MONSTER CARD MONDAY (SPECIAL EDITION)

Some months ago, I was rummaging through the garage and found a small box of trading cards purchased in the dim, dark past. The box contained an eclectic assortment of cards, SPOOK STORIES, ADDAMS' FAMILY, and two of the strangest cards I had ever seen. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember seeing them before, let alone buying them. As with all monster-related questions, I called upon the editor of this blog to enlighten me as to what the heck they were. John explained that they were from a series of cards designed by the legendary underground comix genius Robert Crumb for Topps in 1965! John later featured the cards in MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD'S MONSTER CARD MONDAY feature.

The original artwork for two of the cards from this series was offered at auction by Heritage in a recent Signature Comics auction. Both pieces measure 3.5” x 5” and are signed by Mr. Crumb. While the catalog entries list the punch line which would have appeared on the card’s reverse side, no photos of that side are shown. That leads me to believe that only the lettered artwork side was in the auction. Fewer than ten people placed bids. The first drawing, “You deserve a big hand,” sold for $776 (base price plus buyer’s commission). “You have a peach of a complexion,” the second piece, sold for $1135! To me that is an astonishing amount of money to pay for such a small work, but given the importance of R. Crumb and the scarcity of original art, perhaps I am off base. After seeing the results form this auction, I have a little higher regard for my two samples of these weird cards now!

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