Chuck sells RED RAVEN #1 Mile High Copy and more

[fantastic_four]

, the label really looks like 9.4

 

It totally does, I thought so also before I read the thread, and the blowup makes it look even more like 9.4. Is the book he's holding up definitely the #1 issue?

[Mutant Manatee]

, the label really looks like 9.4

 

It totally does, I thought so also before I read the thread, and the blowup makes it look even more like 9.4. Is the book he's holding up definitely the #1 issue?

 

 

Yep, there is only one issue of Red Raven. The title changed to Human Torch with issue #2.

 

I wonder if the grade only looks like 9.4 because the low resolution photo was blown up and sharpened. Maybe the image manipulation distorted the number.

[Dale Roberts]

The Red Raven 1 looks to be a 9.4 grade.

 

Then I stand corrected

.

It's either an 8.4 ( ) or a 9.4

 

What would a 9.4 go for considering the 9.0? $50k or $60k? More or less?

 

 

Probably more. You have to remember, this is not just a 9.4. It is the Church 9.4. Thats a big difference, and this will be the first time these books have changed hands.

 

The last remaining Mile High Copies is a huge deal and these books are going to bring alot more money than they grade will justify.

[Flash105]

Church copies still give a lot of collectors that gooey feeling down deep in their bones. There will be a lot of interest in these. If he is serious about selling them and finding a price most will be gone before that convention is over. If he plays hard ball which makes no sense he will own them awhile.

[sborock]

I doubt that was his thought process. He probably just kept the books he likes. If there was a miscalculation it might have been not realizing how much some books would appreciate, in general... but clearly he sold to build his business and just kept a few personal favorites, IMO.

 

(thumbs u

 

Chuck built a very profitable new comics distributorship, a large chain of retail stores and then the largest mail order comics business in the country all from the profits from these books. Individually, all of the comics went for record prices when he sold them too. Had he an inkling that that a book he sold for $25,000 would sell for $1million - believe me, he would have kept it. There was no speculation on his keeping the books he did - he loved them all.

 

Very true Gary.

 

Had lunch with Chuck and he told me he kept the ones he loved.

[boatfund]

maybe a little clearer on the grade?

[Flash105]

Looks like it might have water damage in that photo.

[Gopher John]

Not entirely on topic, but...

 

I grew up as a comic collector in the Denver/Boulder area in the late 70's to mid 80's. During that time I met Chuck Rozanski a number of times. He held bi-monthly or quarterly auctions at a couple of his stores during that period, during which he sold Church books and other offerings. I was only able to buy one Church book (More Fun #115 that has since been lost and is floating around out there somewhere with the owner likely having no idea its a Mile High).

 

Back to Chuck, though... He was always really friendly - especially to kids like me who were spending their accumulated allowowance, lawn-mowing, show-shovelling money to shell out a whopping $7.50 for the likes of Adventure Comics #268.

 

So, I'm wishing Chuck luck in selling his remaining collection and hoping his health improves.

 

Excelsior!

[Straw-Man]

Chuck needs to inject his press releases with more hyperbole and grandiosity.

 

Yep, and less about his swelling hippopotamus.

 

Wouldn't "recent medical problems" have sufficed?

 

he would've gone that route, 'til he saw how wonderfully beerbohm did on the boards with precise anatomical discussion.

[Straw-Man]

Red Raven is a hard book to judge. Some love it, some not so much. Timely completest may be happy with their lower grade copy and not want to pony up the crazy money for the highest graded copy. I hope this doesn't become one of the many "comics without a home" books that we see year after year playing the auction circuit.

 

put me among the "some love it"'s. that goes for the tall timely geek, too.

[VintageComics]

What makes for really good story telling is how the Mile High collection was originally sold, year after year, soon after it was discovered. I heard the story earlier this year.

 

Is this recapped anywhere in his "Tales From the Database"?

 

Interesting side note, I skimmed through the TFTD on the Mile High website and this paragraph caught my eye:

 

"What made leaving the closet full of comics behind particularly hard was that I had just started to hit the good stuff. When I was stacking the comics I pulled from the rafters into the van I saw RED RAVEN #1, one of the rarest Marvel comics ever published. It was printed in 1940, and looked as though it had never been opened. Clearly, if a book of that vintage was in the closet, then there was no end to the possibilities. There were still about 8,000 books left to load, but I had to wait a week to come back for them. Suffice it to say, that was a week in which I slept very little. "

[Senormac]

Looks like it might have water damage in that photo.

 

[ComicConnoisseur]

With Chuck stating that the Church books have a current estimated market value exceeding one hundred million dollars.

I wonder what have been more profitable for him?

making Mile High Comics the number one internet/mail order comic shop over the years

or

holding onto all the Church comics and selling them now?

[bdera303-migration]

According to the census, there are two copies of Red Raven #1 graded at 9.0. It's difficult to tell from Chuck's photo, but it looks like the Church copy could be one of the 9.0's.

 

Metro had a Red Raven 9.0 for sale at Wizard World Chicago in 2008. (I know it's hard to see in this terrible photo, but it is a blue label 9.0.)

If the Red Raven is "only" a 9.0, then there's no chance in hell of these books hitting $1 million. They'd probably do well to even reach mid-6 figures.

 

When Metropolis had the RR#1 CGC 9.0 for sale a little over a year ago they noted in the listing that it was the best existing copy and that the Mile High RR#1 owned by Chuck was in the VF range. Steven I'm sure has seen it.

 

I haven't checked the census, but the posted photo on page 1 with Chuck looks like the MH graded at least a 9.0 . Just speculation but it was probably an 8.0 or 8.5 raw and pressed into a 9.0.

 

 

 

see I knew I was right

[Gatsby77]

That's a chicken and the egg question. If the Church books were just being sold now rather than 30 years ago, they wouldn't have the mystique (or the multiples), or have (necessarily) been photographed for the Gerber Guides, etc.

 

And $100 million seems a gross exaggeration to me. Outside of maybe four $1.0 million books in the bunch, the value of the rest drop off quickly. Collection _might_ get more like $30-40 million today (or...three years ago, before the economy tanked).

[shadroch]

With Chuck stating that the Church books have a current estimated market value exceeding one hundred million dollars.

I wonder what have been more profitable for him?

making Mile High Comics the number one internet/mail order comic shop over the years

or

holding onto all the Church comics and selling them now?

 

 

Without the MH/Church collection hitting the market back then, I doubt those books would have anywhere near the value they do today.

The Church Collection has been berry, berry good to Chuck over the past thirty plus years. I don't think he'd trade those years for thirty years of who knows what and then sudden riches.

[hulksmashdave]

With Chuck stating that the Church books have a current estimated market value exceeding one hundred million dollars.

I wonder what have been more profitable for him?

making Mile High Comics the number one internet/mail order comic shop over the years

or

holding onto all the Church comics and selling them now?

 

 

Without the MH/Church collection hitting the market back then, I doubt those books would have anywhere near the value they do today.

The Church Collection has been berry, berry good to Chuck over the past thirty plus years. I don't think he'd trade those years for thirty years of who knows what and then sudden riches.

 

Also making money years ago and investing = more money today

[bdera303-migration]

With Chuck stating that the Church books have a current estimated market value exceeding one hundred million dollars.

I wonder what have been more profitable for him?

making Mile High Comics the number one internet/mail order comic shop over the years

or

holding onto all the Church comics and selling them now?

 

 

Without the MH/Church collection hitting the market back then, I doubt those books would have anywhere near the value they do today.

The Church Collection has been berry, berry good to Chuck over the past thirty plus years. I don't think he'd trade those years for thirty years of who knows what and then sudden riches.

 

Why not? How different would this be than seeing a newly discovered collection come to market? People out there have already offered $5 million for the unrestored MH Action #1. We have seen comics now sell for well over one million dollars and to me if the MH was unveiled for the first time tomorrow price offers, bidding wars and all kinds of other chaos would ensue.

[shadroch]

With Chuck stating that the Church books have a current estimated market value exceeding one hundred million dollars.

I wonder what have been more profitable for him?

making Mile High Comics the number one internet/mail order comic shop over the years

or

holding onto all the Church comics and selling them now?

 

 

Without the MH/Church collection hitting the market back then, I doubt those books would have anywhere near the value they do today.

The Church Collection has been berry, berry good to Chuck over the past thirty plus years. I don't think he'd trade those years for thirty years of who knows what and then sudden riches.

 

Why not? How different would this be than seeing a newly discovered collection come to market? People out there have already offered $5 million for the unrestored MH Action #1. We have seen comics now sell for well over one million dollars and to me if the MH was unveiled for the first time tomorrow price offers, bidding wars and all kinds of other chaos would ensue.

 

 

Because who knows what todays market would look like if the Church Collection hadn't come along back then.

[Bronty]

I don't think its an exaggeration at all. You could get to $10m with a small handful of the key books. From there you've got 18000 vintage books. to come up with the remaining 90m you need only average $5000 per book. Now think of what's in the collection. All the dc hero runs, all the timely runs, all the centaurs.. all everything! Not to mention all those 9.6s and 9.8s and you still have virtually all the keys. You really have to sit back and think about what all would be in the collection its almost too big to really grasp immediately.

 

If its not $100m, its scratching at it. Your $30-40 m figure, once we lop off the first $10m for the best handful of books, requires only about $1500 per book (@37m. @30m total, only $1100 per book). Way too low. A mean nothing book like boy commandos 1 is $35k at church example levels.