July 29, 2007 The trade that did not happen...

This splash page from the Lee/Kirby FF showed up on eBay last week (eBay 140139748300), and it is pretty much one of THE pages for me. I talked about the FF the other day, and this page epitomizes that "family" aspect for me.

Knowing that this thing was going to go for something in the $10-15K range, and not being particularly willing to assemble that money, a new thought (for me) bubbled to the surface: I would probably release something I had for this page.

There have been others who have inquired about some of the non-Cerebus pieces in my collection, but I have no idea who they are, really. I suppose I could keep better records. But I could identify two people who have been after Cerebus stuff: ME and DO. If they would go ahead and win that FF page, they would have some pretty strong trading leverage with me. So I contacted ME to see what he might be interested in, in the event of such a deal. I already know what DO is interested in.

ME's list was too filled with choice things. Offered a target of opportunity, I would have done the same. Seeing that list, it tipped the scale away from having the FF page. It was awesome of ME to consider this, though.

DO and I have a great, on-going Cerebus-collector conversation. We met (that is, we "met") after the auction for the Cerebus stuff from the Kramer estate. I was the pretty high bidder with seconds to go, for the entire interior art to Issue #4 (the introduction of Elrod). Then, DO comes swooping in and snipes it.

Who'dat?

DO's a real collector of special pieces. He also ended up with the Synchronicity cover triptych, and I helped to set up his purchase of page 1 to issue #1.

Ever since DO picked up that interior art, we're permanently in each other's orbit because I own the original cover to issue #4. As far as we know, this is the only chance that an issue between, what, 1-50 (?) will ever have of being reconstructed.

DO and I have a spoken speculation that whomever kicks the bucket first bequeaths the missing "half" to the other.

So, I was willing to release the Cover to Issue #4 to DO (and he's the only person I would ever release it to) in exchange for the FF page.

And that little trade was about 10-15 seconds away from being a done deal, but a flurry of snipers shot at the end, and DO went down for the count. It was a terriically generous offer, and in the end, someone got a terrific page, DO kept $10K in his bank account, and I still have the cover to #4.

Admittedly, it would have been a more interesting story had it gone the other way.

Extra special thanks to jt and Tim, who were like therapists when I was having my crazy moments about this! And particularly to jt who actually offered to contribute to a "help alchemist57 get his FF page" fund. Holy crap, that was an amazing thing to suggest.

And that's the story.