RORSCHACH TEST -- WATCH-MAN ORIGINAL ART

[krazykat-migration]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=972&item=6534117927&rd=1

[heartened]

Krazy,

 

Thanks for the heads-up. Nice page.

 

Best,

[krazykat-migration]

Your welcome !

[spider9698]

Watchmen pages are going the route of Miller's Dark Knight Returns art. You could pick these up for under a $1000 just a few years back....

[krazykat-migration]

Watchmen pages are going the route of Miller's Dark Knight Returns art. You could pick these up for under a $1000 just a few years back....

 

Agreed. And from what I have gleamed of the market -- pages with Rorschach garner a premium above the other pages. Personally, I wonder whether 'Watch-Man' art will always retain its value -- in contrast with Dark Knight Batman -- its not like there is gonna be another comic book (yes, I know about the movie).

 

All in all though, I wouldnt mind the page for myself ; )

[spider9698]

These pages have been picking up steam. They will eventually level off but who knows where or when!

[heartened]

Krazy,

 

I think that's a legitimate point. Much of the value of original art is character-driven, and the characters in Watchmen are not mainstream. They have not been used since that series. Thus, I agree that prices will eventually level off once the "kids" who collected these in the 80s grow out of the hobby. That being said, I'm one of those"kids", and I'll probably be collecting for at least another 10 years, if not longer. So, prices will certainly not fade anytime soon, as far as I would guess.

 

Take care,

[Tango 'n Cash]

Agreed. And from what I have gleamed of the market -- pages with Rorschach garner a premium above the other pages.

 

Not only that, but that "origin of Rorschach" sequence that this page is from, is likely the top demand part of the entire mini-series. I see this going to crazy money.

[krazykat-migration]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=972&item=6534117927&rd=1

 

Not too shabby a sale. And when its bought by a quasi-dealer...I tend to think there's more $$$ in it to be made.

[jbud73]

Ya thats an important sequence in the book no question - I don't know who owns the cover to #6 but that as well.

[heartened]

Hi,

 

Looks like a new record for a Watchmen page, beating out the death of Rorschach page that sold about a year or so ago. This one was nice.

 

Not sure if the new owner intends on selling this one. He's got great taste, and I can see him hanging onto this one, at least for a while.

 

Best,

[krazykat-migration]

And an American buyer too - with the 'weak $' and all, defintely a premium price.

 

Anyone know who has the covers ? I heard they all sold in one shoot at an auction in the 90's,..true ?

[Bronty]

$7K for a mid 80s panel page by a better-than-average-but-far-from-great artist? Good lord.

 

Talk about fanboyism Makes me wonder what Alan Moore's jockstrap would sell for ..

 

 

(I'm barely going to mention that Watchmen is the most overrated series of all time although Moore in general is truly )

[blowout]

Anyone know who has the covers ? I heard they all sold in one shoot at an auction in the 90's,..true ?

 

They were all sold as one lot in a Sotheby's auction back in the early 90's. I recently picked up the auction catalog on the recomendation of rob_react. Some truly awesome stuff for sale.

I have no idea whether the pages were subsequently sold as a lot or separately though. I have never seen them up fpr sale since.

[krazykat-migration]

Well. Whoever bought the lot. Made a great decision. At 35K a pop ...Minimal,...thats,...35 times 12 equals 420 K !

 

And I think my estimates are conservative.

[blowout]

Well. Whoever bought the lot. Made a great decision. At 35K a pop ...Minimal,...thats,...35 times 12 equals 420 K !

 

And I think my estimates are conservative.

 

The catalog I have also contains the final sale prices from the 90's auction. I will check later and post the results, but I am reasonably sure it was around the 80-100K level.

 

A pretty nice return if the owner decides to sell...

[spider9698]

Wow!!! Think that's a record price for a Watchman page. Ken is probably putting that into his personal collection and won't resell (like he does with his primo Dark Knight Returns art).

The covers were all sold as a lot WAAAAY back in one of those early Christies/Sothebys sales in the early 1990s. I don't think they have ever been broken up and sold since.

[blowout]

I just checked the catalog. The auction was by Sotheby's and held in New York in June 1993.

I was way off on my recall of the Watchmen covers sale. All twelve covers sold as a single lot for $17,250.

You certainlty could get more art for your money back then.

 

For those that are interested, here are a few other choice items that sold in the same auction and the prices they realised:

 

John Romita, Sr. - Title splash page for ASM #39 $5,750

Neil Adams - Cover artwork for Superman #233 $4,888

Don Heck/ Ayres - First seven pages of Avengers #25 $805

Jack Kirby - Cover artwork for Captain America #108 $2,415

Todd McFarlane - Cover artwork to ASM #303 $1,955

Jack Kirby - Four interior pages from X-Men #16 $920

Jim Lee - Cover artwork for Wolverine #27 $1,610

 

That's just a small sampling of what must have been an incredible auction. There was also tons of DC and EC stuff from the 1950's.

I found it interesting not only to see how low the prices were back then (compared to today) but also to see how the SA artwork priced up compared to the hot artists of the day.

[spider9698]

I thought that 80-100K was a bit high. Remember, the art marker has really skyrocket in just a few years. Bubble, perhaps, but I doubt we will see 1993 prices ever again.

[Solar]

I'm kicking myself because I passed on this page for $4000 late last year. I thought the price was insane at the time, but this is just as important a page.