A Promise Kept14829
 Forum Crier
|
OGJackster private msg quote post Address this user | |
| PEDIGREED TROVE OF GOLDEN AGE COMICS PURCHASED DIRECTLY OFF NEWSSTANDS COULD FETCH $10 MILLION By Robert Wilonsky A collection of Golden Age comic books in pristine condition was assembled by a young boy who grew up, went to war and never returned. For decades, the books were kept safe by the brother who vowed to keep watch over the comics should anything happen to his sibling on the battlefield. Hence its moniker, the Promise Collection – proof of a promise kept. Beginning in June, Heritage Auctions is offering more than 5,000 high-grade Golden Age comic books that haven’t seen the light of day since they were purchased off newsstands in the 1940s. The Promise Collection is one of the rare assemblages recognized as a pedigree by the Certified Guaranty Company – and it’s “the highest-quality pedigree collection, book for book, to debut in our hobby in the last 25 years,” says Heritage Auctions’ Senior Vice President Ed Jaster. “The collection’s depth and scope is almost unparalleled,” Jaster says. “I expect nearly two-thirds of the books will stand as the finest-known copies for any particular comic represented in the collection. I am honored and thrilled Heritage was selected to represent the collection.” Heritage expects the collection to realize at least $10 million. Put simply, “The Promise Collection will go down in history as one of the greatest comic-book finds of all time,” adds Heritage Auctions Vice President Lon Allen. About 300 of the books will debut in Heritage’s June 17-19 Comics & Comic Art Signature® Auction. Among them: a CGC NM+ 9.6 copy of Detective Comics No. 140, in which the Riddler makes his debut; a CGC NM+ 9.6 issue of Phantom Lady No. 17, a Top 5 Golden Age cover per a recent poll; and a CGC NM- 9.2 copy of the “weird tales” Captain America Comics No. 74, featuring the Red Skull and an extraordinarily scarce title in any condition. Each is the very best-known issue for each title, like almost every other discovery in The Promise Collection. Sales from this extraordinary assemblage will continue through 2022. “When Ed and I first saw the collection, it didn’t take us long to realize that it had all the earmarks of a top-tier pedigree: great colors, off-white or better pages and consistent high grades,” Allen says. “It’s hard to overstate how unbelievable this collection truly is. Each box we open contains more and more treasures from the Golden Age of comic books, comics that I only previously dreamed I would come across in near-mint to mint condition.” The consignors have asked to remain anonymous. For a long, long time the Promise Collection was just a cache of comics in an attic, treasures stored in chests made of cardboard. In the early 1950s, a young man known as Robert was drafted by the Army to fight in Korea. His younger brother, known as Junie, enlisted in the hopes of keeping watch over Robert. Junie had but one request of his big brother – that Robert take care of his collection of funny books should anything happen to him in battle. Junie had been a collector since he was a little boy, not because of the value but because of the stories. Throughout the 1940s, he amassed a collection of more than 5,000 Golden Age books, and treated each with kid gloves. Robert knew how dear those books were to his brother. So he promised him: Yes, of course. He would take care of those funny books. If something happened. God forbid. Then Junie was killed in action. He was 21 years old. When Robert returned home from war, he made good on that promise. With great care and caution, he boxed up his brother’s comic books and placed them in an attic for safe storage. And there they sat, undisturbed, for half a century. In time, Robert and his family returned to those boxes to revisit what Junie had left behind. There they discovered what proved to be one of the world’s greatest collections of Golden Age comics in extraordinary condition. They went a step further in protecting them, bagging and boarding each one, then cataloging them on an ever-growing spreadsheet that now reads now like a collector’s dream come true. As CGC notes, securing a pedigree title and the gold label that accompanies such a rarefied designation is no easy feat. There are myriad hurdles to clear, among them: The collection must feature more than 1,000 books and have come straight from the newsstand and have remained with the original owner; the titles must have been published before 1966; and the collection must be highly graded. And, as CGC notes, of the 61 pedigrees in its registry, many “were recognized and accepted by the hobby before CGC came into existence in late 1999.” Bidding on the Promise Collection, along with the other centerpiece collections and items in the June 17-19 Comics & Comic Art Signature® Auction, was set to begin at the end of May. But word of the Promise Collection’s discovery began making the rounds in the hobby long before Heritage even began posting previews. With good reason. Among the offerings in June, collectors will find, from 1948, Startling Comics No. 49, graded CGC NM+ 9.6. As the catalog notes, this issue features perhaps the most famous and highly sought-after airbrushed covers by Alex Schomburg, among the top cover artists of the Golden Age. Here as well is DC’s immortal villain Solomon Grundy debuting in 1944’s All-American Comics No. 61, graded CGC NM+ 9.6, which sits at No. 61 on Overstreet’s list of Top 100 Golden Age Comics. The Promise Collection features countless superhero sought-afters, including the best-known copy of All Star Comics No. 33 (CGC NM+ 9.6), featuring the Justice Society of America and Grundy; More Fun Comics No. 101 (CGC NM 9.4), containing the first appearance of Superboy; and 1946’s Captain America Comics No. 59 (CGC NM/MT 9.8), which retells Cap and Bucky’s origin stories. Among the first Promise Collection books to hit the market is Detective Comics No. 114, whose grade of CGC NM/MT 9.8 makes it the best known. This issue not only features the Joker, but boasts an extremely rare “double cover,” when it was bound with two covers instead of the intended single cover. Here, too, are some of the most coveted science-fiction titles of the era, including from 1946 Contact Comics No. 12, which is graded CGC NM+ 9.6. This is the sole highest-graded copy of one of the most popular and sought-after Golden Age books in the hobby – in large part because of its cover by L.B. Cole. Another Cole classic is also featured in the Promise Collection: Mask Comics No. 1, published in 1945. Graded CGC VF+ 8.5, this is – again – the single highest-graded copy of the issue. Overstreet rightly calls this the “fairies to a flame” cover. As Fantagraphics noted upon publication of its long-awaited Cole retrospective in 2015, the artist created “some of the most bizarre, proto-psychedelic, eye-popping comic book covers of all time.” Eye-popping – as good a description as any of the Promise Collection. ROBERT WILONSKY is a staff writer at The Intelligent Collector. This article appears in the June 2021 digital edition of The Intelligent Collector magazine. clickable text           |
||
| Post 1 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
comicsforme private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Thats lots of green... | ||
| Post 2 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
infinityG private msg quote post Address this user | |
Holy moly...  |
||
| Post 3 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
Ironwill75 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Unbelievable it’s like a movie script! 🤯 | ||
| Post 4 • IP flag post | ||
 Miss Chanandler Bong
|
jake private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Best Mask #1 that I have seen thus far! Love that Matt Baker cover in Phantom Lady #17!! Amazing collection!!! | ||
| Post 5 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
QuaBrot private msg quote post Address this user | |
| This is going to bankrupt a few collectors . .. | ||
| Post 6 • IP flag post | ||
 I've spent years perfecting my brand of assholery.
|
DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Ironwill75 Exactly, fiction. |
||
| Post 7 • IP flag post | ||
 Please continue to ignore anything I post.
|
southerncross private msg quote post Address this user | |
The name sounds like a Romantic comedy Does that look trimmed? Could be a trick perception with the scan |
||
| Post 8 • IP flag post | ||
 -Our Odin-Rest in Peace |
Jesse_O private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by southerncross Or a Lifetime movie. |
||
| Post 9 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
50AE_DE private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @southerncross It's also a double cover. |
||
| Post 10 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
50AE_DE private msg quote post Address this user | |
| That's an amazing collection. | ||
| Post 11 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
sleeperbat private msg quote post Address this user | |
| It looks like most of them have pencil scribbles on them. | ||
| Post 12 • IP flag post | ||
|
I've spent years perfecting my brand of assholery.
|
DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by sleeperbat Those are deemed hallmarks of the pedigree and therefore do not negatively impact condition. |
||
| Post 13 • IP flag post | ||
 I live in RI and Rhode Islanders eat chili with beans.
|
esaravo private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I just can’t buy 50 years in an ATTIC in cardboard boxes. I have seen comics stored in attics for just a few years become yellowed and brittle. | ||
| Post 14 • IP flag post | ||
|
Forum Crier
|
OGJackster private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by southerncross Nope but, they all look pressed. |
||
| Post 15 • IP flag post | ||
 Pictures? We don't need no stinking pictures.
|
brysb private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by esaravo Sounds suspicious to me as well. Also, that story about the one brother promising to take care of his comics if anything happened to him in battle. And the family is remaining anonymous for what reason? |
||
| Post 16 • IP flag post | ||
|
I've spent years perfecting my brand of assholery.
|
DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by brysb I can understand the anonymity. They don't want all their grubby relatives and neighbors coming around looking for handouts. However, I do find it all a bit far-fetched as well. |
||
| Post 17 • IP flag post | ||
 Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by brysb I'm having a hard time with th 5,000 number. 5,000 books is a really big number to accumulate for someone who died at 21. He would have bought 500 comics per year since he was 10 years old, that's more than 40 per month. There were no LCS's, they had to come from the newsstands, many books were quarterlies for years. I have a hard time comprehending the space that would be required to store them in such immaculate condition. Even at 50 books per stack that would be 100 stacks. Or in terms we understand 25 short boxes at 200 per box. I cannot imagine they were stacked 50 high. |
||
| Post 18 • IP flag post | ||
|
Forum Crier
|
OGJackster private msg quote post Address this user | |
I know one thing, I don't have the bucks to get in this auction. The book fetching the most right now is Detective Comics #140, Current Bid: $85,000. 16 more days to go. |
||
| Post 19 • IP flag post | ||
|
-Our Odin- Rest in Peace |
Jesse_O private msg quote post Address this user | |
| The ONLY thing that makes sense to me is that the family is rich and/or famous already. For appearances sake, they don't want the "family name" associated with comic books (bad for the image and all that). But, they want to maximize their return in this market, and pedigrees are the way to go. This would explain the amount of books accumulated by a young age (daddy had the newsman deliever them as they came out). The "attic" could very well be a climate controlled storage room. However, I honestly think this is all very fishy and suspect. |
||
| Post 20 • IP flag post | ||
|
I've spent years perfecting my brand of assholery.
|
DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user | |
| If they had that much money, I doubt the son would have ended up on the frontlines in the first place. | ||
| Post 21 • IP flag post | ||
|
I've spent years perfecting my brand of assholery.
|
DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I wouldn't be surprised if this was the personal collection of the head dude at Heritage packaged and presented in way to land a windfall. Of course that's just wild ass speculation on my part. | ||
| Post 22 • IP flag post | ||
|
I've spent years perfecting my brand of assholery.
|
DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Article There is no way books stored in cardboard wouldn't have tanned or yellowed over 50 years. |
||
| Post 23 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by DrWatson Sounds more like they were wrapped in sap. |
||
| Post 24 • IP flag post | ||
 I don't believe this....and I know you don't care that I don't believe this.
|
GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I don't understand why CGC would risk damaging their credibility by either participating in a lie or not doing their due diligence on awarding this collection pedigree status. If they're in on it, that's PGX level stupidity. If word ever got out that CGC lied about this collection, it would be a huge problem for them...why would they risk that? |
||
| Post 25 • IP flag post | ||
 Secret Moderator
|
MatterEaterLad private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by GAC One of the founders and owners of Heritage is also a part owner of CGC. |
||
| Post 26 • IP flag post | ||
 Moderators handing out titles: Boom. Roasted.
|
Hcanes private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Sounds like a marketing campaign from Zales or Kay Jewelers | ||
| Post 27 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by GAC @GAC It's the collectibles industry. You're giving the players way too much respect. They're more like gold miners. It's got about as much decorum as the old west. The veterans in the industry are mostly just guys who've spent their lives looking for a big score. |
||
| Post 28 • IP flag post | ||
|
Secret Moderator
|
MatterEaterLad private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by DrWatson 100% The Church Collection was found in 1977. So these books are 44 years older at the time of discovery and are in equal or better condition? There's more to this story. |
||
| Post 29 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
robertofredrico private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by MatterEaterLad Yeah, I never bought into this whole “Edgar Church” story. Sounds like a made-up name. I bet such a person never even really existed. Just a fabrication of Chuck Rozanski collaborating with the lame-stream comic meadia. |
||
| Post 30 • IP flag post | ||
This topic is archived. Start new topic?