The Mass. Collection
The Massachusetts pedigreed collection of comic books (now affectionately referred to as the Mass. Collection) is a high grade run of Silver Age Marvel and DC titles, with also many books from other publishers including ACG, Gold Key and Charlton.The collection, approximately 4,000 comic books (and full runs of Marvel magazines) was founded in 1993 by Marnin Rosenberg, a longtime collector and dealer out of Great Neck, New York. Mr. Rosenberg responded to an advertisement in the Comic Buyer’s Guide placed by the original owner (Dennis Richard), who began selling piecemeal portions of his runs of comic books to Mr. Rosenberg, starting with the Marvels.
The books were originally stored in careful and meticulous fashion, stacked on top of one another in near one foot piles in the original owner’s basement. This helps explain the unbelievable freshness and appeal of the books, most of which have superb ink reflectivity and supple, near white to white pages.
Although many of the Marvels first purchased by Mr. Rosenberg were not sold as “Mass.” copies, a very detailed and precise inventory has been preserved as well as accurate sales records, keeping the whereabouts and tracking of individual issues intact.
Many of the early Marvels are in beautiful, high grade condition and amongst the highest so far graded by the Comics Guaranty Corporation (CGC). Although most of the early Fantastic Fours are still ungraded, the No. 6 is a gorgeous, near-mint copy, as is the FF No.9, while the No.11 has already been graded 9.4, tying it with 3 other copies as the best in existence. In addition, the FF 25 & 26 have both graded an impressive 9.6, tied for nicest copies in the world. The Journey Into Mystery 83, the classic first appearance and origin of Thor, is an impressive 9.0 with white pages, and some of the higher numbers of the Journey Into Mystery run, especially between Nos. 91 and 125, are among the best and highest graded copies in existence.
There are many other high grade Mass. Marvels locked away now in private collections (too many for this article), but the most impressive run of the collection is the Amazing Spider-Mans. Overall, it is the 3rd highest graded original owner Spidey run in the world, traling only the Curators and Pacific Coasts in high grade consistency. In fact, when Mr. Rosenberg made the ASMs available to the public in an auction held by Jay Parrino’s The Mint in June, 2002, (he had held onto most of the issues of the run for his private inventory), almost every individual issue sold at the then (and still) highest recorded price.
The notable Mass. Spiderman grades are as follows: No. 2, 9.2 (white pages); 3, 9.4; 4, 9.4; 5 is a 9.6 (tied for highest graded copy); 6, 9.4; 8, 9.4; 13, 9.4; 17 and 18, 9.6 (tied for best copies); 19, 9.6; 21 and 28, 9.4. Most of the higher numbered Amazing Spider-Man comic books from the collection are 9.4s and 9.6s, with a few 9.8s sprinkled in (64, 67, 84 and 96).
Collectively, the Mass. Collection is among the nicest Silver Age pedigrees in the world. Out of the known original owner collections with almost complete Marvel runs, it ranks in the top 5 for overall consistency and high grade percentage of books found in the collection.