Jon Berk has passed. 12 12

[entalmighty1]

The Berk auction is what inspired me to make the transition from Silver/Bronze collecting to Golden Age.  After seeing those books in the ComicConnect emails, I immediately lost interest in 99% of what I owned.  Thank you for what you did for the hobby sir.

 

 

[misterrmystery]

On 8/18/2023 at 10:42 PM, entalmighty1 said:

The Berk auction is what inspired me to make the transition from Silver/Bronze collecting to Golden Age.  After seeing those books in the ComicConnect emails, I immediately lost interest in 99% of what I owned.  Thank you for what you did for the hobby sir.

 

 

I actually saw Jon's copy of Fight Comics #1 when he brought it with a stack of books to the Sunday Hartford show in the mid '90s. Was a raw copy then.

[Jayman]

Not that they need to, but it might be nice if Jon’s family could see this thread. Can anyone share this with them?

[lou_fine]

On 8/14/2023 at 11:07 AM, Mmehdy said:

I had read that Jon kept a few books when he sold his collection, I think he posted about that on the boards. So he did keep some material with him to end. Can anyone confirm that. John is a collector they just do not make anymore.

 

On 8/13/2023 at 11:39 AM, adamstrange said:

 

• The first collector to have a complete set of Centaurs.

Jon with his favorite comic book, Mystery Men 3, both the Larson and the Church copies.

Well, since he had both the Larson and Church copy of his very favorite book, I am quite sure that he kept the Larson copy with his special affinity to the Larson books and the fact that the complete Church run of Mystery Men in an auction makes for a much better selling feature. 

Since he had the complete collection of Centaur books intact which he absolutely loved, I suspect he probably kept a few of these truly rare early nuggets and if you have the time, merely a matter of going through the Berk Auction catalogue to see which of the Centaurs are not in there.     

[Mmehdy]

On 8/19/2023 at 2:24 PM, lou_fine said:

 

Well, since he had both the Larson and Church copy of his very favorite book, I am quite sure that he kept the Larson copy with his special affinity to the Larson books and the fact that the complete Church run of Mystery Men in an auction makes for a much better selling feature. 

Since he had the complete collection of Centaur books intact which he absolutely loved, I suspect he probably kept a few of these truly rare early nuggets and if you have the time, merely a matter of going through the Berk Auction catalogue to see which of the Centaurs are not in there.     

thanks....

[PreHero]

GAtor's "Well crud" post perfectly captures my reaction to the news!  Met Jon a couple times at SDCC, but sadly never got to see his collection in person (wrong coast).

Jon really enjoy collecting, learning about comics, and freely sharing any information.  Besides all the articles and posts, he always took time to respond to my questions via PM or email.  Jon was my go-to source for questions about rare and unusual pre-hero and PA comics.

Jon told me he kept Larson copies of A-M #15 and FP V4 #1, plus a few other pre-Centaur books and a couple of the The Funnies (1929) from CC auction - those were only ones I asked about, so suspect he kept others too.  Once a collector, always a collector!

First comic I purchased from Jon - I think 30 years ago - with help from Buttock:

 

[Zolnerowich]

On 8/18/2023 at 1:27 PM, ArkhamCastle said:

I had the opportunity to meet with Jerry Eiger in his apartment in the early 1980's.  I was about to publishing Lance Carrigan Of The Galactic with Jay Disbrow at that time.  Mr. Eiger was nice enough to show me the original art for Planet #1.  He declined my offer to purchase it. Lol.

Great story! Thanks for sharing that. 

[ArkhamCastle]

On 8/18/2023 at 1:27 PM, ArkhamCastle said:

I had the opportunity to meet with Jerry Eiger in his apartment in the early 1980's.  I was about to publishing Lance Carrigan Of The Galactic with Jay Disbrow at that time.  Mr. Eiger was nice enough to show me the original art for Planet #1.  He declined my offer to purchase it. Lol.

As I think about that day with Mr. Eiger I believe he showed me just the O A to the cover of Planet #1.  Not sure if he had the rest of the book.

[Flex Mentallo]

On 8/21/2023 at 7:30 PM, ArkhamCastle said:

As I think about that day with Mr. Eiger I believe he showed me just the O A to the cover of Planet #1.  Not sure if he had the rest of the book.

'Just' the O A to the cover. 

[Bruce Berk]

Good morning All,

On behalf of Jon's family we are humbled by the outpouring of love for Jon.  

There are so many wonderful comments that we will treasure, and are so grateful that he touched so many lives in a postive way.

Trust me, he was (and will always be) quite the character!

His brother,

Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Robot Man]

On 8/29/2023 at 6:50 AM, Bruce Berk said:

Good morning All,

On behalf of Jon's family we are humbled by the outpouring of love for Jon.  

There are so many wonderful comments that we will treasure, and are so grateful that he touched so many lives in a postive way.

Trust me, he was (and will always be) quite the character!

His brother,

Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Bruce. He was a fine gentleman and had a life well lived. We are all better for it. Very sorry for your loss…

[Marcusco]

On 8/18/2023 at 5:01 PM, Robot Man said:

Probably not. Just in shock as to what he had to pay to buy them back.

Like I say, if you got it keep it. I have sold beloved books for good reasons. Real estate purchases, kids college ect. Tough decisions but good solid decisions.

Usually something is sold, you spend the money and at the end of the day, you have nothing to show for it.

Knowing Ritchie, he has sold some amazing stuff for a very good reason. The difference is he can come up with the resources and drive to replace a lot of stuff which at this time, I am unable to or have found things to spend money on that mean more to me now.

Hang on to the stuff that means so much to you.

Sometimes selling items can be necessary and beneficial, like for real estate or education expenses. Ritchie might have valid reasons for selling valuable things, and it doesn't necessarily mean he won't have anything to show for it. Everyone's circumstances and priorities are different. Here I for example sold an old light ceiling of my father's to be able to get from here https://edubirdie.com/law-essay-writing-service a law essay writing, because it really helps me a lot and my achievement will not decrease and I will stay learning for the state money, it really helped me to stay doing my studies.

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by Marcusco

[jimbo_7071]

On 8/30/2023 at 11:56 AM, Marcusco said:

Sometimes selling items can be necessary and beneficial, like for real estate or education expenses. Ritchie might have valid reasons for selling valuable things, and it doesn't necessarily mean he won't have anything to show for it. Everyone's circumstances and priorities are different.

 

Yes, didn't he have to sell some things in order to keep paying his employees during some kind of disaster that caused a temporary closure of the store a while back? I seem to remember something like that.

Edited August 31, 2023 by jimbo_7071

[lou_fine]

On 8/30/2023 at 9:33 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

Yes, didn't he have to sell some things in order to keep paying his employees during some kind of disaster the caused a temporary closure of the store a while back? I seem to remember something like that.

If I remember correctly, you are most likely referring to this Twilight pedigree copy of Marvel Comics 1 which Richard auctioned off on CC back in 2017 after he had some unfortunate weather related disaster that hit his store:  

https://www.comicconnect.com/item/744183

Looks like it sold for $215K back in 2017 which was probably seen as a relatively strong price back then, although copies of Marvel 1 like other top collectibles did also sell for significantly more during the crypto-like crazed Covid time period

[woowoo]

On 8/30/2023 at 4:52 PM, lou_fine said:

If I remember correctly, you are most likely referring to this Twilight pedigree copy of Marvel Comics 1 which Richard auctioned off on CC back in 2017 after he had some unfortunate weather related disaster that hit his store:  

https://www.comicconnect.com/item/744183

Looks like it sold for $215K back in 2017 which was probably seen as a relatively strong price back then, although copies of Marvel 1 like other top collectibles did also sell for significantly more during the crypto-like crazed Covid time period

Ya I been waiting for @MrBedrockto get me a copy as he said for like 10 years now right Richard.

[ciorac]

On 8/15/2023 at 7:23 AM, lou_fine said:

As others have said here, no problem for Jon to share his much loved books with others, because isn't that what the fun of collecting is really all about:    

 

That was an amazing day. I will miss my friend Jon Berk very much

[Ron C.]

I didn't know Jon Berk, but it sounds like he was a good friend to the comic community. Here is my one book of his.

[Gotham Kid]

I would love to find the whereabouts of his Tec 33

[sagii]

I've always wondered who got the Fantastic Comics 3

[Gotham Kid]

On 5/22/2024 at 3:03 PM, sagii said:

I've always wondered who got the Fantastic Comics 3

Fishler

Edited 13 hours ago by Gotham Kid