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Your (most emotional) collecting milestones to date
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32 posts in this topic

5 hours ago, Michael (OML)1 said:

I was over the moon - and have been to this day - to own the first page of the first super-hero comic I ever read (and really to me it is the cover since my cousin's book didn't have a cover) -- well, this is priceless.

Great story and find!

I have story like this -waiting for The Ending, but the art hasn't made itself known to me yet...almost 30 years of searching...I am patient. (if nothing else!)

Nobody knows I want "it", a nothing special panel page to The Hobby that I'd rather not pay GRAILY-GRAIL for :(

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18 hours ago, malvin said:

Ok, I'll play, but with a twist. 

For the longest time, I had a psychological barrier when spending money on OA.  As many of my long time OA friends could attest, I could not bring myself to bring $500 on a single piece because I just didn't think it was worth it. To show how irrational this barrier was, I have no problem spending $2K on 20 pieces!  Of course I eventually broke that barrier, and now I think I have a different problem :nyah:

The other aspect is that I like to buy cheap art.  Sometimes even when art is not up my collecting alley, I would buy it if I think it was cheap (and if my tastes change, hopefully I can recover what I paid easily). 

So my milestones are me overpaying 

1. Birch Bair Catwoman Miniseries Issue 1 Cover - CAF Link

At the time I was buying this, an OA friend said I was overpaying and I was being foolish (it was way more than $500 BTW) but I went ahead. You like what you like

2. Green Longbow Hunters TPB Cover - CAF Link

Years prior to this, someone was selling a few Grell Longbow Hunters covers. At the time I just couldn't get anywhere near his price.  Many years later, he found me again.  The price did not change much but the overall market has.  The same friend as #1 also said I was overpaying :nyah: But seeing that there are only 4 covers out there (and I didn't like the 2 others he had for sale as much) I went ahead.

3. Kevin Maguire Justice League Poster art - CAF Link

This is all about that adage of if you miss something in OA, there is always something around the corner.  The week before I bought this, there was an HA auction and a Zeck Punisher painted cover for auction.  That cover was my introduction to Zeck punisher and I thought my $10K budget would be competitive.  During live auction I went as high as $15K was but was the underbidder.  Then I saw that this was for auction on ebay so I diverted my budget that way.  After I won, guess what? I found out the underbidder who drove up the price on me was the same friend who said I was overpaying for item 1 and 2 above :nyah:

Malvin

I like to buy inexpensive art as well, so long as I like it. In my view, almost nothing the Big Two have published would qualify as "bad" art, although quality can vary. The different pieces often represent different styles and subject matters, with prices affected by nostalgia as well as quality. Yes, some art is better than other art, but really stinkeroo stuff? I imagine some collectors could find lousy artwork from them, but it would be rare. What you gain with your budget is diversity, an appreciation of style differences and the ability to see different takes on the subject matter. All good, and invaluable.

So, while I might extend  a little higher these days for "throwaway" purchases, by all means, there is nothing wrong with your decision in my book. But, I still won't spend $10,000 for a single piece of art. I would lose too much by doing so, and I don't just mean money.

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18 hours ago, Unstoppablejayd said:

This is a great topic! Love the stories so far (and @Brian Peck I am beyond jealous)

I am relatively new to OA collecting , maybe 3 years or so, and when I started collecting art I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on it, I was still dabbling and the X-men pieces that held the most nostalgia seemed just so out of reach. At the point of this story the most I had ever spent on a piece was maybe 5/600 dollars. Until I saw our very own @stinkininkin post his Uncanny X-men variant cover.. it was love at first sight , to me it touched every genre of the art and team I loved. I wanted it , again new guy who had no clue how to acquire a cover that wasn’t even out yet.. and no idea what it would cost. I didn’t even know Scott was on our boards yet... So I reached out over Twitter and Scott responded (first time for me talking directly to an artist trying to buy art). The price was huge in comparison to what I had been spending - there was no way I could swing that: I actually agreed to buy it then got cold feet and backed out. Thankfully Scott being a collector was so cool and easy, he suggested time payments (yes still had no clue at that point that everyone in this game does them) and I was back in. This would already be an emotional purchase, but it got even better because it just so happened that Scott was making an appearance at a smaller localish show right about when I would have it paid off.. so even though he is west coast based I was able to pick it up in person. He was so nice and accommodating to chat about his art and collecting in general.. it made the stretch even better and honestly what made me dive headfirst into collecting OA!

 

 

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I'm very honored. So glad I could help make your first deep dive a positive experience. Thank you!

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2 hours ago, vodou said:

Great story and find!

I have story like this -waiting for The Ending, but the art hasn't made itself known to me yet...almost 30 years of searching...I am patient. (if nothing else!)

Nobody knows I want "it", a nothing special panel page to The Hobby that I'd rather not pay GRAILY-GRAIL for :(

I hope you find it!

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There are two:

  • My Swan Superman
  • My JLA 29 page

I've told these stories a thousand times and you can get the details in the CAF Description by clicking on the images, but here's the summary.

My paternal grandmother setup a small trust fund for her adopted children upon her death in 1967 (I was 10). After about 38 years, the trust had done its job and the balance was to be distributed among her three natural children. By that time, my dad had passed so his share was split among his four children. For the first time in more than 30 years, I had some free cash. Kathy and I decided I could spend it as I wished. I'd discovered Heritage and there this was along with a Sheldon Mayer Sugar and Spike one-page story. I bid something on both, but decided that the Swan was going to go out of reach so I bid the balance on the Mayer. I lost, but the Superman was mine on my highest bid! Thanks, Grandmother.

Superman by Curt Swan Comic Art

At the Comic Art Show in 2010, Kathy and I made an appearance and found 5(!) pages from my very first comic - Justice League of America (1st Series) 29 featuring the JLA and it's 2nd JSA crossover. This is the comic that imprinted me. This story is long, but it involves a Mexican vacation, minimal cash for gas to get back to Texas, a comic book vending machine at a HoJo, and $0.15. What really makes it special is that Kathy bought it for me. She has not always been a fan of my hobby as you can read here, but she knew it meant a lot to me. I have a wonderful wife!

Sekowsky,%20Mike%20and%20Bernard%20Sachs%20-%20JLA%2029%20Pg%2010.jpg

Thanks to Will Gabri-El for a quick and fair deal. What I'd like to know is the location of the splash. If six pages have surfaced, that indicates that more may be out there. That splash means a lot to since my brother and I stared at it for a long time trying to figure out who these people were before we read the comic. I value it higher than the cover. :) I suspect it's mostly stat, but I wouldn't care.

See the source image
 

 

Edited by alxjhnsn
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1 hour ago, grapeape said:

September 2, 2006 goes down as the worst night in Grapeape’s life. On that night I found my brother dead at his home in Lake Elsinore, Ca. He was a young man of 37 years with two sons. 
 

As kids we lost ourselves in the world of comics. Sprawled on the floor reading, comics everywhere. He was my best friend and losing him took a big piece of me away. 
 

In high school my brother was discovering a talent for art. Once given an assignment to choose a master painter/sketcher he went his own way and to the best of his ability rendered his version of our Michelangelo’s remarkable achievements.

My friends here will forgive that this is amateur art. My brother ChrisApe after Kirby. Emotional as this was gifted to me from my brother before he passed away.

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I'm sorry to hear about your brother, but that is a wonderful gift from him and rendition. Whatever his art teacher may have thought of his assignment, he recognized a master's work, indeed.

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