Buying original art do you guys slab it 0

[TomDehnert]

I’m just starting to get into buying original art work and was curious do you guys slab your pieces or just encase them yourselves also how would that even be graded or certified or can it be verified even. I’m not really sure where to start on this. Also is the sticky at the top stil a good starting point for buying original artwork.

Thanks looking forward to learning some things from you guys.

[Rick2you2]

44 minutes ago, TomDehnert said:

I’m just starting to get into buying original art work and was curious do you guys slab your pieces or just encase them yourselves also how would that even be graded or certified or can it be verified even. I’m not really sure where to start on this. Also is the sticky at the top stil a good starting point for buying original artwork.

Thanks looking forward to learning some things from you guys.

I think you meant to post this in the main Original Art forum.

In my case, I do not slab it. I keep most of them in binders, some are framed, and some are in hard plastic holders you see at the shows. Also, I don't think grading is nearly as important as in comics. 

[Siege Perilous]

I'm curious to hear other people's responses to this, but I'm not really sure the point of slabbing/grading/verifying OA unless you have definitive plans on selling it. 

[Catwoman_Fan]

Ive never done it.  All my sketches & pages are stored in Itoya portfolios.  I like to get close to the paper (sounds freaky... ) and slabbing would prevent that.

I certainly couldn't care less about grading a sketch.  Its one of a kind, condition doesn't effect value for most art. 

[Pete Marino]

I think there's some value in slabbing and authenticating sketch covers and backing boards.

Other than that, there's no service that does original published art per-se.  And i couldn't imagine the size and weight of slabbing an 11x17 page, much less a twice up.

Do some searches on the boards, there have been many lively discussions about this topic over the years.

[John E.]

I don't slab art. Generally, if you're slabbing art, you're probably going to sell it and the authentication helps with buyer confidence which in turn gives you on a premium on the art. Although I can tell you from experience that "slabbed art equals premium prices" is not always the case. The value of the art is dependent on supply and demand, etc. I also have a buddy who slabs every sketch cover he gets by the famous and the obscure without an intention to resale. He just likes having the art in slabs.

More to the point, I'm not opposed to slabbing a sketch cover or sketch by a legend like Frank Miller or Bruce Timm, especially when the latter is a recent target of forgery. Twenty-five years from now those sketches are going to be harder and harder to verify.

Otherwise, check CGC and their competitor's sites for details as to what can or cannot be slabbed because there is a limit on paper size. I think it's somewhere between than 8"x10" and 9"x12".

Edited July 12, 2018 by Jay Olie Espy

[delekkerste]

11 minutes ago, Jay Olie Espy said:

Otherwise, check CGC and their competitor's sites for details as to what can or cannot be slabbed because there is a limit on paper size. I think it's somewhere between than 8"x10" and 9"x12".

So...I should cut my 11 x 17" art in half if I want to get it slabbed?    

[The Voord]

I prefer to frame art . . .

[John E.]

37 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

So...I should cut my 11 x 17" art in half if I want to get it slabbed?    

That is correct, Gene. Something tells me that you are not new to collecting. In fact, if you have any half-splashes with particularly dull panels surrounding it, I'd advise you to cut out the splash portion and slab that. That is very attractive to buyers. Or if you have trading card art where the artist drew two or more separate "cards" on one board, then you should cut out each individually to slab.

Newbies--I'm kidding of course. Never cut up your art. 

 

By the way, we are operating under the assumption that previously published art cannot be slabbed, only witnessed art. CGC's competitor offers a signature verification but that only verifies a signature and not the art.

 

I AM NOT FOR SLABBING PUBLISHED ART! But just because I'm against doesn't mean that I don't believe it won't eventually happen. You all are the experts, but knowing that there is a debate over which DD pages Frank drew and which Jansen inked, or whatever, or how I learned on the Felix Comic Art podcast how one early buyer of DKR art bought a page that turned out NOT to be the one that was published, I could see how a company will use those uncertainties to sell "slabbing" in some form or another in which they authenticate exactly what you possess. They will use those "who drew what?" conundrums as a selling point to "protect your investment." The marketplace is chock-full of sellers ignorant of what they are selling (at best) and sellers who are outright deceptive, so why wouldn't some company try to sell you (or the less informed) a service that protects you from deceptive practices? Condition issues from pinholes to toning to creases will be noted. Then there are the restoration checks. Also whether or not the art is in blue pencil or blueline ink or whether this piece of art is a prelim or unpublished cover (ahem). But from there, resellers will use the service to slab any ol' quality page.

Again, I'm not for it, but I think it's a matter of time.

[TomDehnert]

I don’t want to sell it’s more rather it tells the story and looks very professional. I also value the incapsulation for keeping it safe. There will come a time when verifying old signatures will be quite expensive and there are many great artist that can duplicate but aren’t the real deal so to speak. I think it would be awesome if you could do whole pages in a slab have artist name and what book it’s from and that it’s a verified copy. It just seems weird to me that this hasn’t caught on yet that’s why I wanted to ask.

I do have quite a few comics slabbed and not all of them are vauluable more they have a special meaning to me and I like how they look slabbed and the label with the details of the book. I have a lot of friends that don’t collect comics that can look read and say oh that’s cool I think it not only educated but also makes it easier for less informed collectors or just people that may like the art have an easier entry point.

Also I’d never cut my art work was just hoping there was a way to slab. I mean they slab posters now I’m pretty sure why not original artwork 

[CartoonFanboy]

This topic comes up every now and again. As Pete said, you can find some spirited discussions on it if you search the forum.

For me, I have NO interest in slabbing my original art, even if there were a service that specialized in it. In truth, slabbing art just isn't practical given how large it is and the inconsistency in size. An argument can be made for an authentication service given the large number of fake sketches (and even published art) that exists in the hobby. Forgeries and misattributed art are real problems for collectors, thus opportunity exists there. Slabbing isn't necessary for that however, and in and of itself a slab really doesn't serve the needs of most art collectors.

I can see using CGC to slab sketch covers, but other than that, no thanks.

[TomDehnert]

Another quick thought too. There a lot of people that are verified witnesses for both big companies that I personally have seen them verify books they weren’t right there to see based on the fact they know someone or feel that the persons trust worthy at cons comics shop owners it happens. I guess point being it shouldn’t be to hard to find out if a piece of the original comic art work was done by a particular artist and have them verify it. I’m sure they would rather verify that they did it than have a bunch of imposter work out there. 

Personally I think this would be a vauluable asset to have from Cgc and I would be willing to pay more if there was a premium for the opportunity to slab original comic art.

[Khazano]

I dont think any of us long term collectors will ever be able to justify paying to authenticate and slab original published art. Especially if "grading" is a part of that mentality as well. (To be honest, when it comes to the stuff in my collecting wheel house, I trust my own judgement and knowledge far more than I would a third party service.)

That said, sketches / sketch covers... I can see the logic in, although, it's still not for me.

 

[PhilipB2k17]

40 minutes ago, Jay Olie Espy said:

 

I AM NOT FOR SLABBING PUBLISHED ART! But just because I'm against doesn't mean that I don't believe it won't eventually happen. You all are the experts, but knowing that there is a debate over which DD pages Frank drew and which Jansen inked, or whatever, or how I learned on the Felix Comic Art podcast how one early buyer of DKR art bought a page that turned out NOT to be the one that was published, I could see how a company will use those uncertainties to sell "slabbing" in some form or another in which they authenticate exactly what you possess. They will use those "who drew what?" conundrums as a selling point to "protect your investment." The marketplace is chock-full of sellers ignorant of what they are selling (at best) and sellers who are outright deceptive, so why wouldn't some company try to sell you (or the less informed) a service that protects you from deceptive practices? Condition issues from pinholes to toning to creases will be noted. Then there are the restoration checks. Also whether or not the art is in blue pencil or blueline ink or whether this piece of art is a prelim or unpublished cover (ahem). But from there, resellers will use the service to slab any ol' quality page.

Again, I'm not for it, but I think it's a matter of time.

I highly doubt it. If you have a higher end valuable piece where something like that would matter, then you sell it through a 3rd part auction house and the "slabbing" becomes irrelevant. (Unless you are a stickelr about production art not being subjected to cut outs, pasted on new materials, etc like one fellow who was on here recently complained about).

For lower end stuff, that's not really worth the effort.

[PhilipB2k17]

22 minutes ago, TomDehnert said:

Another quick thought too. There a lot of people that are verified witnesses for both big companies that I personally have seen them verify books they weren’t right there to see based on the fact they know someone or feel that the persons trust worthy at cons comics shop owners it happens. I guess point being it shouldn’t be to hard to find out if a piece of the original comic art work was done by a particular artist and have them verify it. I’m sure they would rather verify that they did it than have a bunch of imposter work out there. 

Personally I think this would be a vauluable asset to have from Cgc and I would be willing to pay more if there was a premium for the opportunity to slab original comic art.

If you want art verified, the grading companies should hire notary publics for that, rather than some schlub or employee. That's official. They check the ID of the signatory (or artists) and notarize the sketch or signature. This is recognized as sowrn testimony in Court (via and affidavit). This story above just makes me even less inclined to trust any "verified" signatures. And, frankly, I don't much care. In fact, if I saw a notarized signature of an artist (with a date confirming he was at a specific location, at a specific date), I'd trust it over a grading company.

Edited July 12, 2018 by PhilipB2k17

[CartoonFanboy]

3 minutes ago, TomDehnert said:

Another quick thought too. There a lot of people that are verified witnesses for both big companies that I personally have seen them verify books they weren’t right there to see based on the fact they know someone or feel that the persons trust worthy at cons comics shop owners it happens. I guess point being it shouldn’t be to hard to find out if a piece of the original comic art work was done by a particular artist and have them verify it. I’m sure they would rather verify that they did it than have a bunch of imposter work out there. 

Personally I think this would be a vauluable asset to have from Cgc and I would be willing to pay more if there was a premium for the opportunity to slab original comic art.

Well, not all of these artists are alive mind you, and even those that are may not be interested in spending their time authenticating the thousands of pages of art they created in their career. The logistics of authenticating original art are numerous, especially for things like existing sketches done by artists no longer with us. 

Regarding the idea of slabbing, I once again have to argue that it's not practical. You mention posters being slabbed, but how many of those can you store before it becomes cumbersome? I have a modest collection of 130 pieces of original art, when I try to imagine how much space and weight that collection would take up because it's encased in plastic, I shiver. That - and as another board member once observed - most OA collectors don't see their art as a collectible, they see it as art. Art is the kind of thing we see in portfolios and framed on walls; for many of us, slabbing the art would lessen it.

[malvin]

23 minutes ago, Khazano said:

I dont think any of us long term collectors will ever be able to justify paying to authenticate and slab original published art. Especially if "grading" is a part of that mentality as well. (To be honest, when it comes to the stuff in my collecting wheel house, I trust my own judgement and knowledge far more than I would a third party service.)

That said, sketches / sketch covers... I can see the logic in, although, it's still not for me.

 

+1! or can I do +1 million?

Malvin

[The Voord]

Maybe the service would be useful for some of Steve Donnelly's dodgy offerings?  

[Pete Marino]

7 minutes ago, The Voord said:

Maybe the service would be useful for some of Steve Donnelly's dodgy offerings?  

Coming Next Summer! 

 

CoolSlabs

[Ironmandrd]

I just cannot see OA being slabbed other than sketch covers to both grade the comic and authenticate the artist or maybe comic book sized sketches to authenticate the artist.