YJ Buyers getting bullish on CCS

[sensei]

I was not tempted by this morning's auction for an unusually nice cel from Cardcaptor Sakura's famous Episode 1, which showed Sakura holding the Clow Book open as The Windy, which she has accidentally activated, blows the Cards out into her world. It was identified as the B30 END, and I have the B26, which I like more as it shows the cards emerging in a riffle and flying away.

But as the market has been rather flat lately, I took it as a good sign, and I bookmarked the sale to see how high it would go. It was already being scrabbled over half a day before the auction's end, so I figured that it would earn a good price. I wasn't expecting this good a price, however:



It's not a record or anywhere near one. The last time I did a list of top ten or twelve prices for CCS cels/hankens, the place of honor was still held by the cel of Sakura holding Syaoran's teddy bear in the final scene of Ep. 70, the END cel with matching background (interestingly, a laser-printed sheet with a digitally altered image of the watercolor bg). That went for 500,000 JPY in November 2007. And I haven't been watching Mandarake, where Miyazaki items are going for millions of JPY.

Still, this cel going for over 100,000 JPY is a sign that CCS is appreciating in the current market, probably due to the "Clear Cards" sequel.

It's worth noting that, as the seller honestly admitted, the background is non-matching. If it is a CCS background, it comes from Ep. 8, but the "scene + cut" notation on the upper right makes me suspect it comes from a Toei series, which used this way of labeling backgrounds. The original matching background, as the screencap shows, would have one of the bookcases of her dad's library behind her.



Still, it's a fine item, a prize for the well-heeled high bidder, and it made me haul out my B26 and give it a fresh look of pride and appreciation.

[cutiebunny]

I don't know if it will make your list, but in the current Mandarake BWA, one of the CCS OP 1 cels sold for 400,000 yen.

I saw this episode 1 cel on YJ as well and was tempted to go for it, but I knew that there would be a fight for it. Honestly, I'm just not in the mood to fight over CCS as its current prices. I'm glad I bought as much CCS as I did when prices were low(er). If one genga sheet from Episode 40 sold for $100 recently, I can only imagine how much I would have had to pay at current prices to obtain the large chunk of stuff from this episode that I do own.

It's frustrating as a collector to want to add new artwork to your collection when there's not much out there that you want, and what you do want is what everyone else wants and is willing to spend $$$ to get it. Yes, it makes me appreciate what I already own, but there's still that drive to want to add more and yet still be unable to convince yourself that $500 for a cel that you would have paid 1/5th for less than 2 years ago is a fabulous deal. If I were interested in selling my collection, this market would be great...but I'm not.

It's sorta like the old days where you dreaded seeing something you want on a Mandarake BWA again simply because you knew that you'd be paying through the roof to get it.

[ReiTheJelly]

I only hope that more nice CCS cels make their way to the open market. It would be nice to *finally* add something new to my collection. I haven't added anything in so long that I'm honestly tempted to sell most of it. :\

[Jadeduo]

The thing is, is that we've seen this cycle before. A new release of an older show comes out, people realize there is no art available for the current version. So the older show prices skyrocket, this recently happened to DBZ. And was one of the reasons I mostly left that series, I kept a few pieces but otherwise I am done with DBZ. It also doesn't help that a good chunk of the newer DBZ collectors are rude AF, and WANT TO FRAME EVERYTHING! (i.e. Toei lines are delicate to begin with framing will just nail the nail in the coffin harder and sooner)

I predict somewhere in the range between 5-10 years CCS will tank again much like it did 5-8 or so years after its last episode aired. Those of us still dedicated to the show will still be around then and we will be able to pick things up again at their median prices of $20-200 depending on the scene/character/quality etc...

I'm still willing to drop money when it's high, but it would have to be from my Fave episodes, would have to be of excellent quality, and would have to be from a new sequence of which I don't have something of currently. Which at this point is going to be harder I think, LOL (At over 200 pieces I'm going to have to start being pickier?)

[sensei]

Another example. Dang me, I was in on this auction, though not at the 400K level. It's a cute Ep. 1 cel, from a moment in the school day leading up to her Clow Book misadventure, though I notice that it is not the best set-up.

We've already seen that Sakura is prone to odd "daydreams" that we eventually realize are scenes from her future as a Cardcaptor. And during a dull moment in class, she's doodling in her notebook, and the image turns into a premonition of Kero-chan, the Beast of the Seal that she will soon meet. So it's a nice moment, and worth having. But look at the tip of the pen against the notebook page in the seller's scan.



Now compare this to a screen cap from the broadcast:



Ah, there's a layer missing (as I've indicated with a red arrow), and as the cut continues, the pen draws Kero-chan's tail, ending in a kawaii heart. That end key, if it had been kept with the other cel layers, would have made a better image. In any case not having the layer with the pen stroke leaves the image incomplete. So in the end I'm satisfied at having made a reasonable bid, though it was far less than the final winning price.

That price, by the way, is one that I recall being bid back in the day for high-end cels of Yue, especially those belonging to the notorious "power transfer." Interesting how the market has changed.

[transatlantique]

Hah! It was fun discovering a forum post talking about me. I stumbled on this forum last night and immediately saw this post. I'm a relatively new cel collector (I was too poor back in the good days of buying) and have been trying my luck with YJA. I have a tattoo of that doodle of Kero so I was willing to stop at nothing to get that cel (until my husband realized the exchange rate and asked me if it was really worth it). I was also surprised to see it go so high, but left satisfied I made the other bidder pay real money for it.

Getting into cel collecting now is a huge bummer. Spending hours perusing sites that as it turns out haven't been updated in 10+ years.. and now with CCS seeing a resurgence its making things even harder (costlier!)

[sensei]

Sorry you weren't fortunate in getting this item, though (as I'd always say after lost auctions) you essentially appraised that cel in today's market as being worth your high bid "and two bits" as Jud Fry says in Oklahoma.

My only advice is to hang in there and watch for the current "Cardcaptor Sakura = National Treasure" phase to pass. Even a year ago some very desirable CCS was going for the opening bid. And so the second half of a boom like this often time brings out surprising items that go surprisingly low once the phase has peaked.

Meantime, investigate other series that you found enjoyable, or feel free to contact curators to see if they are up for offers. (Feel free to use this forum or the various FB anime art collecting groups to help, as the "contact" function on RS is notoriously iffy, especially as it was exploited by spammers some years back.)

And welcome to Beta!

[Frysende]

I got into cel collecting last year and I have to say, it's not much of a bummer if you intend to stick around for the long haul. Eventually, CCS prices will fall again, old collectors will start to sell off their pieces, and more art will still trickle through for auctions. While it may not have been the most opportune time to start, in my case, I'd have been a toddler when this market was in its glorious infancy and I was just barely a teen when the "golden age" of cel collecting dawned (judging by some RS profiles' update dates) so this is the best chance I've had.

To keep slightly more relative to the topic, that Kero doodle cel is so cute. I don't collect CCS, but I like seeing the woes of fellow buyers. Makes me feel better that I'm not suffering alone.

[transatlantique]

Thanks! You make good points about the market eventually returning back to low prices. Thats actually what sucked me in -- a $30 Kero-chan cel that I picked up at Nakano Broadway while on a trip to Tokyo. I am really pleased to see some nicer ones coming to market. Mandarake auctions have been really good to me on that front, and I was able to get a beautiful one off someone on Rubberslug. It's such a fun hobby!

[sensei]

It is indeed fun, with unexpected pleasures waiting around the next turn. In fact the first cel I got was because of Kero-chan (a smallish image, but it was the Beast Himself). Indeed, when I tracked it down to the episode, I was sorry to see that my cel was missing a layer. Still, it remained a special item for me, despite its incompleteness, the size of the image, and the extravagant price I had overpaid for it.

And then, 13 years later, the missing layer came up for auction!

Despite the drama and thrills of the market of 2000-05, there were drawbacks. People would make lists of "would give kidney for" cels, and by golly a bunch of these would come up in quick succession. Some collectors went into serious debt to get the first "kidney cel," and then would find themselves trying to unload it quickly to help them pay for the next one they could not resist bidding too much for. And so on. The quest for the "wishlist" became, like gambling, a thrill more intense than actually unpacking the items they had won. It was sad to see fans go through this "binge and purge" cycle. One of my most precious items was bought from a deputy site that had gathered quite a gallery of high-end items that collectors had bid on and won -- and then did not actually have the wherewithal to reimburse the DS for. I'm sure the seller was paid out of the reserve the collector had lodged with the service on registering. But these much-desired but ownerless cels went up on an online garage sale the deputy held later.

Now there is still good stuff available, but you have to watch for it. While I have a budget and stick to it, I find it easier to do this in these less hectic days. And yet, despite the close of the "good ole' days," I still manage to spend my budget every month.

[transatlantique]

I've got a feeling fakes are going to start showing up to capitalize on the market. I've got a close eye on a Kero-chan cel from the first OP thats up, and while checking it I noticed this https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/s584478348

Theres no number on it, and it just looks a little too nice to me. Fake, yeah?

[sensei]

The link you give is to a cel of Sakura looking grumpy (at her Oniisan?). Do you mean this one, which I saw in the week's offerings:

https://www.rinkya.com/en/auction-e277268961

If so, it looks OK to me, though line-faded as Kero cels usually are (that orange paint was death on trace lines). And the cel seems to have been photographed in a framing mat for some reason. I can see a trace of the sequence number right at the bottom edge of that mat. And a douga -- not a definitive proof of authenticity but a good sign. I won't be in the running, but I'd rate it as probably legit.

[sensei]

Or did you mean the grumpy Sakura? Yeah, if so, I'd say that looks like a fancel. Rice paper on the back is usually a BAD sign.

And "This seller has a lot of negative feedback."

But good luck if you do go for the Kero or any other of the OP1's coming up for sale now.

[transatlantique]

Thanks! Yeah sorry I wasnt clear, I meant while looking at Kero I also noticed the grumpy Sakura cel which looks pretty fake. It's too bad as thats definitely a wish list item for me.

Hopefully Kero will go for a reasonable price though I'm not counting on it. I'd love to go for those other OP cels but I've spent too much money already recently.

[transatlantique]

The seller of the OP cels pulled them all about two hours before the auction ended. I actually got up early to keep an eye on them. Oh well. Heres hoping more fun ones pop up soon!