Chuck Rozanski to Sell $1M of Golden Age Comics at Comic-Con 2010

From the press release:

Mile High Comics, Inc. President, Chuck Rozanski, announced today that he will be offering one million dollars in rare Golden Age comics from his private collection for sale at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International, to be held in San Diego, California, July 21st - 25th, 2010. His statement is as follows:

“In 1977 I was blessed to discover the Mile High/Edgar Church collection of 18,000 extremely high grade “Golden Age” comics, all of which were published between 1935-1953. This collection has become legendary in the comics world (as well as within the entire spectrum of all collectibles) as being one of the most valuable antique finds of all time, with a current estimated market value exceeding one hundred million dollars. While most of the comics from that one collection were sold by me decades ago when their market prices were but a tiny fraction of today’s values, I steadfastly held on to 40+ key issues for the past 34 years in my own private comics collection, including the highest-graded copy remaining in the world of the 1940 RED RAVEN #1, one of the rarest Timely/Marvel first issues ever published, and the entire twenty-two issue run of the THE SPIRIT, released by comics legend Will Eisner between 1944 and 1948.

Chuck & Red Raven #1 (click on image for larger view)

After having experienced two life-threatening episodes of West Nile Fever-induced encephalitis of the hypothalamus (a severe swelling of the brain) during the past seven years, however, I have been made acutely aware that estate planning now needs to be a priority for me. That realization led me to the painful decision earlier this year that I should finally agree to pass on these incredibly rare and wonderful comics that have brought me so much joy for the majority of my adult life, to another passionate comics collector. To launch the sales process, I will be bringing all of my remaining comics from the Mile High/Edgar Church collection to this year’s incredible San Diego Comic-Con International, the largest and most prestigious comics convention in the world, with over 125,000 avid comics fans attending. The combined price that I will be asking for my last remaining Mile High/Edgar Church comics will be in excess of one million dollars. That amount is significantly ab! ove their current Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide estimates, but in a world where lesser condition copies of ACTION #1 (the first Superman appearance) and DETECTIVE #27 (the first Batman comic) have recently sold at auction for over one million dollars each, it does not seem unreasonable for me to be asking a similar price for the last remaining unsold key issues from the most renowned comics collection of all time. If my beloved comics do not sell in San Diego, then they will most probably be sold at auction, later this fall.

Whether these fantastic comics from my private collection end up selling in San Diego, or not, the very fact that I will be bringing these incredibly rare comics for public viewing at the convention will provide tens of thousands of individual comics collectors with what will probably turn out to be their only opportunity to personally see some of the rarest comics still extant in the world. After having had these great comics locked in a bank vault for well over three decades, I am now very much looking forward to sharing them with all of my many thousands of friends in the comics world. No matter what else happens, I believe that my actions will help to make this year’s San Diego Comic-Con remain noteworthy in the minds of dedicated comics fans for many years to come.”

Mile High Comics, Inc. is a Denver, Colorado based retailer of collector comic books, graphic novels, and trade paperbacks. With four Denver-area retail comics stores, four huge warehouses filled with over eight million back issue comics, and a website that provides service to well over 100,000 comics fans worldwide, Mile High Comics is one of the largest comics retailers in the world. For further information please contact Chuck Rozanski, or Lynne MacAfee, weekdays at 303-455-2659, or write to [email protected]

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