R. Crumb's orginal art sells for over $100,000 at auction

The original art for the over of Robert Crumb's Mr. Natural #1 sold at auction last month for $101,575, "making it the first Crumb original - and the first underground original from any artist - ever to break the $100K barrier."

“Top-shelf underground art, by such outstanding artists as Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Larry Welz, Spain Rodriquez, and S. Clay Wilson, is undoubtedly on a growth track in the hobby right now,” [Ed Jaster, Vice-President for Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries] said. “Now that Crumb has set the new standard, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see other artists reach this lofty pinnacle within a few years. It’s clear that our clients have both the desire and the resources necessary to make this happen.”

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Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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[falls backward out of frame, legs up, feet perpendicular to ground]

@#2 FKR2275: I get the impression that, especially since his documentary came out but probably before, Crumb was more or less in his comfort zone as far as his income. I think he deserves all his fortunes, but likely he sold this outright himself years back; barring certain contracts, he gets no say over the object itself. I’m under no illusions that artists have been treated remotely fairly, but other than his Fritz the Cat experience he’s been dealt a decent hand.
Dizbuster

God bless R. Crumb.
hassan-i-sabbah

I met The great Crumb in the 80s,Nice guy,very shy
drew a small sketch of me,yes ME!.Which I promptly lost…. “made fist and punched himself squarely in the face”.
hassan-i-sabbah

I also couldn’t afford Â£30 for colour original of
“the snoids help the amazon put her pyjamas on”……………….meh.
bobkat

Hardly surprising. Shoulda known it was only a matter of time when he traded some sketchbooks for a house in France! Perhaps now some other comix artists will get the respect (and $$$) they deserve…
fkr2275

This is good news for people with old Crumbs laying around … but Crumb himself won’t see any of the 100K. Too bad, he deserves it.
Cayobo

This is way cool….

We’re a couple of old Hippies who have over 100 mint condition editions of these oldie but goodie comix.

This weekend we’re gonna have to get up in the attic, sort them out, get some images… and see what we can get for them on EBAY.

I’m thinking starting the bidding for the newer ones at $400 and the rarer ones at $700.

God Bless R. Crumb
Takuan

I’d be happy to appraise them for you. Just give me the address. No need to trouble yourselves, just leave the key under the mat and I promise to be careful.
ralphdeluca

I actually bid on this cover but didn’t go quite that high. I have been collecting Robert Crumb original art and comix for years, and always am looking to add choice pieces to my collection. I think Crumbs work is absolute genius!!

Ralph DeLuca