Houston we have a problem?

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This clip is taken from the shows most recent episode - it's titled Houston we have a d̶e̶a̶l̶ problem and I chose the alternative title because to my eyes, several of the strips appearing on camera look like originals, and not all appear to be "prints" (as the tagline in the episode suggests) or photocopies.

What's throwing me off the most though is the "this was in thousands of newspapers" and as such "they're not worth a whole lot of money." He goes on to say "this isn't the original art - the original art would go for a lot more money" to which the owner agrees by saying "true."

I will say some do appear to be photocopies (some show the dark dot patches, paper stock appears lighter and contrasts with the toning when they are side-by-side with others), but if I'm right that some of those appear to be OA dailies/strip art, the owners been had.

Check out the video and see it for yourself. I'd be interested to hear what you guys think:

Look original to me, or color photocopies (but why?!) Agree the paper doesn't seem to be of Bristol weight but otherwise:

1. syndicate stats are browning (actually the glue underneath is)

2. grease pencil marks in border are smudged

3. craftint used, glue discoloring (see 1 above)

4. panel borders show varying ink contrast (not solid black)

All this would not be present on a "print" made at/near the time of publication. Mort Walker fans might know better if there's a history of Mort/Walker Family making "prints" (or more likely simple color photocopies) much later to distribute to fans. This happens too. Otherwise I'd say real, but at $20 per for 4-5, is that so much under market anyway when selling to lowball pawnbroker?! Without looking things up, my gut fmv is 80-100 per. Is that correct? If so 20-25% salvage sounds about right by selling to the wrong guy for quick cash.

Even the title is WTF. "Original print" makes me want to smack someone, that's right up there with "genuine photocopy". I presume they are recent color copies of some sort. The whole way the segment is presented is confusing and to me shows a lack of knowledge but they were clear in saying it wasn't the original art. Between that and it not looking quite right I can't conclude any other way

If there's 4-5 in there that are originals, and the rest are photocopies, then $600-800 would be a conservative auction estimate. 5 strips with the right subject matter/composition could fetch over $1K. Unfortunately it's possible some of the ones featuring the women and mentioning Snoopy look to be copies (how or why these were replicated I have no clue).

$100 for the grouping still seems way too low even for the shows lowball "offer" tendencies for such a grouping, but it's the way it feels like the owner may have been hustled that irked me most - i.e. "this was in thousands of newspapers" and as such "they're not worth a whole lot of money" - said an original comic art expert, never.

Even the title is WTF. "Original print" makes me want to smack someone, that's right up there with "genuine photocopy". I presume they are recent color copies of some sort. The whole way the segment is presented is confusing and to me shows a lack of knowledge but they were clear in saying it wasn't the original art. Between that and it not looking quite right I can't conclude any other way

Definitely agree on the confusing part. It's possible the lot included a handful of originals and some copies/stats got mixed in and caused the confusion even for the person assessing the art. But him saying these are not originals when it looks like some of the ones shown on camera could be still causes a perception issue that they don't know what they are talking about, and the guy may have been had.

causes a perception issue that they don't know what they are talking about

totally. although I'm sure all of this blows by 99% of their audience.

I honestly don't know how people watch that show, I couldn't even get through the clip and I wanted to after reading the thread here.

causes a perception issue that they don't know what they are talking about

 

totally. although I'm sure all of this blows by 99% of their audience.

It's entertainment. A very high % of viewers (99.9?) will never handle OA; or even wish to. Same with Antiques Roadshow and Storage Wars (along with all the clones)...almost nobody will be in the biz, and so it's theater where shock matters more than veracity, historical fiction may be the best way to describe this stuff? Assuming it's not mostly or all scripted. I don't pretend that isn't likely too

For $200 per each, ya'll can keep those Baileys (and yes I know this is subjective and lots of people feel the same about whatever I'm into that they are not!)

Sure, for example AR is all about the money shot at the end where the person is gobsmacked its worth so much. I remember reading that they actively seek out people who are uninformed on the value to film segments with, and have little interest in putting the guy who already knows what he has on camera.

Few looked like originals to me. Certainly they weren't in thousands of newspapers. Rick's a pretty straight shooter on that show although I don't watch like I do AP.

FWIW in my opinion AR handles these types of situations correctly - specifically, if someone walked in with a collection intermixed with copies and originals, the person appraising the collection would responsibily describe them as such. I've seen segments where they go to great lengths to describe the history, and differences between a forgery and the genuine article. I think most of the appraisers have a reputation to uphold, but I'm sure they also look at it through the lens of a "collector" and the warnings/cautions benefit both at an educational level, and help to stamp out fakes.

Few looked like originals to me. Certainly they weren't in thousands of newspapers. Rick's a pretty straight shooter on that show although I don't watch like I do AP.

You're right, I get the same impression. But here he's totally out to lunch. Even if a comic strip was syndicated in multiple newspapers across the country, with circulation numbers in the millions (i.e. Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, Archie's, etc) the originals comic art strips/dailies will always be only examples. It's like saying McFarlane's Spider-Man comics were printed in the millions and because of this, his original comic art is "not worth a lot of money."