Sunday, January 14, 2007
Did Peter David buy stolen Steve Ditko original comic book art?
One of my favorite online columns to read is over at Comic Book Resources. It's called One Fan's Opinion and it's written by comic book creator and Image Comics publisher Erik Larsen. For a guy known more for his drawing a big green guy with a fin on his head, Erik Larsen writes a good column. He's also not afraid to share his opinion.
This week's column is about original comic book art. In it he mentions something rather interesting:
I got into a fairly heated debate recently with some folks because a somewhat-celebrated writer had let it be known that he's purchased a couple of "Incredible Hulk" pages that Ditko had drawn back in the early '60s at an auction.
I had informed said-writer that the pages had, in all-likelihood, been stolen and he retorted by saying that, "This wasn't obtained at a convention from a dealer named Shifty who had it stashed under his table. It was part of a major art auction that was held at Sotheby's (or Christie's; one of those big auction houses.) I couldn't have bought it under more public circumstances."
To which I replied that, "So…you're saying it's perfectly legal and ethical to knowingly buy stolen goods as long as there are enough people witnessing the transaction?"
I'm pretty sure that's not how the law works.
From the phrase "somewhat-celebrated writer", I inferred that Erik was referring to comic book writer Peter David. Twenty seconds on Google proved that I was correct. The exchange that Erik referred to in his column can be read here.
What's interesting is that Peter seems to think that since he bought the art at either a Sotheby's or Christie's (strangely he cannot remember which), the art has got to be legit. Someone then posted a news story about how stolen art had in fact been sold at Sotheby's before.
Just because art is purchased for auction at Sotheby's or Christie's doesn't make it anymore legit then if you were to buy it on eBay.
Or at a convention from a dealer named Shifty who had it stashed under his table.
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From the quote, I got the impression that Larsen, not David, can’t remember which auction house it was at. David was probably too busy writing shitty comics to be bothered with these details.
No, it was Peter David that couldn’t remember which auction house he bought the art from. I went to the message board and read the entire thread. Larsen was quoting Peter David.