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Edgar Church had a brother, and I found his comic collection.

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About 3 months ago I ran an ad in the LA Times, "WANTED: Comics books." The next day I got a call from a guy. Apparently his grandfather recently died and they went through his house to clear it out. It seems Frank was a compulsive pack-rat too. He had lots of things from advertising mediums and newspapers to comic books and old stamps. They were going to throw out the newpapers and comics when the kid found my ad. There was a mountain of comics (a total of 40,000+) from 1935 to 1965, there were even doubles on some of them. They were obviously unread and in perfect condition. I asked him what he wanted for them and he said he would be happy with $2500. He seemed even a little apprehensive about asking that much, considering he was going to toss them anyway, but thought I may be willing to pay that much for them. Obviously I was.

I went to the bank and paid the guy in cash, rented a u-haul and filled it up. I came home in an almost feverish pitch, my head was spinning with just the mere idea of what I had just found. Just think, if I had not put out that ad, or that kid had not read the paper on that day, the comics would have been lost forever in the Sunshine Landfill.

I know you guys pick on Chuck a lot for his find, but if I had not taken the books they would have been destroyed. I hope I did the right thing by saving them from destruction. I know these books are worth about $100 Million by my estimate and the estimate of a few national dealers who have seen the collection and made their offers for portions of it. Hopefully God will forgive me for saving these treasures of history.

I plan to sell of the 6,000 or so doubles and keep the rest as my Golden Age collection, perhaps show them in a museum at some point. I think these doubles are worth about $2-3 Million, so that should be enough for me to retire early and live a nice comfortable life while still owning the best comic book collection in the World!

 

Let me tell you of another true story that was on the news 5 years ago. This guy was at a crafts event/flee market. He comes across this rock vender selling semi-precious rocks, crystal and amethyst. He is digging around sifting through her bins when he sees something he cannot believe, a black shiny rock. He knows this rock and knows what it is, but he left his money at home. He puts the rock back and goes home to get the $40.00 the lady is asking for rock in that bin. He comes back an hour later. The rock is still there so he buys the it and goes home.

What does he have? A black rock? A marble? Something both you and I would look at and pass by without a moments thought? Of Course...because neither you or I know what a natural uncut diamond looks like, but he did. And it was a BIG rock! Later that week it was appraised at $800,000.00 and is one of the 100 largest diamonds ever to be discovered.

Is this guy one of the luckiest guys in the world or what? "Or what" is more likely. Sure he was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, but it was his knowledge that brought him fortune, a knowledge of what an uncut diamond looks like, knowledge neither you or I posses, and neither did the rock lady apparently.

Do we judge the guy as lucky? Immoral? Wise?

What about the lady? Unlucky? Dumb? Foolish?

 

In other recent threads on this board I have seen the greed, the loathing, the resentment, the jealiously and the luck that have brought others fame and fortune. Morality and ethics have surfaced here, some to congratulate, some to despise. But ethics and morality are human traits that are often judged by other imperfect humans.

I know of another book having nothing to do with comic books that says, "Judge not lest ye be judged."

How would you behave in the above situation?

We all have the dream of finding the collection of comics or the Action #1, others have different dreams, but whether its luck, wisdom or fate, we should not judge them by the lawful acts they do. If no human law is broken, no human judgement applies.

 

 

Timely

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Well I say BRAVO to you, Timely! If this story is true, and I have no doubt you'll be showing us some scans any minute now, I applaud you.

 

How many of us are running similar ads right now? I'm not, but I have, and will again. In fact, I have done a bit of research to run down possible warehouse finds, but the vendors own records are so crappy, that's likely to never happen, but it's a dream, eh?

 

Now if it were me, and I profited a few million from the sale of the extras, I'd likely buy the sellers something nice, anonymously. Hey, that's just me, and I'm not telling anyone what to do.

 

If it's you or the trash-man, I pick you, bro. No sticks and stones from this direction... thumbsup2.gif

 

-Joe

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Sorry, but no way do I believe this!

100 Million Please!

I also have a goose that lays golden eggs.

This news is like jesus returning. It would be all over the paper

 

I do believe he's relating an allegory

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Sorry, but no way do I believe this!

100 Million Please!

I also have a goose that lays golden eggs.

This news is like jesus returning. It would be all over the paper

 

You are the winner of the STUPIDEST PERSON I'VE EVER READ A POST FROM award. Oh my god!

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I know for a fact the the story is untrue. Frank sold me his comics a year ago and only had an action 1 and Detective 27 left from his old collection. They looked to be in g/vg condition. I asked him what he wanted and he told me that he didn't know what they were currently worth but these were key issues and expected $1300. I negotiated the price down to $1250 . In the meantime I have two nice comics but I feel a little guilty about the great deal I made. I was trhinking the other day that if I sell the comics I will send him the other $50 that he wanted.

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I HAVE THE OTHER HALF OF EDGAR'S COLLECTION!!

 

Yes, this takes me back a ways, but Chuck had sloppy seconds after me when he 'bought' the remainder of the Chuch collection. I was there three weeks before him and took every last funny animal/cartoon comic I could find! I skipped right over those stinkin' superhero books, just piled them up in the closet and all over the floor (never understood the fascination people have with those tights-wearing/codpiece-sporting mincing msary-fairies anyway).

 

BWA-HA-HA!! I didn't even PAY for them; I just posed as a garbage man and assured the Church heirs (heirs to what exactly?) that these books would be properly thrown away. They asked me to throw out Edgar's artwork and stuff too, but I didn't have room in the truck, so I just left it all in the alley and promised them I'd come back -- NOT!

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Sorry, but no way do I believe this!

100 Million Please!

I also have a goose that lays golden eggs.

This news is like jesus returning. It would be all over the paper

 

You are the winner of the STUPIDEST PERSON I'VE EVER READ A POST FROM award. Oh my god!

 

27_laughing.gif...maybe he was talking about the rock story.

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In other recent threads on this board I have seen the greed, the loathing, the resentment, the jealiously and the luck that have brought others fame and fortune. Morality and ethics have surfaced here, some to congratulate, some to despise. But ethics and morality are human traits that are often judged by other imperfect humans.

I know of another book having nothing to do with comic books that says, "Judge not lest ye be judged."

How would you behave in the above situation?

We all have the dream of finding the collection of comics or the Action #1, others have different dreams, but whether its luck, wisdom or fate, we should not judge them by the lawful acts they do. If no human law is broken, no human judgement applies.

Timely

 

And here I thought the Bible was full of "non-human laws" and judgements from on high, a la Job...?

 

It's not Chucks incredible luck that rubs me the wrong way... naturally, I'm glad that the Edgar Church collection was saved from the landfill fate it would otherwise have received.

 

What I DO resent about Chuck's acquisition of the collection, and subsequent recounting of the experience:

- that he frequently goes to great lengths and pains to make the Church 'heirs' out to be evil, ignorant people (even though he hardly knew them), in a way that seems to suggest (to me at least) that their evilness somehow makes anything that befalls them okay.

- that he never bothered to do much in the way of "payback" to Church or Church's memory. I mean, he's got a couple of pages on his site about this, but that's it.

- that he named the collection "the Mile High Collection," rather than attributing it to the original owner, which would have been a nice, selfless gesture.

- Chuck's constant moaning throughout his 27-part Horatio Alger account of finding the Church Collection; how hard it was to get to the books, how hard it was to load 'em on the truck, how difficult it was to stack them in his house, how much $ it cost him to sell them, and how he didn't really make all that much money off the collection ultimately. "...doth protest too much" doesn't even really begin to describe the tale of woe that Chuck makes this discovery out to be.

 

 

 

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What I DO resent about Chuck's acquisition of the collection, and subsequent recounting of the experience:

- that he frequently goes to great lengths and pains to make the Church 'heirs' out to be evil, ignorant people (even though he hardly knew them), in a way that seems to suggest (to me at least) that their evilness somehow makes anything that befalls them okay.

 

Yeah, that part apart the neighborhood "going Mexican" felt creepy and forced. However, no one here has any proof that the conversation didn't take place or that the Churches were all that saintly. Unfortunately, the only ones who do know what took place are Chuck and the family, so don't really expect to know the 100% truth anytime soon.

 

- that he never bothered to do much in the way of "payback" to Church or Church's memory. I mean, he's got a couple of pages on his site about this, but that's it.

 

I disagree to an extent here. Chuck has repeatedly talked about Edgar's artwork and even posted it on the Internet and in person. Also, every time I've heard Chuck talk about the man himself, he's always called him a "cool old guy" or something along those lines. Yeah, the guy does spend more time talking about his pottery than Edgar Church, but I don't think he knows all that much about the man to begin with. I mean, he never even met the guy in person! But, to be fair, could Chuck do more ... sure.

 

- that he named the collection "the Mile High Collection," rather than attributing it to the original owner, which would have been a nice, selfless gesture.

 

Did Chuck name the collection or did it sort of just name itself? I'm not 100% clear on this. All that being said, though, I am glad that CGC puts both names on the label.

 

- Chuck's constant moaning throughout his 27-part Horatio Alger account of finding the Church Collection; how hard it was to get to the books, how hard it was to load 'em on the truck, how difficult it was to stack them in his house, how much $ it cost him to sell them, and how he didn't really make all that much money off the collection ultimately. "...doth protest too much" doesn't even really begin to describe the tale of woe that Chuck makes this discovery out to be.

 

Yeah, Chuck's bombastic style of prose gets tiresome after awhile. Plus, he's not a very good writer ... too technical, which tends to make all of his "emotional" stories fall flat.

 

Alan

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