Where Are They Now? West Allis Estate Sale Edition 1 1

[rumrunner71]

This is a straight longshot, but I'm hoping someone can tell me what happened to "the one that got away."

In April 2019, an estate sale in West Allis, Wisconsin, featured an original owner collection of mostly GA. The original listing is here: https://www.estatesales.net/WI/West-Allis/53214/2183139. The current page has removed most of the pictures, but there were about 250 GA books, and it was a great-looking haul with a mix of horror, hero, and romance. An All-Star 8 was up for grabs, separate from the rest of the collection. The remaining books were sold in a closed-bid auction.

Here are some of the books:

Action 37, 60, 73, 126, 129, 130

All-Flash 1, 9, 16

All Star 4, 44

All Winners 7

Batman 25, 46, 50 (2 copies)

Captain America 20 and 70

Exposed 3, 4

Firehair 1

Flash Comics 27, 39, 57

Forbidden Worlds 21

Golden Arrow 1

Green Lama 5

Journey into Fear 13

Journey into Mystery 8

Menace 2
Phantom lady 21

Planet Comics 9

Sensation Comics 87

Spy Smasher 1, 6

Terrifying Tales 13

Thrilling 18

Victory Comics 2

Wonder Woman 32 (2 copies)

Yellowjacket Comics 1

This was my first try at an estate sale collection, and I drove with a buddy out to see it. As you can imagine, it was amazing walking into that room and getting hit with that smell of vintage books. (Almost as amazing as watching some of the staff handle these comics like they were stacks of 90s X-Men. At one point, one of the guys literally grabbed a stack of about 15 with the Flash and Actions and knocked them on the table on end like a sheaf of papers. Then another staff person nearly tore a corner off All Flash 1 while opening it  From what the estate folks said, the collection belonged to a man who bought the comics with his brother when they were younger and then just kept them in a couple boxes in the garage ever since.

Needless to say, I put in a bid and didn't get it, and I'd be lying to say if I said I hadn't thought about it a lot of times since. The condition wasn't great for a lot of the books (water stains, chews, what you'd expect from seventy years in a Wisconsin garage) but man, what a collection!

So, my question: did anyone else hear about this one or know what happened to it? I'm not trying to be nosey, so if someone on here is the buyer, my apologies for prying. But I'm just curious where that collection ended up.

[BuckFlash]

I was in Chicago for the Windy City Pulp Show the weekend this collection was announced. When I got the auctions email that day with auctions near you, my eyes popped out of my head when I saw what was there. I was hoping no one else saw it, but of course everyone saw it in the area. I didn't get a chance to see the books like you did but I did make an offer without seeing the books. I didn't win the auction but I was curious who got the collection. I have a feeling maybe Graham Crackers got it since he's in the area? 

[rumrunner71]

2 hours ago, BuckFlash said:

I was in Chicago for the Windy City Pulp Show the weekend this collection was announced. When I got the auctions email that day with auctions near you, my eyes popped out of my head when I saw what was there. I was hoping no one else saw it, but of course everyone saw it in the area. I didn't get a chance to see the books like you did but I did make an offer without seeing the books. I didn't win the auction but I was curious who got the collection. I have a feeling maybe Graham Crackers got it since he's in the area? 

It was definitely an eye-popping list. I was searching the sales just on a whim when I saw it and couldn't believe it. The estate company didn't have much of an idea of what they had there. When we were looking through the collection, I know they were fielding a ton of calls about it. At one point, the head person with the estate company came in to tell the other staff that they couldn't open the All Star 8 anymore to answer questions about the condition, and I was thinking "Good idea," given the way they were manhandling it.

Edited August 3, 2020 by rumrunner71