July Hake's Auction 1 1

[batman_fan]

55 minutes ago, tth2 said:

Congrats! 

Thanks. Really happy to add another one to the collection. 

[Ricksneatstuff]

Happy to get this strip and the Van Pelt ephemera. 

 

[delekkerste]

6 hours ago, zhamlau said:

That splash at 75k all in was bordering on a steal. Very well bought. Dynamic image, something special from a historic book by a great artist. 90k-100k seems more reasonable for that considering good (not great) panel pages have been going off over 20k a page for that early run, and have been doing so for a while.

Well...good-but-not-great panel pages from the two keys, GSXM #1 and X-Men #94, are going for more than $20K a page, but, I don't see that happening for X-Men #95-107.  I think good-but-not-great pages from the 1st Cockrum run are more like mid-teens, plus or minus a little bit (say, broadly, $13-$19K).  

I think this splash is cool, but, I didn't think for a second that it was a 6-figure piece.  As Dan M. said, even the #95 cover underwhelmed at auction; I see the splash being worth around half of the Kane/Cockrum cover (which I would peg in the $150-$180K range these days), hence...$75-$90K feels right to me.  

My feeling is that a few of the upper-end sales of Byrne X-Men art have created the impression that (nearly) all of 1st run Cockrum and Byrne X-Men art is worth more than it actually is.  The reality is that there are a lot of pieces that end up selling for less than what many people expect.   

[Timely]

I was 2 seconds away from putting in a bid on the Mars Attacks cover by Hildebrandt. At $4800 total I just couldn't trip the  bid. It's a great image and is huge, but the piece was just finished in March. Ultimately no one bid on it, so perhaps it was a bit overpriced. 

Edited July 12, 2019 by Timely

[BCarter27]

Conan and Red Sonja fight page was super cool and went for $4K-ish. That seems to be consistent with other nice Sonja or Belit pages.

[delekkerste]

47 minutes ago, BCarter27 said:

Conan and Red Sonja fight page was super cool and went for $4K-ish. That seems to be consistent with other nice Sonja or Belit pages.

I think that's actually a VERY strong price for that page.  Frizzy/bad hair day Sonja pages from the early 1980s do not should not sell for anywhere near Sonja and Belit pages from earlier in the run, IMO.  I would have bet the "under" on $2K all day long and twice on Sunday; $3,890 is...surprising.  

[grapeape]

5 hours ago, delekkerste said:

Well...good-but-not-great panel pages from the two keys, GSXM #1 and X-Men #94, are going for more than $20K a page, but, I don't see that happening for X-Men #95-107.  I think good-but-not-great pages from the 1st Cockrum run are more like mid-teens, plus or minus a little bit (say, broadly, $13-$19K).  

I think this splash is cool, but, I didn't think for a second that it was a 6-figure piece.  As Dan M. said, even the #95 cover underwhelmed at auction; I see the splash being worth around half of the Kane/Cockrum cover (which I would peg in the $150-$180K range these days), hence...$75-$90K feels right to me.  

My feeling is that a few of the upper-end sales of Byrne X-Men art have created the impression that (nearly) all of 1st run Cockrum and Byrne X-Men art is worth more than it actually is.  The reality is that there are a lot of pieces that end up selling for less than what many people expect.   

I think you make a solid point backing it up with past sales. Agreed 100% with Cockrum at $13-19k. The Cover/splash= is a good formula. My feeling was more instinctual based on my guess that at least two Alpha-irrational bank rollers might roll up their sleeves on this one. It felt like a bigger fish for those who might want to cement their collection with this bragging trophy. Sweet splash- hope the winner posts and tells us how he/she feels about it here or CAF.

If it's two guys from Northern California we will only see the art posted with the inquire sign.

[grapeape]

6 hours ago, Bronty said:

Grape ape:   I’m not a big Xmen fan but I really like both the cover and splash for 95...  however not everyone seems to share our opinion as neither piece’s results were overwhelming 

Bronty*** Honestly when the boards first tackled this splash a few months back there were many comments like "Cyclops Crotch close up" and "$100" offers. I wondered if maybe this one was in trouble?Not sure what made this piece dispensable? I really like Cockrum's work especially on X men. 

[Dokstarr]

The only thing I was going to bid on was the Amanda Conner Painkiller Jane piece but I fell asleep and didn't wake up. I'll have to see if it pops up on CAF at some point I guess.

[Carlo M]

48 minutes ago, grapeape said:

I think you make a solid point backing it up with past sales. Agreed 100% with Cockrum at $13-19k. The Cover/splash= is a good formula. My feeling was more instinctual based on my guess that at least two Alpha-irrational bank rollers might roll up their sleeves on this one. It felt like a bigger fish for those who might want to cement their collection with this bragging trophy. Sweet splash- hope the winner posts and tells us how he/she feels about it here or CAF.

If it's two guys from Northern California we will only see the art posted with the inquire sign.

Have to agree with Gene on this one.  Great splash, but small Wolverine and - of course - no Phoenix.  So based on recent prices of interiors 76k feels about right.  Great looking splash and very historical, though.  Great congrats to the buyer.

[Bronty]

1 hour ago, grapeape said:

Bronty*** Honestly when the boards first tackled this splash a few months back there were many comments like "Cyclops Crotch close up" and "$100" offers. I wondered if maybe this one was in trouble?Not sure what made this piece dispensable? I really like Cockrum's work especially on X men. 

I don't pay any attention to crotch shot and buttshot comments.   Everybody has a crotch and everybody has a butt, so as long as the butt in question isn't a huge part of the cover, who cares.

I agree with you that its a dynamic shot.   

People do tend to prefer the pinup perfect team shots though.    I.e. the more checklist centric approach as opposed to judging the image.

The 95 cover is awesome but no Wolverine (honestly something that never even dawned on me until Gene pointed it out back then because I couldn't give a hot runny "mess").   The 95 splash is awesome, but they aren't face front and posed, they are jumbled and all over the place.   (Which is harder to draw IMO but not so pinup perfect).

Edited July 12, 2019 by Bronty

[Bronty]

2 minutes ago, Bronty said:

 

People do tend to prefer the pinup perfect team shots though.    I.e. the more checklist centric approach as opposed to judging the image.

The 95 cover is awesome but no Wolverine (honestly something that never even dawned on me until Gene pointed it out back then because I couldn't give a hot runny "mess").   The 95 splash is awesome, but they aren't face front and posed, they are jumbled and all over the place.   (Which is harder to draw IMO but not so pinup perfect).

This comment makes me think of Jim Lee.   I will never be a fan but his stuff is almost always pinup perfect posed (which I strongly dislike, but) which the market seems to favor, which might explain some of his popularity/ pricing.

[Carlo M]

The ideal splash ìs pin-up style and yet consistent with the story / the situation.  X-Men 107 seems to me the perfect example.  Better than any cover, IMHO.

[tth2]

12 hours ago, Timely said:

Ultimately no one bid on it, so perhaps it was a bit overpriced. 

If no one bid on it, then by definition it was overpriced.

[John E.]

14 hours ago, Timely said:

I was 2 seconds away from putting in a bid on the Mars Attacks cover by Hildebrandt. At $4800 total I just couldn't trip the  bid. It's a great image and is huge, but the piece was just finished in March. Ultimately no one bid on it, so perhaps it was a bit overpriced. 

There’s a good chance it may appear at the next Hakes auction with a lower price. I’ve seen it done before. 

Edited July 13, 2019 by Jay Olie Espy

[grapeape]

9 hours ago, Carlo M said:

Have to agree with Gene on this one.  Great splash, but small Wolverine and - of course - no Phoenix.  So based on recent prices of interiors 76k feels about right.  Great looking splash and very historical, though.  Great congrats to the buyer.

Yeah 76k nothing to sneeze at. I would love to own it. 

[delekkerste]

17 hours ago, grapeape said:

I think you make a solid point backing it up with past sales. Agreed 100% with Cockrum at $13-19k. The Cover/splash= is a good formula. My feeling was more instinctual based on my guess that at least two Alpha-irrational bank rollers might roll up their sleeves on this one. It felt like a bigger fish for those who might want to cement their collection with this bragging trophy. 

 

15 hours ago, Carlo M said:

The ideal splash ìs pin-up style and yet consistent with the story / the situation.  X-Men 107 seems to me the perfect example.  Better than any cover, IMHO.

So, I, personally, wouldn't go so far as to prefer the XM 107 splash over any 1st run Cockrum XM cover, but, I agree that it is an A+ example (it would undoubtedly fetch a greater price than many covers from the run) and, really, the kind of splash that is the exception to the rule.  And the rule is that, for late Silver Age-present (i.e., the era in which covers are known to nearly all exist), splashes are not, by and large, the kind of "bragging trophies" for which "Alpha-irrational bank rollers" generally go to the mat. Again, there are of course exceptions that prove the rule, but, by and large, for art from the past 50 years or so, covers are where the BSDs and "wannaBSDs" (tm) throw down. 

And that is another reason why I couldn't see this one hitting even $100K, not when the XM 102 cover sold for "only" $131K just last year.  I mean, sure, this splash has more team members, including Wolverine, but, the 102 cover has by far the more memorable image (more desirable as well, IMO - it doesn't have the awkward poses and copious blank space that the 95 splash does) and carries far more bragging rights.  For me, the presence of the full team & Wolverine on the 95 splash is why I pegged it even at $75-90K instead of, say, $60-75K.

$76K is at the lower end of my FMV estimate, so, I think a "good buy" label could fairly be attached to the purchase.  That is, unless the buyer wasn't a dealer or otherwise able to escape the sales tax...if they had to add, say, 8.875% (as in NYC) to the price, bringing it close to $83K, I'd still say it was a decent buy, but, nowhere near the "steal" that some are making it out to be.  

[vodou]

22 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

That is, unless the buyer wasn't a dealer or otherwise able to escape the sales tax

What's the deferral period? Even for fully reporting dealers I don't think it's indefinite. Most jurisdictions are one year or even within same calendar/tax year, right?

[zhamlau]

On 7/12/2019 at 9:51 AM, delekkerste said:

Well...good-but-not-great panel pages from the two keys, GSXM #1 and X-Men #94, are going for more than $20K a page, but, I don't see that happening for X-Men #95-107.  I think good-but-not-great pages from the 1st Cockrum run are more like mid-teens, plus or minus a little bit (say, broadly, $13-$19K).  

I think this splash is cool, but, I didn't think for a second that it was a 6-figure piece.  As Dan M. said, even the #95 cover underwhelmed at auction; I see the splash being worth around half of the Kane/Cockrum cover (which I would peg in the $150-$180K range these days), hence...$75-$90K feels right to me.  

My feeling is that a few of the upper-end sales of Byrne X-Men art have created the impression that (nearly) all of 1st run Cockrum and Byrne X-Men art is worth more than it actually is.  The reality is that there are a lot of pieces that end up selling for less than what many people expect.   

They hit 20k without being exceptional issues or pages.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/dave-cockrum-and-bob-layton-x-men-105-story-page-17-phoenix-original-art-marvel-1977-/a/7204-93035.s

also multi pages from 100 sold 20k recently. Just being from the issue BEFORE the big issue I don’t think is enough of a boost to disqualify it as a special page outside of the norm.

 

Good X-men 94 pages I’ve seen 30-38k a few times but I’m not counting those.

What made me feel this was well bought was the 95 cover selling for over 2x as much as the splash, but over 3 years earlier. With the huge inflation in prices over the last 3 years I figured the cover would do 200k today and this piece would hit 90-100k.

Would this piece have hit 90+ in Heritage?

 

Edited July 13, 2019 by zhamlau

[delekkerste]

9 minutes ago, zhamlau said:

They hit 20k without being exceptional issues or pages.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/dave-cockrum-and-bob-layton-x-men-105-story-page-17-phoenix-original-art-marvel-1977-/a/7204-93035.s

also multi pages from 100 sold 20k recently. Just being from the issue BEFORE the big issue I don’t think is enough of a boost to disqualify it as a special page outside of the norm.

 

Good X-men 94 pages I’ve seen 30-38k a few times but I’m not counting those.

What made me feel this was well bought was the 95 cover selling for over 2x as much as the splash, but over 3 years earlier. With the huge inflation in prices over the last 3 years I figured the cover would do 200k today and this piece would hit 90-100k.

Would this piece have hit 90+ in Heritage?

 

First, $19.2K is sub-20K! Second, I think that's an overpay on that page. That said, some of the Phoenix pages get a premium (the #100 pages are very memorable, to boot), as do Wolvie pages (Phoenix tax?) I don't think you can say that 1st run Cockrum pages are solidly in the 20Ks, not even close - the ones that are in that range (or higher) have to have a reason to be there. 

IMO, there's been far less inflation at the high end over the past few years than some think - there are only so many players there and, to beat out everyone at auction these days generally means the piece having to catch up to the auction price somewhat. As such, I see the 95 cover as being more like 150-180K now, not 200K. IIRC, even the 102 cover that sold last year was barely more than where it previously traded hands privately (after HA's cut, I suspect the consignor may have actually lost a little). 

I could see the 95 splash hitting 90K (75K hammer) at Heritage. I don't see this being a 100K piece, though. I think you guys are far overestimating its value and desirability among the people likely to go for something like this. I mean, barring a personal/nostalgic connection, I don't see any big hitters being willing to shell out 100K+ for this when the 102 cover only went for 131K and when that kind of money can still buy some exceptional interiors from the run (both Cockrum and Byrne).