OK... this is not a racing story, but it does have its origins in Martinsville, Virginia. For all of you who have never forgiven your mom for throwing out your comic collection, or like me, gave them all to a young relative, you better not read any further.
This is the last respite from racing story I plan to post with the 500 around the corner.
Holy smokes: Childhood comic collection draws $3.5M
Man finds Action Comics No. 1, other prized issues in aunt's basement.
This copy of Action Comics No. 1 sold for $299,000
By Jamie Stengle
Associated Press
Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012
DALLAS The bulk of a man's childhood comic book collection that included many of the most prized issues ever published sold at auction Wednesday for about $3.5 million.
A copy of Detective Comics No. 27, which sold for 10 cents in 1939 and features the debut of Batman, got the top bid at the New York City auction Wednesday. It sold for about $523,000, including a buyer's premium, said Lon Allen, managing director of comics for Heritage Auctions, the Dallas-based auction house overseeing the sale.
"This really has its place in the history of great comic book collections," said Allen, who added that the auction was high energy, with "a bunch of applause at a couple of the top lots."
Action Comics No. 1, a 1938 issue featuring the first appearance of Superman, sold for about $299,000; Batman No. 1, from 1940, sold for about $275,000; and Captain America No. 2, a 1941 issue with a frightened Adolf Hitler on the cover, brought in about $114,000, Allen said.
Among the 345 well-preserved comics bought decades ago by the Virginia boy with a remarkable knack for picking winners were 44 of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide's top 100 issues from comics' golden age.
"It was amazing seeing what they went for," said Michael Rorrer, who discovered his great uncle Billy Wright's collection last year while cleaning out his great aunt's house in Martinsville, Va ., following her death.
Opening up a basement closet, Rorrer found the neatly stacked comics that had belonged to Wright, who died in 1994 at age 66.
"This is just one of those collections that all the guys in the business think don't exist anymore," Allen said.
Experts say the collection is remarkable not only for the number of rare books, but also because the comics were kept in such good condition for half a century by the man who bought them in his childhood.
"The scope of this collection is, from a historian's perspective, dizzying," said J.C. Vaughn, associate publisher of Overstreet.
Allen said 80 of the lesser-valued comics from the collection will be sold in an online auction Friday that's expected to bring in about $100,000.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/23/3037079/holy-smokes-childhood-comic-collection.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM