Where to sell original classic comic strip art online?

January 16, 2010 8:39 PM

Where to sell an original hand-drawn Dennis the Menace comic strip online?

I have an original hand-drawn drawing from a Dennis the Menace comic strip from the artist, Hal Ketchum. How do I assess it's value and where can I best sell it online?

posted by kdern to media & arts (6 answers total)

Find an assessor (or multiple assessors) to figure out an approximate value. They should also be able to give you ideas on how to sell it.
posted by jjb at 8:56 PM on January 16, 2010

If there are fan/collector communities specifically for Dennis the Menace, you should ask around there. I had a friend who had a gig selling original Pogo strips and he knew pretty much all the people in the world who would want to buy an original Pogo strip and could help figure out who you'd get the best price from and such. Yes, you'd pay him some percentage.

Or you could just do the easy, quick thing and put it on eBay and get a little screwed on price but hope it evened out because you weren't paying a percentage or really taking much time out of your schedule to deal with it. The collector communities to which I am peripheral (I don't collect anything myself, but I have interests that tend to dovetail nicely with obsessive collecting) tend to view eBay as a cesspool of worthlessness and damaged goods that you have to check occasionally because you never know when you'll be able to pick up something ridiculously rare for cheap.
posted by crinklebat at 9:38 PM on January 16, 2010

I am not an expert, but a quick check on ebay shows a small segment of original DTM art going for about $100.

Actually trying that again gives similar results.

IMHO If there isn't something really unique about your strip (a drawing of the first one published? for instance) I'd wonder if you'd get substantially more than this.

But again do get it checked by an expert.
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 9:46 PM on January 16, 2010

Rather than eBay, you might consider consigning it at a specialty auction house like Heritage or Hakes. You might pay more in fees, but their customers are more serious and have larger wallets than your typical eBayer.
posted by MegoSteve at 9:50 PM on January 16, 2010

And I'd disagree with t.j.t about the value of the art. The example he posted isn't comparable. Al Wiseman didn't create Dennis the Menace, and it's one panel cut from a full page of comic book art. The other samples posted were Ketcham, but not Dennis the Menace, or just a very rough quick sketch, not a published DTM original by the creator of the strip.
posted by MegoSteve at 10:01 PM on January 16, 2010

For the record, the artist's name is Hank Ketcham (not Hal Ketchum) It's cool you have an original drawing of his. Ketcham has a great style and line. Not sure there's much of a market for anything beyond his very early work, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:45 AM on January 17, 2010