TRADER TRENCHES: Do I get a do-over?

Marvelmania - Toys for Tots poster art by Jack Kirby

San Diego '97 - I'm cruising the dealer floor, a much easier feat in those days, the art dealers were all on one side of the room and you could walk around easily--even on Sunday.  I see this huge Kirby poster piece at Anthony's table. It was bigger than a DPS, 17x22.  I asked Anthony how much he wanted for it.  He tells me that he thinks it's going to be 8k, but he's not sure 'cause he co-owns it and needs to check.  I tell him if it's 8k I want to buy it, NOW!  It's awesome!  The other owner was Mike Carbonaro.  At roughly the same time, good guy collector, Vince Oliva, was at Mike's table trying to buy the same piece.  Anthony tells me that's he's got to go over to Mike to find out what Mike wants to do with my 8k offer.  A few minutes later, Anthony returns and tells me that there is another interested party but he's pretty sure I can have the piece at 9k.  I agree to the 9k and whip out my check book.  Not so fast, Anthony needs to go make sure with Mike before I can take the Kirby home.  When Anthony returns the price is 10k.  This goes on for a bit.  I'm getting kind of upset because the price is getting higher every few minutes.  Finally, Anthony tells me if I'm willing to do 12.5k that I can have the piece for certain.  I agree, but it's more than I want to spend.  However, once I have the piece in my hands, the price shlacking I just took begins to fade away.  It's a beautiful thing with something quite rare--it's one of the few pieces that Jack Kirby inked himself.

A number of years later, I decide it's time to part with the piece.  Prices had been increasing on art.  I now had two kids and there were expenses I needed to attend to. When you have a piece unique like this it's sometimes difficult to figure out how to price it in the current market.  They are no real comp sales to compare it to.  I finally decided, a guess, that it should be about the same price as a Kirby twice-up cover--it was much bigger and inked by Kirby, so I figured it should rate about the same as a published cover.  Well, I put it out there at 30k, the then going rate for Kirby 2X covers, and had no takers.  Everyone felt I had WAY overpriced it.  I finally traded it to So Cal collector, Tony Fornaro, for a ASM 23 page by Ditko, a fight page with Spidey battling thugs in every panel, that was thought to be worth 22k.  It wasn't a keeper page for me and a few months later I managed to move the Ditko for about 25k in trade.  Sometimes if you can't quite get your price on a piece it makes sense to trade for an item that the market deems more desirable. 

The thing is, a year or two later my finances improved and I kept thinking about that piece.  I really wanted it back!  I've never seen it posted anywhere since then.  After Tony, it went to some unknown collector and vanished into thin air.  Quality pieces can disappear like that.  If you're out there somewhere, Mr. Toys for Tots poster, you can always come home.  Don't be afraid, I'll take you back!