Two more original paintings by Wylie Beckert from Magic: the Gathering have sold—and for record-braking numbers for the artist.
On November 18th, 2020, her original for Thwart the Grave was sold via auction on the MTG Art Market on Facebook for $15,600. A few weeks later, her last work from the recent Zendikar Rising expansion, entitled Reclaim the Wastes, was offered in the same manner and hammered sold at $17,600.
Left: Thwart the Grave by Wylie Beckert, pencil and acrylic on toned paper, 12” x 18” on 13.75” x 20” paper. Right: Reclaim the Wastes by Wylie Beckert, pencil and acrylic on toned paper, 12” x 18” on 13.5” x 19.5” paper.
These illustrations are each works of pencil and acrylic on toned paper measuring 12 inches by 18 inches and completed on slightly larger toned paper. They were both commissioned for Magic’s more recent expansion Zendikar Rising, and are the artist’s fifth and sixth card published for the game. She has three cards total for this most recent set.
Both auctions were run by the artist on the MTG Art Market on Facebook and lasted for approximately five days each. Each followed a similar trajectory, opening at modest $2,000 bids and climbing quickly during the opening hours.
Thwart the Grave was bid to the $6,000 mark the first evening it was open, and saw consistent bidding activity through the next few days. A public bid going from $7,500 to $10,000 with two days ago was no doubt an attempt to knock other bidders out, but was unsuccessful and bested less than 24 hours later at $11,000. That bidder would battle a late-arriving private bidder and push the work nearly $5,000 more until its final sale price of $15,600. This became the new high point for Wylie’s work in Magic, but would stand for less than three weeks, for another auction was still to come.
At the end of the first day for Reclaim the Wastes, the bid sat at $7,500, and would barely change until the end. Three minutes before the gavel fell, a huge jump to the tune of $11,000 was placed privately, and extended the sale. (As a reminder, with most of these auctions any bid in the last five minutes extends the auction five minutes.) From here two private bidders exchanged roughly $2,000 increment advances until the dust settled at $17,600. This is now the highest price one of her Magic pieces has achieved, and will certainly not be easy to beat.
When I reported the sale of her last work back in November, when Soul Shatter sold for $13,100, I asked the question if rising tide of her prices realized would rise again once these two works were sold. That answer, as you see, is unequivocally yes.
As I mentioned in that article, the Art Market Minute has been tracking Wylie Beckert’s work since her very first pieces from Throne of Eldraine in 2019, and as of the writing of this article, all of her original Magic pieces have sold in a public venue, in almost every case each for more than the last.
Just look at that! That a serious trajectory. The dip at the beginning is no cause for concern; those first two paintings were sold a week apart, and could have easily been sold in the opposite order to a similar result. I’d imagine the Rosethorn Acolyte buyer is thanking their lucky stars they made that decision.
Wylie has no doubt taken the Magic art world by storm, and it seems as if there is no end in sight when it comes to the selling price of her original work. Remember, only two of these cards are even rare cards: these prices realized have nothing to do with in-game power or story, and the results are entirely on the back of the artwork itself. Can you imagine if she were to get a Planeswalker or Legend? Or a format staple? I can.
With Kaldheim and any number of other new releases headed our way in 2021, we’ll be watching closely to see if the line continues moving skyward.
Stay tuned.