So when I went back the next day I spent a good hour or so going through all the art: portfolios and piles and stacks and framed pieces on the walls all over the place. So when the trading commenced I had only three pieces with me. One was a goal all along but I could not locate it the day before, a great Gene Colan page inked by Dan Adkins.
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| Gene Colan / Dan Adkins Strange Tales 170 p 15 |
The second piece was the Bill Sienkiewicz / Steve Mitchell splash page from Moon Knight 18 I already posted. But the third piece was a valuable one that I saw the day before and had offered a Starman painted cover for it straight up. (This is the piece I teased in my earlier post as the very excellent special surpise.) That offer was rejected as the dealer stated he was fond of the very excellent special surprise and had rejected offers about 80-90% of his asking price in the past. So I took two pieces of art that I have previously posted for the Starman cover featuring blue Starman Mikaal Tomas instead. The next day I targeted the very excellent special surprise again and just went for it - for the three pieces I offered a half full portfolio of smaller stuff for $1250 value (20-30 pieces with only 3 or so valued at more than $100, many of which had been offered but not traded the day before plus many new small things that I would not have initially thought he would accept but had learned otherwise on day one) and then told him he could go through the 11x17 and we would take it from there.
He sighed, I had kept the very excellent special surprise behind the other two until I started talking.
He put it aside and suggested we do the two other first.
Fine. I took the smaller Itoya and showed him the pieces one by one. When I was done he casually picked it up and tossed it in his pile. Here we go! He picked up my 11x17 and suggested a value needed to make the deal. It was very reasonable, as he had been all along, and I told him to take what he wanted at that level.
Now here we go, time for the very excellent special surprise.
Have you gotten that yet? The very excellent special surprise?
Very
Excellent
Special
Surprise
Charles Very Excellent Special Surprise to be exact.
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| Elric of Melnibone and Stormbringer by Charles Vess |
The dealer appeared to have a hard time letting this go, but it never seemed to be in doubt. He went through the 11x17 Itoya and lamented the fact that nothing new and nice was in there. He debated the value of the Starman pages and we danced back and forth. I had learned a few steps in the dance session the day before and it was obvious that I was using the silence better on this day. He went through the Itoya once or twice more and started taking pieces out one by one. Slowly but surely he took out some beauties: a Darryl Banks Michael Golden homage that tore my heart out as it left the portfolio, Andy MacDonald commissions that I could never replace despite the fact that he rightly stated much of this art could be recreated any day now and the Vess was a timeless piece from another era (which is why I went after it and will have it in the main room and not the basement of my home), two JK Woodward pieces with Dr. Strange and The Mindless Ones that I was so proud to conceive and see carried to execution and was even prouder still of JK for that beautiful execution and improving the idea with a second panel on my commission. So many wonderful pieces that were partof my life and my collection. I am choked up again as I write because this is the collection that I enjoyed accumulating over these many years, a collection I often looked at and genuinely thought "I would take this collection over anyone else's" and now I had treated it coldly and dispassionately as bait for more art and absolutely decimated it.
But my mind, and a large part of my heart as well I must admit, was saying otherwise. "Fuck them. Leave them behind. Slash the value of the ones he doesn't like and move them all - you paid for the honor and fun of having them created and owning them these many years and now it is time to take it to another level." When I started seriously sinking money and time into this hobby I was a different person in vastly different life circumstances. Perhaps it is the standard mid-life crisis as I approach the big five oh but I want nice things now. And my tastes and preferences have changed as well.
So I pitched him some more Starman pages, talking head pages mostly. He refused, absolutely refused, to discuss pages with the characters on the phone. But he took a few more and held 8-10 pieces in his hands and said it just did not feel like the value was in his hands. he was probably right, so I threw in some more things. He was still hesitant and at this point I was comfortable with where we were going, so I told him to hit a higher value than previously discussed. We danced a few times throughout the 15-30 minutes it probably took. There was a bystander, a friend of his in the room, who was laughing at the end and saying it was quite the trading session - a heavyweight fight. But eventually I stuffed enough art in his hands and eventually he put his hand out again but empty this time.
We shook hands and the deal was sealed.
The bystander congratulated us both on our acquisitions and said it looked like we both got some good new art. (In fact he was a bit of a help for me that this man was there as he knew some of the artists and characters involved better than the dealer did and the dealer trusted him. he liked a bunch of my stuff a lot as well.) He said it was a good deal in that we bargained hard but were cordial and calm throughout. He was right. I think the fact that we were able to meet a second day shows that neither party felt taken advantage of in the first trade session.
But my mind, and a large part of my heart as well I must admit, was saying otherwise. "Fuck them. Leave them behind. Slash the value of the ones he doesn't like and move them all - you paid for the honor and fun of having them created and owning them these many years and now it is time to take it to another level." When I started seriously sinking money and time into this hobby I was a different person in vastly different life circumstances. Perhaps it is the standard mid-life crisis as I approach the big five oh but I want nice things now. And my tastes and preferences have changed as well.
So I pitched him some more Starman pages, talking head pages mostly. He refused, absolutely refused, to discuss pages with the characters on the phone. But he took a few more and held 8-10 pieces in his hands and said it just did not feel like the value was in his hands. he was probably right, so I threw in some more things. He was still hesitant and at this point I was comfortable with where we were going, so I told him to hit a higher value than previously discussed. We danced a few times throughout the 15-30 minutes it probably took. There was a bystander, a friend of his in the room, who was laughing at the end and saying it was quite the trading session - a heavyweight fight. But eventually I stuffed enough art in his hands and eventually he put his hand out again but empty this time.
We shook hands and the deal was sealed.
The bystander congratulated us both on our acquisitions and said it looked like we both got some good new art. (In fact he was a bit of a help for me that this man was there as he knew some of the artists and characters involved better than the dealer did and the dealer trusted him. he liked a bunch of my stuff a lot as well.) He said it was a good deal in that we bargained hard but were cordial and calm throughout. He was right. I think the fact that we were able to meet a second day shows that neither party felt taken advantage of in the first trade session.
Or it meant that one or both parties felt that they could (continue to?) outmaneuver the other.
I hope to think the first hypothesis is correct. I think it is. I know that I felt we both got a good deal at the end of the weekend. It was like Monopoly, when you trade you both have to feel that the other person did not take advantage of you. You can makes trades in an adversarial situation like Monopoly and both parties can benefit. It was like that.I hope we can continue to trade and benefit each other. In fact I can't wait to get my act together and do it again!
ps There are still two pieces left tobe revealed from the Epic Art Weekend! Three if you count the one I bought on time payments, but purchased last weekend all the same.
The Fifty
1 Barry Windsor-Smith Storyteller Young Gods page 4 (framed)
2 Tony Harris / Ray Snyder Dr. Strange WIRED Magazine cover (framed)
3 Barry Windsor-Smith Weapon X page (framed)
4 Gene Colan / Tom Palmer Tomb of Dracula 44 page 22 (framed)
5 Tony Harris Starman 3 cover (framed)
6 Barry Windsor-Smith Daredevil 236 page (framed)
7 Tony Harris Starman 53 cover (framed)
8 David Mazzucchelli Daredevil 233 page 19
9 JHW3 Milestone Forever pinup (framed)10 Charles Vess - Elric of Melnibone and Stormbringer (framed)
12 Paul Smith Dr. Strange vs Dr.Doom (framed)
13 Dave Sim Mars Attacks variant cover
14 Jack Kirby / D. Bruce Berry Captain America 196 page 14 (framed)
15 Gene Colan / Tom Palmer Tomb of Dracula 44 page 1 splash (framed)
16 Dan Green Dr. Strange: Into Shamballa splash (framed)
17 Tony Harris 1994 Starman pinup (framed)
18 Bill Sienkiewicz Superman 400 pinup recreation (framed)
20 Dean Ormston Dr. Strange & Eternity
21 Bryan Talbot Dr. Strange commission
22 Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11 (framed)
22 Dan Adkins Dr Strange 170 page 11 (framed)
24 Ulises Farinas - Dr. Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum
26 Mike Allred - Doctor Strange, Clea, The Ancient One, Wong, and Rintrah...A Day Off
27 Anna Merli Clea
28 Mitchell Bretweiser Dr. Strange watercolor
29 Jae Lee Dr. Strange
30 Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman (framed)
31 Walt Simonson Alan Moore as Rorschach (framed)
By the way, I used to win at Monopoly all the time. ;-)
