Not sure if it's the Arrogant Bastard I've been quaffing this evening, but Xonocostle that's the most eloquent post I've seen on here in a long time.

Like, "Well we've said things are worth a lot and we've sold a lot of valuable things so if WE say it's valuable and give paperwork saying it's reeely valuable Lovey my lord then it isss...really valuable and I'm lord Buffington the IV now see here my good man off to the dog races!"

I gets it.

Well, actually Warhol owned some Japanese toys and i understand those were sold for a pretty penny after he died but I can understand that because common' Warhol.

I follow the logic, xoconostle- it is the circumstances of ownership, as well as the intrinsic value of the items, that command the price. Just seems odd to me that relatively to very new items would multiply in value several times simply due to the touch of noteworthy hand, so to speak.

wtf? wow..maybe the sb set that sold didnt have any cracks on the figures and it was the only set like that that exists?..crazy shiza

He had an amazing collection of Americana too. All sorts of crazy stuff. Nobody even realized how much until he died.

I can appreciate and share the cynicism.

Kirkland, I have an old friend at Butterfield's. I'll see if I can get more info out of him about this type of auction because I'm really speaking from vicarious experience here, being close to some local artists, acquainted with some local gallery owners, and am close friends with an "important" local collector of contemporary art. What I do know is that for serious collectors, periodic appraisal is ... something you do. Documentation of where art works come from, what was originally paid for them, etc. plays into the accrued value, as does time passed and external market value factors. It's not unlike how for an artist, the CV factors into the prices that the art commands. If you've only ever had one show at some cafe, that's not going to add any sale value. If you've had a show or two at more conventionally respected galleries, that's a boost. If you've had museum shows and are collected by established collectors, that factors in too. My point is that there are all sorts of contextual factors that we as "toy collectors" don't deal with (thank Godzilla.) However, in the art and auction scene, these factors are considered legitimate.

If this still sounds like a bunch of bull, consider at least that we do indeed deal with some abstract consensual notions of what constitutes resale value. We complain, bargain with, and debate those artificial factors all the time. To an outsider, as we all know, we seem crazy too. "It's only a plastic toy!" and all that.



It seems very odd to me too. Just sayin...

"The chrome on these is simply exquisite! It reminds me of the time I was seeking out silver talismans in the back streets of Istanbul. Simply mah-vu-lous!!!!"

the insanity of it all...!!! I seriously wish I had that kind of money to spend...!!!

To you sir, a snip at $350...

My impression is that those vinyls were tossed into the lot to make it seem more trendy and add some eye candy (as well as volume) I could completely understand Phillips selling the paintings and sculptures etc. but I got the distinctive impression the toys were auction padding.
some padding.....

And oh....
if it hasnt occured to anyone yet.
those prices arent even close to what people are eventually going to pay after the buyers premium, VAT, shipping etc. add another third of the realized value to the hammer price.
lol

This whole situation is quite interesting - thanks for the thought-provoking posts, Xoco. The thing that it seems most like to me is the "outsider art" movement; stuff that might seem crude or ordinary, but once given cachet by galleries, collectors et al. commands phenomenal prices.

One of the coolest things at the Warhol museum in PGH is the room where they just open up a few boxes from his storage and display the contents. The stuff changes every few months (if memory serves) and it seems to run the gamut from the relatively mundane (old magazines or dishware) to the awesome (toys/comics/pop junk).

I wonder if the boxes of stuff I leave behind after I kick it will be treated with such reverence

I'm curious if the buyer of the Chrome Secret Base set was under the impression they were solid cast metal or unaware of the scale and possibly made of solid Sterling Silver (as opossed to poor quality electroplate on flexible vinyl that has a tendency to craze and chip to hell) . . . . SUCKAAAAA!

Edit . . . just noticed the catalogue listing . . . '23.1 cm. (9.1 in) high' . . . WTF?

That could cause problems!

Xoco (or anyone) - have you seen "Who The Fuck Is Jackson Pollock!?!" ? For some reason these auctions results remind me of it...

Well, maybe that misdescription will give him an 'out,' if he has later discovered the true market price of his Big Win ... Usually though, auction catalogs have a catchall "Rely on the item, you may not rely on our description" disclaimer.

I take Xono's point about the curatorial circumstance, and I'm sure there is also an aspect of 'anything for $800' seeming like a bargain in this auction among the million-pound Murakamis, Noguchi, Nakashima, etc. I did think, when I first saw the online catalog, "This is how I'd sure like the opportunity to sell mine - In London, at an 'art' auction among million-dollar Japanese originals, where the prices will be crazed!"

So, while it's no surprise they would bring over-market prices in this auction, I still think these items, which are both mass-produced and already have an established secondary market, brought exceptional multiples. I have imagined the 'joy of the underbidders' -- For example, whoever 'lost' the $750 SHB with a bid of $700, checking on line the next morning to find them selling at a fraction of his bid, and breathing a huge sigh of relief that he didn't 'win.'

exactly. the people who but at auction rely primarily on the "experts" at the auction house...and if sold a bill of goods a certain way they will spend as much as needed to get something they want. These upper eschelon auction houses are dealing with VERY heavy hitters...so to the person who bought that SB set, 8Gs is a drop in a very, very, very big bucket.

Maybe the size is all of the figs laid down feet to head...

And adding on 17.5% VAT tax, ouch.

I've seen it - it rules!

I know who has been selling their toys to this place, it is an older american collector and dealer. Basically, he started giving stuff to them as they wanted to have "art objects of popular culture". They started a couple auctions back, and pick up stuff that looks interesting out of context as home decoration. A giant ultraman, odd colored godzillas, etc. Think of it as folk art collecting for the Murakami set. In that context our world does not have anything to do with what they are buying it for, at the same time it is interesting to have reputable dealers look at it as "art". Regardless, it seems a little bizarre, and the prices were silly. Then again, if you can buy a murakami, a 700 vinyl is no big deal.

$700 for a Monster Q!?? now thats art!

Bingo. This is off topic, but FWIW, the valuation of Murakami was a hot topic at this past season's art fairs in Miami. Evidently he's over-represented by several galleries, and accordingly, different reps are selling the same editions for wildly varying prices, scaring knowledgeable collectors away from buying any of his edition works at all. It'll be interesting to see if this is brought under control. It's the sort of thing that has devalued works by even some of the best-known canonical sorts of artists' editions e.g. late works by Picasso and Dali.

This doesn't necessarily affect the value of the prints that some in this community collect, though. I'm talking about the very expensive sculptures and such.

I kind of wonder whether they will even still be interested enough to check the next day...

This is discounting Xoco's excellent points about documentation/valuation, but the catalog was published several weeks before the auction; if it was anything other than an impulse buy they could have hopped on eBay, spent 5 minutes searching and gotten the exact same item for 1/5th of the cost.

Yeah but do these people even go in Ebay at all? That seems like slumming to these folks I would imagine. At most I'd imagine daddy's "personal assistant" going on ebay motors to buy junior a used Ferrari for his graduation present.

You jest, but last year when some 'name' of a TV producer started throwing silly $$$ at Dummys (mine included) that's precisely what happened . . . he blew $2k on a bunch of Series 1's but after a week without payment I dropped him a line . . . his reply was to the effect that he couldn't sort out a Paypal account and his PA was 'looking into it'

Two months later he disappeared onto the next fad . . . DUMBASS!

For some reason I don't think they buy used cars.
It will be interesting to see where the figures sold on the auction will be a few years from now., whether they actually increase in value or become Muffles' next chew toy.