Heritage May 16 - 18 Comic Art Signature Auction - Chicago 4 4

[suspense39]

11 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

"As billionaires compete for art in an overheated market, the merely affluent are giving up."

I kind of feel like this is happening on a smaller scale in our hobby. At this point in my collecting career, I feel like I've been priced out of most of my all-time favorite pieces if they were to ever become available, while the prices on the material that is still potentially within reach are now so high that I have to keep my powder dry for these and not blow cash on anything that isn't truly in the top 1 or 2 % of my want list. 

As such, my true "must-have" want list, of things that are both likely to be attainable and available at some point, is down to probably less than 5 medium-to-high end items, plus a few low-to-medium end items.  I'm just glad I acquired what I did when I did, because if I was starting out from scratch today, I'd probably just be looking to build a collection of maybe 10-20 great pieces; there's no way I could build out anywhere near the collection I have starting from 2019 prices. Would wager that almost no one collecting for more than 15 years would be able to at this point.  

I hear you Gene! 

[comix4fun]

31 minutes ago, Bill C said:

The Hawkman #4 Zatanna story at 126K seems insane. That's an average of $9,692 per page. It's got a lot going for it though. I think the other story from this issue is up for sale, it'll be interesting to see what the Zatanna bump was.

 

 

That Hawkman #4 splash is big big money all by itself. It feels like the purchaser got it at break up value, but there are some stellar pages in that story. 

[Bill C]

2 hours ago, comix4fun said:

That Hawkman #4 splash is big big money all by itself. It feels like the purchaser got it at break up value, but there are some stellar pages in that story. 

The MIS #87 cover went for about what I figured (I felt it would go a little less).

Edited May 17 by Bill C

[ThothAmon]

1 hour ago, Bill C said:

two Cap 109 pages

Anyone have any idea how many Kirby OA pages exist that depict his most famous characters genesis?  Rarer than hen’s teeth I’d guess. 

[Rick2you2]

5 hours ago, delekkerste said:

Prices are strong so far. Guess people are rolling their Beyond Meat ($BYND) profits into comic art.  

Likely do better in the long run than Bayer.

[batman_fan]

The stuff I was watching on this 1st day closed above where I thought they would.  

Avengers #13 splash.  I hoped it being Heck would keep the price down coupled with the lack of a lot of action but nope, closed real strong at $40,800

Peanuts Sunday from 12-30-62.  I was a contender but closed quite a bit above my threshold at $66,000

I didn't have a lot of hope I would come away with either piece, but the stuff I am more interested closes tomorrow and Saturday.

[Brian Peck]

We now know who won the Hawkman #4 story........ Thomas Fish.  

He just posted in his CAF:

https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1550142&GSub=198023

Major Congrats!

[delekkerste]

2 hours ago, Bill C said:

The Hawkman #4 Zatanna story at 126K seems insane. That's an average of $9,692 per page. It's got a lot going for it though. I think the other story from this issue is up for sale, it'll be interesting to see what the Zatanna bump was.

Early Zatanna reminds me of early Black Widow - not the  characters we would later come to love. 

I'd rather have the 1st appearance of hot Zatanna.   

Edited May 17 by delekkerste

[tth2]

6 hours ago, Brian Peck said:

Hammer $204,000

 

WOW!!! over $200K even with the signatures people hate.

Men #137 Double Splash Pages 2-3 Original

If only someone here had pointed out that no one (whose opinion actually matters) cares about the signatures. 

[tth2]

8 hours ago, wombat said:

I'm not picky. I would settle for Jaguar God. 

Clearly no one else would.

Consignor was clearly wishing and hoping on that one.

[batman_fan]

8 minutes ago, tth2 said:

If only someone here had pointed out that no one (whose opinion actually matters) cares about the signatures. 

[delekkerste]

9 minutes ago, tth2 said:

If only someone here had pointed out that no one (whose opinion actually matters) cares about the signatures. 

Who's to say that it wouldn't have gone for more without them?  

$204K is actually less than where a lot of people thought it would end up, myself included. 

Edited May 17 by delekkerste

[Brian Peck]

12 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

Who's to say that it wouldn't have gone for more without them?  

$204K is actually less than where a lot of people thought it would end up, myself included. 

If you would have just bid more it would have.

[delekkerste]

20 minutes ago, tth2 said:

Clearly no one else would.

Consignor was clearly wishing and hoping on that one.

Consignor was a different family member than the one who consigned EQ.  We know this because Jaguar God was on consignment with another dealer/auction house in the past. 

Interesting that there was no guarantee on that one.  I guess it's one thing to get stuck with EQ and another to get stuck with an overpriced painting that nobody wanted at $300K when it was consigned the last time around. 

[delekkerste]

5 hours ago, Mmehdy said:

Halpin did NOT purchase the EQ for sure.

That may or may not be the case, but, I am skeptical of the reason you cited in your PM based on anecdotes I have heard from various people in the past (don't want to air any of this publicly...)  

HA was ready with this right away (it's been up for hours)...I'm confident that they were 100% sure it was going to sell, and 98% sure about the price. 

[ThothAmon]

7 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

I'm confident that they were 100% sure it was going to sell, and 98% sure about the price. 

Pure wild speculation on my part but would it surprise anyone to learn that the buyer, seller and “commission” were preordained?  Lots of “free” publicity for Heritage. 

[vodou]

15 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

That may or may not be the case, but, I am skeptical of the reason you cited in your PM based on anecdotes I have heard from various people in the past (don't want to air any of this publicly...)  

HA was ready with this right away (it's been up for hours)...I'm confident that they were 100% sure it was going to sell, and 98% sure about the price. 

It's not really 5.4 if the way it sold didn't generate full/any BP, right? Then again, if the deal was 100% neg SP, then same number but all to consignor. Those much closer will know what the number wanted in the past was and how that compares to 4.5/5.4. Anyway, I think we'll all agree that this was one of the coldest 4/5m sales in the history of art...at least until you get to Richard Prince and similar folk

[tth2]

58 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

1 hour ago, tth2 said:

If only someone here had pointed out that no one (whose opinion actually matters) cares about the signatures. 

Who's to say that it wouldn't have gone for more without them?  

Because the rhetoric in this thread was that the only thing the page was good for was bird cage lining, not to spend $200k, which in my piker's world is still a lot of money. 

1 hour ago, delekkerste said:

$204K is actually less than where a lot of people thought it would end up, myself included. 

I can't defeat arguments that are based on unknown, moving targets that people are able to pull out of their butts whenever necessary to win an argument.

[buttock]

4 hours ago, delekkerste said:

"As billionaires compete for art in an overheated market, the merely affluent are giving up."

I kind of feel like this is happening on a smaller scale in our hobby. At this point in my collecting career, I feel like I've been priced out of most of my all-time favorite pieces if they were to ever become available, while the prices on the material that is still potentially within reach are now so high that I have to keep my powder dry for these and not blow cash on anything that isn't truly in the top 1 or 2 % of my want list. 

As such, my true "must-have" want list, of things that are both likely to be attainable and available at some point, is down to probably less than 5 medium-to-high end items, plus a few low-to-medium end items.  I'm just glad I acquired what I did when I did, because if I was starting out from scratch today, I'd probably just be looking to build a collection of maybe 10-20 great pieces; there's no way I could build out anywhere near the collection I have starting from 2019 prices. Would wager that almost no one collecting for more than 15 years would be able to at this point.  

I've been doing this with comics for the past few years.  As prices escalate, books of marginal interest become books of no interest.  My art interests are less pricey, so I haven't had to triage nearly as much, but I also am very happy with the art I have so I'm not going nuts.  

[BCarter27]

44 minutes ago, vodou said:

Anyway, I think we'll all agree that this was one of the coldest 4/5m sales in the history of art

How do these guarantees usually play out in a no-bid situation? If it is going to a third-party guarantor, I hope he/she loves the painting. Because if it was a speculator getting a cut of the final, whoops... No, soup for you! And they're stuck with a piece they probably won't see all of their money back out of if they're looking to move it in the next few years.

Or maybe the third party only guaranteed it up to a reasonable amount -- say $3.5M -- and HA covered the rest as a marketing expense. If I were the speculator-guarantor, that would be a better deal as I would think I was closer to FMV at $3.5M than $4.5M, if I got stuck with the piece.

For those in the market for the next headlining Frazetta oil, be very wary about the actual comp here.

An overview of third-party guarantees for anyone just tuning in-

https://news.artnet.com/market/guarantees-new-private-sales-rip-off-insurance-became-new-normal-1290542