Coming up at Heritage Auctions in December

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In case some of you don't keep a close eye out at Heritage. Coming up are the auctions for December. It is a fantastic auction event with many big names in fantasy art including Boris, Kinku Craft, Beekman, Bok, Rowena, Sanjulian, etc. etc. And an unbelievable collection of TSR masterpieces from mid to late 1st Edition. I don't know if I can bank in time for this one. I encourage some of you guys to consider trying for one or more. These do not come up often, if ever again....

Keith Parkinson Red Dragon

Keith Parkinson Fafhrd

Keith Parkinson Dwarven Magic

Clyde Caldwell Dragons of Triumph

Clyde Caldwell Dragonsland

Jeff Easley War

Jeff Easley Dragons of Flame

Jeff Easley The Magister

Larry Elmore The Death of Sturm

This one is newer by Todd Lockwood Vecna Lives

Also look for a few Wayne England cover pieces.
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Elwood Blues · Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 9:22 pm Post subject:

Man! We would really like to have several of those. Unfortunately, Pat Wilshire said they were up for sale a while back with very high reserves(like $10,000-$15,000). Way out of our budget.

Elwood Blues · Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 12:36 am Post subject:

Well it looks like they don't have reserves. We may have to go after a couple. Can't pass up the DL2 cover.

scribe · Last edited by scribe on Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:08 am; edited 1 time in total

The following is a summary. More results and notes to follow. I will edit them in later as time permits.

Some unbelievable results that could very well introduce more of the same to the market......

Elwood Blues · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:17 pm Post subject:

Hey Adam, did you win anything?

We didn't!

Every D&D painting except for the Lockwood Vecna piece went for more than we have ever paid for a painting. I guess if I ever want to pay the mortgage off we could sell our collection. NOT!

Man we need to hit the lottery. Laughing

scribe · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:40 pm Post subject:

I had designs on the Elmore and was planning to shoot for no higher than $7k. Well, those plans would have been for naught anyhoo!!

As I stated at the head of the thread, I was unable to bank that sort of dough in time. These were a rare auction to be sure.....but the saying goes "there is always another time". Hopefully, these sorts of prices just might bring more of the same out of the woodwork.

What struck me about this auction is how much activity they took on from the main floor. There were some very serious fantasy pieces up at the same time that should have caught the full attention of the cadre of serious collectors. It didn't seem to dent them much to be sure. I have yet to look around at the finishing amounts of those other fantasy works. Try to do that tonight or tomorrow.
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beasterbrook · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:03 am Post subject:

I had several bids on these myself, it was the first heritage auction that I had participated in so its good to see how it works... Looking at it now the Live internet auction may be the way to go either by phone or internet and I prob should have concentrated on 1 or two items, i spread myself a bit thin but there were so many nice paintings... at least I saved the $$ I suppose and the headache of explaing the arrival of the packages to the other half..

Brette:)

scribe · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 2:10 am Post subject:

scribe · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:45 am Post subject:

This was just a thrilling auction. Clearly the TSR items in this auction was put up for sale by a single collector. I am not sure who it is (for sure) but I am disappointed these weren't offered to me via grapevine when the initial query offering was out Twisted Evil

. I might have bought at least one on payments AND darnit I probably would have paid them off by now!! (sorry, I just had a moment)

These TSR items alone represent $64,291 total for 10 pieces. This is mind-boggling considering there are thousands of pieces produced across the spectrum by TSR artists. Alas, it is very rare that such a unique collection is assembled. If this is the person I am thinking of, they were in contact with the artists and buying stuff right after it was produced in some cases or at Conventions during the 80s and early 90s when no one else was thinking about this stuff....seriously.

The fab four artist's in TSR's Dungeons and Dragons prime day include Elmore, Parkinson, Caldwell, and Easley. These are some of the most inspiring and recognized pieces by a wide audience and this, I believe, owes to the demand collectors have placed on owning them. Please indulge me while I do a breakdown of these pieces.....

Parkinson's Red Dragon : Dungeon #1 cover as well as a smattering of other TSR printings. The venerable red dragon is what everyone associates with their Dungeons and Dragons memory. In my opinion, this Dragon is second only to Elmore's basic set dragon as the best Dragon ever printed by TSR. And I measure these two dragon representations by a razor thin margin. Every artist has one or two pieces that stand above the rest of their body of work as signature pieces. This to me, is one of Parkinson's signature piece. I would place it along side with his Lord Soth's Charge as his most widely recognizable pieces. Shortly thereafter, I would place Northwatch and the Flying Citadel. This piece hefted a mighty price but still didn't reach the upper end of the estimated value. This might owe itself a bit to what people are willing to pay for holy grails of originals more than anything. In a few more years I think this mighty high rail will continue to escalate.

Keith Parkinson Fafhrd: This piece went at a very reasonable price. A highly recognizable 1e cover to boot. Not my favorite to be sure and not a particularly strong piece at that. But a great purchase for someone.

Parkinson's Dwarven Magic: This is a really pretty piece. Sometimes I think Keith hits home runs with his work and other times I think he strikes out. When he hits one out though, they are spectacular. $6,500 is a bit on the steep side I think but probably worth it. Sadly, Keith work is with us posthumously and this brings the demand at a premium. There will never be more pieces to follow and any printed piece done for TSR is an ace in my book.

Clyde Caldwell Dragons of Triumph: Ahhh, Dragonlance. There are some mega DL collectors out there who might not have even known about these auctions. None-the-less, I think a few of these pieces really brought in what I guesstimated. Caldwell's work always seems to be a bit on the pricey side to me. Like Keith, it can be a dramatic hit or miss. I wasn't in love with this piece but I had a tremendous amount of respect considering it was one of the 1e Dragonlance covers, albeit DL14! I think the price was a bit on the high side if I had to estimate value.

Clyde Caldwell Dragonsland: Another DL cover of lesser origin and thus demand. It isn't a strong Caldwell either yet it bears some of DL's more recognizable characters in Tas, Goldmoon, Caramon. The black dragon is awful. Sorry for being blunt! I think the ending value on this was fair if not a bit high. But HIGH ruled the day!

Jeff Easley War: I really like Jeff's work. He is a bit unheralded generally on the price front but I think this is due to the mighty amounts of work that survived and is in circulation. I think this is largely because he was 'easily' the most prolific of all the artists to go along with the longest tenure at TSR. But alas, this is another DragonLance piece. It has the flying citadel and a red dragon. Lots of narrative and color make it great piece but not Jeff's best. Again, I think the ending price on this item was a huge leap for any of Jeff's work. We shall see if this is sustained.

Dragons of Flame: Be still my beating heart. Lord Toede on his knees before Verminaard and Ember. I was quite young and enamoured with the DragonLance series when it first came out. Anyone of the first 5 DL covers are masterpieces in my book. 7 years ago I watch helplessly as Parkinson's Flying Citadel gathered a single bid for $5,000 on ebay. That is when I first decided that original art was for me and I began pining for an opportunity. $5,675 for this piece is an amazing deal. I don't care that it is an Easley. One of Jeff's finest pieces. Til we meet again.

Jeff Easley The Magister: An enigma. Better result than the DL2! Why? It is a spectacular piece and I can't fathom another reason why! As good as Easley gets without a Red Dragon in the frame. I wouldn't be surprised if a fantasy enthusiast picked this up specifically and not someone so bent on TSR originals.

Larry Elmore The Death of Sturm: IMHO, this is one of Larry's top 5 pieces in a venerable career at TSR. Powerful. It is surely heading to a home of someone who will hold onto it for quite a while. Many people wanted this from what I am reading at the exchange and this always fuels price. It went higher than I expected but I don't really mind in this instance. It is a masterpiece.

"Touch this body and you will die," Laurana said softly. "Your dragon will not be able to save you. This knight was my friend and I will not let his killer defile his body." -Dragons of Winter Night, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
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beasterbrook · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:23 am Post subject:

Jeff Easley The Magister is a fantastic pic and I'm not surprised at what it went for at the end of the, its a classic fantasy picture were most of the others are too Dragonlance related and can be seen as such, this one is very gereral, and in my opinion was one of the top 2 piece of the lot (Keiths Dragon beiing the other).. I would have liked the Dragon of Triumph cover but it was not to be.. I see that this one is for sale at the moment http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/modpages/modscans/dl15.html but at $7500 I don't know if there will be that many takers... but you never know..

I would have loved Parkinson's Flying Citadel! Wonder what that would go for today surly more than $10k

Brette:)

scribe · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:50 pm Post subject:

beasterbrook · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:17 am Post subject:

Feel free to pass along those emails;) I wouldn't mind see what sort of painting are avaiable out there to buy...

Brette:)

tfm · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:42 pm Post subject:

Now that cat is out of bag, so to speak, I would like to thank scribe for walking me through the art-buying process. I don't think I would tried without his help. I know that the Great Red Dragon graces Dungeon #1, Spellfire, and some advertisements, but can anyone think of any other products that use the image? I'd like to update the description with a more complete list.

scribe · Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 4:53 am Post subject:

I know that red dragon was printed as a poster licensed by TSR. That is a fantastic piece to say the least! One of TSR's iconic images.
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