Weist Art Collection Auction Results

The balance of Jerry Weist’s collection plus other original magazine art went under the hammer at Heritage Auction’s “Illustration Art Signature Auction” on June 27-28 in Beverly Hills. Wally Wood’s original black-and-white art for “Mars Is Heaven,” an 8-page Bradbury story published in Weird Science #18, fetched $54,687.50, the top price for a piece from the Weist collection.

This was the second auction of Weist collectibles.

Other high-ticket items were Michael Whelan’s “Descent,” The Martian Chronicles cover (1990) sold for $37,500.00. Al Feldstein’s black-and-white cover for Weird Fantasy #13 went for $22,500.00.

Four issues of the Shuster and Siegel fanzine Science Fiction with the earliest appearance of Superman sold for $4,062.50.

Harry Warner’s 1972 Hugo went for $2,000.00, part of a lot that included a printed bound working draft proof of All Our Yesterdays, a dust jacket mockup for Wealth of Fable, and copies of both books.

Robert Bloch’s green and yellow horror painting sold for $1,000 and Ray Bradbury’s pink alien for $812.50.

Lou Goldstone’s cover for a 1940s issue of the fanzine Voice of the Imagi-Nation attracted a bid of $212.50, and an interior pulp illustration by well-known fan Alva Rogers, $162.50.

Three more artists with multiple works bringing stratospheric bids were Alex Schomburg, J. Allen St. John and Frank R. Paul.

Alex Schomburg’s Rockets to Nowhere book cover sold for $15,000.00; Trouble on Titan book cover, $12,500.00; and Science Fiction Plus, March 1953 cover, $11,875.00.

J. Allen St. John’s Swords of Mars preliminary book cover in color went for $15,000.00 and another version in charcoal on paper for $9,375.00.

Several vintage Frank R. Paul works went for good prices: Wonder Stories, August 1930 cover, $14,375.00; Science Fiction Plus December 1953 digest cover, $10,000.00; Stories of the Stars: Aldebaran, Fantastic Adventures back cover, $7,500.00; Rockets and Men interior illustration, $4,687.50.

Many artists had more than one piece in the auction. In addition to the artists already discussed, here is a representative list of the top-selling work by each sf/fantasy artist. (Not all came from the Weist collection):

  • Laurence Herndon, A Fighting Man of Mars, Blue Book Magazine, June 1930 pulp cover, $10,625.00;
  • Chesley Bonestell, mural study (a moonscape), $10,000.00;
  • Hannes Bok. unpublished sf painting, $10,000.00;
  • Robert Fuqua, Amazing Stories, January 1939 cover for Eando Binder’s “I, Robot,” $10,000.00;
  • Henry Richard Van Dongen, Super-Science September 1950 pulp cover, $8,125.00;
  • Edmund “Emsh” Emshwiller, A Little Girl’s Xmas in Modernia, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, $7,187.50;
  • Hajime Sorayama, Star Girl, $5,312.50;
  • Maurice Sendak, Max and the Wild Thing preliminary sketch, $5312.50;
  • Charles Samuel Addams, The Honeys, Playbill illustration, $5,000.00;
  • Richard M. Powers, Futuristic Cityscape, $4,687.50;
  • John Conrad Berkey, Jules Verne, 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea [sic] book cover, $4,218.75;
  • Mel Hunter, Space Tug book cover, $4,062.50;
  • Willy Pogany, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland page 110 story illustration, $4,062.50;
  • Virgil Finlay, The Golden Helix, Thrilling Wonder Stories interior illustration, $3,750.00;
  • Leo & Diane Dillon, Past Master paperback cover (1968), $3,750.00;
  • Hans Waldemar Wesso, Galactic Patrol, Astounding Stories, interior illustration, $3,000.00;
  • Rick Berry, Science fiction illustration, $3,000.00;
  • Robert Braun, Satellite, Science Fiction digest cover, June 1958, $2,500.00;
  • Ian Miller, The Martian Chronicles trade paperback cover (1979), $2,375.00;
  • Fortunino Matania, Carson of Venus, The Passing Show story illustration (1933), $2,250.00;
  • Edd Cartier, interior pulp illustration, $1,625.00;
  • Frank Kelly Freas, Starlight, Analog June 1970 cover, $1,500.00;
  • Chris Moore, Man Plus, paperback cover (2004), $1,437.50;
  • Bob Ritter, Flight by Deep-Freeze, Galaxy Magazine February 1961 cover, $1,375.00;
  • Leo Morey, science fiction pulp interior illustration, $1,187.50;
  • John Rheaume, Clive Barker’s Book of the Damned II – A Hellraiser Companion cover, $1,000.00;
  • Vincent DiFate, The Eternal Genius, IASFM digest cover, $1,000.00;
  • Clay Ferguson, Fantasy Magazine cover (1934), $812.50;
  • Howard Koslow, Space Exploration – Jupiter with Pioneer 11, United States First Day Cover Society, $687.50;
  • Josh Kirby, Escape from Venus paperback cover (1966), $625.00;
  • Gahan Wilson, Human Sacrifice cartoon illustration, $325.00;
  • Ray Roch, two science fiction illustrations, $187.50;

Also of interest — Theodore Seuss Geisel’s editorial cartoon of Hitler brought in $15,000.00.

Weist Art Collection to Auction

Internet bidding has begun in Heritage Auctions’ Illustration Art Signature Auction which includes an array of items from the collection of the late Jerry Weist. This is HA’s second auction from his estate and will be the last substantial selection. Download the catalog here [large PDF file]. Final bidding takes place June 27 and 28 in Beverly Hills.

Several pieces have already attracted high-dollar offers. At this writing, there’s $10,000 bid for an Al Feldstein black-and-white cover for EC’s Weird Fantasy. Michael Whelan’s painting for the cover of The Martian Chronicles is up to $7,500. And $19,000 is the latest bid for Wally Wood’s 8-page adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s “Mars Is Heaven,” published in the 1950s by EC Comics’ Weird Science (the very thing Mark Evanier was blogging about just the other day.)

A four-issue set of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel’s rare fanzine Science Fiction, The Advance Guard of Future Civilization is currently going for $2,000. Issue #3 contains “The Reign of the Superman,” with Shuster’s first drawing of Superman, five years before the character was unveiled in Action Comics #1.

Sf, fantasy and horror artists represented in the auction include Charles Addams, John Berkey, Rick Berry, Hannes Bok, Chesley Bonestell, Howard V. Brown, Edd Chastain, Vincent DiFate, Leo & Diane Dillon, Emsh, Clay Ferguson, Virgil Finlay, Frank Kelly Freas, Robert Fuqua, Tom Kidd, Josh Kirby, Frank R. Paul, Richard M. Powers, Alex Schomburg, J. Allen St. John, Van Dongen, Wesso, Michael Whelan and Gahan Wilson.

There are two noteworthy pieces from the Weist collection by people better known for their writing, a grotesque fantasy in green and yellow by Robert Bloch (1957) and a pink alien by Ray Bradbury (1958).

There’s even some art with fannish connections, by Lou Goldstone (for Voice of Imagination) and Alva Rogers.

Additional lots from other sources feature Maurice Sendak’s preliminary sketches for The Wild Things, and an editorial cartoon of Hitler by Theodore Suess Geisel. (Doctor who?)

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

Weist Comic Art Price Guide Released

Jerry Weist’s The Comic Art Price Guide: Illustrated Guide with Price Range Values, Third Edition is now available from Ivy Press of Dallas.

The guide contains more than 500 pages of art reproductions, price range values and artist bios. It was one of Weist’s last projects before he passed away in January 2011.

Many fans regard this as the most authoritative guide to original artwork for comic strips and comic books, also sf, pulp and fantasy art. Harlan Ellison said about an earlier edition:

The landscape of genuinely reliable reference guides is an ugly, arid junkyard. Mostly lit by the dim bulbs of the amateur, the slovenly, the jumped-up fans stealing from each other’s inept, error-riddled trashbooks. Jerry Weist towers, like the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria, casting a knowledgeable, insightful beacon. He can be trusted because he be so savvy.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

Weist Collection Going on the Block

This September Heritage Auctions will put up for sale Jerry Weist’s trove of sf and fantasy art, rare first editions, movie posters, fanzines, and comics collected over the course of a lifetime.  The auction will be held at Heritage’s Beverly Hills offices on September 12, in conjunction with the company’s Rare Books auction.

Works by some of the greatest artists in the field will be available — Frank Frazetta, J. Allen St. John, Frank R. Paul, Wally Wood, Virgil Finlay, Alex Schomburg, Chesley Bonestell, Richard Powers, and Frank Kelly Freas.

Weist passed away in January with several projects still in the publishing pipeline. Heritage will publish the new edition of Weist’s Comic Art Price Guide this summer.

HA’s full press release is online at Art Daily.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

Jerry Weist Medical News

When Jerry Weist e-mailed his client list in March about a new e-Bay auction he also shared the latest information about his cancer treatment, reports the Scoop.

…Weist told his email client list that this will be his last eBay auction prior to entering a stem-cell transplant procedure later this Spring/Summer to fight cancer.

“Many of you have sent your thoughts on my cancer,” he wrote. “I’m extremely grateful to have such a great client base. Right now I am half way through. All soft tumors are cured, my doctors are working on a new chemo (Cytoxin) to get my bone marrow count down so that I may enter stem-cell transplant, so hang in there with me! I may yet survive this battle. I may enter stem cell in May or June!”

Weist is the author of Bradbury: An Illustrated Life, The Comic Art Price Guide, and The Art of Frank R. Paul. From 1990 to 2001 he was a consultant at Sotheby’s specializing in popular culture, overseeing the auction of Sam Moskowitz’s collection.

Jerry Weist Medical Update

Author and collectibles dealer Jerry Weist is battling multiple myeloma, reports Andrew Porter. The cancer was caught early, with no complications in his vital organs or other parts of his body. He’s just started on chemotherapy, an experimental program in which stem cells are used to fight the disease, presently being used to treat 15 people in Israel and 35 in the USA.

Weist is the author of Bradbury: An Illustrated Life, The Comic Art Price Guide, and The Art of Frank R. Paul. From 1990 to 2001 he was a consultant at Sotheby’s specializing in popular culture, overseeing the auction of Sam Moskowitz’s collection.

A few years ago Weist acquired the Harry Warner collection and sold the fanzines to James Halperin of Dallas, co-owner of Heritage Rare Coin Galleries. Not long afterward Askance editor John Purcell interviewed Halperin and reported Weist wanted to write a book about fanzines.