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The Spreadsheet
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60 posts in this topic

10 hours ago, Stefanomjr said:

So maybe another column to add to a spreadsheet is "Inquiries": Contact details on anyone who has expressed an interest in buying the art. 

Since this has turned into a “lists we keep” thread, this is one I sort of do.

I don’t keep a formal list. What I do keep is any messages via CAF expressing interest in work that is NFS. Which most of the time for me, is all of it. But I do keep those messages.
 

There have been a couple times over the last decade where I did decide to sell a piece that I didn’t have plans to sell years earlier. I’ve reached out to the folks that expressed interest. I don’t think any of them ever contacted me back. I have come to suspect the “let me know if you ever decide to sell” usually means, if you decide later this week. Otherwise, the person I am contacting A year or 4 later has no money at that time, lost interest, no longer collects, no longer uses CAF or has no manners to at least respond and let me know about any of the first three.
 

But I still keep those inquiry emails. No idea why.

And I do keep a different kind of formal list for my family, that lists each piece, it’s approximate current value (a range low to high), and a list below that of people and organizations that I trust to help sell the different types of art that my wife does not want to keep. So she has options of what to do with it and isn’t starting out knowing people and places that I would reach out to if I were her.

I try to realistically update that list once a year - 18 months.

It’s not a spreadsheet On the way that the first few posts mentioned, but I suppose it’s as close to that as I get. And I do it for someone else more than myself.

 

Edited by ESeffinga
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34 minutes ago, ESeffinga said:

Since this has turned into a “lists we keep” thread, this is one I sort of do.

I don’t keep a formal list. What I do keep is any messages via CAF expressing interest in work that is NFS. Which most of the time for me, is all of it. But I do keep those messages.
 

There have been a couple times over the last decade where I did decide to sell a piece that I didn’t have plans to sell years earlier. I’ve reached out to the folks that expressed interest. I don’t think any of them ever contacted me back. I have alcove to suspect the “let me know if you ever decide to sell” usually means, if you decide later this week. Otherwise, the person I am contacting A year or 4 later has no money at that time, lost interest, no longer collects, no longer uses CAF or has no manners to at least respond and let me know about any of the first three.
 

But I still keep those inquiry emails. No idea why.

And I do keep a different kind of formal list for my family, that lists each piece, it’s approximate current value (a range low to high), and a list below that of people and organizations that I trust to help sell the different types of art that my wife does not want to keep. So she has options of what to do with it and isn’t starting out knowing people and places that I would reach out to if I were her.

I try to realistically update that list once a year - 18 months.

It’s not a spreadsheet On the way that the first few posts mentioned, but I suppose it’s as close to that as I get. And I do it for someone else more than myself.

 

I do both of these things also - good practice I feel. I recently received a second, extremely polite inquiry about a piece I had listed NFS. The polite inquiry prompted my mind to re-evaluate the piece in question, and surprisingly, it did not 'spark enough joy' so I decided to let go of it. For those of you paying attention, POLITENESS was key here, though paying FMV+ was also very important! And I was able to check my CAF 'inquiry emails' about this piece and the person was indeed first-in-line, as it were. 

I'll diverge here a little to address something that has bee cropping up - a piece is listed NFS means one should not approach the owner at all. I disagree with this. I look at the amount of time the piece has been listed and send a polite inquiry based on that. But I think it's important to remember that owners often add a piece, list the status as NFS, because it IS NFS in that moment of time, and then move on with their lives. You never know how the owner is going to feel a year or several later, despite the NFS listing. I have acquired a couple  

To the second point, I definitely feel it is required of me to leave some instruction and detail to my survivors about the collection if something should suddenly happen to me, and an independent spreadsheet is easier to pass on or share than data on an external website. 

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13 minutes ago, dichotomy said:

 To the second point, I definitely feel it is required of me to leave some instruction and detail to my survivors about the collection if something should suddenly happen to me, and an independent spreadsheet is easier to pass on or share than data on an external website. 

Agreed. Mine is a printed list of information that lives with the wills and other important papers.

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51 minutes ago, dichotomy said:

To the second point, I definitely feel it is required of me to leave some instruction and detail to my survivors about the collection if something should suddenly happen to me, and an independent spreadsheet is easier to pass on or share than data on an external website. 

This is very important to me, especially as I approach my “Dark Knight” Batman years.  My wife and kids know the OA collection is valuable but would have no idea of FMVs for individual pieces if sold.  I put a copy of my spreadsheet in the safe with a auction contact and general instructions for next steps “in the event of my passing”.  Now I realize I might have to add location (ie, framed painting in blue bedroom) and first dibs for select pieces (John Smith, jsmith@gmail, $25kif interested) but the latter brings added complexity / hassle for my family.  So, I’m rethinking my spreadsheet in light of everyone’s input  #grateful

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1 hour ago, ESeffinga said:

And I do keep a different kind of formal list for my family, that lists each piece, it’s approximate current value (a range low to high), and a list below that of people and organizations that I trust to help sell the different types of art that my wife does not want to keep

I keep a list too, it's populated with names of all the people to never, ever, ever call on to help sell anything. Most of our friendly neighborhood dealers are on it ;)

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12 hours ago, Stefanomjr said:

Recently followed up,  circled back,  with someone about a piece of art I was interested in buying from then.  I'd asked a few times on various forums,  I'd expected to get the typical Im-not-interested-in-selling response... instead was shocked to find out he'd sold it!!! He hadn't thought to reach out to me,  because he first looked at email inquiries (I'd reached out on CAF and Twitter).

 

So maybe another column to add to a spreadsheet is "Inquiries": Contact details on anyone who has expressed an interest in buying the art. 

I see how this would be helpful as I had an interested person in a cover I had on my CAF. I wasn't willing to trade at that moment but I might be willing to do it now. Can't contact that person because I don't remember who it is anymore.

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I have penciler and inker to my spreadsheet but have recently added writer to it too as I am going through a phase were I like people who worked on the comic to sign my pieces. I also have a description of page column were I state what is happening in the page and who the characters that appear in it are.

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I keep an MS Word document with instructions on how to handle the art on the event of my death. I print it out periodically and place it with my will and other documents of import.

I also have a spreadsheet where I paste the MS Word table to do calculations, e.g., $ / year. I thought about using SS only, but decided to use both because it's easier to have text and such in the Word document.

For anyone that cares, I'm happy here are the fields that I keep for each piece of art:

Title of Art - same title that I use on the CAF and this is linked to the CAF entry
Artist(s) - penciler and inker and colorist if colored
Source - Where I bought it, e.g., ebay, Dealer - Spencer Beck, Direct, ...
Type - Commission, Pre-Done, Published Page, Published Cover, etc.
Price - Price paid less the next three
BP - Buyers Premium, if any    
Tax - Sales tax or duty    
S/H - Shipping and Handling  
Date - Date received    
Comments - Any comments, e.g., gift from Kathy  
Views, Cmts - I track this and the CAF comments to feed my model of what pieces are the most popular with the viewing community
 

The spread sheet leverages a lot of these columns including views and comment to calculate a ranked popularity.

If you want a copy, PM your email address and I'll send them along.

Edited by alxjhnsn
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20 hours ago, Stefanomjr said:

Recently followed up,  circled back,  with someone about a piece of art I was interested in buying from then.  I'd asked a few times on various forums,  I'd expected to get the typical Im-not-interested-in-selling response... instead was shocked to find out he'd sold it!!! He hadn't thought to reach out to me,  because he first looked at email inquiries (I'd reached out on CAF and Twitter).

 

So maybe another column to add to a spreadsheet is "Inquiries": Contact details on anyone who has expressed an interest in buying the art. 

Thank goodness. When I saw “spreadsheet” I thought we were revisiting the recent ASM splash pages with Spidey appearing to be compromised by the Green Goblin and others.

 

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14 hours ago, GreatEscape said:

This is very important to me, especially as I approach my “Dark Knight” Batman years.  My wife and kids know the OA collection is valuable but would have no idea of FMVs for individual pieces if sold.  I put a copy of my spreadsheet in the safe with a auction contact and general instructions for next steps “in the event of my passing”.  Now I realize I might have to add location (ie, framed painting in blue bedroom) and first dibs for select pieces (John Smith, jsmith@gmail, $25kif interested) but the latter brings added complexity / hassle for my family.  So, I’m rethinking my spreadsheet in light of everyone’s input  #grateful

Wowza! My idea of due diligence is printing out the consignments page from the HA website and taping it to the inside cover of my Itoya with a note that reads: “Send here.”

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If my spreadsheet were a car it would be considered a classic. I've outgrown or upgraded through more versions of Excel than I can remember. 

It is fun to look back on what things cost you and make revisions for current valuation. And, for those with families and/or painfully aware of the tenuousness of this mortal coil it's a necessity. 

It's even useful, for those that have traded or bought and sold their way up the ladder to get better pieces they wouldn't/couldn't pay for out of pocket to see the value of the collection go up while the cost has gone done...and then use that information to justify really silly purchases at obscene values because of all the great decisions you'd made in the past balancing the scales. 

 

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1 hour ago, comix4fun said:

If my spreadsheet were a car it would be considered a classic. I've outgrown or upgraded through more versions of Excel than I can remember. 

It is fun to look back on what things cost you and make revisions for current valuation. And, for those with families and/or painfully aware of the tenuousness of this mortal coil it's a necessity. 

It's even useful, for those that have traded or bought and sold their way up the ladder to get better pieces they wouldn't/couldn't pay for out of pocket to see the value of the collection go up while the cost has gone done...and then use that information to justify really silly purchases at obscene values because of all the great decisions you'd made in the past balancing the scales. 

 

I hope all you spreadsheet fans know how this sounds? Who needs art: we've got our spreadsheets.

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57 minutes ago, Rick2you2 said:

I hope all you spreadsheet fans know how this sounds? Who needs art: we've got our spreadsheets.

Once someone's been at it for 15-20-25-30 years or more, spreadsheets are a necessary memory extender. 

Having a conversation about the provenance of a piece and figuring out when you owned it, when you sold it, etc? Check the sheet. 

Hoping to find that perfect example from an artist and are getting frustrated? Check the sheet, maybe you already own it and forgot. 

Want to make an argument for why you should pay less for a piece by a certain artist? Use your own comps from a decade ago and see the dealer's head explode.

But seriously, having owned thousands of piece of artwork over the decades, keeping accurate track of what came, what went, and what remains isn't something you want to leave to just your memory. 

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start with a spreadsheet, and graduate to a database! Lots more flexibility. but takes a lot of time and work to assemble, tweak, troubleshoot.... and maintain!  When its done though, instant access to everything you own (or have managed to include...)   prices paid, estimated value, images, personal notes, key status, where, Guide, recent sales, etc etc

 

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2 minutes ago, Aman619 said:

start with a spreadsheet, and graduate to a database! Lots more flexibility. but takes a lot of time and work to assemble, tweak, troubleshoot.... and maintain!  When its done though, instant access to everything you own (or have managed to include...)   prices paid, estimated value, images, personal notes, key status, where, Guide, recent sales, etc etc

 

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