Action Comics 1 - Cover Color Guide 2 2

[sfcityduck]

I've wondered what happened to this thing.  It was auctioned in one of the original Sotheby's auctions, I believe.  It is super cool.  The original (rejected?) color guide for Action 1.  A hand colored cover proof.  It used to hang in the DC offices. 

Now being auctioned on Comic Connect as part of the "Hidden Valley Collection" (cue salad dressing jokes):

http://www.comicconnect.com/bookSearch.php?searchType=advanced&listing_type=event&auction_id=402

Hard to value. Predictions?

Edited September 20, 2017 by sfcityduck

[Gotham Kid]

No idea but pretty cool item to own.

[woowoo]

Who did the art ?

[szav]

1 hour ago, sfcityduck said:

I've wondered what happened to this thing.  It was auctioned in one of the original Sotheby's auctions, I believe.  It is super cool.  The original (rejected?) color guide for Action 1.  A hand colored cover proof.  It used to hang in the DC offices. 

Now being auctioned on Comic Connect as part of the Ed Eisenberg "Hidden Valley Collection" (cue salad dressing jokes):

http://www.comicconnect.com/bookSearch.php?searchType=advanced&listing_type=event&auction_id=402

Hard to value. Predictions?

 

Hard to imagine how many bottles of salad dressing that'll go for.

[sfcityduck]

On 9/18/2017 at 6:05 PM, woowoo said:

Who did the art ?

The story on this is:  Ed Eisenberg was a 21 year-old worker at Strauss Engraving Company (Photochrome) in NYC.  He was a color separator.  He hand colored a silver print proof of the cover.  The practice was to color three or four of these and send them to the publisher for approval.  This silver print features obvious differences from the cover of Action 1 (red car), but Ed recalled those were last minute changes to create contrast with the cape.  Ed went into the military in WWII.  Sol Harrison was a friend and former co-worker of Ed.  When Ed got out, Sol offered him a job at DC.  Harry Donenfield had this proof print framed and on his office wall.  When Donenfield had a stroke and retired from the Company in the 1960s (according to Ed, elsewhere I've read it was 1957), Ed saw it in the trash near Donenfield's office, asked the secretary if he could have it, and took it home.  It was sold, along with the Action 1 also in this auction, in the June 1995 Sotheby's auction.  

Edited September 21, 2017 by sfcityduck

[szav]

Any idea what it went for in 95?

[sfcityduck]

6 minutes ago, szavisca said:

Any idea what it went for in 95?

I don't have the final bid sheet on that one.

[woowoo]

27 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

The story on this is:  Ed Eisenberg was a 21 year-old worker at Strauss Engraving Company (Photochrome) in NYC.  He was a color separator.  He hand colored a silver print proof of the cover.  The practice was to color three or four of these and send them to the publisher for approval.  This silver print features obvious differences from the cover of Action 1 (red car), but Ed recalled those were last minute changes to create contrast with the cape.  Ed went into the military in WWII.  Sol Harrison was a friend and former co-worker of Ed.  When Ed got out, Sol offered him a job at DC.  Harry Donenfield had this proof print framed and on his office wall.  When Donenfield had a stroke and retired from the Company in the 1960s, Ed saw it in the trash near Donenfield's office, asked the secretary if he could have it, and took it home.  It was sold, along with the Action 1 also in this auction, in the June 1995 Sotheby's auction.  

Thanks sfcityduck. I only live 45 min north of SF if you ever want to sell anything

[szav]

6 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

I don't have the final bid sheet on that one.

Not even gonna bother to guess, will be fun to watch though.

I suppose a lot of it depends on whether this is the closest thing to the actual original cover art for Action 1 that will ever be publicly available.  If it is, who's to say it's not worth more than one of the comics.

Has there ever been anything else out there like this?

[LDarkseid1]

It's going to sell for $261,121.

[sfcityduck]

38 minutes ago, woowoo said:

Thanks sfcityduck. I only live 45 min north of SF if you ever want to sell anything

Petaluma, Sonoma, or Napa?

[woowoo]

11 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

Petaluma, Sonoma, or Napa?

Rohnert park right past Petaluma not as far as Santa Rosa

[adamstrange]

Sold for $10,350 inclusive of BP.

[jgallo]

I personally don't find this an appealing item.  It is small with a "story" behind it.  I am not disputing the story in anyway.  Regardless of the historical importance I don't think this will even sniff the price of a coverless cover.  I think 20-30K will be the ending range.

James G

[sfcityduck]

10 hours ago, szavisca said:

Not even gonna bother to guess, will be fun to watch though.

I suppose a lot of it depends on whether this is the closest thing to the actual original cover art for Action 1 that will ever be publicly available.  If it is, who's to say it's not worth more than one of the comics.

Has there ever been anything else out there like this?

The D27 proof pages would seem the most comparable, although this is better IMHO.  I forget which auctioneer sold those or what they went for.

[sfcityduck]

40 minutes ago, jgallo said:

I personally don't find this an appealing item.  It is small with a "story" behind it.  I am not disputing the story in anyway.  Regardless of the historical importance I don't think this will even sniff the price of a coverless cover.  I think 20-30K will be the ending range.

James G

To each his own.  All comic books are "small with a story."  But, unlike a comic, you can hang this on a wall, as the publisher of DC did for decades, and that adds to its appeal to me.  

[bluechip]

10 hours ago, jgallo said:

I personally don't find this an appealing item.  It is small with a "story" behind it.  I am not disputing the story in anyway.  Regardless of the historical importance I don't think this will even sniff the price of a coverless cover.  I think 20-30K will be the ending range.

James G

I bid on this when it was offered and regretted that I heeded the advice of people who talked it down.   If it went for only 20 or so I would be happy to bid that and get it.   All that said, I think the seller deserves not to have his item dumped on and I think it would be unfair if he ends up selling it for the low price I would pay just because people come on sites like this and trash it.   Maybe I've just seen too many examples of this from you, interspersed with other posts that tout the investment potential of the likes of some "rare" issue like a Sandman 17 dealer inventive variant, but I just think it's not fair and a little petty to chime in with remarks like "small with a 'story;'" when it happens to be the earliest known printed image of Superman.   

[sfcityduck]

21 hours ago, adamstrange said:

Sold for $10,350 inclusive of BP.

The five D27 proof pages, which I think were on a more unstable newsprint (and there's a mystery as to what they actually were or when they were printed as there was no provenance other than they were found on the street), went for a total of around $70K.

I am going to be surprised if this color proof does not exceed that total.  This is the closest anyone will ever get to the original art of Action 1.  The provenance is as good as it gets.  There story is awesome.  I suspect that the seller will get a tenfold increase over what he paid in 1995.  After all, there are hundreds of Action 1s, but only one hand colored pre-publication color proof - and it hung for years on the DC publishers wall to boot so the association is fantastic! 

I'll even say that this color proof will end up a better investment than the Action 1 purchased in the same 1995 auction.

And if someone like Harriri and another deep pocket get into a bidding war on this thing, this could get really interesting.

 

 

[ThothAmon]

24k.  Iconic piece but still just a proof.

[sfcityduck]

2 hours ago, ThothAmon said:

24k.  Iconic piece but still just a proof.

"just a proof"?  This kind of thinking completely baffles me.  How can anyone consider unique original production art of the most important comic book cover of all time as "just a proof"?  

I will pay $24K for that thing easily, but I don't think that will even be in the same state, let alone the same zip code.