"Harold Curtis Collection Includes Detective, Batman, Sensation, and More
A new original-owner collection of comic books, dating from 1940-1954, will be offered to the collecting public by Heritage Auction Galleries.
According to Ben Samuels, Consignment Director for Heritage, "Harold Curtis grew up in Danielson, a small, rural town in northeastern Connecticut. He began buying comic books in 1940. On Saturdays, he and his younger brother and sister got up early in the morning in order to complete all of their weekly household chores before noon. Following lunch, their father rewarded each of them with an allowance payment of twenty five cents. It was with this financial windfall that Harold bought his weekly supply of comics, candy and movie theater tickets."
"Titles featuring Batman were Harold's main interest," Samuels continued, "but he also collected Boy Commandos, Wonder Woman, Sensation, Plastic Man, Smash Comics, Daredevil Comics, Boy Comics, Crime Does Not Pay, and even a few selected romance comics as his interest in girls began to grow… and understandably, as his interest in girls continued to develop, he eventually stopped buying comics — but even after marriage he refused to ever get rid of his beloved collection! Until now."
"Many of the earlier issues have 'Harold Curtis,' 'Harold,' 'H.E.C.,' 'Curtis,' or 'H. Curtis' written in ink on the cover," Samuels said. "Most issues have a distributor's 'p' mark in pencil or ink, others have a 'w', and a few of the war comics have a 'k' mark. While some of the earliest issues show considerable wear, most of the comics in this collection appear to have been read once, and were stored well. Most are high grade and have excellent paper quality. Many are at or near the top of the CGC census."
"This is an exciting new addition to our hobby," Samuels said, "the discovery of an original-owner Golden Age comic collection of this quality is sure to generate excitement and heated bidding. Collectors are going to be very impressed by these comics, all of which will be offered at auction with no reserve."
Highlights of the Harold Curtis Collection include:
Batman #4 (DC, 1940) CGC VF 7.5 Off-white pages.
Batman #14 (DC, 1943) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages.
Batman #33 Double Cover (DC, 1946) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages.
Comic Cavalcade #1 (DC, 1942) CGC VF 8.0 Off-white to white pages.
Comic Cavalcade #4 (DC, 1943) CGC VF/NM 9.0 Off-white to white pages.
Detective Comics #110 (DC, 1946) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages.
Detective Comics #115 (DC, 1946) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages.
The Harold Curtis Collection will be featured in Heritage's upcoming Comics Signature Auction #820, to be held May 11-13, 2006 in Dallas, Texas. For more information, please visit HeritageAuctions.com/Comics.