Sunday 3 March 2013

NYC Auction Winning Bidders: Kenneth Thomas & Greg

Cerebus #36, Page 1 (March 1982)
Art by Dave Sim
(Sold at auction for $2,800, February 2013)
KENNETH THOMAS:
(from the comments at Brian Coppola's Aartvark Blog, 22 February 2013)
Very interesting to find this site... I'm the person who bought the #36 splash. Yes, I know I way overpaid for it, but I'm a seller's (and auction house's) dream - someone who is willing to pay over market because of sentimental attachment (and no spouse to stop my recklessness). When I think of Cerebus, the 36 splash is almost always the image that comes to mind first. I actually didn't even know about this auction until the Wednesday before, and I only looked into it because of an idle curiosity about what original Cerebus pages were going for (I collect comics, not original art). My jaw dropped when I saw the 36 splash, and it was pretty much over for me at that point, with Cerebus being my favorite comic and this being my own personal favorite iconic image.

The pre-internet bidding closed at $1600 - my max proxy bid was $1750 and I hoped to get the page for under $2000 (which would have been reasonable for this one, I think). The highest proxy bid was $2600, though, so I had to go next increment up (half bid was unavailable to me, I had already used it). I might've hit it once over $3000, but I wouldn't go higher. I know the bidder's premium is a rip-off, but as long as saps like me will pay it...even worse, I live in Texas and have to pay sales tax.

Unless my life takes an absolute nosedive, I will never, ever sell this. I have a large comic book collection and have never sold an item, so I'm confident about that.
Cerebus #50, Page 1 (May 1983)
Art by Dave Sim
Sold at auction for $2,600February 2013
GREG:
(from the comments at Brian Coppola's Aartvark Blog, 22 February 2013)
I hadn't realized that Dave himself consigned these pages until reading the entry and comments here. Now I feel substantially better about having overspent so heavily on the one I bought!... It must have been very gratifying for him to see his artwork making so much money in person. That makes me a little happy, to have been a part of that (though once the credit card bills start coming in, I might not feel quite the same about the whole thing!). Either way, I got a piece that was very personally meaningful from my childhood when I first read High Society... so I can live with the price...

Yeah, Kenneth - I paid almost as much for the page I bought (the splash from issue 50) as you did for yours, and even I think that from an artistic standpoint, yours is FAR superior to mine. Just like you, though, the DENOUEMENT page really resonates with me for some personal reasons and I felt that I had to have it. It might be the first original art page I've ever bought where I placed a bid absolutely certain that I'll never be able to break even should I choose to sell, but that's the price I paid for something that gives me happy thoughts of my younger days.

1 comment:

Dave Philpott said...

Nice pages guys. Congrats !