Late last month, Phillips’s Dropshop platform announced the sale of a rare Alexander Calder artwork—albeit not the kind you might expect. It was a limited-edition chess set, faithfully recreated from one the American artist designed in 1944, with red and blue pieces that evoke his signature sculptures.

The going price for this chess set, an edition of 750? $2,500.

Now, that’s a lot for a board game. But it’s also very little for an artwork designed by one of the 21st century’s signature sculptors, whose creations have fetched up to $25m at auction.

From Picasso’s ceramics to Salvador Dalí's Elsa Schiaparelli “Lobster Dress” to Yayoi Kusama’s fashion line for Louis Vuitton: artists have teamed up with brands, designers, and publishers to produce editioned collectibles for generations. But never has that trend burned as hot as it does right now, in today’s brand-obsessed cultural economy.

Examples are not hard to come by, and they vary wildly in scale and price, from Jeff Koon’s custom BMW, which supposedly went for $350,000, to Daniel Arsham’s Hot Wheels cars and KAWS’s plush Sesame Street figurines, two projects that cost less than $1,000.

Collectibles like these can offer new art lovers a savvy, accessible gateway into the world of collecting—usually at a lower price point. And like paintings or sculptures, they tend to be good investments, often selling for much more on the secondary market, especially down the road.

The record-setting price paid in the January 9th private sale of an issue of Action Comics No. 1, the debut of Superman, per the AP. The deal obliterates the previous all-time high for a comic book, when another copy of the same coveted issue went for $9.1m (with fees) at a Heritage auction in November 2025.

The dramatic price difference between the two comics had nothing to do with their condition and everything to do with their provenance (aka ownership history). Both copies received the same high grade—a 9.0 out of 10—from the Certified Guaranty Company, a collectibles evaluator. But the tale behind the $15m issue is as wild as it is value-driving.

Purchased by Nicolas Cage (yeah, that Nicolas Cage) for $150,000 in 1996, the comic was stolen from the actor’s home during a 2000 house party. Remarkably, it resurfaced in a California storage locker 11 years later and was returned to Cage, who quickly flipped it at auction for $2.2m.

For comparison, the $9.1m edition of Action Comics No. 1 auctioned at Heritage was discovered in a box by three brothers cleaning out their recently-deceased mother’s house. End of story. 

All this illustrates an important lesson about the market mechanics of every rare collectible (including art): the value doesn’t just come from the object itself; it also comes from who owned it and what happened to it. The right combination can spark battles between prospective buyers that are as intense as any between Superman and Lex Luthor.

—Tim Schneider / The Gray Market

A Courtauld Institute of Art student ASKed: There are gallery shows, there are dinners, there are fairs, there are the auctions. Would you say that any one of them is more important for you than the other?

Josh Baer for NoReserve: I generally come to town for the auctions or art fairs. One of the things we cover in our newsletter, The Baer Faxt, that no one else does, is a list of who bought what and who tried to buy what at auction, which usually requires me being in the room. We built a database with that information (The Baer Faxt Auction Database) and it's one of our most popular features. 

Art fairs have become such big businesses that the hosting cities have to put their best foot forward with shows in the museums and in the galleries. There's a certain sort of community that comes together for these events that likes to hang out. They stay at two hotels, eat at three restaurants; they all go to the same places all the time. You would think the art world would be more adventurous, but it can be very conservative and prudish, stuck in it ways.

Then I wear my advisor hat and think, can I find one thing worth trying to buy or sell that I didn't know? And I try to see everything for the first time in person. I think it's important to see things in person because it's chemical—your strongest view of an artwork is when you see it first in person. If you're ever gonna work with collectors, mistakes tend to happen when no one sees the work in person. It's hard to be somebody else's eyes.

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