

[PhilipB2k17]

15 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

I don't see how you can filter them all out without missing a great deal of other items, but if you have a strategy please do share - though feel free to PM it as well as I don't want to totally derail with my nonsense.

After signing into eBay do the following:

1. Find and click/tap"Categories."

2. Under "Categories" find and click/tap "Collectibles."

3. Under "Collectibles," find and click/tap "Comics."

4. Under "Comics," find and click/tap "Original Comic Art."

At that point, it breaks "Original Comic Art" down into subcategories such as "Covers," "Interior Pages," and "Splash Pages," etc.  You'll see that "Drawings, Sketches" is its own subcategory.

Pick which subcategory you want to search in. Say "Covers," and click/tap that. 

Once inside the "Covers" category it should have filtered out any non-covers, for the most part. You will get nearly ALL the cover art, plus some additional stuff. It's over-inclusive because sellers want to cast a wide net. But this will minimize the irrelevant chaff.

You can further refine your search within covers (at least on the eBay mobile app) by tapping the "Filter" feature then "ending" it without applying any filters. This will return you to the "Covers" start page, but add a search box to allow you do do a specific keyword search within the "Covers" OA subcategory. So you can then search for a specific Title, character or Artist. 

Again, the results will be over-inclusive, because sellers stick keywords into their sales items to cast a broad search net. But it will reduce significantly the amount of irrelevant stuff, and capture almost everything you are looking for.

This procedure takes a total of about 20 seconds. It probably took you longer to read this than it would to actually do it. 

 

Edited July 19, 2017 by PhilipB2k17

[SquareChaos]

1 hour ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

After signing into eBay do the following:

1. Find and click/tap"Categories."

2. Under "Categories" find and click/tap "Collectibles."

3. Under "Collectibles," find and click/tap "Comics."

4. Under "Comics," find and click/tap "Original Comic Art."

At that point, it breaks "Original Comic Art" down into subcategories such as "Covers," "Interior Pages," and "Splash Pages," etc.  You'll see that "Drawings, Sketches" is its own subcategory.

Pick which subcategory you want to search in. Say "Covers," and click/tap that. 

Once inside the "Covers" category it should have filtered out any non-covers, for the most part. You will get nearly ALL the cover art, plus some additional stuff. It's over-inclusive because sellers want to cast a wide net. But this will minimize the irrelevant chaff.

You can further refine your search within covers (at least on the eBay mobile app) by tapping the "Filter" feature then "ending" it without applying any filters. This will return you to the "Covers" start page, but add a search box to allow you do do a specific keyword search within the "Covers" OA subcategory. So you can then search for a specific Title, character or Artist. 

Again, the results will be over-inclusive, because sellers stick keywords into their sales items to cast a broad search net. But it will reduce significantly the amount of irrelevant stuff, and capture almost everything you are looking for.

This procedure takes a total of about 20 seconds. It probably took you longer to read this than it would to actually do it. 

 

When I'm searching for a specific artist, I don't have issues - I do filter in the way referenced. The issue is when I'm just trying to see what published pages exist out there that I might not be able to search for with a specific keyword. There is no way to filter out the trash and only actually see published pages.

 

I typically do something similar to this in the 'Original Art' section:

-("james chen", "hand colored", "production art", "reproduction", "color guide", production, "limited edition", print, lithograph, acetate, transparency, storyboard)

[Twanj]

42 minutes ago, SquareChaos said:

When I'm searching for a specific artist, I don't have issues - I do filter in the way referenced. The issue is when I'm just trying to see what published pages exist out there that I might not be able to search for with a specific keyword. There is no way to filter out the trash and only actually see published pages.

 

I typically do something similar to this in the 'Original Art' section:

-("james chen", "hand colored", "production art", "reproduction", "color guide", production, "limited edition", print, lithograph, acetate, transparency, storyboard)

I don't know how you would limit out unpublished stuff but I use something similar:

-("ed benes",pogo,dilbert,sciver,"color art",print,guide,proof,hardcover,sketchbook,cgc,blank,production,acetate,recreation,"sketch card",pinup,transparency,"hand colored art")

[PhilipB2k17]

1 hour ago, Twanj said:

I don't know how you would limit out unpublished stuff but I use something similar:

-("ed benes",pogo,dilbert,sciver,"color art",print,guide,proof,hardcover,sketchbook,cgc,blank,production,acetate,recreation,"sketch card",pinup,transparency,"hand colored art")

What do you guys have against James Chen, Ed Benes and Ethan Van Sciver? 

[Matches_Malone]

14 minutes ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

What do you guys have against James Chen, Ed Benes and Ethan Van Sciver? 

More like Ed Benes studio material

[Mickey7]

3 hours ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

What do you guys have against James Chen, Ed Benes and Ethan Van Sciver? 

Anyone that searches for Archie Comics artwork on ebay gets bombarded with probably 400 Chen drawings of Betty & Veronica in superhero gear & other random outfits. 

[Artboy99]

On ‎2017‎/‎07‎/‎16 at 6:51 AM, Hal Turner said:

Odds are, you ask four different dealers, you'll get four different quotes. You ask Dealer A about (for example) Chaykin's American Flagg, he never really enjoyed it, the one panel page he had in 2006 sat in inventory forever, he'll offer one price. Dealer B loves Flagg, he has eight pages in his personal collection, he wants page prices to climb, he'll have a different view.

As a buyer, I hate the "make an offer" thing. Good luck!

I strongly dislike it as well. If the piece is for sale have a price on it. If you ask me to make an offer I won't bother.

[Bronty]

1 minute ago, Artboy99 said:

I strongly dislike it as well. If the piece is for sale have a price on it. If you ask me to make an offer I won't bother.

On the flipside, have you been asked for a selling price for a piece that's not for sale?   That's easily to strongly dislike as well!    If you want it, make an offer.

[Artboy99]

Just now, Bronty said:

On the flipside, have you been asked for a selling price for a piece that's not for sale?   That's easily to strongly dislike as well!    If you want it, make an offer.

good point.

[bluechip]

On 7/19/2017 at 7:55 AM, SquareChaos said:

When I'm searching for a specific artist, I don't have issues - I do filter in the way referenced. The issue is when I'm just trying to see what published pages exist out there that I might not be able to search for with a specific keyword. There is no way to filter out the trash and only actually see published pages.

 

I typically do something similar to this in the 'Original Art' section:

-("james chen", "hand colored", "production art", "reproduction", "color guide", production, "limited edition", print, lithograph, acetate, transparency, storyboard)

Don't forget "homage" "recreation" "book" "print" and, above all, "sexy"