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Do you hold out for super grail, of grab stuff as you go
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59 posts in this topic

11 hours ago, BuraddoRun said:

I'm a new collector, so I've just started with simple, affordable things that I enjoy: my favorite characters, books, and artists. But now I'm starting to save up for some available pieces that are more "grail"-esque. I don't think I could call any one piece my "Grail," (uppercase) because I love a lot of things! But I definitely have many "grails" (lowercase) that I would love to own. But even the cheaper, not-very-exiting-to-most-people pieces of my favorite characters are awesome to me, and I'm proud to own those I have.

I have collected on and off for a long time, and I never got out of this stage. A professional artist, in my opinion, will almost always produce good art (if published by a major co.). Once you factor in personal taste, the odds are that no matter what you buy in this category, you will have something to love. And, don’t confuse high prices with “great” art. A lot of pricing is a function of nostalgia or overheated demand for a popular artist. 

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On 8/5/2020 at 11:18 PM, sfilosa said:

Sounds like they are all grails in some form or fashion. And if they really aren't, then you should have maybe bought one cover and that complete story and called it a day with this artist. 

 

Bears some explanation, bought one cover from a specific story arc. Asked the dealer if by chance cover A & B were available. Dealer said no, but cover C & D were so, wanting a cover with the new version of these Rogues I went ahead ... and you probably guess a week later... (drum roll please) they found the two I was after. Then the writer took a  twist into a new story arc I am very excited about and when the opportunity to buy a complete book of panels, well I had the cover, so yep got two complete books, and am very happy. If a page from 174, 155 or one of a few covers I would be willing to battle a whale for comes up in the next few months, I will be philosophical. I may let cover C & D go one day, but to get A & B and then these books, the detour was well worth it. The thing is by buying C & D I am getting first option on stuff I have not loved as much since Infantino left the book. So if it is stuff I don't plan on letting go as long as my eyesight holds out.

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In the last two or three years a number of pages from my grail series have gone up for sale but I lacked the funds. Now I have more than enough to go after one but the opportunities have dried up so far this year. I’m trying to practice patience but I admit I’m tempted every time I see shiny new objects from dealer sites. I’ve already caved twice in the last few months 😅

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What kinds of pieces are some of your grails? Do you like specific covers, splashes, pages, or whatever because the images themselves are awesome? Do you look for first or other iconic appearances of your favorite characters? Do you have favorite comics that you just want to own a production piece from? Do you want a piece from your favorite artist? Some other sentimental reason?

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10 hours ago, BuraddoRun said:

What kinds of pieces are some of your grails? Do you like specific covers, splashes, pages, or whatever because the images themselves are awesome? Do you look for first or other iconic appearances of your favorite characters? Do you have favorite comics that you just want to own a production piece from? Do you want a piece from your favorite artist? Some other sentimental reason?

My “grails” I would consider pages from my childhood comics I read with large panels or splashes with characters(villains) I like.

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I have three of the six. 

I was the underbidder on the fourth, can't win them all. One I have never seen anywhere. The sixth, I saw one year in San Diego before I started collecting and haven't seen it since. 

Edited by Shemp
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23 minutes ago, Shemp said:

I have three of the six. 

I was the underbidder on the fourth, can't win them all. One I have never seen anywhere. The sixth, I saw one year in San Diego before I started collecting and haven't seen it since. 

So what are the three you have?

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I did both in a way. When I looked at auctions or dealers sites I restrained myself so I wouldn't buy or at least attempt to everything that looked nice and caught my interest. I only went after things that I saw as the focus of my collecting trying to get an example of a character, book or artist I wanted and held out for examples I felt was the best I could get in my price range. When I actually had a chance at a super grail I was able to liquidate many of those pieces which let me afford it. I don't think I would have been able to afford it otherwise since the money I spent on the pieces before likely wouldn't haven't of been saved up where I could just have dumped it in one large sum. It also would have made me afraid of spending that amount while I was more comfortable doing it through selling pieces. 

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20 hours ago, BuraddoRun said:

What kinds of pieces are some of your grails? Do you like specific covers, splashes, pages, or whatever because the images themselves are awesome? Do you look for first or other iconic appearances of your favorite characters? Do you have favorite comics that you just want to own a production piece from? Do you want a piece from your favorite artist? Some other sentimental reason?

I don't really have a sentimental type attachment since I'm too young to have read a lot of these books when they first cameout. If I was, I would probably be going after 90's X-men since the tv show was my first exposure to superheros. The characters I go after are Moon Knight, ROM, Deadpool and Darkhawk. I developed an interest in these characters after discovering them on my own and coming to like them as characters and the stories told through their series even though they aren't as well-known. Well, except for Deadpool, Moon Knight but that seems to be a much more recent development for the later. 

Having an iconic image of them or their first appearances would be grail worthy for sure but I have to be realistic in what I could afford even if such an item came up for sale. I doubt I could afford a Moon Knight page from WW32 for example. I was the underbidder on a Moon Knight page from issue one that regret not going after with how high prices have gone recently but that's the only regret I can really think of. I was able to more than make up for it with another character at least. Other than those type of pieces I don't have a preference. I have a few certain pages that I would like from the various series but they're more because of the image than having any iconic impact. I also have a preference for an artists who was known to be the one to work on the character or series but as long as it's from the series itself I'm not really picky.

PS: If anybody reading this has any art from these character's first run of their series feel free to DM. :)

Edited by DeadpoolJr.
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1 hour ago, sfilosa said:

So what are the three you have?

That I won't say. 

Each came years apart. One I bought through Heritage, back when I could win things in Heritage, before they set up an office in CA and started charging sales tax. One, I got through a trade with another collector. The other I found on eBay four or five years ago.

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1 hour ago, Shemp said:

That I won't say. 

Each came years apart. One I bought through Heritage, back when I could win things in Heritage, before they set up an office in CA and started charging sales tax. One, I got through a trade with another collector. The other I found on eBay four or five years ago.

Not sure what the secret is about your grails, but OK.

In terms of Heritage, now almost every state has to pay the sales tax, so where they are located doesn't matter. They set-up an office in Palm Beach, FL about five years ago, so for three years I had to send all my wins to my parents house in VA. They then sent it to me (pretty much uninsured). Some packages were more than $10K. Fortunately all arrived safe and sound.

I absolutely hate paying the sales tax but since almost everyone has to now, that should be factor into the price (which prices still seem to be increasing dramatically on a lot of art).

 

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