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Confessions of a Newbie Collector
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100 posts in this topic

4 minutes ago, Skizz said:

A2465886-D0F8-423D-B2EC-4F69A5CD7DB1.thumb.jpeg.92d6ed1ac604ea179bc820cb17e4abdf.jpeg

I was able to get a page from one of my favourite issues of Tom Strong, ‘Memories of Pangaea’.

Although, it went for a fairly reasonable price in the eBay auction, emotions took over in the final moment and I bid way way way over (like 7x over) the final hammer price as my max.

If there had been an underbidder who was anywhere near as crazy as I had been, I would have had to pay through the nose for this page.

As collectors say to each other, you like what you like.  It's always good and bad when your max price is 7x the final hammer price.

Good to win it for so much cheaper than what you are willing to apy

Bad that you are willing to pay 7x above market.

Either way, congrats!

Malvin

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On 06/02/2018 at 7:00 PM, malvin said:

As collectors say to each other, you like what you like.  It's always good and bad when your max price is 7x the final hammer price.

Good to win it for so much cheaper than what you are willing to apy

Bad that you are willing to pay 7x above market.

Either way, congrats!

Malvin

Thank you Malvin.

For what it matters, at the time of the auction I didn’t even know what the market value on a page like this was. It wasn’t until after the auction that I looked into the values and realize how much higher I had estimated it. 

If it came up today, I’d still go after it but perhaps a little more conservatively.

 

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This is a page from my second favourite issue of Moore’s run on Swamp Thing, featuring the ‘Green’ Lantern Medphyll and Swamp Thing’s consciousness.

Buying this page on eBay was a new learning experience for me as to how PayPal deals with complaints. When the page arrived I noticed that the last panel is mostly a stat. This wasn’t disclosed during the auction and at the time, I don’t know/think to look for stats.  

I rose the issue and the seller’s response was:

“This is the original art used in production. I don't have the art in hand, but I suppose in one portion of one panel, the artist used a stat. This does not diminish the value as the page, as it is still the one of a kind original piece used in production”

PayPal said they would offer a full refund if I returned the page. But being based in the UK, return postage that I would have had to bear myself would have been too high and I would have been out-of-pocket, without even any art to show for it. So I decided to keep the page 

Ultimately, a few good things came out of the experience:

1. I have a page from one of my favourite issues of Moore’s run. I previously had a page by Totleben/Bissette and now have one from Veitch/Alcala.

2. I now know how PayPal deals with complaint for the future and it’s good to know they will provide recompense if ever I received something that was fully a fake. 

3. I feel like can better recognise stats now and know what to look for in the future, even when they are not disclosed.

4. Hopefully, having to deal with the complaint will be enough to impress upon the seller the importance of disclosing stats and allowing buyers to make the decision to buy a page with stat or not.

0111B08E-F915-4B45-B94F-9601D4689ABA.jpeg

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https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1549172

So I’ve been pretty quiet over the last year or so as I took a step back from purchasing OA. Actually over the last year, I’ve been focusing more on collecting key issue Silver and Bronze Age comics. But the original focus of my OA collecting - at least one page from each Alan Moore written comic book - stayed true.

So when a friend of mine pointing out the page below from Moore’s run on Supreme being auctioned on eBay, I pounced on it and managed to get it for a pretty sweet price. In fact, I was baffled that I didn’t have more competition at auction. But hey, I’m not complaining. 

Also the seller was a pretty cool guy. He said he was selling a number of Supreme pages that he’d gotten in a lot. Instead of keeping them all for himself, he figured he’d keep one or two and share the rest with other collectors. Great for me and my friend as we were both able to get a page each. 

So for now the hunt continues, albeit at a slightly reduced pace.

FBACAF70-E908-4FC9-9BEE-C4C46ED05A2B.jpeg

Edited by Skizz
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4 minutes ago, Skizz said:

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1549172

So I’ve been pretty quiet over the last year or so as I took a step back from purchasing OA. Actually over the last year, I’ve been focusing more on collecting key issue Silver and Bronze Age comic. But the original focus of my OA collecting - at least one page from Alan Moore written comic books - stayed true.

So when a friend of mine pointing out the page below from Moore’s run on Supreme being auctioned on eBay, I pounced on it and managed to get it for a pretty sweet price. In fact, I was baffled that I didn’t have more competition at auction. But hey, I’m not complaining. 

Also the seller was a pretty cool guy. He said he was selling a number of Supreme pages that he’d gotten in a lot. Instead of keeping them all for himself, he figured he’d keep one or two and share the rest with other collectors. Great for me and my friend as we were both able to get a page each. 

So for now the hunt continues, albeit at a slightly reduced pace.

F48D9C0E-A6D1-4508-AC20-C85178FC5E6D.jpeg

FBACAF70-E908-4FC9-9BEE-C4C46ED05A2B.jpeg

If you’re collecting pages written by Alan Moore, then what’s cool about this page is that his dialogue is right on the page. And it looks to be hand lettered, too, which is always a big plus in my book. 

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2 minutes ago, Jay Olie Espy said:

If you’re collecting pages written by Alan Moore, then what’s cool about this page is that his dialogue is right on the page. And it looks to be hand lettered, too, which is always a big plus in my book. 

Very true sir. Huge plus to have Todd Klein’s lettering right on the page.

In fact I believe the seller had another Supreme page at roughly half of this one’s value for sale as well, that didn’t have any lettering. That’s the one that my friend purchased and was a pretty good deal for him as well. But I thought the extra cost of having the lettering on this was totally worth it. 

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On 2/6/2018 at 11:00 AM, malvin said:

As collectors say to each other, you like what you like.  It's always good and bad when your max price is 7x the final hammer price.

Good to win it for so much cheaper than what you are willing to apy

Bad that you are willing to pay 7x above market.

Either way, congrats!

Malvin

I actually applaud that approach. If you love somethng, price doesn't matter. Think about how much a blushing bride eventually costs a groom.

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F7557FDC-A763-4082-A2CE-D394D0CCFE19.thumb.jpeg.021fbe855c18b5e6a6152ca27f2b095f.jpeg

I took another longish break from buying comic art so I could save up. But then I saw this on eBay.  A title splash page from one of Grant Morrison‘s early Invisibles issues. And it was going for an absolute bargain. I really liked the early part of Morrison’s Invisibles run. So I snagged this and broke my vow of abstinence. Wonder if I’ve broken the dam? 

Edited by Skizz
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12 hours ago, exitmusicblue said:

It only takes one high-end purchase to open the floodgates...  : >

With OP, I predict it'll happen sooner than later, and he'll be all the happier for it.

So far I’ve resisted buying anything higher than $1,000. One way I’ve disciplined myself is by saying that my first purchase over $1,000 has to be a Kirby page, but it has to be the right Kirby page for me. 

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18 hours ago, Skizz said:

So far I’ve resisted buying anything higher than $1,000. One way I’ve disciplined myself is by saying that my first purchase over $1,000 has to be a Kirby page, but it has to be the right Kirby page for me. 

For the right Kirby page, you'll probably blow waaaay past $1,000. 

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4 hours ago, Will_K said:

For the right Kirby page, you'll probably blow waaaay past $1,000. 

Fortunately I like Kirby later 70s work inked by Royer which seems to a little more affordable. I was looking to spend $2000 to $3000.  But I think I’ll hold off on that for now, at least until the world goes back to some version of normal. 

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6 hours ago, JadeGiant said:

Every time you spend at a new level the game changes. I remember when I spent $700 on a piece and told myself I was absolutely insane (laughing at myself)

Funny!  When I spent $110 in 1995 on art, I came home shaking and hoping my wife was okay with it.  Stuff is worth thousands now.  David

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On 4/4/2020 at 6:07 PM, Skizz said:

So I snagged this and broke my vow of abstinence. Wonder if I’ve broken the dam? 

On 4/5/2020 at 4:34 AM, alxjhnsn said:

You are doomed.

On 4/5/2020 at 9:50 AM, exitmusicblue said:

It only takes one high-end purchase to open the floodgates...  : >

With OP, I predict it'll happen sooner than later, and he'll be all the happier for it.

Uh ... so turns out breaking my vow of abstinence and buying that cheap page some weeks back may in fact have opened up the floodgates.

Just won an auction for the most I’ve ever paid for a piece of comic art. My hands were shaking when the auction ended. Felt like I was going to throw up. And despite all this, I still think I got the page for a bargain.

And now I’m on Heritage looking up future auctions. Somebody hit me in the back of head with a baseball bat and stop me already. 

Edited by Skizz
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1 hour ago, Skizz said:

 

Just won an auction for the most I’ve ever paid for a piece of comic art. My hands were shaking when the auction ended. Felt like I was going to throw up. 

 

If you bought a piece you really love (not primarily for investment, etc.), that feeling will fade increasingly with time as you will only see the piece and continue to appreciate it.

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