December 8 2003 Cerebus #8 p 21

eBay item number: 2206691645
Seller: localshop667
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $560

May 20 2004 Cerebus #180 p 15

eBay item number: 2244403471
Seller: paghk
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $815.63

December 7 2003 Cerebus #58 p 7

eBay item number: 2207221038
Seller: balloonape
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $466

April 17 2005 Cerebus #75 p 10

eBay item number: 6524840264
Seller: turboterri
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $965

February 17, 2005 Cerebus #221 Color Cover Art

eBay item number: 6512861953
Seller: Dave 'n' Ger
Buyer: unovis
Price: $810
Dave and Ger put up an auction of the color art (I think it was still through The Beguiling) in support of the Tsunami Relief effort. It was rather confusing to see it, because most of us knew that Jim (unovis) G already owned what sure looked like the original art to the cover of issue #221... and yet, here was this color cover art. As it turns out, the coloring had been done on a wicked-good photocopy of the original, and they had forgotten that. Everyone then bailed on the auction and more or less stepped aside to let Jim bring together the original cover color art with the original cover line art.

Cerebusfangirl files: Cerebus #144 p 14

eBay item number: unknown
Seller: unknown
Buyer: unknown
Price: $910

Unpublished Art - Cerebus by the River

eBay item number: 6621166910
Seller: buywhatyoulike!
Buyer: identity not available on eBay, however...*
Price: $810
This one has been around for a while with what must have seemed a too high of a starting bid. This time it started out with no reserve.

*...yeah, it was me.

Cerebusfangirl files: Cerebus #16 p 6

eBay item number: unknown
Seller: unknown
Buyer: unknown
Price: $650
Date of Sale: unknown

Tales from the Marketplace: Cerebus #11 p 1

Once again, a pointer from our friend Jeff amazingcomicart.com. Griffioen Grafiek is a Dutch firm specializing in publishing, selling and renting out of graphic art (=grafiek in Dutch) (http://www.griffioen-grafiek.nl). The splash page from issue #11 is currently in The Netherlands. Jeff thinks the owners want about $1100 for the piece. One can definitely get lost in this site.

Cerebusfangirl files: Cerebus #153 p 13

eBay item number: unknown
Seller: unknown
Buyer: unknown
Price: $800
date: I'd say 2003-04

Tales from the Marketplace: Cerebus #11 pp 12-13

Here are a couple of pages with some pretty prideful "For Sale" signs posted on them. Cerebus #11 pp 12-13 have been available for a little while now. At least as of this writing, they are available at http://www.bookpalace.com/acatalog/Home_Dave_Sim_Art_364.html. Page 12 is listed for $1,391.25, and page 13 for $1,566.25.

Tales from the Marketplace: That Hulk Cover

What the hell is this unpublished Hulk cover by Todd McFarlane doing here? Maybe it's because Dave parodied Todd and his spawn, Spawn, near the end of the Cerebus series. Or maybe not. OK, so here is the story. Ever since 1982, when I bought my first piece of original art (Cerebus #29 p 19, see an earlier post), I had maintained what I claimed at my web site: "Welcome to the Collection. I collect what I like. I like it because it is cool art. I could give a rat's ass about the investment value. It is cool art. I do not trade. I do not sell. I do buy." You see: I'm a collector. A legacy-generator. It's genetic. I spent most of my formative weekends cruising Flea Markets in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts with my parents (back when you could walk through the wooded glens and see actual antiques and other estate sale goodies scattered on the ground). I learned to barter like a Ferengi. There were still treasures to be found (ahhh... a near mint copy of "Tales to Astonish #1" for its 10-cent cover price. And, of course, the ones that got away. Sigh. Oh, right, where was I?) OK, so a few people have tried to talk me into trades over the years, and I just politely said no, I don't do drugs, I mean, trades. Then someone tagged the McFarlane page. I originally picked that piece up because I thought it was quite unique. I really don't much like McFarlane's drawing style, but I loved the composition of this cover. I almost kept the cover just for the upper right panel - that brow-stare is really cool, very "Hulk," it would be a terrific standalone. I originally bought the page from Mike (romitaman.com) Burkey in early 1998 for $1200 (Hi, Mike). So, when someone (sorry, I forget who it was) wanted the McFarlane cover, and asked me what I wanted, particulary if I could have anything out there that was available (but for whatever reason had not already purchased), I did think about it. I don't recall the asking price, but the uber-cool color montage from 1979 was available. It was expensive enough that no one was buying it (not even me, so what does that tell you?). Well, this someone wanted the Hulk cover because, as I recall, someone else had something that he wanted, and he was negotiating one of these wonderful domino deals that original art geeks are so well known for. So he did it. Scored the color piece and the nifty-keen splash page to issue #7, which I also liked quite a bit. And on February 15, 2003, after a couple of days of just staring at the McFarlane page and wondering if I could actually go through with it, I pulled the trigger and did the trade. Here's a great postscript, and why I am talking about it today: the page is back at Mike's site (right now, 04/19/06) listed as "on hold" (thanks for the alert, Jeff aka amazingcomicart.com), for $6000. Jeff wrote later and recalled that Ken monsterscollectibles.com had this at his trade site with a $10,000 value tag on it in 10/2004 ("This unpublished version of the cover is far superior to that ridiculous Larsen cover that was used. I just want to ask- Why??? That being said, this is easily one of the best McFarlane Hulk covers ever done. You certainly will not be able to find a better one."). I guess it's good to recycle. I now have an asterisked note at my web site, attached to the no-longer-true statement that "I do not trade.*" And after seeing this, maybe I'm not that good a Ferengi after all. Ca va. I got what I wanted.

February 19 2006 Cerebus #68 Cover

eBay item 6605186398
Seller: grbottleguy
Buyer: none
Price: $3,300.00 (starting bid)
This would be a tempting cover to have for me, just for the novelty of having sequential covers. I picked up the cover to issue #69 back in the pre-eBay days for $450 from (of all things) an ad in the back of Comic Buyers Guide. The very idea of sending someone a letter with a check in it, and then just waiting for days to see if the piece was still available. It was like living in Estarcion.

Cerebusfangirl files: Cerebus #16 p 2

Margaret has a list of auction/sales results on about 40 pages, and some of the images to accompany them. No dates available unless someone tells us.
Seller: unknown
Buyer: unknown
Price: $1400

Unpublished art - Cerebus the Pope

April 18, 2006 - Well, this blog was kinda fun to start over the last few days. I'd been keeping a file of the eBay auctions since late in 2005 and figured I would sample some of the earlier purchases from my collection (that I had some record off). I figured out later that I would be able to pick up some more information by mining my PayPal history, so if there is anything particularly interesting there I will post it.

Thanks for the couple of comments, Margaret; if anyone has stories that can flesh out any history on these (or other) pieces I am happy to incorporate them. I cannot even begin to understand the comment that was left at the March 2, 2006 page by www.lazyonebenn.blogspot.com. Something about reality.

There is a lot of terrific unpublished art out there too, as y'all know. I picked up the one posted here for $410 back around 2001 from an eBay seller.

April 4 2006 Cerebus #5 pp 7-8

eBay item number: 6617113592
Seller: lowbit67
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $1059
First mention of Bran Mak Muffin; first mention of the problem with Cerebus' fur when it gets wet.

March 22 2006 Cerebus #3 p 16

eBay item number: 6614118650
Seller: phoebescollectables
Buyer: corto
Price: $515
Looks like the earlier (March 1) sale of this page did not go through.

March 25 2006 Cerebus #80 p 6

eBay item number: 6615511940
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: manuela4081
Price: $811.77

March 21 2006 Cerebus #103 pp 8-9

eBay item number: 6613684153
Seller: lantern84
Buyer: unovis
Price: $1125
I *think* that issue 103 was sold completely, yet in pieces. Lots of pages have shown up. Jim (unovis) and I have a lot of the issue between us.

March 14 2006 Cerebus #10 p 10

eBay item number: 6610766989
Seller: cerebusfan
Buyer: piledriver1
Price: $511

March 12 2006 Cerebus #24 p 13

eBay item number: 6610237875
Seller: 9121timothy
Buyer: pradagirly
Price: $427

March 11 2006 Cerebus #80 p 3

eBay item number: 6611390557
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: coffeestained
Price: $493

February 25 2006 Cerebus #58 p 1

eBay item number: 6607284810
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $886.76
From Dave: "This is a piece of original art used in the production of CEREBUS, this page features Red Sophia, Cerebus, Mrs. Henrot-Gutch and Mr. Blakely dining in the perpetually black Ambassador Suite just before the food starts flying. The discoloured PMT paper on the invitation can be covered up with a new white one that will be supplied with the page."

March 2 2006 Cerebus #8 p 11

eBay item number: 6607430472
Seller: cerebusfan
Buyer: coffeestained
Price: $499

March 1 2006 Cerebus #3 p 16

eBay item number: 6605571984
Seller: phoebescollectables
Buyer: stoph-man
Price: $510.01

February 20 2006 Cerebus #7 p 3

eBay item number: 6604813497
Seller: cerebusfan
Buyer: comicartboston
Price: $1035
The page with the return, I say, the return of Elrod pulled in quite the premium. I was somewhat surprised.

February 11 2006 Cerebus #7 p 19

eBay item number: 6602409837
Seller: cerebusfan
Buyer: alchemist57
Proce: $635.76
In early 2006, there was this whole series of really early pages that appeared on the market.

February 6 2006 Cerebus #50 p 10

eBay item number: 6602221864
Seller: phoenixcomics
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $585

February 6 2006 Cerebus #50 p 9

eBay item number: 6602221411
Seller: phoenixcomics
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $510
I have such a soft spot for issue #50. Coming up to the first advertized ending of a true story arc that seemed, and I guess it was, so unlike anything previously encountered in comics. These were real page-turners in an era where there were no internet spoilers... hell, no internet... no friendly personal computers to speak of... Anyhow, to me, pages from issue #50 have that special je ne sais quoi. Page 14, which I had picked up in the early days of eBay, is one of my all-time faves (about $800, in case you're interested).

February 6 2006 Cerebus #55 p 3

eBay item number: 6602220944
Seller: phoenixcomics
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $381.00

February 4 2006 Cerebus #55 p 1

eBay item number: 6602220113
Seller: phoenixcomics
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $308.25

February 4 2006 Cerebus #59 p 10

eBay item number: 6600305088
Seller: hammer31
Buyer: gregoire98
Price: $1,758.66
We all have these stories, so please accompany me into the self-pity-sty whilst I wallow around for a few moment. Ready? Good. In the immortal words of NormalRoach: "FuckFuckFuckkityFuckFuck." I really, I say, REALLY wanted this page. I fucking love this page. And while I am not saying I would have won it, I am the world's worst sniper because I basically never even try to do it, and I usually just put my high bid in and forget about it. But no... I wanted to wait to stick $2100 on this at the last minute instead of having it be there. Why? Cuz I am a fucking moron. Got busy. Forgot it was going on. And then that awful moment takes place when your email beeps or bongs or thuds (or whatever it does) and you see those dreaded words: "Subject: eBay Outbid Notice..." FuckFuckFuckkityFuckFuck Nice catch, gregoire98, I am green with envy. Please feel free to comment... gloat... rub it in... I so deserve it. Hee.

February 4 2006 Cerebus #234 p 17

eBay item number: 6601770333
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $610

February 4 2006 Cerebus #234 p 16

eBay item number: 6601769270
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $510

February 4 2006 Cerebus #234 p 15

eBay item number: 6601768367
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: kevmatchstick
Price: $609

February 4 2006 Cerebus #234 p 14

eBay item number: 6601705360
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $697
Part two of "the great issue 234 sell-off experiment" ...

February 1 2006 Cerebus #9 p 6

eBay item number: 6599426197
Seller: cerebusfan
Buyer: davidgil_fr
Price: $676
This seller "cerebusfan" has been one of the chief friendly eBay competitors over the years (hi Chris). He is selling off his Cerebus stuff in a series of linked auctions as "The Cerebus Mystery Event," featuring clues and prizes as a way to market the sell-off. The design of the auction pages is a little annoying in the "Partridge Family bus" sense, but it is compelling to follow along, even if it takes a little work.

January 28 2006 Cerebus #234 p 13

eBay item number: 6599810736
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: unovis
Price: $515

January 28 2006 Cerebus #234 p 12

eBay item number: 6599809849
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: unovis
Price: $535

January 28 2006 Cerebus #234 p 11

eBay item number: 6599809207
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: unovis
Price: $635

January 28 2006 Cerebus #234 p 10

eBay item number: 6599808644
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: unovis
Price: $515
These pages were a great catch for unovis (hi Jim). When Ger first previewed the "cerebusart.com" with me, he asked me what I thought about how the market might respond. I cautioned that, based on a fairly simply Econ 101 lesson ("supply and demand")that the big risk was not actually flooding the market, which would be bad, but even the perception that there was a relatively unlimited supply of pages in the vault, and that these were beginning to flow. When they put up these 4 pages from issue # 234 with 4 others to follow immediately, I sent them a note: "Dudes... what the heck (actually I think it was another word that ended in those two letters) are you thinking?" Ger replied: "It's an experiment." Fine. Let's have everyone's pages de-value by setting some new low price values (jeez). OK, fine, they're not investments, they're cool art, but it would still be depressing (OK, fine, vested self-interest). Anyhow, I dropped $500-600 bids on the 4 of them just to be sure they hit that level, and Jim came riding in and topped them. Good for Jim! Jim's a great guy; you can check out his collection at one of the links.

January 21 2006 Cerebus #92 p 2

eBay item number: 6597991220
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: packt_like_sardines
Price: $920

January 16 2006 Cerebus #3 p 18

eBay item number: 6595729742
Seller: hammer31
Buyer: ninmm98
Price: $860

January 8 2006 Cerebus #192 p 17

eBay item number: 6592465783
Seller: dnckv6zxq
Buyer: none, reserve not met
High Bid: $480
This is the first time I have written this, but it will not be the last: "Dear Sellers: Hidden Reserves = a bad idea. I mean, what is the point? Just make that price your opening bid. It's a great big turn-off not knowing what value you are placing on your Objet d'Art, and there is sometimes that sneaking suspicion that you've got $10,000 under there just to see how the market value is treating your piece cuz you're afraid that you won't squeeze every last Sheckel out of the auction by setting the reserve, whaddya call, 'too low.' OK, I'm not being a bitch here and picking on dnckv6zxq, this is just the first one where this came up. The driver here is that seller and buyers confuse "value" and "worth" all the time. If you are a seller and you value something more than it is worth, then you either need to find a bigger fanatic or you retain that piece of high value to you. If you are a buyer and you value something more than it is worth, then it's gonna be yours, probably." In this case, it was (as you can see) a really bad picture (so you had to get over the barrier of opening up one of the phone books to see the page) and dnckv6zxq offered to sell the frame for $100 over the bid, if you wanted that too. Buyer's premiums are another bad idea; they just keep people away. Now, for all we know he managed a reasonable sale off-line once this was over, but clearly, for January 2006, $500 is not too high for a nice Cerebus page... so something kept this one unsold.

November 29 2005 Cerebus #4 Cover recreation

eBay item number: 6580850773
Seller: cerebusart
Buyer: eldarro
Price: $2102.77
From Dave: "NOT THE ORIGINAL COVER…BUT AN AMAZING RE-CREATION! Dave Sim has redrawn and coloured the cover to CEREBUS #4 featuring Cerebus and Elrod rendered in Dave’s 'Barry Windsor-Smith style'”.

Words to the wise from alchemist57: When you see eldarro as the bidder, just hang it up. He's a successful author of adolescent literature (I mean, gonna be JK Rowling-like success), and he can buy and sell all of us. I got to know him after the Kramer Estate auctions when he sniped the complete interior to Cerebus #4 out from under me (so I just HAD to find out who he was). He grabbed the "Synchronicity Triptych" (see below) when that was sold by The Beguiling, and he's amassed a fair number of pages from Cerebus #1, which I suspect he would like to recreate. I hooked him up with the guy who had page 1 from issue 1, and I know how much he paid for it (somewhat over 5 times what he paid for this cover recreation). Although he probably would have noticed this recreation of the cover of issue #4, I did tag eldarro on it when I saw that it was coming up ... he and I have this ongoing thing: I want those issue #4 interiors because I have the original cover and back cover... and vice versa .