2017 Collecting Goals

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Thanks, its a blast to do!

Glad you are having fun.

I will have to travel for that rum then.

I don't set goals for myself, but looking at everyone else's goal, a few key themes emerge:

1. Less impulse buying of lesser pieces for the sake of buying (Focus was used a lot)

2. Selling off lesser pieces to buy bigger ones (Focus was used here too)

Hopefully that doesn't represent the whole hobby, because it would be interesting if it does!

Malvin

1. Not everyone that is in the hobby right now shares the same sell-to-upgrade approach.

2. One collector's "lesser" piece is often another collector's "bigger one."

1. Be happy

2. Buy items I really want

3. Sell items I don't want

4. Turn profits into something worthwhile.

My general collecting goals are getting three or four nice pieces by artists that I know personally or have had a personal connection with if they are no longer around. I moved down that path this past year and it was particularly satisfying for me to get a couple of commissions along with a few published pages from artists that I have known for quite a while and several of whom also have known my daughter, who used to spend a fair bit of time coming to shows with me and has met a lot of different comic artists along the way. I find that the personal connection allows me to really enjoy my art on different levels than simple nostalgia or even aesthetics.

That said, its also interesting to me to meet younger artists and since that often means pricing is a little easier on the wallet, that is a nice bonus. For instance, last year I bought a page and then a commission from Ian Bertram who I met at Heroes Convention. I was very happy with the page and even happier with the commission. I would be happy to have a similar experience with someone new to me this year.

Lastly, I have some art interests outside of comics and I hope to find a few pieces that would be more in the illustration and "fine arts" world over the course of the year.

As for selling, I talk about it all the time, but never seem to do a whole lot of it. Maybe this year will be different, but I doubt it.

My goals are VERY unfocused this year. There are a few things that I'd be interested in getting, but no sure that I'd spend the money.

• Swanderson Superman page
  
• Swan/Klein Superman or LSH page
  
• Kirby Thor page
  
• Marshall Rogers Detective (Batman) page from his wonderful run with Steve Englehart
  

I also tend to impulse buy modern items.

buy nothing

except maybe one piece in the Clink auction coming up.

buy nothing

 

except maybe one piece in the Clink auction coming up.

You left off 18 inch arms...

Rolling into 2017, I have an unfulfilled goal from last year: a page from 100 Bullets #3. While I found two other 100 Bullets pages during my hunt in 2016, neither was from the third issue. Although I'd hoped the new acquisitions would scratch the itch, I was wrong. When you have a specific goal in mind, "close enough" sometimes isn't.

I've failed to remember this at least twice before.

Other than that, I'm still recovering financially from a happy buy at the end of the year. Oh, and I'm excited that a fellow collector has agreed to sell me a DeCarlo pin-up I've circled since last summer -- even if I have to wait another six months before we can complete the transaction. That's not all bad. By then, my wallet should have stopped screaming....

buy nothing

 

except maybe one piece in the Clink auction coming up.

 

You left off 18 inch arms...

???

Goals for 2017:

1. Finally find that Romita Spidey page I've been hoping for.. the one that a) I can afford and b) that represents the era in a way that I can feel like I have that piece and move on to other things. They're simply too expensive to get multiples of for me!

2. If I ever can come accross a page from Superman vs. Spider-Man... buy it. If anyone knows of one for sale... please, let me know.

3. Sell enough comics so that I'll have the funding to pay for whatever goals I want to list for 2018 when the time comes.

Good luck to all!

Having finally acquired my grail last year, I've had to refocus a bit.

There are a few covers I really want, but don't know where they are at the moment. If one or all of them become available, I hope to be able to buy them or trade for them.

I do want to thin the collection down a bit. I got it down to around nine portfolios' worth of art, so I'm focused on getting rid of stuff that I don't really collect and commissions that I didn't commission.

I do want to make sure I spend my money more wisely. In the past, I have bought a lot of art just because it was there in front of me and I was bored. So, I ended up with a lot of art that left me wondering "Why did I buy that?" I do not want to buy like that this year.

2016 was a great year for me and I was truly blessed to get a lot of great art. I hope 2017 is even better for me and for all of you!

Pretty easy goals for me this year:

1. Hopefully be able to complete my set of Sandman commissions by Dave McKean.

2. Continue to look for the other "game show" pages from Sandman 4.

Anything else is icing on the cake.

The big one for me is a Bruce Timm commission!

The big one for me is a Bruce Timm commission!

I am still waiting for the "right" Timm to chase.

On 1/14/2017 at 5:51 PM, Brian Peck said:

For 2017, I am looking to fill holes in my collection for particular artists and characters.

 

 

Harvey Kurtzman - Little Annie Fanny

Don Martin - Captain Klutz

Jack Kirby/Wally Wood - Sky Masters

D i c k Sprang - Batman

Joe Shuster - Superman

Gil Kane - Green Lantern oath page

Neal Adams - Batman/Deadman/Spectre

 

 

 

 

This year I achieved a partial, not  Gil Kane page but did get a Golden Age Green Lantern Oath page by Infantino

On 1/15/2017 at 6:06 AM, Eric Seffinga said:

Gonna do my best to sit this one out. I seem to always say that, but I went 3/4 of last year without any comic art, and hoping to do better this go around.

I did so so poorly.

Weak I tell ya. Weak!

On 1/15/2017 at 7:16 AM, vodou said:

No goals. Pretty close to tip-toeing out the backdoor altogether.

Hit three goals (long forgotten, from last decade) that I thought had moved past me forever and otherwise...100% on target and unlikely to change that in next 12 days. I'll save 2018 talk for that thread when it pops up.

1. Stay ultra-focused and try not to stray much from my very narrow want list

Grade:  B+.  By and large, I stuck mostly to my want list/core collecting focus and turned down/avoided at auction pieces that I didn't really, really want.  Did pick up a few things that I maybe didn't really "need", and maybe a few more Walking Dead pages than necessary at ComicConnect the other week, but, I'm happy with my purchases this year.

2. I hope to do better at not buying smaller pieces just to scratch the itch and feel like I'm actively participating in the hobby, because, duh, I'm actively involved anyway. Don't need it = don't buy it

Grade:  A-.  Bought 23 pieces in total last year, which is down probably 75% from 2 years ago.  Bought one small page that could be considered non-core/filler, but, pretty much everything else was on point (though, again, maybe went a little overboard on WD pages).

3. My overriding goal will be, for a second consecutive year, to ensure that any OA purchases are fully offset by OA sales. In fact, in the absence of any bigger pieces from my want list turning up, I hope to take some chips off the table this year

Grade:  B.  Made a good number of sales (including two chunky private sales late in the year) and was on track to finish in the black for the year, but, then I bought that Wrightson Frankenstein plate, which put me slightly in the red for the year (though, the deficit is so small that I expect to make it up quickly in 2018).  Downgrade on the rating is more for not achieving the goal of taking chips off the table this year.

In general, it was a second consecutive year of mostly balanced activity (sales netting out buys) and sticking largely to my knitting.  Definitely haven't been as hungry/active as in 2015 and earlier due to reasons cited earlier (and don't think that's ever going to change at this point).

On 1/16/2017 at 12:34 PM, alxjhnsn said:

My goals are VERY unfocused this year. There are a few things that I'd be interested in getting, but no sure that I'd spend the money.

 

 

• Swanderson Superman page
• Swan/Klein Superman or LSH page
• Kirby Thor page
• Marshall Rogers Detective (Batman) page from his wonderful run with Steve Englehart

 

 

I also tend to impulse buy modern items.

I achieved none of the above. I need to learn to budget.