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A curated $6 million shopping spree, part 4 – Syd Hoff

In which I continue my $6M Comics Shopping Spree

As you may recall, Action Comics #1 (DC, 1938) sold for $6M not long ago, breaking all previous records for a comic book sold at auction. The sale got me playing a fun “What if?” game in my head, like you do when you hear about big lottery winners. We all do that, right? You can grab a reasonable facsimile of Action Comics #1 to enjoy this comic at home and come along with me as I “spend” $6 million on one-of-a-kind original comic art. The kind of thing that museum curators (like myself) call you up to borrow. I’ll explain in more detail at the end of this post if you’ve started at this point for some reason.

Syd Hoff

Syd Hoff’s work is among some of the most recognizable and enduring illustrated comic work of the 20th Century. You’ve read Danny and the Dinosaur, right? What about the one where they visit a museum? His book about a circus elephant who is forced to make his own way in the big city was a bigger hit at our house, Oliver.

His remarkable collection of cartoons, The Ruling Clawss, which he did under the name A. Redfield for the “Daily Worker,” was recently reissued by the New York Review of Books for the first time in almost 100 years. It’s a hilarious collection, and though a few cartoons perhaps do not carry the bite they did when they were first published, it is still filled with cartoons that give me a knowing, grim grin. I should write a full review of this book, as I don’t think I’ve seen much on it in the year or so it’s been out.

So, now that we’ve acknowledged the Socialist communicator and said nice things, let’s take out the fantasy checkbook fat enough to please a budding oligarch and go shopping.

$159, sold December 2021

It feels completely out of reality that Syd Hoff’s original cartoons and illustrations can be had for less than $200. I have *seen* uninteresting art made by unknown people sell for far more. And not very many of Hoff’s drawings seem to have been sold. Perhaps because the price has been (too) low? I loved his illustrations when I was a kid, and my kid loves them today. Syd Hoff’s work is still widely recognized and beloved. If I saw something in real life that really clicked with me, I’d be very tempted to pay my real money for his work.

$60,  sold October 2020

$60, sold October 2020

Hoff sold hundreds of cartoons to the New Yorker and hundreds more to other prestigious magazines.

$2,250, sold October 2024

My name is Benjamin, so … yes, I need this one. But of course, it’s also the most expensive by far. Just my luck.

$350, sold December 2022

No, that price is not each, that’s total for the lot.

$600, sold December 2022

Another bargain, perhaps. There are apparently seven more drawings in this lot, but we’re only shown five. More examples of Syd Hoff’s work that was not for children. These also have some rather alarming condition issues with the water damage/ damp staining, but a top-notch paper conservator could probably get that cleaned up and looking a lot better, and better conserved for future preservation.  Again, I’m not worrying about that now.

If you’ve loved Syd Hoff’s work and want to learn more about his cartooning, grab that book at the top of this post and a few others of Hoff’s books, The Art of Cartooning, and The Young Cartoonist: the ABC’s of Cartooning can be found on Amazon and archive.org,

$4,755,800 – $3,480 = $4,752,320 remains to spend.

All that gorgeous Syd Hoff art would cost less than the buyer’s premium for some earlier entries. Just astonishing. To sum up the situation I have put myself in, here is a little recap:

Action Comics Number 1, sold for $6 million

Action Comics Number 1, sold for $6 million, image courtesy Heritage Auctions

So, let’s say we’ve hit upon a Brewster’s Millions scenario where we must spend the $6M, and it must be spent on original comic art. Not $1M in comic art and $5M on a really nice house — all $6M on comic art. I’ll throw in a Blu-Ray of the excellent Richard Prior/ John Candy movie.

I will buy art I like, not things I only see as “an investment,” and talk about my selections. Art I want to hang on my walls and live with and enjoy. After spending $6M on original art, conservation funding, gallery space, and state-of-the-art storage will be added as a reward, so I don’t have to worry about it as I’m splashing out for big-ticket items and won’t let my museum curator brain get too distracted about planning and worrying about caring for it all longterm. I’ve worked in museums for over twenty years, so I can’t help but think about these things.

The Rules:

  • The budget must be respected — I will only spend $6M and must spend all $6M.
  • In the interest of transparency, I will only shop publicly. Gotta show those receipts. No bidding up the next cool thing to $6M and be done. No deals with a wink and a nod to pay $6M for something not worth anywhere near that and split the difference on the back end. Let’s keep this as above board as high-end art buying can be. [cough] (**My citation of a sale somewhere *is not* an endorsement to shop there for real.**)
  • And let’s make the prices recent. No buying Jack Kirby art from a fanzine auction in 1972 and owning every piece by Jack Kirby to cross into private hands. So, let’s say anything purchased must be from any 2020 or more recent public sale. Also, no buying a whole comic shop for $6M.
  • Lastly, as curator of the Schulz Museum, it would be a conflict of interest for me to buy any Peanuts art, so there will be no Charles M. Schulz art on this list, though it’d be a dream come true to own anything by him. This adds more wiggle room to my budget because Schulz’s art is not cheap! 

Did I forget anything? Write me and let me know.

Did you miss the beginning of this series? Go back here for my first post and watch me spend nearly $1 million on the art of Bill Watterson! Or maybe you’d like Part 2, where I threw a pile of money at the work of Winsor McCay!  Part 3 was dedicated to the original artwork of Edward Gorey. This post contains some affiliate links.

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About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes and works as a museum curator.

A curated $6 million shopping spree, part 3 – Edward Gorey

In which I continue my $6M Comics Shopping Spree

As you may recall, Action Comics #1 (DC, 1938) sold recently for $6M, breaking all previous records for a comic book sold at auction. The sale got me playing a fun “What if?” game in my head, like you do when you hear about big lottery winners. We all do that, right? You can grab a reasonable facsimile and enjoy this comic at home, and come along with me as I “spend” $6 million on comic art. 

Action Comics Number 1, sold for $6 million

Action Comics Number 1, sold for $6 million, image courtesy Heritage Auctions

So, let’s say we’ve hit upon a Brewster’s Millions scenario where we must spend the $6M, and it must be spent on original comic art. Not $1M in comic art and $5M on a really nice house — all $6M on comic art. I’ll throw in a Blu-Ray of the excellent Richard Prior/ John Candy movie.

I will buy art I like, not things I only see as “an investment,” and talk about my selections. Art I want to hang on my walls and live with and enjoy. After spending $6M on original art, conservation funding, gallery space, and state-of-the-art storage will be added as a reward, so I don’t have to worry about it as I’m splashing out for big-ticket items and won’t let my museum curator brain get too distracted about planning and worrying about caring for it all longterm. I’ve worked in museums for over twenty years, so I can’t help but think about these things.

The Rules:

  • The budget must be respected — I will only spend $6M and must spend all $6M.
  • In the interest of transparency, I will only shop publicly. Gotta show those receipts. No bidding up the next cool thing to $6M and be done. No deals with a wink and a nod to pay $6M for something not worth anywhere near that and split the difference on the back end. Let’s keep this as above board as high-end art buying can be. [cough] (**My citation of a sale somewhere *is not* an endorsement to shop there for real.**)
  • And let’s make the prices recent. No buying Jack Kirby art from a fanzine auction in 1972 and owning every piece by Jack Kirby to cross into private hands. So, let’s say anything purchased must be from any 2020 or more recent public sale. Also, no buying a whole comic shop for $6M.
  • And lastly, as curator of the Schulz Museum, it would be a conflict of interest for me to buy any Peanuts art, so there will be no Charles M. Schulz art on this list, though it’d be a dream come true to own anything by him. This adds a lot more wiggle room in my budget, because Schulz’s art is not cheap! 

Did I forget anything? Write me and let me. Ok, let’s go!

Edward Gorey

As we observe the 100th anniversary of the birth of Edward Gorey this year, I looked at my family calendar hanging in the kitchen, which is Edward Gorey themed, and I realized I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of his original art in person. I’ve seen so much of his work as book covers for all kinds of writers, as posters, and of course his own wonderful books, but not the original art. (The month of March on our calendar is the page from The Gashleycrumb Tinies, where “N is for Neville who died of ennui,” in case you were curious.) 

Granted, Edward Gorey is not a “comic artist” in the strictest sense, but his illustrations have influenced so many who have come since, and are so singular, and deeply funny, I cannot skip having him in my dream collection. And, as collecting is a deeply personal endeavor, I’m including him. So, into the auction rooms we go, paddle in hand. 

$7,500, sold October 2023

Apparently, there is not a ton of Gorey’s art in private hands. I know he was prolific, so I imagined there would be a lot of great work to choose from. Also, I am shocked at the low prices. Gorey is widely admired, and his work rarely comes to auctions. Even then, selling for very modest amounts is an eye-opener. Maybe because he is sold as “fine art” and not “comic art”? I sense that the comic art crowd would pay more for his art. I selected this piece because it makes me think of the swooning lady at the beginning of the PBS Mystery! series opening, which he also illustrated. I love that opening. 

$10,000, sold June 2021

I love boilerplate return letters from authors to fans. I’ve seen some wonderful ones over the years, and would have sworn I had a blog post about some of the postcard versions that have come to light over the years, but I can’t find it. So, I’ll put that on my idea list for another time. Gorey’s delightful return boilerplate reply is perfect. Visually clever and spilling over with details that fans would delight in, and a place for his signature. I’ve never seen one of the replies — were these made? Did he send them? 

$27,500, sold December 2021

The auction sales copy for this lot alone would have sold me on buying this piece without images of Gorey’s delicately drawn horrors and beasties. 

$20,000, sold December 2021

My very favorite Gorey project might have to be the opening for Mystery! on WGBH/ PBS. This is his drawing for a t-shirt they did for the show. According to the handwritten instructions at the bottom right, the logo goes in the rectangle. A few of these old t-shirts are available on the collector market and command premiums themselves. 

$21,250, sold December 2021

I love this piece. I love the linework, the suggestion of alternate dimensions/ realities around us all the time. That feeling you get when you wonder if you could look in a reflection and catch something unexpected. That’s part of why I love Gorey’s work. 

$10,000, sold December 2022

They’ve fallen in love, but if you squint from across the room, it also makes an evil face. Perfect for when I’ve not had my first cup of coffee and I’m not wearing my glasses yet in the morning. [chef’s kiss]

$21,250, sold December 2022

I’ve always liked a little bit of spooky fun around Christmas. It’s a moody, ghosty time of year when it feels like the barriers between here and there, and where and nowhere grow thin. Gorey’s art falls into this liminal time and space for me, and having a little pretty, bright-colored paper featuring a plant that people claim is deadly but is actually simply lovely to look at, seems about perfect. 

$4,873,300 – $117,500 = $4,755,800 remains to spend.

Did you miss Part 1 of this series? Go back here for my first post and watch me spend nearly $1 million on the art of Bill Watterson! Or maybe you’d like Part 2, where I threw a pile of money at the work of Winsor McCay!  This post contains affiliate links.

SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTER

About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes and works as a museum curator.

Bookshop Memories – Books on Broadway, Williston, North Dakota

Chuck Wilder was an attorney when his wife Robin wanted to open a bookshop in a small town near the western border of North Dakota and Montana. And so, they did. They opened a great shop with a nice craft coffee counter and that independent vibe bibliophiles love in a bookshop. Sadly, Robin died early on in their venture, and Chuck decided to run the bookshop full-time. And that whole region of western North Dakota and eastern Montana has been lucky to have him there for over thirty years. 

Books On Broadway sells primarily new books, but keeps up a good trade in hard-to-find regional history books, which are usually rare and out of print. It’s also a great place to find a souvenir or gift in a region that doesn’t have many shopping opportunities for finding a nice “local” gift to send someone. He may have even had toys and kites? I remember it being a good-sized store with unexpected things — and, of course, a great selection of books from big publishers and things of regional interest from university and small presses, too. 

It’s hard to express what it meant to have a small independent store that sold books even an hour away, across a state border, while living in a place like Sidney, Montana. Yes, the museum where I was executive director sold a few new books related to the region’s history, but that was it, locally. No new or used bookstore was open there, and Books on Broadway was the closest bookshop. So, going there to browse, and be reminded of the larger world was incredibly encouraging and uplifting for me at that time. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. *AND* to have a civilized cup of coffee somewhere was not a small consideration. The other option for browsing a bookshop was to visit the big box stores and indy shops in Billings, Montana, which was a three-hour drive each way, which was too far sometimes.

Chuck Wilder understood this and was also an encourager. He frequently co-sponsors literary and cultural events in both North Dakota and Montana, like Shakespeare in the Park, author panel discussions, and book fairs. I remember him specifically when I was helping to bring Shakespeare in the Park to Sidney, Montana, and he was helpful to us. He did the same for author events at the MonDak Heritage Center, the museum where I was the director. And if he couldn’t co-sponsor an event, he’ll still help get the word out, attend events personally, set up a table, and have a kind word for the organizers afterward. Books on Broadway and Chuck Wilder are treasures and part of what makes book people some of the best people you can meet.

About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes and works as a museum curator.