Posted on 08/17/2007 8:06:06 AM PDT by Daffynition
North Texas Family Surprised To Find Artwork Was Stolen
When a McKinney couple picked up a coloring book for their daughter at a garage sale, they were surprised to see what looked like sketches drawings for a comic book tucked inside. But that was just the start of the surprises.
Paul and Jamillah Washington took the black-and-white sketches to a local art auction house to get a better idea of what they were.
They turned out to be oversized artboards for the original "Avengers" comic book from 1964, worth some $48,000.
But that's not all -- the sketches were also reported stolen from DFW airport earlier this year. That's when the Washingtons were surprised again by police.
"They read us our rights, they grabbed me and put me in another room," remembered Paul Washington. "I'm just like in shock! What's going on, asking a lot of questions."
The Washingtons are released while an investigation is conducted.
Classic Kirby art? Boy, that WOULD be worth a fair amount...
Smilin' Jack PING.
Please, PLEASE tell me the small child in question didn't actually apply Crayolas to original Jack Kirby artwork before it was too late...!
Prices must have really snowballed to be $48,000 for some 1964 pages. I last looked at such things in the mid-1990s and $2,500 a page would’ve been top market.
Recent Auctions: All Star Auctions
Auctions/Prices, Scoop, Friday, June 21, 2002
Jack Kirby Fantastic Four #57 interior page original art - sold for $10,526 (Record price for an interior Kirby page)
This was page #13 from Fantastic Four #57; a story entitled “Enter Dr. Doom.” It showed Dr. Doom preparing to take Silver Surfer’s cosmic energy, rendering him helpless. 18.5”x12” and in Very Fine condition, this historically significant page even featured handwritten notes in the margins.
http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=546&si=123
These are all key collectibles, and would easily justify the otherwise inflated price tag.
“Honestly, we didn't know the Mona Lisa was stolen! We just bought this picture frame at a garage sale and it happened to have this old painting stuck in the back! Really!”
Had it. My entire collection was stolen when I was in high-school, in the 80s. An older cousin had given me about a thousand comic books when he went to college, with dates starting in ‘62. Knew who did it, couldn’t prove it. I still stew about it :-/
Hard to say. I once bought an innocent looking stamp album at a yard sale. Upon closer examination quite some time later, I discovered a large quantity of very valuable US stamps. The people selling it had no idea what was in the pages....and either did I when I bought it. Go figure. Sometimes it’s luck
Oh, I don't disagree with the luck part. It seems to happen often enough. See for example this article about the guy who bought for $4 one of 500 official copies from the first printing of the Declaration of Independence. (It was in an old picture frame, which is why I made the joke about the Mona Lisa ;-)
For some reason though the factoids in this case just seemed a bit suspicious; I don't really know why. I'll be very interested in any follow-up, especially if the results of interviewing the persons who sold the coloring book are made public.
I’ll keep an eye out for a follow-up. So many of these stories that are posted leave you “hanging.” You are probably right ... more investigation needs to happen. Erstwhile ... happy yard saling!
The thing about stolen artwork (especially of this value) is that there is a police report and artwork is UNIQUE. If they are pages that had been reported as stolen, they will go back to the original owner regardless of how they got to the yard sale.
“If they are pages that had been reported as stolen, they will go back to the original owner regardless of how they got to the yard sale.”
Yeah, I’d be interested to see how this plays out.
Any updates?
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