American animation cels

Yeah Ted. My Batman, Joker's Millions Cel is from the same shot. I think you got yours from Harry K. (same as me)on ebay. He sold me the OBG (the blue toned one in my gallery) that he said was attached with this sequence when he got it. He must have assumed it was matching. This is one of those things you do have to look out for when your not dealing with a gallery (since it is NOT the matching OBG). On the other hand I did pick up some Superman Cels from Harry that DID have OBGs that were matching. Alot of these Batman/Superman Cels where never sent back to the states and there where lots of these sequences purchased in bulk from overseas animaters. Maybe WB was saving on shipping costs. Anyway it seems most of these are 10 field or 'undersize' Cels which could be the another reason they didn't go back. Who knows? Either way you do have to do your homework if shopping on Ebay. There are lots of fakes out there. My current favorite pet peeve ebay Cel scam are the people who are trying to sell the crappy FREE cel lithos that come with the Batman, Superman and Superfriends DVD sets. They claim these are 'Rare' and 'Scarce" blah, blah, blah. What's worse it that some people are bidding on them.

[quote]
E: When you have to spend hundreds of dollars to get any cels from certain shows, you need to give the purchase a good think.[/quote]

Oh believe me, E knows all about that. ;)

It's interesting to note that most of the WB's cels for BTAS, BB, TB/SA and JLA already come framed and usually with a copied background. I tend to believe that this inflated the original price these pieces were sold at. Then when the private owners look to sell on ebay, they seem to not only try to recoup their original costs but also aquire a little extra on the side. Now, I understand that this is by no means bad business and that it's also not always the case, but it seems like more American (isn't U.S./Korean a better term?) animation collectors feel that this artwork somehow holds it's value better that anime collectors. Again, I'm generalizing here, but the reason I never plunged further into collecting U.S. animation cels was that I always felt that most of it is simply over-priced.

JMHO.

Most of the the ex-WB Batman material that is priced higher than its original cost languishes unsold on eBay. It either disappears from eBay or the price is eventually lowered to a reasonable level and someone buys it.

Of course, a reason for the general overpricing in the US market is that supply has been kept artificially low by the studios. I think Disney amd Warners looked at Sothebys auctions and saw an opportunity to fleece the people involved. Instead of releasing all the available material, or even a good chunk of it, they decided to release the smallest trickle, to artificially mimic the conditions that resulted in classic cels having a high collectible value. They've hoarded the material in order to squeeze what they can from the collectors, and marketed it to capture other consumer dollars as well. And I think that's bad for collectors.

I've noticed some websites try to milk DiC cels for quite a fortune... but on eBay you'll pay about $25 each. My single Captain Planet cel was only $10 and CP cels are extremely rare.

I could have grabbed a BTAS cel when I had that $400 to blow... but I figured that Black Lady cel would be a one time deal, while BTAS cels will be around.

Again...it all comes down to what you like the most. If you can find that cel that costs $25 and you get just as much or more enjoyment than a cel that costs $400...that's great. As a fan of BTAS I don't think I would be happy with any of the lower price Batman cels I've seen (weather that be on Ebay or non-WB certified cels). We all know that there are more bad cels then good ones out there. I try to get the ones that almost look like they could be made into a sericel or litho. I know I'm going to pay more for those. The cels I have paid alot of money for make still make go "Wow." To me that's money well spent (although the mother of my child would beg to differ).