The Official September Heritage Auction Thread 2 2

[ESeffinga]

The way the text reads, it sounded to me like the original published cover is definitely out there somewhere after being auctioned off in the 90s. And was available for comparison to this piece. If I was a serious Frazetta shopper, that’d definitely factor into my thinking.

FWIW, certainly not my favorite Fritz by a LONG shot. IMO super well known image, that breathed new life into the story for people at the time. Not a great painting. Frazetta did far better work.

To me, this painting is all about bragging rights, but then kneecapped right out of the gate because “not really”, given it’s the second version.

-e.

[vodou]

4 hours ago, Brian Peck said:

Is the location of the published Princess of Mars painting known? Since Frazetta never got it back from the publisher initially. Did Frank ever get the original back? Considering its one of his most famous and coveted paintings, did the Frazettas after try and recover it?

I believe this offering was the published original.

My old catalogs are not handy, anyone else able to confirm? And if so, is this the last time it was seen?

[ESeffinga]

Definitely has the pre-adjusted “posture” and the right date mentioned in the description for the 2nd draft Heritage is auctioning off. Looks like the right catalog.

[cstojano]

Second that, the two projections from the arm of the monster/alien in the foreground match the book cover as well. 

[grapeape]

12 hours ago, batman_fan said:

I don't know why but I really like this one.

I loved these one offs with Fat Freddy and his cat. This is a nice example.

[grapeape]

On 8/3/2020 at 8:52 PM, tth2 said:

I think the point is more that very few things appeared cheap at the time they were up for sale. 

As X% of average income back then versus Y% of average income today, perhaps they were cheaper in relative terms back then, but by the same token it would've felt crazy at that time to spend more than X% of average income. 

It's only in hindsight that things appeared to be cheap.

Yes hindsight exactly right.
I spent $4500 on an large size interior page in 1997. I had to really scrape that together. It was a lot of money for a family man with two kids. It seemed very expensive to me.

I think for those of us old enough and looking at art from 1990-2000 you had to believe that in the future you would look smart by spending and holding on to the art. Then you had to find a way to get the $$$.

We lament those lower prices because if we had put our foot to the pedal some of us could’ve retired already. And newer collectors getting in to this thing see some of those art catalogs of the past and can’t believe we let a McFarlane sail by at $2k. 
 

I see an old movie and a steak dinner cost .25 cents on the chalkboard. Whatever era you live in things seem expensive or not based on your ability to earn and the various hands out that demand those earnings I.e mortgage, etc.

[vodou]

2 hours ago, grapeape said:

if we had put our foot to the pedal some of us could’ve retired already.

Speak for yourself..Ke-mo sah-bee

[grapeape]

1 hour ago, vodou said:

Speak for yourself..Ke-mo sah-bee

If “we” had been as smart as Vodou.....

[aokartman]

1 hour ago, grapeape said:

If “we” had been as smart as Vodou.....

I am having some good results with comic books, and hanging on to most art for now.  Both are currently experiencing a strong market, and books were not so hot for a while there.

David

[grapeape]

6 minutes ago, aokartman said:

I am having some good results with comic books, and hanging on to most art for now.  Both are currently experiencing a strong market, and books were not so hot for a while there.

David

That’s encouraging news David. I’m out of the comic scene and pricing keeps me from jumping back in.

Art offers new possibilities everyday. Hang on to your art. Enjoy what you have. 
 

Cheers

 🍇 🦍 

[Bronty]

What else are people checking out for September? As always I’m looking forward to the show 

[sfilosa]

Since they are have five auctions a year (instead of the usual four, one every three months), they don't have anywhere near as many pieces in this one. It's been stuck on 400 for a few days so I think that might be it. Most of the time they have had 600-700 pieces. Obviously quality matters more than quantity, but I also don't really like the quality of this auction. 87 in total are strip art (which I don't collect) with 37 of those being Jim Davis Garfield pieces. Very weak auction. I hope this isn't a harbinger of things to come.

That said, there is one piece I am very interested in. I tend to want "items" that aren't readily available or are more unique (but has to have been published). I will also say that the piece I want would be hard to determine the value / what it will sell for.

For anyone who would like to guess, if you get it right, I will email you. One last hint, I own a X-Men Steranko page and I don't own (anymore) Jack Kirby art. Love both of their work, but I know I can get a Kirby page when I want, and when Heritage had a nice Steranko page (several years ago), I knew, buy now or wait a long time.  

[grapeape]

On 8/3/2020 at 7:38 PM, Norinn Radd said:

Wow!

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/lee-elias-chamber-of-chills-19-cover-original-art-harvey-1953-/p/7234-112001.s?ic4=ListView-Thumbnail-071515

Heritage added text description for the art. I underlined at the bottom description of condition as well as info on the logo and header dressing just FYI.

 

Lee Elias Chamber of Chills #19 Cover Original Art (Harvey, 1953). This is one of those small handful of iconic pieces of original comic art that not only define an era in comics history, but have also taken on huge impact in the culture at large. A glass of sparkling champagne, a lit cigarette, and a beautiful lady usually make for a "Happy Anniversary," which is the title of the cover-featured story inside this classic pre-Code horror issue illustrated by Bob Powell. As with many of the greatest pre-Code horror issues, the cover assignment was given to Lee Elias by Harvey art director Warren Kremer, who provided a preliminary layout for Elias to produce the finished pencils and inks. The final result is one of the all-time greatest covers-not only for all Golden Age horror, but for the entire history of comics -- that portends the coming of death and which burned an indelibly lasting impression on the minds of kids growing up in the early 1950s. As one of the most potent images of the era, it was also used decades later by Glenn Danzig as the cover for the 1984 EP Die, Die My Darling by the legendary band The Misfits. And as such, it can be found on scores of t-shirts and posters to this day. This original art has never before been offered on the market, having been hidden away in the same collection for decades, so both comic fans and fans of Danzig and The Misfits should take note!
Rendered in ink over graphite on Bristol board archivally mounted on acid-free board, with an image area of 10" x 15". A scratch art technique was used on the cigarette smoke, the woman's rotting face, and the light flare on the glass. As such, these do not detract from the condition of the piece. There are glossy white stickers on the archival board outside of the image area, and minor light toning spots on the light flare and smoke. Some text is created in white paint, and there are black ink touch-up spots under the first "l" in "Chill". The logo and header dressing are modern day replacements affixed to the board. In overall Excellent condition.
 

[Bronty]

On 8/15/2020 at 7:50 PM, sfilosa said:

Since they are have five auctions a year (instead of the usual four, one every three months), they don't have anywhere near as many pieces in this one. It's been stuck on 400 for a few days so I think that might be it. Most of the time they have had 600-700 pieces. Obviously quality matters more than quantity, but I also don't really like the quality of this auction. 87 in total are strip art (which I don't collect) with 37 of those being Jim Davis Garfield pieces. Very weak auction. I hope this isn't a harbinger of things to come.

That said, there is one piece I am very interested in. I tend to want "items" that aren't readily available or are more unique (but has to have been published). I will also say that the piece I want would be hard to determine the value / what it will sell for.

For anyone who would like to guess, if you get it right, I will email you. One last hint, I own a X-Men Steranko page and I don't own (anymore) Jack Kirby art. Love both of their work, but I know I can get a Kirby page when I want, and when Heritage had a nice Steranko page (several years ago), I knew, buy now or wait a long time.  

This one does seem light compared to most, although I imagine their operations are disrupted between covid, the extra auction, and perhaps most significantly, their office move.   I would guess they will be in a better position to even things out in the future .

[sfilosa]

2 minutes ago, Bronty said:

This one does seem light compared to most, although I imagine their operations are disrupted between covid, the extra auction, and perhaps most significantly, their office move.   I would guess they will be in a better position to even things out in the future .

Maybe. Also, both a lot of Kaluta and Murphy Anderson work has been released lately. This auction has 27 pieces that Anderson worked on, and off course none are Marvel. Nor are the 7 Kaluta pieces. Those artist have also been filling up a lot of their weekly auctions. I think the supply of quality material is drying up a bit. And this is based on a conversation with Joe Mannarino (who I think called a lot of people including myself in May to discuss selling art), a lot of the art over the past few years was his collection. I have to believe there isn't much left (but that I don't know). 

But two points that really matter:

* Doesn't really matter how much artwork they have in an auction. Matters do they have something you want. If I win one piece it's still a successful auction and if they had twenty pieces I wanted, I still at best would get 3-4 at the most. The only difference is that you feel (and this might be a mistake), the more pieces, the better chance that the piece you want sells for a little less (more supply keeps the prices down).

* They do seem to have more "complete stories" for sale than usual. They could in theory have broken those up and sold them over several auctions and therefore had more individual pieces.

Good luck to everyone!

 

 

 

[Bronty]

41 minutes ago, sfilosa said:

Maybe. Also, both a lot of Kaluta and Murphy Anderson work has been released lately. This auction has 27 pieces that Anderson worked on, and off course none are Marvel. Nor are the 7 Kaluta pieces. Those artist have also been filling up a lot of their weekly auctions. I think the supply of quality material is drying up a bit. And this is based on a conversation with Joe Mannarino (who I think called a lot of people including myself in May to discuss selling art), a lot of the art over the past few years was his collection. I have to believe there isn't much left (but that I don't know). 

But two points that really matter:

* Doesn't really matter how much artwork they have in an auction. Matters do they have something you want. If I win one piece it's still a successful auction and if they had twenty pieces I wanted, I still at best would get 3-4 at the most. The only difference is that you feel (and this might be a mistake), the more pieces, the better chance that the piece you want sells for a little less (more supply keeps the prices down).

* They do seem to have more "complete stories" for sale than usual. They could in theory have broken those up and sold them over several auctions and therefore had more individual pieces.

Good luck to everyone!

 

 

 

interesting.    Do you mean to say that a fair bit of the volume in general has been Mannarino's, or do you specifically mean Anderson & Kaluta?     I presume you mean generally?

I have to think it will eventually sort itself out.   If few people are selling quality items, prices on those items will rise further.   If prices rise further, people will start to sell again.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Bronty

[ShallowDan]

With the non-marque pieces (for lack of a better way of putting it) I'm always curious how they decide what ends up in the weekly auctions, versus being filler material in a Signature auction.  

As sfilosa says, this one is loaded down with Jim Davis' Garfield.  That's something I don't follow, however my impression is that it always does okay, but it's more the type stuff you'd expect to see spread across a month or two of weeklies, versus the sort of thing you'd have so over-represented in a Signature auction.

[Bronty]

10 minutes ago, ShallowDan said:

With the non-marque pieces (for lack of a better way of putting it) I'm always curious how they decide what ends up in the weekly auctions, versus being filler material in a Signature auction.  

As sfilosa says, this one is loaded down with Jim Davis' Garfield.  That's something I don't follow, however my impression is that it always does okay, but it's more the type stuff you'd expect to see spread across a month or two of weeklies, versus the sort of thing you'd have so over-represented in a Signature auction.

There's a shyt ton of garfield the last few auctions and for the next while.  There was an announcement about it a while back.    So they will be in weeklies, signatures, you name it for a little while.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Bronty

[jjonahjameson11]

55 minutes ago, ShallowDan said:

With the non-marque pieces (for lack of a better way of putting it) I'm always curious how they decide what ends up in the weekly auctions, versus being filler material in a Signature auction.  

As sfilosa says, this one is loaded down with Jim Davis' Garfield.  That's something I don't follow, however my impression is that it always does okay, but it's more the type stuff you'd expect to see spread across a month or two of weeklies, versus the sort of thing you'd have so over-represented in a Signature auction.

The Weeklies can be kind of tricky at times 'cause you never know what you're going to get.  For example, last month, there was a nice ASM 173 battle page with Molten Man in their weekly auction that sold for $8K+ that should have been in their Signature auction. 

Going back to 2012 or 2013, there was a Mazz DD 233 page that sold for $10K in the weekly auction.

Perhaps they were place there to get more eyes/bidders engaged in the weekly auctions or perhaps they were placed there at the seller's request (missed the Signature deadline and needed the cash) or perhaps they were place there by accident? 

Edited August 17, 2020 by jjonahjameson11

[sfilosa]

2 hours ago, Bronty said:

interesting.    Do you mean to say that a fair bit of the volume in general has been Mannarino's, or do you specifically mean Anderson & Kaluta?     I presume you mean generally?

I have to think it will eventually sort itself out.   If few people are selling quality items, prices on those items will rise further.   If prices rise further, people will start to sell again.

Two different statements. My bad.

* Lots of Kaluta and Anderson art has been released. In Kaluta's case by him, and in Anderson by his estate? (or whoever bought a lot of it, not sure).

* Mannarino came on board awhile ago, and has been selling a lot of his collection in the auctions (that's what he told me). Speculation on this, but that is probably why he works for Heritage now (instead of All-Star Auctions his own previous company).