Moondog

Thanks, Bob. I still have a small stash of books that I will never part with, but nothing as valuable as the ashcans. I appreciate your understanding how difficult this decision was. Originally I was going to sell them in January and had signed the paperwork back in October. Then sellers remorse set in and I asked Ed Jaster to pull them. Heritage had no problem with doing so and were very understanding and gracious. But since then I’ve come around to the fact that it would be very difficult for my family/Heritage to sell these properly without my direct involvement. So I’m at peace with the decision. This is certainly the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my 50+ years of collecting. Nothing even comes close.

That’s always been the story. It makes sense as a Detective cover, and the Action Comics ashcan was created well before the Shuster newsstand cover.

Thanks, Alan. It's been a rough year health-wise. This is the right time to sell. My family is behind me 100%.

If the Windy City collection were discovered today, other than the Church collection, it would rival anything previously found. There were 2 batches totaling nearly 2,500 first issues with the lowest grades in the 5.0-6.0 range all the way to 9.4 for the Marvel Comics 1. Famous Funnies # 1 all the way to Marvel's Daredevil in 1964. Every major #1 except Action. I understand why it doesn't have the cache of the others - I sold off individual issues quickly with no documentation as to where they went - but that shouldn't diminish the importance of the collection. There are many collectors today with an undocumented WC in their collection who are very pleased to own them.

Matt Nelson wants to make sure that pedigrees and ashcans, that can be verified, are certified for future generations. To simply ignore the provenance shows a lack of understanding of a big picture. Matt gets it. The Supergirl has too large an overhang to slab. It appears to be a 7.5-8.0.

I sold the Action Comics and Action Funnies last spring through Heritage. The Action Comics set a record for an ashcan.

I'm glad you got to see/hold them. That was one downside to owning something so rare. I couldn't keep them at home. I was just the caretaker and needed to make sure they passed on to the next generation.

Alan, the bank made them check their backpacks at the door. Frisked 'em too. Andy, the Action was right up your alley. No question it's the first pre-code horror cover. By a wide margin.

Hi Everyone. After nearly 40 years I've decided to sell my last 4 ashcans - Superman Comics, Superwoman, Superboy and Supergirl. I never thought the day would come when I would sell, but as I get older I keenly understand that nothing is forever. I consigned them to the April Heritage auction. I'll never forget that moment in November 1985 at a Chicago Mini-con when Joe Desris handed me a small stack of books that Sol Harrison had given him. In that stack was Superman Comics and Wonder Woman. They sported black and white covers! What was I looking at? "Ashcans, Gary," Joe said. And from that moment I was hooked. I wanted to learn WHAT they were. WHY they were. WHERE they came from and WHO created them. After purchasing the first batch I bought an additional 30 over the next 2 years. Then I started buying them wherever I could find them eventually owning 40 or so issues. Those of you who know me understand the passion I've had for these books. Their journey from cool pop culture curiosities to finally being recognized as important historical documents was a long one, but one that I was willing to travel. I've truly enjoyed being the only person on the entire planet to own this set of comics. Now it's time to move on and let the next generation of collectors care for them.

Moondog is in.

I don't follow the weekly auctions, but I look forward to the signature catalogs. I'm even keeping them. Seeing so many keys and scarce books in such high grades is simply awesome. I guess I've been doing this for so long that I thought nothing could phase me any longer. I was wrong and it's so cool.

No. A collection from Cleveland that ended up in Memphis. I bought it in 2005. Nearly every Timely/Atlas/Marvel romance, humor, teen humor and movie they published.

I had 1-7, 9-14, 16-21.

Such a wise man is Bob. Amen, brother.

Agreed, Bob. It's just so f'ing cool. It's beyond cool. When I was a freshman and first saw it in SotI in my high school library.I went nuts. I've owned 2 or 3 over the years, but this is just too much.

When Ed was telling me about the collection you could feel the excitement in his voice. I've known Ed since 1992. He's seen everything - yet this time it was different when he was describing it to me.

It's the coolest thing I've seen since September 16, 1978 when the Windy City collection walked into my shop on the first day I was open.

Exactly. My posting is just stoking the fire. The real juice will be the listing of the individual issues and the scans as they come back from CGC. The backstory brings to mind brotherly love and respect.

Yes. They go back to the late 30s but the early books are generally not high grade. I understand there's a complete run of Caps and the later ones are tremendous.

And almost entirely super-hero...

Yes, it's my understanding that the highest graded books are from this period.

Again, I don't want to jump the gun, but the back story is heart-warming and the impetus for this collection to still exist today.

According to my contact, this new collection checks every box.

If the books in this new collection only sell for an average of $1,000 each that's $5 million. Unbelievable. I can't wait to see exactly what's in there. And all I heard was 9.6 and 9.8 on the first batch back.