Finest Known Batman Comics Highlight Williamsport Collection

Dallas, TX: A couple who spent their life savings to purchase a comic book collection is now auctioning off the pristine 1950s Batman issues to eager comic collectors. Valued at over $100,000, these four color gems will be offered in Heritage Auction Galleries' May 22-23 Dallas comic auction.

Jack Juka, a retired photojournalist and author, first saw parts of the Williamsport Collection, assembled starting in the early 1940s by an anonymous collector in Williamsport, PA, at a comic show in Scranton. An avid comic collector, Juka convinced his wife Julie to allow him to use their retirement funds to make the purchase. "Lo and behold, I'm in the comics business. Who would have ever thought?" Mrs. Juka said.

Mr. Juka's purchase of the collection represented a chance to make up for a past mistake. "When I was a kid, my Dad lent me two hundred dollars to buy a high grade collection of Golden Age Comics from an antique store in New Jersey," Mr. Juka said. "That was in 1968. When I was in college, I foolishly squandered most of them away, and have lamented over it daily ever since."

Having two children in college has prompted Mr. Juka to part with a substantial portion of the Williamsport collection to subsidize their studies.

Lon Allen, Director of Sales for Heritage's Comics division, commented on the significance: "Oddly enough, many Batman issues from the 1950s are more difficult to find than their counterparts from the 1940s. That's because superhero comics, wildly popular during World War II and again during the 1960s, were out of fashion in the early 1950s as kids read horror comics and Westerns. Batman was actually one of the few series to even stay in publication throughout the 50s. Some of these Williamsport copies are not just the finest known copy of a given issue, they're the best by a wide margin."

Highlights of the collection include:

• Batman #100 (DC, 1956) CGC VF/NM 9.0. The most valuable 1950s issue of the series, tied for highest grade yet assigned. Estimate: $5,000 - up.
• Batman #80 (DC, 1954) CGC NM- 9.2. The only copy graded above Very Fine. Estimate: $2,000 - up.
• Batman #83 (DC, 1954) CGC NM- 9.2. The only copy graded above Very Fine. Estimate: $1,600 - up.
• Batman #87 (DC, 1954) CGC NM- 9.2. The only copy graded above Very Fine. Estimate: $1,600 - up.
• Batman #99 (DC, 1956) CGC NM- 9.2. The only copy graded above Very Fine. Estimate: $1,500 - up.

Heritage's Vintage Comic and Comic Art auction will be held February 28-29, 2008, in Dallas, Texas. For more information, please visit www.HA.com.

Prospective consignors and sellers of Comics and Comic Art are invited to www.HA.com/Sell. Or simply email Ed Jaster at EdJ@HA.com, or call 1-800-872-6467, ext. 1288.

To reserve your copy of any Heritage auction catalogue, please contact Client Services at (800) 872-6467, extension 1150, or visit www.HA.com/Catalog to order by email.