the Find
Around 18,000 to 22,000 comic books most in mint condition, all printed between 1939 - 1953. One of these is the very first edition of Action Comics, where Superman makes his grand debut. This copy alone costs $1,000,000.
the Lucky
Chuck Rozanski, owner of the comic book store Mile High Comics.
the Place and the Time
Mile High Comic store in Boulder, Colorado; mid-January, 1977
How in the world!?
Chuck's friend received a call from a Realtor explaining that they needed to sell a house, but the house was full of "junk". This junk was a hoard of comics, periodicals and posters collected by Edgar Church, an artist who used the images for his work.
So Chuck drove down to the house and was amazed to find about 60 stacks in the basement, 75-100 comics deep. It wasn't just that, there was even a walk-in closet overflowing with comics. Even luckier, the owners weren't particular with how much they were going to get, they just wanted to get rid of the stuff and go on and sell the house.
Here's a transcript from his website, milehighcomics.com, about how he felt the moment he saw the collection:
"...It wasn't until the negotiations were over, and the surprise closet full of Golden Age was opened, that I was finally overwhelmed with emotion. My mouth became so dry that I asked for a glass of water. When it arrived, I was staring at the closet, while leaning against the basement wall for support. I couldn't take my eyes off that closet, and became so transfixed that when I tried to take a drink from the glass, I ended up missing my mouth entirely, and poured most of the glass of water right down the front of my shirt. Fortunately, no water spilled on any of the comics.
Believe it or not, what was going through my mind as I was looking at the closet was fear. Not just a fear that the deal would get screwed up somehow, but also a realization that my life was about to radically change. It's one thing to have slowly built up a small business over a period of many years, and quite another to suddenly win the lottery. I could see very clearly that discovering this collection was going to completely change my life, and that nothing would ever again be the same. I was excited at that prospect, but also very trepidatious. Radical change can be good, but it can also destroy much of that which you hold most dear..."
Sources:
http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg12.html
http://listsoplenty.com/blog/archives/6717
http://blog.oregonlive.com/steveduin/2007/03/edgar_church_and_chuck_rozansk.html
http://scrimbrown.wordpress.com/2010/08/page/2/
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento