Hasta!

What a wonderful collection! You could open a gallery!!!!

Going straight to the artists has been the way to go for me. Even when they have nothing left (which is happening more and more cause of guys like yours truly;) you might even get some ancillary benefit! Robh Ruppel (who may be the king of big ass TSR paintings;) was at this signing maybe 1 1/2 years ago. I go there and was begging and pleading with him for an original. No dice. That guy is difficult to get anything from! The funny thing is that he lives right next to me as well! Closer than Tom even. Anyways, he didn't hook me up so you might think I was disapointed (I was;) but then I was telling him how I liked his Planescape covers. What I was really after was his DS cover that he did though Anyways, were talking Planescape and I ask him what he thought about the prices those sketchbooks were fetching... He was like, "huh". I tell him that the prices are "through the roof!" I could not afford one at the time (and wouldn't) due to the obvious reasons. He told me who to ask about getting some of the books though! Nobody knew, cept for us mainly, what the value on those had been. The funny thing is that I get hooked up and I posted it on some D&D sites but because of my lack of "being apart of the community" or something, nobody ever responded to me. It was one of those deals where everybody assumed I was bullshitting them or trolling or some shit Crazy.
Anyways, you think sealed old modules and shit are super rare impossibilities or something? Yeah, right So far, every artist I have communicated with has had a pile of them...

Talking with and getting to know the artists has been a big deal to me personally. It's a little bit more special when you buy something from the creator as opposed to Ebay or whatever. Uusally you get a cool backstory to boot This is the way to go guys and gals.

At Comic Con Brom hooked me up with some interiors but he was manning his booth and pimping his new book, a dark Peter Pan story.
Tommy was selling stuff, he's doing many things for MTG and Warcraft as well as getting back into D&D. They had him go over and do this live sketch, they had artist after artist doing them and they were all super! Anyways, Tom pulled out this sharpie and knocked out this incredible sketch. I mean, people are all standing there watching him and he does this flawless drawing (I can imagine all the potential fuck-ups that could happen drawing with a sharpie, you know? I'll post some pics of that now! Maybe below here cause this is long.

Hasta!

Hasta!

Hasta!

The only thing here that makes me wince is the idea that you might sell your stuff.  

My advice is: Don't.  You will regret it - not only because these works will increase in value, but also because you will miss them.

I agree with you about increasing in value. It's relative though, you know? Lots of stuff increases in value over time
The regret thing, yeah, I plan on keeping a few to curb that.
A couple people asked to buy the lot and if that falls through my plan is to make individual pieces available for the collectors here. I got a very good deal on a lot of stuff and I feel (kinda) guilty about profiteering to some extent so maybe make a few available to anyone that is interested maybe. I dunno, we'll see what happens.
Have a good one!

Tharizdun wrote:
I agree with you about increasing in value. It's relative though, you know? Lots of stuff increases in value over time
The regret thing, yeah, I plan on keeping a few to curb that.
A couple people asked to buy the lot and if that falls through my plan is to make individual pieces available for the collectors here. I got a very good deal on a lot of stuff and I feel (kinda) guilty about profiteering to some extent so maybe make a few available to anyone that is interested maybe. I dunno, we'll see what happens.
Have a good one!

Ah jeez, man you don't sound like you are rich enough for this to just be a drop in the bucket.

STOP SELLING!

You have come across something amazing. Take a couple of months and think about this. An Easly (sp) onion skin just sold on ebay for $66 and that is going to seem like a bargain.

It sounds like you are seriously screwing yourself over. Part of the value of this collection is its size.

Seriously, unless you need to money selling these now, in this economy and in the general infancy of the fantasy RPG art market is an incredibly bad move.

Ah, well last time for me to comment. Seeing these sold now is like watching a trainwreck as it happens. Those TOEE pieces were gems, if you keep anything, keep the absolute best of your collection and part with the least.

I'm done here.

Thanks for wanting to look out for me guys, I appreciate it!!  

keep the absolute best of your collection and part with the least.

Bro, the best of my collection is not on this thread
Yet...

Ah jeez, man you don't sound like you are rich enough for this to just be a drop in the bucket.

I wish!

Seriously, unless you need to money selling these now, in this economy and in the general infancy of the fantasy RPG art market is an incredibly bad move.

I agree with you! The thing of it is, me selling "low" allows me to buy other stuff low. My trajectory (if you will) remains associated with the art. Just not this sort of thing... I have my own unique vision.

When you sell the lot for less than it's worth, someone else is going to sell it for a profit.

This is very true. I will see if there's a buyer for the "lot" who will want to own this sort of collection. If no, then I can break it up and sell to many people. Some of those people will resell but would you? Some people will probably be happy to own a couple original TSR artworks.

Seeing these sold now is like watching a trainwreck as it happens.

If I was able to post pics of what I just brought home with me you'd not feel bad for me at all

Cheers all!