White Rose sale and Elfquest

[Bonds25]

BREAKING NEWS FROM THE ROAD: Heritage's White Rose sale blossoms

 

NEW YORK CITY - Heritage Comic Auctions began its March Signature Auction with a bang Thursday

night March 6, with a sale of what the auction firm had dubbed the White Rose collection. The

collection, assembled in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s and then stored away for more

than a decade by two collectors who remain anonymous, met or exceeded the pre-auction estimates

on many of the lots.

 

CBG Managing Editor Brent Frankenhoff is attending the four-day event and spoke with the two

consignors, who said that, when they assembled the collection, they did not have access to the

wide range of sources available to collectors today.

 

"CBG was our bible," one said, adding that, in addition to ads in CBG and its predecessor, the

Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom, they had accumulated the collection by buying directly from

dealers and through private acquisitions.

 

The top-selling lots in the first session went to Jay Parrino's The Mint with buyer Bill Hughes

acquiring a copy of Marvel Comics #1 CGC graded 8.5 (VF+) with cream to off-white pages for

$126,500 including Heritage's 15% buyer's premium. "We were prepared to go as high as $225,000,"

Hughes told CBG, "and figured it would go to at least $175,000."

 

He added that the copy joins The Mint's two other high-grade copies of Marvel Comics #1, the "pay

copy" and the Denver pedigree, giving the company the top three highest-CGC-graded copies to

date.

 

The sale's second highest seller, Action Comics #1 in 5.5 (FN-) with off-white pages, sold for

$120,750 with buyer's premium and joined the highest-graded copy of Action # 1 in its buyer's

collection. The buyer did not attend the event.

 

Other highlights of the first session were (all prices include the 15% buyer's premium):

Human Torch #2 (the first issue of the series) CGC-graded 8.0 (VF) with off-white pages for $29,900.

Captain America Comics #1 CGC-graded 6.0 (F) with off-white pages selling for $15,007.

A Larson pedigree copy of Daring Mystery Comics #2 CGC-graded 9.0 (VF/NM) with white pages for $14,950.

All Winners Comics #1 CGC-graded 8.5 (VF+) with cream to off-white pages for $11,500 Heritage Director of Auctions John Petty told CBG he had been extremely pleased with the first session. "We had high hopes, and they were met and exceeded," he said. "We set some records, and it was a sweet way to start the Signature Auction.

 

A handful of comics failed to meet their reserve and will be available for purchase at a set

price beginning Friday, March 7, at www.heritagecomics.com.

 

Friday's comics session, which begins at 7 p.m. ET at the Warwick Hotel, 65 W. 54th St., includes

Stan Lee file copies and items from the collection of DC Editor Emeritus Julius Schwartz, as well

as a selection of Golden and Silver Age comics and undergrounds. Three sessions are scheduled for

Saturday, March 8, beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET. The Signature Auction concludes Sunday, March 9,

at 1 p.m. ET with the first in a scheduled series of auctions of art from the Famous American

Illustrators collection. Additional sales from this collection are scheduled for later this year.

CBG will provide an additional auction update Saturday, and full coverage will appear in CBG

#1533 next week.

 

 

NEWS: DC will purchase, merchandise Elfquest

 

When Richard and Wendy Pini released the first installment of their Elfquest saga, it was in

1978, under the imprint of another publisher. Immediately, they brought the series into their own

Warp (Wendy and Richard Pini) Graphics line and became one of the first success stories in the

field of creator-owned comics.

 

Now, 25 years later, DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz has announced that DC has

acquired worldwide publishing rights "in all formats and languages as well as media and

merchandising rights" to Elfquest.

 

The story of the young elf Cutter and his Wolfriders' search for a new home provided

sword-and-sorcery fantasy that became a favorite among comics and fantasy fans alike.

Wendy Pini said, "We are big believers in new beginnings. Coming as it does on the silver

anniversary of the release of our first issue of Elfquest, we feel this opportunity is a gift

from the Universe that frees us up to create new epic adventures in brand-new formats for a

brand-new audience as well as for our longtime fans."

 

You can read the story at: http://www.collect.com/interest/article.asp?id=6473

[aardvark88]

Maybe now someone will actually buy Bronty's Elfquest comicsized back issues. I'm partial to the mag size as they have gr8 painted covers.