A Story of Solid Appraisals and Humanity

My wife was watching a TV show the other night that was mildly amusing.  It's about a group of 3 guys that offer to clean out storage spaces (such as houses, garages, etc.) for free as long as they can keep the contents.  Frankly, I'm amazed at what people let them clean out for free because they were PACKED with valuable items.  It's called Garage Brothers.

The mildly amusing part is the guy who is in charge, his name is Kraig.  Although he is the brains behind the whole thing, and this concept is incredible on his part, he doesn't give off a strong visual impression.  He certainly doesn't have a comb.  His hair looks like it just came out of a blender, his glasses look they were run over by a bus then put back on, and he looks like he just rolled out of bed.  All that being said, the guy is a genius.  This concept he came up with is pure gold.  So he looks like that, with a big smile, all the way to the bank.  I admire that.

The reason I bring it up is because on one of the episodes he traversed into my arena...comic book stuff.  In one of the garages they found a statue of the Silver Surfer which was a limited edition.  There were approximately 350 made in celebration of the Fantastic Four movie, Rise of the Silver Surfer.  The movie was mediocre at best, but the statue was pristine.  No scratches, no breakage, nothing.  It was, as we say, Near Mint.

That wasn't the only thing they found, though.  They also found a drawing of the Ghost Rider done by Joe and Andy Kubert, legends in the comic book arena.  Unfortunately, Joe passed away in 2012.

So, Kraig said he was calling in a "Comic Book Expert" to value the Silver Surfer statue and the drawing of Ghost Rider by Joe and Andy Kubert.

Just to be on the same page I researched them both myself.  Not that I'm trying to prove anybody right or anybody wrong, I just like to stay in practice so I can be on top of my game.

Researching the Silver Surfer statue the prices ranged from $1,600 to $6,500.  The comic guy came in at the low end at $1,600.  It's a safe call on his part, but it's also the price it was going for on eBay at the time.  With it being a limited edition and not having a single thing wrong with it, the estimate seemed low.  That being said, he was giving market value as to what he felt it could sell for and that appraisal seemed reasonable.  So, although it may be appraised for $6,500 on the high end, the appraiser made a safe call with what he felt it would sell for.  Frankly, there's probably not much of a market for a 4' tall and 6' long Silver Surfer statues even if it was limited edition.  Also, I can't imagine that an appraiser with that much knowledge would go strictly by the eBay pricing.  The statue might draw a high price tag, but it would take awhile to sell, and it wouldn't be cheap to ship.  Good call on the statue.

The drawing, however, is another story.  I was first surprised that an established comic book person would not recognize the picture as the actual cover of a Ghost Rider comic.  After first looking at it he made some guesses as to what it could be, made some comments that were irrelevant about the front and back, and then said he had to go back and research it.  I appreciated the research part, the worst thing we can do as appraisers it take a wild guess as to what the value is.  It's a disservice to our clients. I didn't appreciate his comments about what should and should not be on the front and back, they didn't make much sense. That's a story for another blog.

As an aside,the creation of a comic book is an amazing and under-appreciated process that has changed over the years.  There are various stages such as pencilling and inking and there are a number of marks that can be made on the pages.  Many are artist notes or specific things to focus on during the process.  See below for some drawings and sketches that illustrate part of the process.

Anyway, he came back and valued the picture at a reasonable price between $4,000 and $6,000.  I believe he was dead-on based on the incredible standing the Kubert's have in the comic industry, the fact that Joe Kubert is no longer with us, and the fact that sketches like that can appraise very high, but sell for about half of the real value.  Good call on the sketch, but I am hoping some the the random comments were made for TV and inserted to sound impressive.

I give high marks to the appraiser's pricing but low marks to the comments he made and the inability to recognize a cover from Ghost Rider given the prominence of the title.  He should stick with the appraising and less with the pontificating.  I would say that by his vast knowledge (and I mean that sincerely) that he was coaxed by the TV crew to keep talking to fill space.  I applaud him for even getting in front of cameras where he can be critiqued by comic lovers everywhere.  It can't be easy.

The most impressive thing, however, was the ending of the show.  Remember, Garage Brothers is a show about emptying out storage spaces, houses, garages, etc. for free, but they get to keep what's in the space.  Kraig could have walked away with both the Silver Surfer and the incredible Ghost Rider drawing and netted a possible $6,000 - $8,000, but he did the thing I thought I would never see on TV.  He did the right thing.  He took the drawing back to the owner of the space, told him the value, and gave it back to him.  It turns out that the drawing had special significance to the owner.  It had an emotional tie because it was given to him by a loved one and it held some strong memories.  The owner said it was the hardest thing he would have had to part with and it was difficult for him to let it go.

Yes, you read it right.  Someone had the humanity to let the money go and give a high value item back to the owner even though, by contract, it was property of the Garage Brothers.  I was humbled.  I was taken aback.  In this day and age where shows like Pawn Stars offer excessively low values on items they buy, and then sell them for ungodly prices, we see a show with humanity?  Wow!

My hat is off to Kraig and all the members of the cast of Garage Brothers.  Some cynics may say that the network reimbursed Kraig for the drawing so it was no loss for him to give it back, but I prefer to think otherwise.  I prefer to think that this was a blatant demonstration of humanity in lieu of the almighty dollar.  Although I may not continue to watch Garage Brothers because it's not my cup of tea, I have to say it restored my belief in humanity.