How are your acquisitions this year?

[cutiebunny]

Two years ago, we had this topic on the forum ( viewtopic.php?f=70&t=26602 for quick reference). With the convention season largely over and many of us gearing into holiday shopping mode, I thought it'd be a good time to bring the topic back.

So - How are your acquisitions this year? Did you make out like a bandit on the Japanese auction and/or convention scene? Did you opt to spend your money on other things this year due to the lousy exchange rate and/or availability of items from series that you collect? Are you concerned about what prices and supply will be like in 2012 or do you anticipate a bright collecting year?

And for those of you who bought or received something, what's your favorite item that you acquired this year?

-------------------------------------------------

I count that I added 121 items to my collection this year. Most of these, though, were backgrounds from one of my favorite anime and I counted them as a single item. My breakdown is like this -

Japanese Auction Sites - 57
US Auction Sites - 11
Conventions (Sketches/Autographs rec'd or purchased) - 50
Private Sellers - 3

In comparison to previous years, I've spent more on more. The majority of my pricier purchases were domestic as I've been gravitating more towards original sketches and less towards production artwork. My convention acquisitions were much larger this year than in previous years not only because I went to four conventions, but because of Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami. A lot of artists have been coming out of the woodworks to support relief efforts, and because of that, there has been a surge of original artwork available. Due to the quantity out there, prices have remained lower than they might have without the uptick in supply, however, artwork from certain artists will still rake in thousands of dollars regardless of supply. I doubt I'll be as fortunate in 2012 as March will mark the 1 year anniversary of the tragedy and there will likely be less support of the event as time marches on.

Price and supply have been my concern since the dollar slowly crept from 120 yen/dollar to its current rate. I think that my foriegn purchases have gone down, and I've passed up items simply because the exchange rate and deputy fees make the item almost twice the listed yen price. I think a lot of US collectors are in the same boat.

All in all, I'm happy with this year with what I acquired. It's hard for me to narrow down what my favorite item is, but those items that I was able to get at conventions thanks to other friendly collectors mean the most to me.

[rosesleep]

Gotdamn..! 121 items?! Wanna swap bank accounts?

I didn't splurge much this year. However, I miraculously finish my layaway payment to a $2100 single item purchase. Quite honestly, I just only bought at least 5 items that relates to animation production.

[cutiebunny]

Gotdamn..! 121 items?! Wanna swap bank accounts?

I purchased a lot of 1000 yen and under items. 121 sounds high, but when you realize that the bulk of those are just backgrounds and random sketches, it's not as impressive as it seems. Also, a lot of the items I obtainned this year are convention sketches which I got by standing many hours in line. So yeah, those were technically "free".

Besides, it's not about how many items you have, it's about how satisfied you are with what you own.

Wow...$2100 item. I'm sure it's spectacular. I can't wait to see.

[sensei]

Interesting. I don't keep records as closely as CB does, so I can't figure this to the last item. But I can say that I obtained about sixty-four new batches of animation stuff this year. That's 52 from YHJ, plus (here my records get fuzzy) four from Mandarake, two from eBay, four from a Japanside dealer, one from a gallery offer, and one from the RS shop.

Nearly all of it was art, but I did buy a rare Miyazaki art book (from 1983, with the conceptual drawings from the yet-unmade Nausicaa, Totoro, and Mononoke Hime). And also a rice cup promoting Maeterlinck's Blue Bird that I just couldn't pass by. Breaking them down into individual items would be tricky, as many of the lots were sketches, some quite extensive.

I'll finesse my "favorite," as I'm starting to plan my 2011 "Year in Review" Quirky Tour. Frankly, I'm not sure: right now I'm between two items, one a cel and one a sketch, and I'm going to need to think about them for a couple of weeks. But I can identify the items that cost the most:

Inuyasha slugging a modern-day punk thief

Closely followed by:

Yumiko-chan and Kitaro dancing at a matsuri

and by a set of sketches from a pre-1990s anime that is still coming my way from Japan and which will go up in the Thanksgiving upgrade.

These are the only three lots that, according to my records, cost me more than $100 each. I'd say that the exchange rate has slowed my purchases and made me more and more cautious in hitting the "submit bid" button, and I find that a greater proportion of my buys now fall into the $75-$99 range than before. But as I've said before, I don't seem to have a real difficulty in seeing things that I think would be nice to have. I now look at twenty and bid on one, but often with the thought, "If I were just starting out again, I'd get that one in a flash." And I still think bargains can easily be had, bad exchange rate and all.

Probably the biggest change is the way I'm continuing to diversify, and especially look at the earlier animes that have been largely neglected in the interest in the classic cel-based series of the 90s. They don't come up often, and so I've learned to be patient and persistent in looking for good items. But they still do pop up enough to keep the game interesting. I'm in for 2012.

[Sui Kune]

Even though it's been a slow year for Hotaru (and Sailormoon in general), I've managed to snag several pieces. I haven't seen any spectacular pieces go up for auction this year, and anything half-decent was grossly overpriced even without adding in the exchange rate. There were a couple on the cheap (for a rare character) side I had to have though. *u* However, there was also a hard cel loss earlier this year (Stars flashback Mistress 9, baww).

I'm more than happy overall though, since I'm supposed to be cutting back spending so I can start squirreling away for top-priority wishlist items, and I managed to get some awesome pieces anyway.


The tally:

1 autograph (Kotono Mitsuishi)
3 private sales (1, 2, 3)
2 Mandarake (1, 2)
Plus an amazing gift of a folder full of copy Sailormoon settei, including two Hotaru/Saturn-related, you know who you are.

Wow, you could almost read that list to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas. XD

[D123]

I count that I added 121 items to my collection this year. Most of these, though, were backgrounds from one of my favorite anime and I counted them as a single item. My breakdown is like this -

Japanese Auction Sites - 57
US Auction Sites - 11
Conventions (Sketches/Autographs rec'd or purchased) - 50
Private Sellers - 3

WOW . I don’t really count I know I‘ve never really collected in a large volume from the start, but I know I got quite a bit this year. I don’t buy much off of YJ but I did do a few purchases there this year. I really can’t do it much anymore, even if it’s 2,000yen it’s still expensive with all the fees. I just can’t afford it unless it’s extremely important (I’ve let a LOT pass me by ) and it’s hard to find items for that price (at least for me). That said I do collect other stuff than just artwork, but I did actually get quite a bit this year more than previous years, maybe the most in a single year! I have also been in recent years collecting more merchandise and expanding even more so on what I collect in this area since I can’t find much artwork wise of what I collect..

OK a quick look at my records and per purchase not item I roughly counted… (quite a bit was more than one item in the purchase though)

YJ – 3 (2 of these was artwork)
Mandarake - 4 (all artwork)
Ebay - 17 (6 of these was artwork)
Gallery Offer – 1 (artwork of course )
Other – 11 ( 1 of these was artwork as well )
and the year is still not even up…

Now I feel really bad gotta cut back! This was the first time in a long, long time though I’ve splurged on myself


I really think I made out like a bandit this year with the artwork I purchased most of it was really important to me and the merchandise I got, for the prices I bought it for. I really don’t care what the prices or supply will be like in the coming year, what happens, happens and if nothing comes up that’s more money saved


My favorite piece? You’re going to have to find out when I update soon! Since this is artwork based I won’t bother posting my favorite merch I acquired

[zerospace]

It's been a relatively slow year in our gallery , which is probably a really good thing, since we also did a lot of work on our house instead. But, nonetheless, we did add a good bit of artwork so far (and we do have more coming soon).

A total of 63 new pieces of artwork were added to our gallery this year thus far, and some were in sets, so the actual number of auctions won/transactions made is actually lower than that (somewhere around 37 transactions). I think we have more artwork purchased this year from fellow collectors and eBay than YJ, though that balance will probably change by the end of the year, once our most recent YJ acquisitions arrive.

We added these pieces in 5 total updates to our gallery: http://www.zero-space.net/gallery2/past ... php?y=2011 (that shows the updates for this year). If you look at our updates last year, we had nearly three times as many!

We likely will have one more update to the gallery this year, since we have a growing stack of artwork at our deputy in Japan, waiting to be shipped. This stack at our deputy is due in large part to a surge of cels from the original Gundam Wing TV series and movie on YJ lately, thanks to the re-release of the Gundam Wing movie on blu-ray in Japan along with a new official manga & novels from the series.

I don't really want to pick a favorite new piece, though I will just say that this year has been a good one overall for our Gundam Wing collection -- we've added some awesome mecha cels as well as character and group shots . It has also been a stellar year for my hubby's Transformers comic art collection -- he's thrilled to have so many great comic pages & 2 beautiful watercolors.

[Yupa]

I like this thread, interesting stories.
As a new collector I received my first sketch set on the first of June, so I've only collected for 5 months now. I won a total of 22 auctions, of which
13 sketch sets, 2 background sets, 6 settei copy sets and 1 cel. One sketch set and the cel haven't arrived yet, the rest is already displayed in my gallery. I bought all of them at Mandarake. I did register at SMJ last week, but I found the winning auction prices much higher than those at Mandarake so far. (Seriously, they ask 3,000 yen for 3 rough sketches? I bought a few sets of 25 sketches, each for less than that price on Mandarake.)

Most expensive sketch set: Spice and Wolf ep. 2 cut 54 (+ ep. 4 cut 139). Some of you might remember it from the Sketch Awards 2011. This is my only purchase so far that went over 10k yen (11,100).
Favorite sketch set: Although I really love the one above, my favorite is Spice and Wolf ep. 13 cut 62 (+ ep. 4 cut 42,44,50,52).

Least expensive sketch set: NieA_7 settei copy (400 yen).
Biggest regret: Fairy Tail settei copy. (What was I thinking? I haven't even watched the show, nor will I.)

I started out trying to get as much as I could find. Now that I have a basic idea of the current sketch market I decided to continue collecting Shiki and Spice and Wolf. In the next months I expect to buy more of those series (of which I already have the biggest/only gallery on RS) and I want to cut down on settei.
I might expand my horizon to cels, but I don't know yet.

[sensei]

I did register at SMJ last week, but I found the winning auction prices much higher than those at Mandarake so far. (Seriously, they ask 3,000 yen for 3 rough sketches? I bought a few sets of 25 sketches, each for less than that price on Mandarake.)

[ ] Hang around, and you'll get a fairer idea of what prices are. In general, I've found the opposite -- Mandarake prices can be quite inflated vs. a good YHJ auction. But there are some notorious items that appear over and over at starting prices as much as 10x what I'd consider a good price. They will go for a week with no bids, then be relisted, or disappear and come back at the same price. Sometimes the seller will get the message and reduce the price until a bid is made. (We call that a "Dutch auction" in the US because it goes the opposite way from normal, high to low.) But some sellers are beyond common sense.

It is possible that the 3 rough sketches are by a well-known animator, too. Roughs tend to be by senior animators, the neater gengas and dougas by their subordinates. (Not always the case, though.)
[/ ]

[star-phoenix]

I actually only bought 4 art pieces this year. All are from Disney. So, needless to say, VERY expensive.

I honestly cannot really pick a 'favorite' since all 4 where HUGE wishlist items for me. But, if I had to choose the one that has the most sentimental value to me would be this one cuz hubby bought me as a present:
http://starphoenix.rubberslug.com/galle ... mID=325360

Here are the other 3 I got for the 2011 year:

Snow White + Prince
http://starphoenix.rubberslug.com/galle ... mID=326183

Eyvind Earle
http://starphoenix.rubberslug.com/galle ... mID=324618

Donald's Penguin
http://starphoenix.rubberslug.com/galle ... mID=326044

For 2012, I will be starting work at a new Residency. So, will basically be keeping the buying under as much control as possible.

[Macron one]

I'm pretty bad at keeping track of how many items i buy and own, so i'm not at all sure of how many i purchased in 2011. Looking at the dates that accompany my cels and sketches on my Rubberslug gallery, i have added 208 items to my gallery in 2011 thusfar. Some of these would have been purchased in late 2010 however, and the actual number of auctions the items are from should be considerable lower (probably 75 or so).

My favourite purchase of the year is definitely my CCS ep.22 Kero Corner cel of Tomoyo and Sakura. To get an actual Kero corner cel, and one of both of my favourite characters as well, was a dream come true. At 89K yen,it's also the most expensive cel i've purchased so far. Second place goes to the deliciously funny "Evil Sakura" cel i got from the Winter 2011 BWA, while my third favourite buy of 2011 would be my Spice and Wolf hanken sketch.

After spending rather a lot of money last year and during the first half of this year, i've reduced my cel/sketch purchasing considerably in recent months. I've been a lot pickier too, only bidding on the items that most interest me. I intend to stick to this strategy for at least the next 6 months, though i'll allow myself some leighway when the BWAs come around.

[cutiebunny]

I did register at SMJ last week, but I found the winning auction prices much higher than those at Mandarake so far. (Seriously, they ask 3,000 yen for 3 rough sketches? I bought a few sets of 25 sketches, each for less than that price on Mandarake.)

A lot of collectors go through this period in their collecting 'career', where they look at the prices and opt to go for the "more for your money" route, despite maybe liking the more expensive item more. I know that when I first started using YJ regularly that I picked up two cheapy $30 and under on YJ under the same line of thinking. I also sold them a couple of years after purchasing them. This is one reason why you'll see collectors sell a lot of their older items - they bought them more because of their price.

Assigning a value to artwork is difficult, and it ultimately depends on how much you, the buyer, value it. I'd rather shell out $20+ on deputy fees to get something I really like rather than regret about not doing so in the future. But, I've learned this the hard way, and in my case, when the item was for sale later, I ended up paying much more for it than it originally sold for. Since this happened, my thought has been, if it's something I really want, better to grab it now than kick myself about not bidding on it when it was still available. Even if I get outbidded on the item, I'm happy enough knowing that I made the effort to get it.

In regards to deputy fees and in addition to combining auctions from the same seller, you could always contact a collector buddy, see if they're planning on bidding on any of the seller's items and seeing if they wouldn't mind bidding on an item for you. That way, you can cut back on the fees by dividing them amongst others. I've always thought it would be nice to have a "Who's bidding on twin_angels_xx's items?" topic on the board so that collectors could network, but, I've also been around long enough to know that these topics are great ways to draw out last minute snipers...

Though, maybe it could be done. Someone would post a "I'm bidding on TA's items this week" and others could PM about combining fees. It would require a lot of trust, but, it could be done...

[theultimatebrucelee]

I purchased a lot more this year(60 auctions in last 110 days according to my SMJ record)than 2010 when I just stated collecting, but its just quantity over quality as I've yet found a wishlist cel this far into the year. although I'm anticipating a few decent auctions toward Christmas time.

[ReiTheJelly]

Although I don't have an exact count, I'd guess about 60 items (although 40 of them were part of a batch purchase of Rainbow Brite hanken artwork). So only about 20 production pieces this year. Definitely less money than I've ever spent before.

[rosesleep]

Gotdamn..! 121 items?! Wanna swap bank accounts?

I purchased a lot of 1000 yen and under items. 121 sounds high, but when you realize that the bulk of those are just backgrounds and random sketches, it's not as impressive as it seems. Also, a lot of the items I obtainned this year are convention sketches which I got by standing many hours in line. So yeah, those were technically "free".

Besides, it's not about how many items you have, it's about how satisfied you are with what you own.

Wow...$2100 item. I'm sure it's spectacular. I can't wait to see.

Aw thank you ^_^ I only have at least 2 cels for display and 3 autographs. But I'll definitely set up my own site, despite the embarrassing numbers ^_^

I can't wait to see the rest of your beauties scan to your gallery! I notice on your site that only 37.2% of your collection is on display? O.O