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Article How Amazing Fantasy # 15 OA ended in the library of congress
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101 posts in this topic

12 hours ago, tlatner said:

Maybe I'm having a memory lapse, but I never heard of Ditko having an assistant on Mr. A or any of his other independent work.

Probably means Robin Snyder.

By "blessing" or similar I read that as Ditko not contesting the anonymous donor's ability to transfer title by claiming his own, no more no less. I do not read it as Ditko -particularly- having ever touched, seen or even known 'where' the art has sat since he turned it in to Marvel back in 1962. With that, I don't think Snyder had it and/or donated it.

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2 hours ago, vodou said:

Probably means Robin Snyder.

By "blessing" or similar I read that as Ditko not contesting the anonymous donor's ability to transfer title by claiming his own, no more no less. I do not read it as Ditko -particularly- having ever touched, seen or even known 'where' the art has sat since he turned it in to Marvel back in 1962. With that, I don't think Snyder had it and/or donated it.

Yeah -- definitely not Robin Snyder.  He lives in Washington and he and Ditko probably didn't see each other in person for the last 20+ years.  I used to help him with his website back in the early 2000's and he had left New York well before then.

I'm guessing one of the following:

  • Marvel Staffer -- I don't want to guess at names but there's a limited list of people who were at Marvel during the 60's
  • Family of Marvel Staffer -- maybe someone donated it after their family member passed away
  • Someone else who had access to Marvel's offices -- guest/visitor with some knowledge of comic art or their heirs.  Gil Kane is known to have taken some artwork and I'm sure other creators did as well.  
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Let the speculation begin .....

Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Marie Severin have all been removed from the donor list by Sarah Duke, the curator.

As someone else suggested, perhaps a proxy.

Stan was a showman. If he owned it, he  would have displayed it long ago. So none of his proxies.

Ditko had abandoned his rights to the art and essentially gifted everything to Marie Severin.  So none of his proxies.

The general consensus among collectors was Marie Severin being the donor.  Marie never married, nor did she have any children.  Perhaps a niece, nephew or family attorney.

Otherwise, from a pure speculative guess ......  What If ......  the same person in possession  of the complete ASM # 1 art also managed to get a hold of the AF # 15 art?  What if that individual made the anonymous donation?

Somebody please ask the individual or Sarah Duke.  Lol.

Again, pure speculation on my part.

Sorry about font issues.

 

Edited by NelsonAI
Typos / Font issue
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5 hours ago, NelsonAI said:

Otherwise, from a pure speculative guess ......  What If ......  the same person in possession  of the complete ASM # 1 art also managed to get a hold of the AF # 15 art?  What if that individual made the anonymous donation?

Remember, donating the AF #15 - worth 7-figures even in 2008 - was a selfless act.  Somebody thought it was worth more to make it available to the public in the Library of Congress than it was to either keep it or sell it for mega-$$$ to a collector.  I don't see that being the person who has the complete ASM #1 story - why would he just give away the AF #15 and keep the ASM #1?  Doesn't sound right to me.  Not to mention, I think someone would have heard about the existence, if not the whereabouts, of the AF #15 art if it ended up in a collection or was otherwise linked to the early sales of pilfered Marvel art. 

Nah...I think this had to have come from someone affiliated with Marvel (creator, staffer or family thereof).  Also, if it was Marie and she had wanted to remain anonymous, isn't it very plausible that she told Sarah Duke to flat-out deny that it was her if asked (since a "no comment" or just omitting her name from a shortlist of denied possible donors would make it really easy to finger her as the donor)?  Plus, there's always playing the semantics card if it was a relative or representative and not her directly that handed off the art. 2c 

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Interiors. The guy on the cover is too pretty to reflect Ditko's original take on Spidey. (As iconic as the cover is.). Besides, the character's mythology is based entirely on the interior pages. When people/cartoons/movies/tv recount the origin, they always reference the story. 

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On 2/7/2019 at 11:00 AM, Catwoman_Fan said:

I visited years ago, it was surprisingly easy to make an appointment.  :luhv:

Interesting that she now confirms that all three - Marie, Stan, and Steve - were not the donor.  Good for her, adhering to the donor's wishes. 

i strongly believe this statement above is false...Marie sold "EVERY" DITKO ASM piece she ever had to make ends meet financially.....she would have sold this story in a heart beat had she owned it...she never had it.

i have VERY reliable..... MULTIPLE sources who say Stan Donated the AF 15 story to the LOC after he got verbally lambasted by John Buscema for putting his Silver Surfer 4 story in heritage without giving it back to John...Stan gave the proceeds of the sale to john and felt terrible about what happeend, so he decided to give the AF 15 to the LOC because he didnt want the same thing to happen if he sold it privately or through auction.

Edited by romitaman
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7 minutes ago, romitaman said:

i have VERY reliable..... MULTIPLE sources who say Stan Donated the AF 15 story to the LOC after he got verbally lambasted by John Buscema for putting his Silver Surfer 4 story in heritage without giving it back to John...Stan gave the proceeds of the sale to john and then decided to give ther AF 15 to the LOC because he didnt want the same thing to happen if he sold it privately or through auction .

When did Heritage have the SS #4 story?  I don't see any record of it in their archives.  Do you mean the SS #1 cover that was auctioned in November 2001?  That was the very first Heritage Comics & Comic Art Auction and the only one that took place before John Buscema passed away in January 2002. 

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