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Prop Store's 2018 Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction - Sept. 20
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Those that attended the LA Ultimate back in July got a preview of the comic art that will be in Prop Store’s 2018 Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction that will take place on Thursday, September 20th in London.  I'm happy to announce the auction is now officially live online and we invite you to check out it out.  This year, we are proud to include a curated selection of comic art representing a cross-section of characters and artists alongside props and costumes inspired by comics. 

Below is a flyer that gives you an overview of the comic art pieces included in the auction. 

Highlights include:

  • A Steve Ditko 2/3 splash featuring Doctor Octopus battling Spider-man from The Amazing Spider-Man #32.
  • A gorgeous Carmine Infantino title splash from The Flash #129 featuring the Flash, Golden Age Flash, Trickster and Captain Cold in an early Earth-2 crossover.
  • A Jack Kirby Thor battle page from his 2nd appearance in Journey into Mystery #84.
  • A Mike Sekowsky chapter splash from the 3rd Justice League tryout story in The Brave & the Bold #30 featuring Aquaman and Green Lantern.
  • A Bernie Wrightson page from the Swamp Thing origin story in House of Secrets #92.

Additionally, you’ll find many fresh-to-market examples from John Byrne, Mike Zeck, Dave Gibbons, Herb Trimpe, Gil Kane, John Romita Jr., Joe Jusko, Frank Cho, Frank Thorne, Gene Colan, Mort Lawrence, Mike Vosburg, Frank Springer, Tom Sutton, Jason Palmer, and Gerhard.

Additionally, there are some cool production art and movie props and costumes that complement the art such as Han Solo's Jacket from the Empire Strikes Back, Christopher Reeve's costume from Superman, Wolverine's Claws from X-Men 2, Tom Jane's Punisher costume and dog tags from the 2004 movie, the Penguin's Top Hat from Batman Returns, Captain America's WWII costume from Captain America: the First Avenger and much, much more!

To register for the auction and view a PDF version of the catalog or to order a hard copy of the catalog, please follow the link below:

https://propstoreauction.com/view-auctions/info/id/138/

To bid view and bid on the individual lots, please go here:

https://propstoreauction.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/138/

As the auction has both comic art and movie memorabilia, you can refine your search results to view just comic art, or specific franchises, by selecting a desired field in the red ‘Category’ drop down box near the top of the page.

We have also provided a number or resources that you typically don't see from auctions including videos to help collectors learn more about comic art and the specific offerings we will have in the auction.  We hope you find these useful and fun. Those can be found here:

https://propstore.com/comicart/

Some benefits of Prop Store’s Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction:

  • A no interest payment plan that allows you to take up to three months to pay off your balance for items over £100.
  • The ability to use credit cards to pay for your full balance.
  • Prop Store has their own shipping department, helping to keep the cost of shipping down.

We hope you enjoy our selection of comic art as well as all the other props, costumes, and memorabilia items in the catalog. 

If you would like assistance in registering for the auction, please e-mail Brian Cordoba (Brian@propstore.com).  For specific questions about items in the auction, general feedback about the auction, or questions about consigning to future auctions, please contact me (Chuck@propstore.com).

Would love to hear on these boards what items people really are drawn to in the auction... hopefully there's a little something for everyone!

Comic Art Flyer-Email_p1.jpg

Comic Art Flyer-Email_p2.jpg

Edited by comiconxion
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1 hour ago, wurstisart said:

Any relationship to Profiles in History?

Profiles does also sell Entertainment Memorabilia, but is a completely separate company.  Prop Store has been in business for 20 years now.  

Edited by comiconxion
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Thanks for explaining.

As someone that is not following movie memorabilia it just looks similar, especially if you see for example another original Terminator 2 outfit that you once saw at Profils.

 

Curious how this works. Did they buy from another and now auction it off once again ?

I have to admit some great stuff in there.

 

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Sometimes people do buy and re-sell at another auction house just like with comic art, but with movie props and costumes, especially things like Terminator jackets, there are multiple versions, there isn't just one.  Every time Arnold gets shot, they use a different jacket with different holes in the jacket.  The viewer thinks there is just one jacket through movie magic, but there are typically multiple ones that they use.  They also make costumes for the main actor and stunt actors as well as keep some as back-ups in case they need to re-shoot.  Also, with hand props there are different versions - "hero" versions that they use for close-up shots that typically have more detail and may be made of metal; "stunt" versions are typically made of rubber that won't hurt the actors if they drop them or fall on them.  With gadgets, that are supposed to light up or move, there are versions that may work and ones that are static.  

So, that's why it sometimes seems like the same item is selling over and over.  Typically, in fact, they are different versions used in the same production. 

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15 minutes ago, Rick2you2 said:

I have to confess my curiosity of how a company specializing in props would obtain comic art. I don't recall seeing any in movies. Anyway, if that's a secret, so be it.

I can think of 1 time.  In Fringe, the alternate universe, comic art was considered "real art" and was up on the walls of some of the apartments.  I believe they even consigned someone to re-draw alternate universe version of some famous covers.

But, I also would be wiling to bet that there are a number of crossover collectors.  So it's not blowing my mind they have some OA.  Profiles in History even sometimes has a random page of OA in their auctions.

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I visited the UK branch in person a few months ago to collect some Movie Poster original paintings I'd won in auction.  I was given a tour of their warehouse and saw lots of amazing things.  The set-up looked very professional with specialist members of staff busily working away in their offices.

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Can you explain the costs involved with placing a bid? Let's say I bid $10,000 US and win, what would I actually be paying with buyers commission plus VAT plus shipping plus cost of converting the US dollar?

There are 5 pieces of art I want, but to be honest I'm scared to bid not knowing what my actual out of pocket amount would be.

I am VERY interested in the ASM Ditko piece, but could my $150,000 bid become a $250,000 amount,  due to all the fees mentioned above?

Edited by Timely
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and the items I am interested in has an omega symbol, which notes that the item is temporarily imported to the UK for auction, and if it is exported outside the UK (e.g. back to California) no VAT is due.  Is the 9% Califronia sales tax due (which would apply if it the auction was in Cali, as per Prop Store notes) or is it exempt from that?

Malvin

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4 hours ago, malvin said:

and the items I am interested in has an omega symbol, which notes that the item is temporarily imported to the UK for auction, and if it is exported outside the UK (e.g. back to California) no VAT is due.  Is the 9% Califronia sales tax due (which would apply if it the auction was in Cali, as per Prop Store notes) or is it exempt from that?

Malvin

Also be sure to account for the Fedex customs shenanigans on the import back to the US, which will generate a paper trail for use tax.

Edited by cstojano
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As I lean more towards original Movie Poster paintings nowadays, I landed five such artworks in a recent Prop Store specialist auction at decent prices.  All the extra costs on top of hammer price were taken into account by me before I bid on anything and you really do need to pay attention to the information provided to factor-in the overall costs - a combination of bid price, BP and VAT - if applicable (if you're not sure about anything, ask before bidding).  As such, do the maths.

I received the catalogue for this particular auction last week.  The comic-book stuff seems to be a new direction for the company and I did think the artworks being offered were estimated on the pricey side.

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So, I registered to Prop Store a few weeks ago.  The auction is now live to bid on the internet. When I go to Prop Store I sign in (all is good at this point).  When I click on the piece of art I want to bid on it says, "Go To Auction".  When I go to auction it asks me to sign in again.  When I sign in again it says, " Invalid username or password ".  If I can't even sign in without problems, this does not bode well for the rest of my experience. doh!

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21 minutes ago, Timely said:

So, I registered to Prop Store a few weeks ago.  The auction is now live to bid on the internet. When I go to Prop Store I sign in (all is good at this point).  When I click on the piece of art I want to bid on it says, "Go To Auction".  When I go to auction it asks me to sign in again.  When I sign in again it says, " Invalid username or password ".  If I can't even sign in without problems, this does not bode well for the rest of my experience. doh!

Can't help you on that one, sorry.  Maybe the OP can advise (if not contact Prop Store directly)?

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On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 12:44 PM, Rick2you2 said:

I have to confess my curiosity of how a company specializing in props would obtain comic art. I don't recall seeing any in movies. Anyway, if that's a secret, so be it.

Although Prop Store is best known for selling props and costumes, it does sell other related collectibles.  This is the first time that Prop Store has offered comic art in its auction, but the rationale is that we see comic art as the origins of many of today's superhero films and shows.  We're seeing collectors of props adding pieces of comic art to their collections and vice versa so we've presented the material together as it might be displayed by a collector.  For instance, someone interested in Captain America's WWII costume from the First Avenger might also have an interest in pairing with one of the earliest surviving Captain America pages from the 1950's.  

We also recognize that some people may only be interested in collecting art or props/costumes so we've tried to make it easy for people to filter and see the genres that they collect within the auction.  

I personally helped to curate examples of comic art for the auction that spanned across properties and also looked to find pieces that were fresh to market.  

We've also tried our best to give ample space and attention to each item in the auction - we've allocated no less than 1/3 of a page to any piece of art; included multiple pictures and copies of the published books with the art, and created videos to help tell more of the backstories behind some of the pieces. 

Although Prop Store may be new to many of you, we hope you'll give it a chance as another avenue for you to add pieces to your collection.

WWII_Cap.jpg

Mens_Adv27.jpg

Edited by comiconxion
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On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 8:41 AM, Timely said:

Can you explain the costs involved with placing a bid? Let's say I bid $10,000 US and win, what would I actually be paying with buyers commission plus VAT plus shipping plus cost of converting the US dollar?

There are 5 pieces of art I want, but to be honest I'm scared to bid not knowing what my actual out of pocket amount would be.

I am VERY interested in the ASM Ditko piece, but could my $150,000 bid become a $250,000 amount,  due to all the fees mentioned above?

Thanks for asking as I realize that many people have questions like yours about bidding in a UK auction like this.  Let me attempt to clarify:

First, keep in mind that all bids are placed and paid in Great British Pounds (GBP) since the auction in UK local currency.  

With this and other international auctions, please consider the following expenses:

  • Buyers Premium - For Prop Store, this is 23% on top of the hammer price.  You should be aware of the total price with buyer's premium when you place your bid and you should bid accordingly.
  • Exchange Rate - The current exchange rate per xe.com is 1.28; if you're making a payment to a GBP account from a USD account the actual exchange rate you are changed will be the rate that the bank is offering at that time, which is generally slightly higher than the posted xe.com rate. The current rate available from Bank of America is 1.36 (see here: https://www.bankofamerica.com/foreign-exchange/currency-converter.go#footnote1 ). Therefore to pay £10,000 from a Bank of America GBP account today, it would cost $13,600, plus an international wire transfer fee of $45. Exchange rates vary daily and different banks may offer different rates; check with your bank for specifics.
  • VAT - All comic art lots in the auction have a "temporary import" VAT status.  Because of that, if you live in the US and are having it shipped from the UK, no VAT is due.  If you are interested in other lots outside of comic art, please look at the VAT status symbol for those lots for VAT implications.
  • Import Tax - The shipper (typically Prop Store uses FedEx) may assess an import tax on the item.  Even for orders I've had that are $10k, I've found these bills to be under $200, but as these are assessed by the shipping company (and are typically received after the order arrives), you may want to talk with them to ensure you understand what you may be charged here. 
  • Shipping Costs - Estimated shipping to California for one of the modern sized art lots came to 45 GBP.  I assume it would be more for some of the framed pieces or larger pieces.   And, of course if you win multiple items, they will be shipped together to save you on shipping costs.  You can always click the button on the website to request shipping quotes for specific items mailed to your zip code.  This would be the most accurate way to get a customized estimate.
  • State Taxes - As this auction is being run by Prop Store's affiliate in London, Prop Store does not collect US state taxes for any items mailed to the US.  You should understand your local state tax laws to understand your state obligations, if any.
  • Credit Card Fee - This is one of the benefits of Prop Store - there isn't a fee for using your credit card.  You can use it to pay up for 25,000 GBP (or in this case, it would be the full amount if the order were $10k).  Additionally, Prop Store offers a payment plan that allows you to take up to three months to pay off your balance without paying any additional fees. 

Thanks for asking the question and hopefully my answers are clear.  

Edited by comiconxion
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16 hours ago, Timely said:

So, I registered to Prop Store a few weeks ago.  The auction is now live to bid on the internet. When I go to Prop Store I sign in (all is good at this point).  When I click on the piece of art I want to bid on it says, "Go To Auction".  When I go to auction it asks me to sign in again.  When I sign in again it says, " Invalid username or password ".  If I can't even sign in without problems, this does not bode well for the rest of my experience. doh!

Timely -  Please send me an e-mail (Chuck@propstore.com) and I'll ensure I get it cleared up.  If anyone else has any direct questions or issues, please feel free to reach out to me directly.  We've been using the website for many years successfully, but if there are any glitches let me know and I'll research them and get them resolved.  

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It was great to see people at the Comic Art Con in NJ over the weekend.  Some questions about the auction came up that I wanted to relay here:

  • Finding Comic Art in the Online Catalog -  The comic art appears throughout the catalog side by side with props and costumes of the same character.   I realize that comic art buyers are used to seeing art organized by artist or title and it may be a little harder to find things because of that.  A couple suggestions:
  1. Use the cheat sheet above to find the comic art pieces you're interested in and use the "Search Auctions" function to find them - typing in key word
  2. Use the red "Category" filter drop down to select "Original Comic Art" - this will show you only the comic art sections.  If you select "All Artwork," it will show you Production Art along with the comic art selections.

image.thumb.png.23bdef3bef7749464cfd9e05c4765e88.png

  • Currency Conversion - As all bids are in GBP, people had asked if there was a currency calculator.  To see GBP converted to other currencies, use your cursor to hover over any of the numbers listed onscreen in the "Estimate" or "Starting" fields and you can see conversion to multiple currencies.  

image.thumb.png.7767e5b640764a67e18ece8f6bc421db.png

 

I hope this additional tips are helpful and please let me know if you have any additional questions.

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