(Oceanside, N.Y.) – What was supposed to have been a quaint little single-owner collection sale of vintage comic books and comic art for Philip Weiss Auctions on Long Island has mushroomed into a colossal one-day event that will also comprise hundreds of pop culture collectibles in a dizzying array of categories. The sale will be held Saturday, April 26, starting at 10:00 a.m., in Oceanside, N.Y.
“I’m not sure how or why it happened this way, but suddenly we were hit with a ton of important items from various consignors,” said Philip Weiss. The pop culture collectibles will feature music and rock ‘n’ roll items; movie, TV and theater memorabilia; autographs; records; animation art; posters; political and sports memorabilia; and toys. In all, nearly 1,000 lots are slated to cross the block.
The original purpose of the auction – comic books and comic art – consists of over 100 lots from a single owner. Sold will be CGC-graded Silver and Golden Age comics; thousands of ungraded comics (to be sold in multiple lots); original comic art, to include the original cover art for X-Men #99, by Dave Cockrum; and original comic strip art, to include a Peanuts, a Tarzan by Hogarth, and more.
The rock ‘n’ roll collection alone would headline any other sale, beginning with just Beatles items: a first state mono “Yesterday and Today” LP cover (the infamous “Butcher” cover, including the LP); authentic autographs of all four Beatles; a collection of concert tickets; concert programs from 1963-66; and Capitol test pressings of “Something New” and the never-released “Best of the Beatles.”
Jimi Hendrix will also make an appearance, in the form of concert posters and programs for a German Festival; The Isle of Wight; Atlanta Pop Festival; New York Pop Festival; and a handbill for the “Jimmy” Hendrix Experience at London’s Marquee Club.
Musical autographs will include Billie Holiday; Bullmoose Jackson; Frankie Lymon; Frank Sinatra; Madonna; and the group Ten Years After.
Cream and Eric Clapton items will include a concert program from the 1966 Murray the K concert at the Fox Theater in Brooklyn, signed by Clapton and newcomer Pete Townshend of The Who (who also played the show); a 1967 U.K. diary signed by Cream members Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce; photos and LPs signed by the group; and posters from The Factory and The Fillmore West.
Also sold will be a near-complete collection of concert posters from The Family Dog in San Francisco by psychedelic artists Stanley Mouse, Rick Griffin, Alton Kelley and Wes Wilson. They depict iconic groups like the Grateful Dead; Jefferson Airplane; Janis Joplin; and The Doors. Postcards, flyers and handbills are from concerts for Pink Floyd, Ten Years After and the Velvet Underground.
Rounding out the offerings from the rock ‘n’ roll category: unused tickets for concerts by Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and others; a collection of Murray the K concert programs, signed by numerous performers; a book signed by Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane and other jazz legends; a Madonna signed children’s book set; and items signed by Jose Feliciano, Cold Play and other artists.
An autograph collection of 25 “Theatre World” hardcover books, with dust jackets, from the 1940s through the ’70s, will also be sold, one at a time.
Each volume is profusely autographed with the signatures of over 100 great stage performers.
Also from the same collector: 14 autograph books, with entries by George Reeves, all of the Three Stooges, Boris Karloff, Paul Newman and many others.
But the “Theatre World” books are bound to take center stage. Just a few of the names inside these astounding volumes include Helen Hayes, Lillian Gish, Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, Angela Lansbury, Vivian Leigh, Barbra Streisand, Margaret Hamilton, James Dean, Al Pacino, Robert Redford, Woody Allen and Richard Burton. Remarkably, a single person collected all these autographs.
A document expected to sell for between $10,000 and $20,000 is a NASA Moon Landing Flight Plan from the historic Apollo 11 mission, signed by 23 astronauts and dated July 1, 1969.
The Apollo 11 voyage was the first manned mission to land on the moon. On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin set foot on the moon, while Michael Collins orbited above them.
The signatures on the document, contained in a ring-bound notebook, includes those of Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins; plus the astronauts Charles Conrad; Alan Shepard; Wally Schirra; Jim Lovell; Dave Scott; Al Worden; Tom Stafford; Gene Cernan; Dick Gordon; Walter Cunningham; Don Eisele; Joe Engle; Rusty Schweickart; Joe Kerwin; Paul Weitz; Jerry Karr; and two others (indistinct).
Celebrity autographs include a collection acquired in person at the 2004 and 2005 Golden Globe Awards, many with photos. The names include Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan; Orlando Bloom; Scarlett Johansson; Neve Campbell; Jessica Beals; Eva Longoria; Minnie Driver; Bill Macy; Dennis Leary; Evan Rachel Wood; Felicity Huffman; Kelly Osbourne; Marcia Cross; Don Cheadle; and others.
Additional autographs of interest will include an Andy Warhol “Brooklyn Bridge” poster, signed; a baseball signed by Connie Mack and members of the Philadelphia Athletics; a photo signed by Gilda Radner as “Lisa Loopner”; a photo signed by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan; and a single lot of 20 signatures of prominent figures from the ’50s and ’60s, including John and Robert F. Kennedy.
Then, on Saturday, May 17, Part 2 of the record-setting Newport Stamp Collection will be sold. Part 1 made headlines when, on February 9, an unused 1869 24-cent inverted center U.S. stamp, #120b, certified Fine and one of only four unused examples know to exist, soared to $1.271 million. It was a new world record for a U.S. invert (the previous record was for an Inverted Jenny, at $825,000).
Part 2 of the sale promises to be just as enticing for collectors. Highlights will include U.S. singles and great rarities such as August issues #55-62; Continental and American special printings, complete #’s 167-177, 180-181, 192-204, 205C, 211D and J8-J14; 1857 and 1861 reprints, complete #’s 233A and 314A mint pair (Ex. Cromwell and Engle, one of only six such pairs known to exist).
Also: 316 line pair; 318 pair; 321 pair; 322 pair; 356 line pair; an Orangeburg Coil used single; 4C and 8C blue papers; 485 double error; 544 used; 594 mint; 596 pre-cancelled; O94; PR47; R157 and R158; Hawaii #12; and many more. To learn more about the second component of this fabulous collection, click on the Philip Weiss Auctions website as sale day approaches: www.prwauctions.com.
Also on May 17, 200 other stamp, coin and paper money lots will also be sold from various collections, to include: The Chesapeake Collection featuring 50+ Scott specialty albums loaded with foreign mint sets and singles; British Colonies; four stamp collections now being broken down; and the “Silver Salt Cellar” recovered from the treasure ship Atocha (appraised value: more than $300,000).
The following day, Sunday, May 18, another blockbuster sale will be held, featuring rare books; autographs; documents; three Charles Schulz “Peanuts” pieces; a collection of Jack London first editions; and more. Quality consignments are still being accepted for these sales. To consign an item, estate or collection, call Philip Weiss Auctions at (516) 594-0731, or e-mail to [email protected].
