Current prices/availability of Wacky original art

[JailOJohn]

I am not talking sketch cards, but actual drawings or paintings of titles. I realize much of the OS art was sold in pairs by Topps at the now-famous Guernsey Auction in 1989 (?) for anywhere from a few hundred to several hundred dollars. What original art do forum members own now or used to own? Has anyone ever paid a "reasonable" price for original art? The only OS paintings I have seen on E-Bay during the past year go for anywhere from $6,000 to $24,000 for the currently listed original art of Bug Wally by Jay Lynch. I will never afford that, but do collectors here feel they got enough enjoyment out of artwork to justify the price? I guess it is like any art, it costs whatever someone is willing to pay, and then hangs on your wall until you decide to sell it to another collector...

[RawGoo]

I don't have any OS art, but I have numerous sketches and paintings from ANS, Old School, and Postcards.  Some of the Postcard art is alternate versions from what was actually released, and one was not released.  Also one Wonky painting, one from Brand Busters, and one from Galactic Groceries.  No Attacky Packages 

I find that collecting the newer stuff is fun, and much more accessible to the average collector.

[bandaches]

I am not talking sketch cards, but actual drawings or paintings of titles. I realize much of the OS art was sold in pairs by Topps at the now-famous Guernsey Auction in 1989 (?) for anywhere from a few hundred to several hundred dollars. What original art do forum members own now or used to own? Has anyone ever paid a "reasonable" price for original art? The only OS paintings I have seen on E-Bay during the past year go for anywhere from $6,000 to $24,000 for the currently listed original art of Bug Wally by Jay Lynch. I will never afford that, but do collectors here feel they got enough enjoyment out of artwork to justify the price? I guess it is like any art, it costs whatever someone is willing to pay, and then hangs on your wall until you decide to sell it to another collector...

the detail is utterly amazing and the art doesn't seem to be dropping in value so "justifying the price" can be viewed as renting it to enjoy it then selling it at some point maybe making a buck along the way too.  I still have Hurts, turned down several big offers over the years but the reality is I will sell it at some point probably sooner than later.  I also have the art to Coma from the can labels, Stinky, and then some ANS1 pencil roughs, color and art.

[RawGoo]

the detail is utterly amazing and the art doesn't seem to be dropping in value so "justifying the price" can be viewed as renting it to enjoy it then selling it at some point maybe making a buck along the way too.  I still have Hurts, turned down several big offers over the years but the reality is I will sell it at some point probably sooner than later.  I also have the art to Coma from the can labels, Stinky, and then some ANS1 pencil roughs, color and art.

I have never been offered the opportunity to purchase OS art (hell, I've never even seen any in person), and wouldn't now because I'm retired.  But I'd love to!!

As far as transferring ownership of it ("renting"), I would have concerns about sales taxes.........

[Paul_Maul]

What is the current market for original art like? Is it fair to assume that original series pieces would likely bring less than they would have in the “art heyday” of the mid 2000s?

[bandaches]

What is the current market for original art like? Is it fair to assume that original series pieces would likely bring less than they would have in the “art heyday” of the mid 2000s?

do you know of ANY examples where pieces sold for less recently than in the heydey?

[bandaches]

I have never been offered the opportunity to purchase OS art (hell, I've never even seen any in person), and wouldn't now because I'm retired.  But I'd love to!!

As far as transferring ownership of it ("renting"), I would have concerns about sales taxes.........

Some titles have appeared on ebay from time to time but most often I believe buyers would contact owners, make an offer and then transaction takes place.  I am not convinced a whole hell of a lot of sales taxes have been paid....

[freetoes]

the detail is utterly amazing and the art doesn't seem to be dropping in value so "justifying the price" can be viewed as renting it to enjoy it then selling it at some point maybe making a buck along the way too.  I still have Hurts, turned down several big offers over the years but the reality is I will sell it at some point probably sooner than later.  I also have the art to Coma from the can labels, Stinky, and then some ANS1 pencil roughs, color and art.

I owned two pieces (Piwi and Bug Wally) for more than 10 years, and considered it a privilege. No regrets on either end. They weren't the most iconic titles, but the enjoyment of holding the master image from which all those stickers were printed was worth the price of admission.

Someone here said that Heritage wouldn't accept a piece that he had for consignment. I'm not sure why; their track record with Wacky art looked good to me.

[Paul_Maul]

do you know of ANY examples where pieces sold for less recently than in the heydey?

I don’t know of any examples of original series pieces that have sold recently.

[JailOJohn]

I would LOVE to own the Bug Wally painting…but $24,000 is a car for my family…or 1/8 of my kid’s college….

[freetoes]

I would LOVE to own the Bug Wally painting…but $24,000 is a car for my family…or 1/8 of my kid’s college….

I don't think he'll be selling at that price anytime soon. He's had it up for almost six years.

[RawGoo]

I don’t know of any examples of original series pieces that have sold recently.

Me neither.  I thought that original art generally sold through private auction houses (thus adding taxes and auction fees to an already high price).

[JailOJohn]

I read on that other website that Jay Lynch drew about half of the originals for ANS 1. Have any of those ever hit the market?

[Fanatical_and_Sickly]

I read on that other website that Jay Lynch drew about half of the originals for ANS 1. Have any of those ever hit the market?

Jay Lynch did the majority of the roughs.
But the final art for ANS1 was almost entirely Tom Bunk and John Pound.

Fred Wheaton has a great site listing this info for the early ANS sets

http://www.hipsteria.com/wacky/wp_ans1_annotated.shtml

[bigtomi]

Maybe some billionaire will open a Wacky museum where we can go to see um…

Like so?

 

[JailOJohn]

Is that the rumpus room of this Eric Roberts person? Or was there an exhibit at some point…Rich people who own famous paintings often loan them to museums once in a while…

[RawGoo]

That's AWESOME!!

[freetoes]

That's Greg's collection, from some years back. It was awesome to see. Quit and Fatina were always among my favorites, and Jail-O was auctioned by the Topps Vault 20 years ago. Gadzooka is no longer there; beyond that, I have no word on the current status of his Wacky wall.

[Swiski]

Ahhh...to have a time machine and go back when the original artwork was cheap and available. Was that the famous Guernsey auction days?

I suppose it's nice that we are able to at least get nice scans of the artwork in the Abrams books!

[bigtomi]

beyond that, I have no word on the current status of his Wacky wall.

The two pics above were taken by me at the major "Wacky reunion" in Fall 2005. It was truly spectacular to see them in person.

I visited Greg's Wacky room a little over a year ago and I believe none of this is still in his possession. Not sure who has the pieces now. He probably told me where they went, just don't recall the details.

[Alexeirex]

Like so?

 

Wowee

[bandaches]

Me neither.  I thought that original art generally sold through private auction houses (thus adding taxes and auction fees to an already high price).

I believe most of the art has been sold privately.  Some pieces have popped up in auction houses but far fewer.

[bandaches]

I don’t know of any examples of original series pieces that have sold recently.

Ok I was trying to understand the basis for your comment that you feel that art would suddenly sell for less now than 20 years ago.  Supply is near zero as most pieces seem to be in permanent homes.  I would think even the "average" pieces that back in the heyday barely fetched $3k-$5k would be gobbled up at higher prices to fill unfulfilled demand from the past 20 years.

[Paul_Maul]

Ok I was trying to understand the basis for your comment that you feel that art would suddenly sell for less now than 20 years ago.  Supply is near zero as most pieces seem to be in permanent homes.  I would think even the "average" pieces that back in the heyday barely fetched $3k-$5k would be gobbled up at higher prices to fill unfulfilled demand from the past 20 years.

Maybe, it just isn’t clear to me who the buyers are at this point. But it’s possible there are buyers outside of those we know in the hobby.

[Swiski]

Only celebrities can afford to buy original Wacky art now! If so, which ones do you think would buy them?

Tim Burton, Rob Zombie, Quentin Tarantino?

[bandaches]

Maybe, it just isn’t clear to me who the buyers are at this point. But it’s possible there are buyers outside of those we know in the hobby.

Exactly, when supply is near zero, very difficult to identify buyers when the number of transactions taking place is scant,  As stated here, there are buyers who have never been offered art.....still trying to figure how you drew a conclusion based on zero data that prices have fallen.

[Paul_Maul]

I didn’t draw a conclusion Ernie. It just doesn’t seem like as many people are stoked about original art (or wackys for that matter) like they were 15 years ago. Nothing scientific there, just an impression.

[bandaches]

I didn’t draw a conclusion Ernie. It just doesn’t seem like as many people are stoked about original art (or wackys for that matter) like they were 15 years ago. Nothing scientific there, just an impression.

LOL ok. "is it fair to assume...." sure sounds like an opinion that would be based on something.  I will acquiesce and accept you just randomly blurted that out.  Highly scarce items like series 1 boxes sell for $50k and up suggests to me there is some stokeness out there....especially for the high end items that are never offered.

[Paul_Maul]

I totally admit it could be a false impression. It’s just that we’ve gone from endless cloak and dagger jockeying for pieces of art in 2003-2008 to pretty much radio silence for the last decade or so. But who knows whether there might be demand from parts unknown?

[bandaches]

I totally admit it could be a false impression. It’s just that we’ve gone from endless cloak and dagger jockeying for pieces of art in 2003-2008 to pretty much radio silence for the last decade or so. But who knows whether there might be demand from parts unknown?

Cloak and dagger BS ended because the pieces are finally REALLY in the homes of non selling owners vs all the pretenders from back then who called everyone else flippers to try to rationalize they were the better buyers of pieces.  I do believe there are buyers who ended up getting shut out completely who would buy not for the purposes of flipping but when supply is near zero, tough to measure the market.  I have people who write me somewhat regularly wanting to buy my frankenstein original art.  ZERO have been sold.  The buyers of Hurts have stopped writing because I turned them down for over a decade.  I did sell some pieces over the years but ironically I was referred to as a flipper and yet here I am with my wacky can art, Hurts, and several other later series pieces which is probably more than most of the cloak and dagger flipper gang.