PRESS RELEASE
Heritage Auctions is excited to announce that Bernard Mahé and Eric Verhoest have joined Heritage Auctions Europe (HAE) as Consulting Specialists and will launch the company’s European Comic Books and Original Comic Art category, including building and conducting Heritage’s first and subsequent auctions of European comic art, in cooperation with the talented staff of HAE.
“We are all thrilled to welcome Eric and Bernard to our team,” announced Jacco Scheper, Managing Director. “These two renowned experts and gallery owners will contribute their vast knowledge and client base, as well as their retinue of represented artists, to Heritage’s efforts, to the great benefit of our clients.”
Heritage has been expanding its European presence, with the recent acquisition of MPO (now Heritage Auctions Europe) in the Netherlands as well as their newly announced London acquisition of London Coin Galleries (now Heritage Auctions UK).
“Bernard and I sincerely believe that the combination of Heritage’s award-winning, state-of-the-art IT platform and international bidder base, along with our research capabilities and clientele, will quickly create the world’s most trusted venue for serious owners of valuable European Comic Book Artworks,” Verhoest said.
With over one million registered online bidder-members from 192 different countries, it is easy to understand how Heritage achieved $43 million dollars in U.S. Comic Book and Comic Art sales in 2016, far surpassing all other auction concerns combined. On average, HA.com receives more than 44,000 visits every day. In 2016, the site recorded 16.5 million visits, the most traffic of any auction house in the world. Heritage also sells more online across all categories than Christie’s and Sotheby’s combined, with $348.5 million in online 2016 revenues (41 percent of its total sales), as confirmed by Hiscox, Artsy, Art Market Report and numerous other sources.
Heritage’s commitment to its IT platform is well complemented by its internet marketing, catalog design and distribution. The result is record prices realized in virtually every category served, particularly Comic Books and Comic Art.
Mahé, Verhoest and their team are very eager to meet with collectors in Europe to discuss collections and the possibility of consignment.
