Post-auction analysis - OMGs!, LOLs!, WTFs!, whatev....

[riley540]

Did anyone get anything at HA today?

[eatbrie]

Unfortunately no.  Everything of interest to me was linenbacked, so I passed. 

Plus the stock and bond markets have been horrific since a certain someone took office, which does not incite me to spend money at the present time.



T

[Starling]

I am shocked what all this King Kong paper is going for. First the US One sheet at Propstore and now the Czech poster with incredible art, to my eyes, went for insanely cheap. Wish I was a little more flush haha. Everything I have my eye on auctions tomorrow....Wish me luck!

[eatbrie]

A good friend of mine who normally bids quite a lot is sitting the HA sale out for the exact same reasons than me.  Equities.  He believes, as I do, that a lot of people are in the same boat.  The White House bouffon is making us lose so much money that I don't want to spend anything until the nightmare is over.  I think this sale came at the worse time possible.  When you see your net worth going down, it doesn't really entice you to spend on frivolities.  I'm probably not going to buy anything for the next couple of months. 

Anyone else filling the pinch?

T

[riley540]

I do agree that the current person in charge kinda blows. Maybe even majorly blows. That being said, I just have a small cash budget each year to spend on posters. So I don’t really check in on the investments much… especially when they are spiraling!

I made an offer on the Philadelphia Story one sheet that didn’t sell yesterday. We will see if he accepts the offer! I got way outbid on the Oz insert. I also got way outbid on the Wonderful Life half sheet. Didn’t try for anything else.

[struzaholic]

I am still buying with the following caveats:

1. I have 20+ (~30?) years left to keep putting into my 401k unless we obviously pass a point of no return (sadly we still theoretically have like 46 months of this to get through)...

2. I just checked the HA site and the lowest item seems to be $180 + the stupid buyer premium - this is waay too rich for my blood at this stage when so many other low hanging fruits are out there (eBay). I also have never bought anything from these guys. Their bidding and pricing seem very confusing to me after being trained on the straightforward eMP site. Plus I have been peripherally monitoring some of the complaints about the legitimacy of some of the HA items and practices and it does not inspire a lot of confidence for me to want to enter into that foray.

3. In fact, I just checked my spreadsheet, and the most expensive item I have ever purchased was the Sunset Blvd 1980s Polish Reproduction poster from eMP at $91 (which now that I think of it sounds kind of bananas to spend so much on a reproduction poster). So I still have yet to spend more than $100 for any single item. I came close to finally breaking through at the last set of emp auctions. There were a John Alvin Kilian Alien and a so far very elusive Hocus Pocus posters I was in the mix for, but eventually just couldn't stomach the size of the numbers I was typing out!

[porkinsred6]

A good friend of mine who normally bids quite a lot is sitting the HA sale out for the exact same reasons than me.  Equities.  He believes, as I do, that a lot of people are in the same boat.  The White House bouffon is making us lose so much money that I don't want to spend anything until the nightmare is over.  I think this sale came at the worse time possible.  When you see your net worth going down, it doesn't really entice you to spend on frivolities.  I'm probably not going to buy anything for the next couple of months. 

Anyone else filling the pinch?

T

It's interesting T I kinda feel the opposite moving some investments out of stocks and into collectibles. As much as I don't consider collectibles good investments, I think in the short/medium term they might perform better than the stock market?  I tried to bid on a few items at HA and propstore but I was outbid on almost everything and only won 1 item at HA which was not poster related.  But these are all higher end items that would have more draw across rich non-collectors who might want to park their money outside of stocks right now.

Since then, I won another item at auction where I paid a crazy high amount.  Will share more about it when I get it in hand and do some more research.

[eatbrie]

Did anyone buy anything from Bruce?  I was out in the LA mountains camping with my 11 year old son with no reception so I had to pass, but it looked like a good sale.

T

[struzaholic]

Negative.  A couple of items on Tuesday and Thursday.  Tried for one item yesterday but when my bids broke the four digit mark I decided it was venturing into reckless behavior given the current (and foreseeable future) stock market volatility facilitated by the Cheeto-In-Chief.  But yeah, decided I could buy a number of other posters for a fraction of that money.  I'm going to go start doing that now actually!

[okiehawker]

Hi T,

Yes, I bought the Moon Over Miami one sheet as I have for a long time liked that image of Betty Grable. Also, the poster came out of the collection of a dear old friend who passed away and I have known him since I was 12 years old. He was also in the administration at my school back then. It was a great surprise to me when I walked into a local comic convention in the late 1970s and there he was! What a wonderful day that was to realize a well beloved school administrator was also one of the most amazing and knowledgeable collectors on the planet. He was also a fantastic mentor to us “kids”, which he liked to refer to a couple of us right up until the end. Good memories. I’ll post a picture when I receive the poster. Stay cool, Okie

[Starling]

What a wonderful story, Okie, to match an incredible poster image. Do you know the story on how long your friend owned it or how he found the poster?

[okiehawker]

What a wonderful story, Okie, to match an incredible poster image. Do you know the story on how long your friend owned it or how he found the poster?

Hi Starling, We’re pretty sure he got it 50+ years ago at the old movie poster exchange out in Canton, Oklahoma, back when he and his wonderful wife used to climb up into the stacks and pick out posters they liked and/or thought other collecting friends would like. Those were the days, eh?! Stay cool, Okie

[Starling]

The color is just fantastic! I hope you get her framed up nice 

[struzaholic]

Okie,  That IS a great story!  What a nice new beginning for that poster that is actually still linked with its past!  I was not familiar with this poster but just looked it up and that is a beautiful and colorful piece of art.  I agree with Starling and hope we soon get to see Betty framed up nice!  Congratulations!

[porkinsred6]

[message deleted wrong thread]

Anyone get anything at the Heritage All Star Wars auction on May 4th?

[eatbrie]

This is the kind of stuff that I will never understand.  That and people collecting posters with bar codes on the side hahaha

1) There is no way to know the signatures are authentic, and 2) I really hope that the buyer is named Cameron, because otherwise, what's the fucking point?

It baffles me, but Bruce comes out a winner, so that's good.

T

[porkinsred6]

As someone who collects those silly barcodes and signed posters (but not signed barcodes lol)

1. There are ways to be pretty sure on the authenticity
2. Bruce does have a short window for returns for autographed items which is enough time to get it in hand and get it evaluated
3. Depending on the name it might be important to keep as to the provenance for example if it was inscribed to someone involved in making the film or otherwise would explain how they could get it signed so keeping their name on it, even though it's not my name, helps prove it's authenticity.
4. you can always have a restorer remove the inscription. I don't like that option but I own one poster where that was done by a prior owner and you can only just barely see it at certain angles .

I didn't get this one though

[struzaholic]

What are these silly barcodes?  I am intrigued but have absolutely no idea what you all are referring to!?

I do mostly agree with T though about signatures, although porkinsred also has some good points. I think I have only bought two items from Bruce that were signed. One was some repro still for some guy I couldn't even tell you his name but it cost me a dollar way back when you could actually outbid everyone on junk items for only $1. I didn't want the item at all but couldn't bare to let it go unbid on the whole night! The other item was a movie still featuring a very young Robert Stack signed and personalized to some guy named Wayne, which I hilariously gifted to my sister (whose name is nowhere close to that) mostly as a joke since she used to (and I think still does) love the TV show Unsolved Mysteries.

[eatbrie]

I completely disagree with point #1, but no surprise there.  I know people who can mimick signatures to perfection.  I have seen them and it’s a gift.  My own sig was reproduced before my eyes.  2) A lot of actors, actresses, directors, you name it, have their assistants sign for them.  Especially in the old days.  Signed by Cary Grant or Marilyn Monroe?  Gimme a break.  Do you actually think any of these people spent time signing stuff?  If you do, more power to you.  I don’t.  The only way signatures matter, at least to me, is when they are signed to someone.  In this case, Cameron.  Assuming they are authentic, they are for Cameron to enjoy, not for Joe or Brian.  Why do Joe or Brian enjoy a poster signed to Cameron is way beyond my grasp.

What really blows my mind is that someone, actually more than one person since there was a bidding war, spent $5k on a $20 poster with (again according to my personal beliefs) no way to prove the authenticity of the signatures.  That’s something!

And I would love to know how you can remove signatures without painting over them and linenbacking a poster.  There are rare posters I have wanted to buy in the past but didn’t because they were signed.  I actually started a thread about it.

T

[50s]

With the older non glossy posters at least, lightly sanding ink off can look ok if ink not penetrated much and in the white area.
In linen backing, the ink has to be sanded off as the soaking liquids make the ink bleed around it
But for this poster, to try to fix without painting or linen backing I guess would be trying some solvent else drawing with a pen over the writing lines a la PosterFix!

[porkinsred6]

I completely disagree with point #1, but no surprise there.  I know people who can mimick signatures to perfection.  I have seen them and it’s a gift.  My own sig was reproduced before my eyes.  2) A lot of actors, actresses, directors, you name it, have their assistants sign for them.  Especially in the old days.  Signed by Cary Grant or Marilyn Monroe?  Gimme a break.  Do you actually think any of these people spent time signing stuff?  If you do, more power to you.  I don’t.  The only way signatures matter, at least to me, is when they are signed to someone.  In this case, Cameron.  Assuming they are authentic, they are for Cameron to enjoy, not for Joe or Brian.  Why do Joe or Brian enjoy a poster signed to Cameron is way beyond my grasp.

What really blows my mind is that someone, actually more than one person since there was a bidding war, spent $5k on a $20 poster with (again according to my personal beliefs) no way to prove the authenticity of the signatures.  That’s something!

And I would love to know how you can remove signatures without painting over them and linenbacking a poster.  There are rare posters I have wanted to buy in the past but didn’t because they were signed.  I actually started a thread about it.

T

People who are bigger experts than me on autograph analysis can tell the difference between someone trying to copy an autograph and the real deal so to speak.  Also someone important enough to have a secretary sign items of course these experts know the subtle tells (and no so subtle) between the secretarial and the actual person.

As for removing personalization, it does depend on the paper and what kind of pen was used to sign but if it can't be safely removed, it will have to be painted over. 

[Neo]

People who are bigger experts than me on autograph analysis can tell the difference between someone trying to copy an autograph and the real deal so to speak. 

Personally I don't put all signatures in the same boat. For some signatures that are extremely good, like the Declaration of Independence signatures, experts could make a good case whether a signature in question is legit. So many signatures nowadays are these scribbled messes with bold markers, and almost anyone could have signed it, IMO. I actually think some signatures add something to a piece, so I can see why some folks buy them. On this Ghostbusters, maybe they like the fact that it's written to someone, or the added text is something from the movie, or whatever. I don't put that much added value for them, so something like this is an OMG, etc. reaction from me. If the buyer's happy with it then good for them and Bruce and all.

[porkinsred6]

What are these silly barcodes?  I am intrigued but have absolutely no idea what you all are referring to!?

By "barcodes" T meant testprint/ proof posters that still have the color bars and registration marks on the sides that are normally cut off before a poster is sent to theaters.

[struzaholic]

Ah, that makes sense Porkins!  Yeah, I guess I am not in love with those test print posters either.  But that's mostly because I want everything to fit perfectly in my Baroque portfolios (27x41).  I actually had a Spanish poster I just received that was 27-1/4 wide and literally fits EXACTLY in one of the sleeves and took me like 15 minutes to gently work it in there.  Nevertheless, I did consider bidding on a Printer's Test Artist Proof Art Print last Thursday so...

[porkinsred6]

They do make bigger Baroque Portfolios now to fit proof posters, quads and linenbacked 1 sheets