Does this Heritage sale serve as commentary on Alex Ross artwork sales numbers?

[nbr3bagshotrow]

I would love be a Ross original but I'll have to be content with the reproductions I own.

[predaking007]

The value is commensurate with desire. This is at the low end of Ross spidey paintings because few collectors want Aunt May. Take out Aunt May, add some costumes, and the value more than doubles. This trend is not unique to Ross. Put Aunt May on any modern cover and she'll restrict the value of the art.

[risingstar]

Originally Posted by predaking007

The value is commensurate with desire. This is at the low end of Ross spidey paintings because few collectors want Aunt May. Take out Aunt May, add some costumes, and the value more than doubles. This trend is not unique to Ross. Put Aunt May on any modern cover and she'll restrict the value of the art.

You'd think so but for whatever reason, that wasn't reflected in the original asking price.

[Mr. Machismo]

I'm surprised it hit what it did given the (massive, hugely distracting from Spidey) focal.

[OA Aficionado]

Originally Posted by Punisher1919

After a quick look at past Auction results on Ross pieces, there does appear to be a significant gap between his "premium" pieces and his regular pieces. Lots of nice pages in the 3-7K range....and a bunch with supes/bats/spidey in them, but just like the May piece, lots with randoms as the focal point, detracting from the desirability of the overall piece.

Anything from Kingdom come, or anything that has that iconic/traditional ross feel wont go for less than 15-20K these days (alot of those sales are 4-5 years old on Heritage), with some going in the 20-60K range. I still dont feel like the Ross pieces are that overpriced, but its just like any other artist, overpaying on the sub-premium pieces will always lead to a $ hit.

FWIW the most recent public KC sale was the $3.2k non-costume Captain Marvel page discussed here:

https://comicbookinvest.com/2017/03/...ry-march-2017/

I feel that Abbinanti's asking prices for Ross' OA are too high (which to be fair, also applies to many other reps). And after scrolling through the HA archives, I'm reminded that Ross secondary market prices are generally lower than expected!

[risingstar]

Originally Posted by OA Aficionado

FWIW the most recent public KC sale was the $3.2k non-costume Captain Marvel page discussed here:

https://comicbookinvest.com/2017/03/...ry-march-2017/

I feel that Abbinanti's asking prices for Ross' OA are too high (which to be fair, also applies to many other reps). And after scrolling through the HA archives, I'm reminded that Ross secondary market prices are generally lower than expected!

Is this partly because of a group-think type thing? Meaning, if people think auctioned Ross pieces are going to mirror his agent's original prices, they may not even bother trying to go for it. The more people avoid Ross auctions, the less people there are to drive auction prices up. Could this also be one of those cases where the agent's sales philosophy may be hurting the artist's brand? Incidentally, could you see some backlash over a drastically low secondary market sales number like this? I mean, the owner lost huge money. You can't help but feel a bit sorry for him (or her).

[JadeGiant]

Originally Posted by risingstar

Is this partly because of a group-think type thing? Meaning, if people think auctioned Ross pieces are going to mirror his agent's original prices, they may not even bother trying to go for it. The more people avoid Ross auctions, the less people there are to drive auction prices up. Could this be one of those cases where the agent's sales philosophy may be hurting the artist's brand? Incidentally, could you see some backlash over a drastically low secondary market sales number like this? I mean, the owner lost huge money. You can't help but feel a bit sorry for him (or her).

Personally, I don't think it is this. I think that people might look at Ross auctions and see it as an opportunity to get a piece at what the market bears (i.e. much less than priced from Alex's rep). It is even more of an indictment on the prices as they come direct form the artist. Once again, I don't have any problem with this. I would imagine the Ross camp sets the prices where they want them to sell and are fine holding them as they will likely sell in the future.

[Mfinn123]

Originally Posted by JadeGiant

Personally, I don't think it is this. I think that people might look at Ross auctions and see it as an opportunity to get a piece at what the market bears (i.e. much less than priced from Alex's rep). It is even more of an indictment on the prices as they come direct form the artist. Once again, I don't have any problem with this. I would imagine the Ross camp sets the prices where they want them to sell and are fine holding them as they will likely sell in the future.

I agree with this - hard to see how else to explain that most modern Ross pieces at auction are not anywhere near the $25K number from his rep. I wonder if the new pieces are being discounted from their asking price by the rep? That said, I like Ross' art and think it very nice.

[carlito1978]

7k for an aunt may painting seems healthy. I'm sure the pricing strategy goes something like this: covers start at $20k and go up from there.

I'm in the camp that Ross prices never bothered me because they always seemed outside of the typical comic art realm and out of my focus both from a price and collecting focus.

[MONSTER]

Ross is out of my reach so I've never paid attention to his dealer pricing. I don't even bother to look at their huge booth at SDCC. It's definitely hard to judge actual value based on this one painting. Aunt May is hot and all but you put a villain in her place like Doc Ock or Green Goblin and I think we would get a better idea of resale value.