As eBay has made the world aware of the fortunes (or not) stored in their attics), the concept of the “collector” has become more embedded in the public consciousness. The image of the comic collector is pretty well seated, and usually conjures the image of the comic store owner in The Simpsons. Of a completely higher echelon of geekdom (and for higher echelon, read “deeper pockets”) are the original comic art collectors. And for them, the New York Heritage Comic Art Auction is semi-regular pilgrimage.
Last week was the first time I had attended the Heritage Auction, and it contained everything a movie version of such an event could contain - the “big shark” bidders, the outrageous prices, the fast paced auctioneer, and the enigmatic offshore telephone bidders swooping in to scoop up the big prizes.
Comic art has not always been so highly prized. In fact, up until the late 60s, much of the artwork was routinely pulped at the big comic companies after publication. It was not until Neal Adams, famed Batman and Green Lantern artist, started to demand the artist's right to ownership of artwork itself after publication, that these precious sheets of 11x17 Bristol were returned to the artists who worked on them.
Consequently, early examples of panels and cover art - already a scarcity due to each one being a 'one-of“ original piece - are rare enough to command pretty high prices. For example:
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This single page of art is from Marvel Comics #1 (1939), and features the first appearance of The Sub-Mariner. Discovered only in recent years, it's probably one of the most important early pages of art that exists, so I wasn't too surprised when it fetched $86,000.
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The high prices aren't limited to pages from the early years either. This is the cover to Captain America #102 by Jack ”The King“ Kirby, a song at $36K
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If super-heroes aren't your thing, here's a classic EC Horror cover by Jack Davis. Final price: just under $30k
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Another high priced item, and playing directly into the nostalgia factor that always drives this type of collecting, are Peanuts strips. This early example of a Sunday strip from 1954 went for $57,000.
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And it's not all vintage art that commands the high prices too. This X-Men cover is only from 1978 but still fetched a healthy $34k.
Of course, this was the cream of the crop. In the four hour auction session, there was over 600 lots of art, some of which went for under $100, so it's not a completely inaccessible hobby for us mere mortals, although, as my collector friend Lambert reminded me ”It ain't a cheap one either, Bub!“. I won a small lot of my own - a complete 7 page story from the early 70s, which was the only lot I was really after. I eventually won, but not until after a fierce three way bidding war on the floor that drove the price up to just about the maximum I was willing to pay for it. Oh well, you can't take it with you, right?
As always with this type of hobby, what you see out in public is probably just the tip of the iceberg. There are rumors and legends of vast private collections residing with hollywood moguls and reclusive millionaires that have been collected privately, secretly, and in some cases, illegally over the years, that will almost certainly never see the light of day. Hunt out a copy of the December 2004 issue of Playboy for a more detailed article on this (along with Denise Richards naked).
The Heritage Auction is of course just a short intense microcosm of the selling and buying that goes on on ebay every day, but the adrenalin of the auction itself couldn't be beat.
Links of Interest:
Heritage Comics
Yahoo Comic Art group
Ebay Original Comic Art
Albert Moy Original Art
Comic Art Fans
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