• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

The Official November Heritage Auction Thread
2 2

411 posts in this topic

2 minutes ago, ShallowDan said:

 

And if anyone is looking for evidence that MTG original art collecting has come into its own, this auction provided it.  I don't know what preliminary estimates were, but one of the pieces finished at $168K all in, with another finishing at $114K.  For pieces that appear to have sold solely on nostalgia (no offence to the original artists, I'm sure their mothers were proud of them) that strikes me as incredibly strong pricing.

Sure.   But that very comment shows the comic blinders around here sometimes right?

X268 is not any better to look at and from the same era, yet I could have bought BOTH the top magic pieces in this sale and taken a nice vacation for the price of the X268.   

Edited by Bronty
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, ShallowDan said:

 

And if anyone is looking for evidence that MTG original art collecting has come into its own, this auction provided it.  I don't know what preliminary estimates were, but one of the pieces finished at $168K all in, with another finishing at $114K.  For pieces that appear to have sold solely on nostalgia (no offence to the original artists, I'm sure their mothers were proud of them) that strikes me as incredibly strong pricing.

I think the guys who are into this stuff were disappointed by some of the results (notably the tutor's hammer price) but I feel like an auction like this really legitimizes this stuff and will only help it to continue to grow beyond Facebook Group auctions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Pete Marino said:

I think the guys who are into this stuff were disappointed by some of the results (notably the tutor's hammer price) but I feel like an auction like this really legitimizes this stuff and will only help it to continue to grow beyond Facebook Group auctions.

Tutor price was weak at 168 IMO.   Jayemdae price at 114 was strong I thought.   The other three were at or slightly above expectations IMO.

 

AGree that its good for overall profile visibility.

Edited by Bronty
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Magic art market is interesting. The floor for decent pieces is much, much higher than OA from what I've seen. This could be because most decent pieces are paintings, but it's hard to get in for less than $3,000. There are also a lot of pieces that sell for 10's of thousands of dollars right out the gate. Particularly art for lands and some artifacts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Bronty said:

Sure.   But that very comment shows the comic blinders around here sometimes right?

X268 is not any better to look at and from the same era, yet I could have bought BOTH the top magic pieces in this sale and taken a nice vacation for the price of the X268.   

My dirty little secret is that either of them are way out of my budget (and if given a $300k cash windfall, would probably just shore up the retirement accounts, pay off the mortgage, take a nice vacation and buy a sub $50K piece.  Having said that, if someone is Christmas shopping for a gift I'm obliged to hold on to and can't resell, I definitely prefer the X268 cover.  Whether that decision is colored by my particular set of nostalgia goggles or the technical superiority of the Lee/Williams piece I'll leave to others.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, Bronty said:

Tutor price was weak at 168 IMO.   Jayemdae price at 114 was strong I thought.   The other three were at or slightly above expectations IMO.

 

AGree that its good for overall profile visibility.

Reading the MTG Art Market thread, apparently 2 people gave higher offers on Demonic Tutor (175 and 250), the seller decided to let them duke it out at auction.  But because of sour grapes they refused to bid at heritage? 

Not sure how that makes them win, they still don't have the art. Managing relationships in a small market is a big deal. 

(not giving away any inside baseball here, this is what was posted in the FB group for all to read, and grains of salt as usual for anything in the rumor mill / knitting circle)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Varanis said:

The Magic art market is interesting. The floor for decent pieces is much, much higher than OA from what I've seen. This could be because most decent pieces are paintings, but it's hard to get in for less than $3,000. There are also a lot of pieces that sell for 10's of thousands of dollars right out the gate. Particularly art for lands and some artifacts.

Just thinking out loud here, but could it also be a matter of there simply not being as much stuff available?  I know MTG has been going on for 25 years or so now, but I'm guessing the total number of cards is less than 10,000.  A single monthly comic title will have almost 10,000 pages in this same period of time (32 pages a month, plus cover).  Obviously, how many of those are "decent" is up for debate, whereas each MTG card is probably more akin to a cover or splash piece, relatively speaking.  

I also may be off base with this, but anecdotally I seem to recall hearing that much of the early card art for MTG was scooped up by a small handful of collectors, which I imagine would also limit the number of pieces that trade hands in any given year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, DeadpoolJr. said:

I was not expecting that deadpool cover to sell for $25k and the double page splash title page for $14k. I was blown out of the water on that one. Those along with the other pages in this auction and the ones from last time make me think this is a deadpool collector with a nice collection cashing out.

That cover was ridiculously and deceptively low for the longest time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, ShallowDan said:

Just thinking out loud here, but could it also be a matter of there simply not being as much stuff available?  I know MTG has been going on for 25 years or so now, but I'm guessing the total number of cards is less than 10,000.  A single monthly comic title will have almost 10,000 pages in this same period of time (32 pages a month, plus cover).  Obviously, how many of those are "decent" is up for debate, whereas each MTG card is probably more akin to a cover or splash piece, relatively speaking.  

I also may be off base with this, but anecdotally I seem to recall hearing that much of the early card art for MTG was scooped up by a small handful of collectors, which I imagine would also limit the number of pieces that trade hands in any given year.

There are over 20,000 different cards with somewhere around 1,000 likely added each year. Your point is probably still valid though; much more than 1,000 pages of comic art are produced a year. A good portion of Magic art has also shifted to digital, not unlike comic art. Scarcity and media (i.e.; paint) are likely what creates the high floor. There are often sketches available for less, but those are usually prelims.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, Pete Marino said:

Reading the MTG Art Market thread, apparently 2 people gave higher offers on Demonic Tutor (175 and 250), the seller decided to let them duke it out at auction.  But because of sour grapes they refused to bid at heritage? 

 

OUCH.

He should have taken 250.   That was plenty fair, and locked in.   Why risk getting a worse result?     Dumb azz.

I did hear that some people didn't care for the seller, but who knows.   There may be several reasons for not wanting to bid at auction.    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Bronty said:

OUCH.

He should have taken 250.   That was plenty fair, and locked in.   Why risk getting a worse result?     Dumb azz.

I did hear that some people didn't care for the seller, but who knows.   There may be several reasons for not wanting to bid at auction.    

I find it incredibly hard to imagine someone seriously interested in this piece wouldn't have bid at auction out of principle. I guess people have done weirder things, but blowing your one chance at a $150k+ piece you'd pay $250k for because it's at auction seems wild to me. I kind of feel the MtG Art FB group is just trying to legitimize a narrative as to why this iconic piece should be worth more than $168k.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Varanis said:

I find it incredibly hard to imagine someone seriously interested in this piece wouldn't have bid at auction out of principle. I guess people have done weirder things, but blowing your one chance at a $150k+ piece you'd pay $250k for because it's at auction seems wild to me. I kind of feel the MtG Art FB group is just trying to legitimize a narrative as to why this iconic piece should be worth more than $168k.

That's possible.   

But its also possible that the guy who offered at 250 needed three months to come up with the money, or didn't want to pay sales tax, or just lost interest after making a great offer, or just assumed it would get carried higher than he wanted to pay.   We just don't know.

But I think at 168 that's well bought.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, vodou said:

Not buying this part, that they are painted, mattering. I think that's handicapped down equally or more by the fact that almost all of them are 6x9" and smaller!

That's a fair point. It's interesting that the floor seems higher and ceiling lower than comic art.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Bronty said:

But its also possible that the guy who offered at 250 needed three months to come up with the money, or didn't want to pay sales tax, or just lost interest after making a great offer, or just assumed it would get carried higher than he wanted to pay.   We just don't know.

The Demonic Tutor seller clarified that he did not receive any offers approaching $250k, so he consigned it to HA.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, vodou said:

Not buying this part, that they are painted, mattering. I think that's handicapped down equally or more by the fact that almost all of them are 6x9" and smaller!

That’s not true for the modern stuff actually .   The brand new pieces that get 10,20,30,40k fresh off the easel are often full size - 30 by 20 inches or larger. 
 

The vintage ones like the ones that sold today are tiny for sure - 5 by 7. 

Edited by Bronty
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Varanis said:

That's a fair point. It's interesting that the floor seems higher and ceiling lower than comic art.

I guess that’s true, but not by that much.   I know I’ve seen pieces lower, for 500 dollars or so, and I know one piece sold for a mil.    500 isn’t much, and a mil is a lot, for comic art as well.
 

 It’s hard to make comparisons when the items are different.   I think it’s those underlying differences that drive what you’re noticing.   Ie. If there were only 500 pieces of comic art made a year, even the worst would have some value too.   And if there was no comic artwork older than 1993, there wouldn’t be hardly any seven figure pieces in comic art either.   27 years (or less) isn’t a ton of time for something to appreciate all the way up to seven figures.   

Edited by Bronty
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, John E. said:
10 hours ago, DeadpoolJr. said:

I was not expecting that deadpool cover to sell for $25k and the double page splash title page for $14k. I was blown out of the water on that one. Those along with the other pages in this auction and the ones from last time make me think this is a deadpool collector with a nice collection cashing out.

That cover was ridiculously and deceptively low for the longest time. 

How can anyone place any stock in what the pre-live bids are?  I don't see how any rational person could be deceived.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
2 2