“Robot Archie”, “Trigan Empire” art offered on Catawiki

In among some terrific items of comic art from across the globe currently on offer on the Catawiki auction site downthetubes contributor Richard Sheaf has highlighted a few items of British comic art in his Boys Adventure Comics Blog, including two “Robot Archie” items from Lion, and a page of “The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire”, from Look and Learn, by Don Lawrence.

Offered by the Dutch comic shop Barabas are two “Robot Archie” pages, known as “Archie, de man van Staal – Crime Buster” in the Netherlands, still attracting a loyal fan following.

The first, dated 1965, is a half page board that sees Robot Archie experience as electrical short and start a Hulk-like rampage, with bids currently at €112 (plus international postage).

The second, a full page dated 1967, sees Archie and chums on the hunt of the “Ferret Gang”, but coming a cropper, or rather a copper, when the mechanical man dumps two policemen in a water trough – and get arrested!

One of the most active online European comic shops, Dutch comic shop Barabas which has a physical shop and gallery in Gravendeel, are sellers of vintage comics, books, original art, comic gadgets, comic pictures and related items. They’ve been operating online since 2006 and run regular art auctions on Catawiki, eBay.nl, and the Dutch auction site bobbedoes, but it’s worth checking the web site, too, as there’s art for sale at fixed prices there, too, including more pages by Don Lawrence.

Also on offer from a different seller on Catawiki is a page from “The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire”, from the 1971 story “The Duplicator”, first published in Look and Learn in the UK and, later, in the Netherlands in Sjors magazine. Bidding on this is already at over €420, which is unsurprising given the popularity of the strip in Europe.

Founded in 2008, Catawiki was orginally an online platform where collectors could interact. Our founders introduced an online auction feature in 2011 and opened it up to everyone with an appreciation for special and hard-to-find objects. Catawiki quickly grew into the platform it is today, hosting auctions featuring 65,000 objects in more than 80 categories per week. Catawiki serves customers from all over the world and is available in 17 languages.

Check out items offered by Catawiki in their International Comic Art category

Do note that the UK’s departure from the European Union may mean additional import duties on sales.prior to Brexit, the effective rate of UK tax on imports of art was 5%, which is lower than most other European countries. An owner could previously import an artwork to the UK from outside the EU and was then free to transport it to other EU countries, where the import tax rates may be higher, without incurring any further import-related tax charges. If the owner then wished to bring the artwork back to the UK, there would also have been no further tax charge.

This apolitical guide outlines what you should be aware of when buying or selling art internationally but is a work in progress

The Guardian reports that online orders up to £135 are now supposed to have the UK’s prevailing VAT rate added at the point of sale by the EU retailer, which has to have registered with HM Revenue & Customs.

Lots of smaller EU-based retailers have decided that the paperwork of collecting UK VAT is not worth the hassle and as a result will no longer supply UK consumers

With thanks to Richard Sheaf for highlighting the artworks on his Boys Adventure Comics Blog



Categories: Auctions, British Comics, Comic Art, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds

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