The Illustration Exchange

Azhag2 · Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 64 Location: Northern Virginia

I'll probably throw in a bid or two before all is done, but the shipping and things are deterring me a bit. Plus I'm used to the live bidding being so much higher than pre-bids online.

scribe · Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 239 Location: NYC

Ray Tolomeo · Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Posts: 158 Location: Northern Virginia

So am I the only one here who thinks the J. Allen St. John Tarzan piece is a much better buy for the money than the Frazetta? How often have you seen this quality St. John piece, or any St. John, come to market? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the importance of Frazetta's work and I think it is wonderfully powerful. But I question the relative price, of this piece in particular (though I am looking forward to seeing it live "in action" on Thursday).

SableStar · Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 3:05 am Post subject:

I gree on the St. John--I really like the other one (and remember it from my childhood)--but all of these prices are going to go way up before it's all over.
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----SableStar

tsrart · Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 10:22 pm Post subject:

WELL . . . . that was interesting! Not quite the rousing pricing insanity we've been seeing in recent auctions, eh? (With a few exceptions, of course)

What'd everyone think, and how did we all do? I won the Jim Burns STAR FRONTIERS painting I was coveting . . . .

Pat
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Life is short, art is forever, and the credit card bills to pay for the art last just slightly longer.

Azhag2 · Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 64 Location: Northern Virginia

Congrats. I didn't win either piece I bid on (Ruddell Thieve's World that went for a fair amount more than I expected and the Clyde Caldwell piece that did in expected range but I had just been hoping for a steal).

Sebastian · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 175 Location: Sydney, Australia

Bid on a few pieces, but didn't end up with anything. The live auction was at 4.30am for me, so I decided to sleep in and let the computer bid for me. A wise decision as it turns out.

I thought there were quite a number of good paintings sold for under $2k. Just doesn't make much sense for me to bid on paintings in that price range when 3rd party international shipping is so incredibly expensive.

hourofthedragon · Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Posts: 41 Location: Virginia

Excellent job on STAR FRONTIERS, Pat; congrats! And sorry Azhag2 on your two tries. The Ruddell was particularly strong, and I was hoping to steal it, too, until it shot up, so I didn't even bid.

Yes, another interesting auction, almost weird in a way, though all auctions have some surprises - those pin-ups just keep going. Few bidders on many items, some going insanely low, others not getting bids, while others jumped up for some reason.

I tend to agree Ray; the St. John was a good price for the piece (if you have the dough) compared to the Frazetta, although I also see the side (as you do) regarding the Frazetta pricing and now the even more-so surprising no-sale or even bid war on the Frazetta. I certainly think with the news of late, everyone was betting on a high sale price for the Frazetta, but I also just read the other week the family has settled all differences; did the latest news make a difference? - who knows.

Note: If you intend to watch or bid on an auction at work, lock your doors so someone can't walk in right when the bidding on your piece starts!! At least I saved some money and someone else won a Horne at a very good price for simply bidding - congrats to you!

welshgriffin · Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Posts: 127 Location: Cleveland, OH

I bid on the Punchatz (Silverberg) painting but only halfheartedly as it was kinda bland.
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Collecting the cover paintings of Robert Silverberg SF novels.

tsrart · Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 1:07 am Post subject:

Honestly, I thought the Ruddell THIEVES WORLD painting may have been the surprise of the auction for me - never would have expected it to get that high.

I'd say that the bargains of the auction probably fell to whomever was lucky enough to win Ian Miller's DRAGON CIRCLE and/or Whelan's GATES OF IVREL. I thought both of those pieces should have made double what they did . . . . Seemed to me that some of classic vintage pieces stayed pretty reasonable as well, especially the Stevens.

And is there really nobody who wants a $15k St. John pulp cover painting? I can see the Tarzan not making $90k - that's a huge amount of money - but there aren't any shortages of $15k sales, and I'd have thought a nice St. John would have been able to make at least as much as a (albeit great) John Berkey.

Pat
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Life is short, art is forever, and the credit card bills to pay for the art last just slightly longer.

Egrove · Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 50 Location: New Zealand

Congrats on "Star Frontiers" Pat, one of the best bargains of the auction! .... If you ever want to sell........

Also congrats on whoever got the Morey 1939 "Warriors of Mars" artwork for just over 2K, - that's just madness.

I was not bidding on any of the major artworks, but did manage to get Melvyn Grant's "Floating Worlds" at a good price. It was/is one of my ultimate wants, so I'm over the moon about it.

I also got Vincent Di Fate's "Mayfiles" for $800, which seems stupidly cheap to me, - I've always wanted one of his works.

Finally I got John Pederson Jr's "He who moves worlds" very cheaply. I have a couple other of his covers for If and Galaxy from 59 and 69, so I'm majorly psyched to be able to add another work to round it out a bit.

What I didn't manage to get: John Pederson Jr's "Skylark Duquense" and Stephen Millar's "Of Men and Monsters", both which just turned into bidding wars. They didn't sell for big money, but I decided to try to be sensible and opt out once my original limit was met : / Felt good at the time, now starting to kick myself.

But, all in all I'm feeling like a kid on Christmas Day.
Ed

ayersr · Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 1:35 am Post subject: Heritage

I was looking for bargains and I picked up a couple: Gurney's Quozl, a fun piece that I've always liked, and Stephen Miller's Of Men and Monsters. I was VERY surprised the Frazetta did not sell. I liked the Ruddell piece too and it went much higher than I expected--that must be a record price for a Ruddell illustration. I also had my eye on Chris Moore's Ubik but it also brought a pretty high price--at least one I wasn't willing to top. The two highest estimated pieces didn't sell but percentage-wise most of the others from the Frank collection sold. Pretty decent showing...

Egrove · Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 50 Location: New Zealand

Hi ayersr (Rick?), - sorry about the bidding on the Miller "Of Men and Monsters" piece, but it was fun!

I'd locked in an internet bid, and was following the auction on Heritagelive - I swear I could see the Auctioner trying to stiffle a laugh when the bids wouldn't stop ping-ponging in $50 increments or whatever it was. God bless automated bidding : ) Congrats on the artwork, It's got something special about it.
Ed

Azhag2 · Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 64 Location: Northern Virginia

Nice on Quozl, that is a fun piece. Pat, I still have my eye on your Ruddell too, but there's so much art out there I can't decide where to put my money! Plus the stock market made me feel sad today Mad

ayersr · Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 2:23 am Post subject:

Thanks, Ed. I would have settled for either Miller piece. I bid on the first and it went higher than I wanted, so I went for the second one...and it did the same. If another bid had come in it would have beat my max. I'm a bit surprised these attracted this strong bidding as I don't think Stephen Miller is very well known. The only genre art I know of are the six covers he did for Ballantine's William Tenn collections...oh well, got one anyway. I really enjoyed the books and covers but never knew who the artist was because the art was uncredited.

Thanks Az on Quozl. it is fun and much more affordable than his current work...