Pedigree trying to sell art now?

3 3

 

for instance

https://www.pedigreecomics.com/v2/auction/comic_art/056410

 

AVENGERS: INFINITY GAUNTLET #2 COVER ORIGINAL ART(Thanos crushes Marvel)

ROM LIM & SANDU FLOREA art team - signed by both

 

this sold about a year ago on Comic Link for $1200 to Cool lines. it's ink only art, nothing by Ron Lim on this page. I want to say Cool lines had it listed somewhere recently for $3800? I don't remember exactly. now it's at $4250 on Pedigree.

 

 

It's still available here:

 

http://www.coollinesartwork.com/featured.asp?Piece=303458

 

I'm wondering if such pieces ever were sent to PedigreeComics or if they all still are at Coollinesartwork. The scan looks identical on both websites. When buying from HA or CLink I think they always had the pieces in their hands, so they're able to check and investige the pieces if necessary.

 

If most of the pieces are still at the consignors, then PedigreeComics can do little to evaluate the pieces before the auction is over. I've always thought that the good thing about HA or CLink was that their art experts provided some security if there's something odd about a piece.

 

If you're sure Ron Lim didn't draw anything on this piece, then to me there's a serious error in the listing on Pedigreecomics - it directly states that Ron Lim is the primary artist of this particular piece.

 

On a side note over the years I've bought a few books from Doug, never had any trouble and I didn't pay more than usual compared to GPA prices - and Doug was very helpful.

 

Did I miss in the description where it says it's ink over blue line? I'd expect a reputable auction house to specifically call that out.....

 

it was in the description on Comic Link when it went for $1200 (which was why it went for that).

 

since then the price tripled & that got left off subsequent descriptions

 

Well it sold for $5,150.

 

If CLink was wrong about it being inks only, then both buyers got a steal.

 

If, however, the CLink description was accurate.....

This is why its hard to trust Pedigree comics. I always try to trust them and every single time something shady goes down. 2 different times the entire auctions blacked out near the end. You always see books that supposedly "sold" in the last auction back up for sale. The funny thing is the last sales are reported to GPA. Here is an example:

 

Origin of Captain America retold (from Cap to Nick Fury) in a fabulous Stan Lee story. The best existing and #1 CGC ranked example at 9.8 and BONE WHITE pages. This is easily the nicest copy we have ever seen and it is PERFECTLY cut with exactly straight cover alignment. Bone white cover too. Speaking of the cover, it is one of the best of the run courtesy of Jack Kirby and Syd Shores. The highest recorded sale of a NM/M example is $2,550 in 2009 and the last sale of a 9.8 copy is for $2,250 from our June, 2016 Grand Auction.

 

 

From GPA: 2016

 

(4) $2,250Hi $986Lo

Jun-25-2016 $2,250 Cert# 1209165006

 

If the sale in June was a bust, why report sale to GPA and then advertise bunk sale price to pump up the very same book? that just sold for 750.00 less 2 months later. This site is littered with this kind of BS ! If for any reason this is legit and can be explained away, its a tough pill to swallow.

 

 

I don't concern myself with slabbed funnybooks, but it seems to me that this copy is not perfectly cut, the spine is pushed slightly around to the back, and moreover the staples are egregiously right of the spine. I bet I could find an equal or better copy at any large convention.

Unsurprisingly, that auction was brutal.

Out of 302 pieces, 45 allegedly sold. So a whopping 15%.

14 were opening bid of $100.

18 were $101-500

5 were $501-1000

5 were $1001-2000

and only 3 were $2001+

I understand why pedigree is getting into the OA market. There's a lot of money there.

But my best takeaways from this auction (if they even care)...

-Scan everything in house. It looked like a lot of scans were just provided by the sellers. It looked sloppy.

-Know what you are selling. There were several items discussed here that don't seem to be what was described. And there were way too many 'alternate' covers, which is a well documented coollines strategy of making stuff up to milk a piece.

-Reasonable reserves, or none at all. I understand that it's hard to get sellers to send pieces to an untested art auction venue, but those reserves were a joke.

I can't imagine they'll view this auction as a success. If they do, well, keep on keeping on.

Unsurprisingly, that auction was brutal.

Out of 302 pieces, 45 allegedly sold. So a whopping 15%.

14 were opening bid of $100.

18 were $101-500

5 were $501-1000

5 were $1001-2000

and only 3 were $2001+

 

I understand why pedigree is getting into the OA market. There's a lot of money there.

But my best takeaways from this auction (if they even care)...

-Scan everything in house. It looked like a lot of scans were just provided by the sellers. It looked sloppy.

-Know what you are selling. There were several items discussed here that don't seem to be what was described. And there were way too many 'alternate' covers, which is a well documented coollines strategy of making stuff up to milk a piece.

-Reasonable reserves, or none at all. I understand that it's hard to get sellers to send pieces to an untested art auction venue, but those reserves were a joke.

 

I can't imagine they'll view this auction as a success. If they do, well, keep on keeping on.

Clearly we need to do a better job of informing the 45 bidders that this auction was wildly_fanciful_statement. Assuming they weren't shills. I wonder how Bill Cox feels about them using his site to spam just about everyone to pimp this garbage fire.

I just went on the Pedigree website...but their bandwidth was exceeded...

Just out of curiosity does anyone know anything about the Amazing Spider-Man #583 variant cover that's in this auction?

 

Auction Link

 

It appears to be the same Obama figure from the first printing cover. I'm wondering if the Obama on this cover is a stat pasted on a board created just for this cover with the Lincoln Memorial being original art, or if it's the original Obama art and they put a patch of the Lincoln Memorial over the Spider-Man figure from the first printing cover.

 

Mike

I believe you are correct and Obama is not new art.

Rich offered me this cover in San Diego...and when I asked him if Obama image is the ONLY Obama drawing ever created for these extra printings..... he said this was a 3rd or 4th printing and other exact Obama drawings exist...so I passed on it as being very suspect.

Unsurprisingly, that auction was brutal.

Out of 302 pieces, 45 allegedly sold. So a whopping 15%.

14 were opening bid of $100.

18 were $101-500

5 were $501-1000

5 were $1001-2000

and only 3 were $2001+

 

I understand why pedigree is getting into the OA market. There's a lot of money there.

At this point it seems like it is going to be tough to attract consigners. I already feel like their are too many ongoing auctions as it. I usually don't hear all that much about the ComicConnect auctions and those have the power of Meteopolis behind them and have been going on for quite some time.

I just went on the Pedigree website...but their bandwidth was exceeded...

+1, site down

This is a fiasco and rather comical. SMH

well that was fun getting to beta test their site!

what are the odds that its gone for good & no one gets what they purchased?!

+1 for having a site better than Comic Link & Comic Connect from the get go

-1 scam history

-1 Cool Lines

-1 user supplied scans

-1 for RESERVE NOT MET

-1,000,000 misleading descriptions getting people to pay 4x FMW

Just out of curiosity does anyone know anything about the Amazing Spider-Man #583 variant cover that's in this auction?

 

Auction Link

 

It appears to be the same Obama figure from the first printing cover. I'm wondering if the Obama on this cover is a stat pasted on a board created just for this cover with the Lincoln Memorial being original art, or if it's the original Obama art and they put a patch of the Lincoln Memorial over the Spider-Man figure from the first printing cover.

 

Mike

 

I believe you are correct and Obama is not new art.

 

Rich offered me this cover in San Diego...and when I asked him if Obama image is the ONLY Obama drawing ever created for these extra printings..... he said this was a 3rd or 4th printing and other exact Obama drawings exist...so I passed on it as being very suspect.

Maybe it's the "rare unused/rejected" Obama. That's a favorite line that's akin to applying several layers of lipstick to a pig...and then calling it a supermodel.

well that was fun getting to beta test their site!

 

what are the odds that its gone for good & no one gets what they purchased?!

 

+1 for having a site better than Comic Link & Comic Connect from the get go

-1 scam history

-1 Cool Lines

-1 user supplied scans

-1 for RESERVE NOT MET

-1,000,000 misleading descriptions getting people to pay 4x FMW

Errr.... the layout of the site may be better than CL and CC (CL for certain, not sure I agree with CC) but I will take their subpar website layout over getting an Error 509. I mean talk about amateur hour. I can't log into HA right now because of the DDoS attack on DYN, but that isn't HA's fault. Not springing for a couple extra Terabytes of bandwidth, especially when you are adding an auction format to your website??

Is there a strong rationale for why CL won't let you do a macro search of all listings? Or am I doing something wrong?

Is there a strong rationale for why CL won't let you do a macro search of all listings? Or am I doing something wrong?

What sort of search are you trying to do specifically?

 

for instance

https://www.pedigreecomics.com/v2/auction/comic_art/056410

 

AVENGERS: INFINITY GAUNTLET #2 COVER ORIGINAL ART(Thanos crushes Marvel)

ROM LIM & SANDU FLOREA art team - signed by both

 

this sold about a year ago on Comic Link for $1200 to Cool lines. it's ink only art, nothing by Ron Lim on this page. I want to say Cool lines had it listed somewhere recently for $3800? I don't remember exactly. now it's at $4250 on Pedigree.

 

 

It's still available here:

 

http://www.coollinesartwork.com/featured.asp?Piece=303458

 

I'm wondering if such pieces ever were sent to PedigreeComics or if they all still are at Coollinesartwork. The scan looks identical on both websites. When buying from HA or CLink I think they always had the pieces in their hands, so they're able to check and investige the pieces if necessary.

 

If most of the pieces are still at the consignors, then PedigreeComics can do little to evaluate the pieces before the auction is over. I've always thought that the good thing about HA or CLink was that their art experts provided some security if there's something odd about a piece.

 

If you're sure Ron Lim didn't draw anything on this piece, then to me there's a serious error in the listing on Pedigreecomics - it directly states that Ron Lim is the primary artist of this particular piece.

 

On a side note over the years I've bought a few books from Doug, never had any trouble and I didn't pay more than usual compared to GPA prices - and Doug was very helpful.

 

Did I miss in the description where it says it's ink over blue line? I'd expect a reputable auction house to specifically call that out.....

 

it was in the description on Comic Link when it went for $1200 (which was why it went for that).

 

since then the price tripled & that got left off subsequent descriptions

 

Well it sold for $5,150.

 

If CLink was wrong about it being inks only, then both buyers got a steal.

 

If, however, the CLink description was accurate.....

 

Just thought I would chime in here... I worked with the consignor of this piece when he sold it through ComicLink in 2015. From the outset he was very clear that this piece was Florea's published ink art over a blueline of Lim's pencils. I even have an email exchange with him where he mentions that "Lim would not sell the pencils"... so, I am highly confident that our 2015 listing was in fact correct.

 

I would expect that the nature of this piece simply was not communicated to Pedigree by their consignor. I can't imagine that they would intentionally leave out this sort of info. Maybe they never even had the piece in their possession. Seems like they probably did not have possession of many of the items in the auction.

 

If the buyer of this piece is on the boards and wants to get more info on the piece, discuss it further, etc., please PM me or contact me directly at dgillock@comiclink.com

I think the site redesign is actually very user-friendly. They should standardize the scan resolution from the consignors though.

I inquired about Obama as well...

> Thanks for the question. It is all original art. We believe that Jimenez might have light boxed the Obama image for all the variants, but it is not a stat...it's all original. Let me know if you need any other info.

> Randy

 

Did Jimenez lightbox it or the inker?

 

Randy Pedigree wrote:

> Jimenez

This is why its hard to trust Pedigree comics. I always try to trust them and every single time something shady goes down. 2 different times the entire auctions blacked out near the end. You always see books that supposedly "sold" in the last auction back up for sale. The funny thing is the last sales are reported to GPA. Here is an example:

 

Origin of Captain America retold (from Cap to Nick Fury) in a fabulous Stan Lee story. The best existing and #1 CGC ranked example at 9.8 and BONE WHITE pages. This is easily the nicest copy we have ever seen and it is PERFECTLY cut with exactly straight cover alignment. Bone white cover too. Speaking of the cover, it is one of the best of the run courtesy of Jack Kirby and Syd Shores. The highest recorded sale of a NM/M example is $2,550 in 2009 and the last sale of a 9.8 copy is for $2,250 from our June, 2016 Grand Auction.

 

 

From GPA: 2016

 

(4) $2,250Hi $986Lo

Jun-25-2016 $2,250 Cert# 1209165006

 

If the sale in June was a bust, why report sale to GPA and then advertise bunk sale price to pump up the very same book? that just sold for 750.00 less 2 months later. This site is littered with this kind of BS ! If for any reason this is legit and can be explained away, its a tough pill to swallow.

 

 

 

I don't concern myself with slabbed funnybooks, but it seems to me that this copy is not perfectly cut, the spine is pushed slightly around to the back, and moreover the staples are egregiously right of the spine. I bet I could find an equal or better copy at any large convention.

Bet you can't

I looked at the Pedigree auctions for OA, and noticed it felt like 80% of the pieces have a "reserve not met" status, which to me, doesn't bode well for an auction house, it feels like a glorified eBay "Fixed Price or Best Offer" type auction but worst, If Pedigree wants to attract buyers, they should have better consignments, otherwise it's pretty much a waste of time for everyone. Maybe the sellers are trying to figure out the "price discovery" value of their pieces or have pie in the sky expectations with reserves.

I know some facts behind one of the pieces...

As the former owner of this Phil Jimenez "Web of Spider-Man" #5 Variant Cover featuring Deadpool piece I acquired directly from Phil and subsequently years later, consigned through Comic Link.

It sold for $889 in 2015 through ComicLink, and to me, was a fair market value price given what the piece actually is, being original art, yet not as glorious as the final published cover due to the use of stat elements and the art being on separate boards.

I know it eventually went to Cool Lines since I saw it at their booth at a comic convention, I think they had priced it with an actual price tag on display for over 3x what it last sold for.

Now it's reappeared on Pedigree...

https://www.pedigreecomics.com/v2/auction/comic_art/056578

Only 2 bids

Status: $2,600 reserve not met, not sold.

I almost speculate the 2nd bid was either a shill to pump it up, or if it's that whole "next bid wins" model, then that's the price, still a whole lot more than it's last sale a year or so ago.

Furthermore, if you notice on the bottom of the page it says "1 of 2", well, it's actually a cover done in 2 pieces, one with Deadpool's hand only the the other of Deadpool's head.

The piece you see is a really nicely professionally crafted overlay, as fully disclosed by ComicLink where the Spider-Man figure and title are stats, meaning not original art, so the actual original art is simply Deadpool's head and Deadpool's hand, both on separate 11 x 17 art boards. ComicLink displayed all images of the artwork, and I feel make the best efforts to be honest and forthright. ComicLink does research on pieces as best they can and show accurate images and descriptions.

It's very apparent and the fact that there's 2 pieces, it would be hard to not disclose that information, yet I don't think Coollines nor Pedigree ever addressed it. Sort of feels like buying a used car from an owner who knows about the condition of their car but fails to disclose it up front hoping the buyer won't notice, care or complain.

It'll be interesting to see where this piece and the other pieces where "reserve not met" end up being re-solicited.

I think the site redesign is actually very user-friendly. They should standardize the scan resolution from the consignors though.

 

I inquired about Obama as well...

 

> Thanks for the question. It is all original art. We believe that Jimenez might have light boxed the Obama image for all the variants, but it is not a stat...it's all original. Let me know if you need any other info.

> Randy

 

Did Jimenez lightbox it or the inker?

 

Randy Pedigree wrote:

> Jimenez

So I'm super confused now. When I saw it I immediately suspected it was a stat. When I asked Phil he immediately (within 30 minutes) said that all of the later printings were stats or adjustments and in no unquestionable terms stated the only original art on this one is the Lincoln memorial. (I've posted that tweet here already) So what led Randy to believe it was all original art? What led him to change from thinking it might by light boxed in his first message to being sure it was light boxed and it was assuredly done by Phil in his second message?

Glad I didn't bid. All the reserves not met make this more and more not a true auction. The reserves must have been 10x market value, what a joke for a first go at this for pedigree and I'll no longer even look at any of their future auctions because of it.