True Mystery: Who Sold Famous Batch Of Vintage Comics?
Ahead of Auction, Son Finds
Big Hole in Dad's Trove;
A Determined Paper Boy
This past winter, Tom Crippen was cleaning out his parents' house in Piermont, N.Y., after his father's death a few months earlier. There he came upon thousands of rare, pristine comic books from the 1930s, '40s and '50s -- a collection that stands to net the family several million dollars when it's sold in a series of auctions beginning this coming week.
Yet, as he discovered later, a chunk of the collection's most coveted titles had mysteriously been sold years earlier -- attracting, along the way, notice among dealers and collectors. When he found out, "I was surprised and horrified," Tom says.
Tom's father, Davis Crippen, an editor of technical manuals who died at age 75, had begun collecting comics as a child in Washington. In 1939, when he was 9, Mr. Crippen decided that he would try to buy every single comic book that came out. Using allowance money and earnings from his paper route, he bought a steady stream of comics for 10 cents apiece from the local drugstore, according to his wife, Cynthia Crippen and her sons Alex and Tom.
His growing trove spanned a wide range of genres: superhero, romance, teen humor, Western, science fiction, war and Christian. "I kept wondering, 'What the hell are you going to do with them?' but I never asked," says Paul Cree, 77, of Chevy Chase, Md., who knew Mr. Crippen since childhood. "He was mysterious about it and very systematic."
When he went off to college at the University of Michigan, family members say, Mr. Crippen continued with his collecting, sending comic books, wrapped in brown paper, to his parents' house. He even had his mother buy new issues for him while he went to graduate school in London. His collecting wound down in the early 1950s, when he was drafted into the Army.
All the books were kept in his parents' spacious basement, which was both cool and dry -- optimum storage conditions. Tom and his brother, Alex, an executive producer at CNBC, would read some of the titles when visiting their grandparents. When the boys' grandparents' house was sold in the 1970s, the comics were moved to their parent's home in Piermont, where they remained in boxes in the garage and basement.
Tom, a 44-year-old free-lance copy editor in Montreal, set out to catalog this trove of comic books, some 11,000 in all, a task that took four months. Because most of the comics were bought to be collected, and were stored for years under optimum conditions, they still had brightly colored illustrations, crease-free pages and only small amounts of mold stains, called "foxing," on the edges.
On the inside front page of many of the books there was also a puzzling code, written in pencil in Davis Crippen's handwriting, consisting of a series of numbers and letters, such as "7822-D-740," which appeared on Dick Tracy #8, published by Dell. Additionally, some of the books bore a hand-written "D" on the front cover that apparently was put there by the distributor.
When Lon Allen, a comic-book expert from Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, came to the house to check out the collection, he instantly recognized the handwritten code. "Hey, wait a minute -- this is the 'D' collection," he recalls saying. "It was unmistakable."
It turns out that about 15 years earlier, about 1,000 to 2,000 comic books bearing the same distinct penciled code in the same hand-writing had entered the marketplace, seemingly unbeknownst to the Crippen heirs. The "D collection" had obtained a following among collectors of "pedigree" comics -- top-condition books amassed by a single, original collector, straight off the newsstand.
'Pedigreed' Comic Books
The interest in pedigreed books comes as vintage comic-book collecting has become big business. Heritage in January sold a 1940 DC Comics' "Flash #1" book for $273,125, an auction record. The auction house began comic sales only in late 2001, but the business now accounts for some $18 million in average annual sales.
Now, comic-book collectors and hobby message boards are buzzing with news that the rest of the D books have emerged. Russell Moore, a 35-year-old Minneapolis contractor and avid comic-book collector, says that he was "totally surprised" that such a big stash of books was found. "People have been searching out old comics for so long, so it's amazing that such a huge amount of them were sitting undiscovered," says Mr. Moore, who is particularly excited about some D editions that feature Batman, pre-Robin.
But how hundreds of the books ended up on the market in the early 1990s remained a mystery. "I felt gut-punched," says Tom Crippen, when the auction company told him that many of his father's books had previously been sold. Although nobody knows the precise value of the original D books when they hit the market, they are estimated to be worth at least $1 million at today's prices. "How would you feel if your family's property turned out to have gone missing a few years ago and you had no idea? Or that millions of dollars belonging to your family had gone for a walk?"
The missing comics happened to be some of the collection's very best, including early Superman, Batman and other big-name super hero books. Since Davis Crippen did not store his books in any discernible order, whoever brought the books to market had to have the time and knowledge to ferret out some of the highest-quality books.
'Suspense Comics #3,' from the Davis Crippen collection, will be sold Aug. 11.
Some collectors have speculated that Davis Crippen himself sold the comics and pocketed the income, without telling the rest of the family. Mrs. Crippen and her two sons say it's highly unlikely he sold or gave away the books. For one thing, Mr. Crippen was a hoarder, amassing piles of books, record albums, mugs and even opera programs with ticket stubs stapled to them. "He held onto everything and anything," says Mrs. Crippen. The Crippens also went through Davis's old tax returns and didn't see any sudden influx of income.
Several New York comic-book dealers remember buying the books. Richard Muchin, says that he purchased a number of high-quality D books from a young man who brought small quantities of them over the course of several months. "I did not suspect theft, only because he kept coming back," says Mr. Muchin, who says he doesn't recall the seller's name. Typically, he says, "thieves steal something and they dump it."
Stephen Fishler, owner of Metropolis Collectibles, a big New York dealer, recalls buying many of the D books about 15 years ago. Mr. Fishler says that a young man, probably in his early 30s, came to his office offering to sell him stacks of high-quality comic books, many bearing the unique code. The seller said he was related, by marriage, to the original owner of the books, says Mr. Fishler, who added that the man came back repeatedly for about a year, each time bringing fresh piles of comics.
"He clearly was able to go back many times and get books," says Mr. Fishler. "I get a sense if something's questionable," he adds, but he had no reason to doubt the man's story, so he bought the books. Mr. Fishler recently told Alex Crippen the seller's name: Eric Kechejian.
Time With the Comics
Separately, the Crippen family had begun to suspect that one or both of a pair of young contractors might have sold the comics when Davis and Cynthia Crippen hired them to do extensive home renovations that lasted for many months in 1991. Anyone working on the house would have had plenty of time alone with the comics since the couple worked away from home. One of the workmen was particularly curious about antiques. The other contractor's name: Eric Kechejian.
Contacted by a reporter at his home, Mr. Kechejian, who still lives in the area, confirmed that he had restored the house, but he denied having had anything to do with the comics. "I don't think we touched anything as far as comics," he said. "I've had nothing to do with this."
Yet even if the comics were taken without permission, the family's legal options may be limited: In New York, the criminal statute of limitations for theft of over $1,000 is generally five years from the time of a theft, while the civil statute of limitations to sue for the recovery of stolen property is three years, says Piermont lawyer Marjorie Smith, a former law professor and Mrs. Crippen's attorney. However, the civil statute of limitations might not apply if the theft was discovered years after the fact, adds Ms. Smith.
The Crippen family for now has decided not to pursue the matter of the earlier sales.
"What's done is done," says Mrs. Crippen. Still, she adds, "It is distressing."
Starting this Thursday the much-larger remainder of the collection will be auctioned by Heritage in Dallas. The collection is expected to bring in some $2.5 million, about three times the current value of the Piermont house in which the comics were stored. One highlight of the trove, according to many collectors, is a rare "Suspense #3," which has lurid cover art depicting hooded Nazis attacking a bound woman. It could fetch between $35,000 and $50,000, collectors say.
As for the code itself, nobody is quite sure what it means. The auction house and other comic experts think that the first series of numbers represent the total number of books that Mr. Crippen had collected thus far, the next set of letters stands for the book's publisher, and the third set of numbers stands for the number of books Mr. Crippen had collected from that particular publisher. But that solution doesn't work consistently for all the books. "It's still a cipher," says Ed Jaster, vice president of Heritage.
谁动了我的漫画书？
刚刚过去的这个冬天，汤姆?克里平(Tom Crippen)一直在清理他父母位于纽约州Piermont的房子。汤姆的父亲在几个月前过世了。汤姆在清理房子时意外发现了数千本非常珍贵、保存完整的上世纪三十年代至五十年代的连环漫画书。这些收藏很快将出现在一系列拍卖会上，克里平一家可望从中赚取几百万美元。
然而，汤姆后来才发现，许多最为炙手可热的漫画书早在数年前就已秘密售出，还吸引了交易商和收藏家的注意。当他发现这个秘密的时候，“我极为震惊，”汤姆说。
汤姆的父亲戴维斯?克里平(Davis Crippen)是技术手册编辑，75岁时去世。他从孩提时代起就开始在华盛顿收藏漫画书。1939年时，9岁的戴维斯决定要买到市面上所有的漫画书。据戴维斯的妻子辛西娅?克里平(Cynthia Crippen)和她的两个儿子亚历克斯(Alex)和汤姆讲，靠著家里给的零花钱和他自己送报挣来的收入，戴维斯以每本10美分的价格从当地的杂货店买进了许多漫画书。
戴维斯的收藏日渐增加，漫画书的风格题材也多种多样：超级英雄、爱情、青少年幽默、西部故事、科学幻想、战争和基督教，不一而足。现年77岁、打小就认识戴维斯的保罗?克里(Paul Cree)说，“我一直在想，‘你到底打算拿这些漫画书干嘛？’但我从未开口问过他。戴维斯对此总是神神秘秘，而且有计划有条理。”
戴维斯的家人说，在他去密歇根大学(University of Michigan)上学后，戴维斯仍继续收藏漫画书，他总是用牛皮纸把漫画书包好，寄回父母家。在他去伦敦读研究生后，他甚至还让他的母亲替他购买新出版的漫画书。不过，在上世纪五十年代初应招入伍后，戴维斯的收藏渐渐减少了。
所有的漫画书都保存在他父母宽敞的地下室里，那里既凉爽又干燥，这是最理想的储藏环境。汤姆和身为CNBC执行制片人的兄弟亚历克斯每当拜访祖父母的时候，都会阅读其中的一些漫画书。祖父母的房子在七十年代被卖掉后，漫画书也就被搬到了汤姆和亚历克斯父母位于Piermont的家里，还是保存在车库和地下室的箱子里。
44岁的汤姆是蒙特利尔的一位自由文字编辑，他开始对这11,000余本漫画书分门别类，这足足花了他四个月的时间。由于这些漫画书是专门买来进行收藏的，而且都是在适宜条件下保存的，因此插图颜色仍然亮丽，页面也毫无折痕，只有边边角角处有少量发霉的褐色斑点痕迹。
许多漫画书的封内都有一个令人困惑的代码，是戴维斯用铅笔写的，包括一连串数字和字母，如Dell出版社出版的漫画书Dick Tracy GBP 8上就标有“7822-D-740”字样的代码。此外，一些漫画书的封面上还有一个手写的“D”，显然是由发行商留下的。
洛恩?艾伦(Lon Allen)是达拉斯拍卖行Heritage Auction Galleries的漫画书专家，当他来到汤姆家查看收藏的时候，他立即认出了手写的“D”字代码。“嗨，等等──这是‘D’系列。准没错。”
原来，大约15年前，约有1,000至2,000本带有同样手写铅笔字代码的漫画书曾经流传到市面上，这显然是克里平的后代所不知道的。“D”系列得到了一群“纯正”漫画收藏家的追捧，所谓“纯正”漫画指的是由某个收藏家直接从杂志摊收集到的保存完好的漫画书。
“纯正”漫画书
人们对“纯正”漫画书发生浓厚兴趣正值经典漫画书收藏开始成为大买卖之际。1月份，Heritage曾经以273,125美元的高价卖出一本1940年出版的DC Comics “Flash GBP 1”，创下了一项拍卖纪录。这家拍卖行在2001年末才开始漫画书拍卖，但如今这项拍卖业务的年均收入已经高达1,800万美元左右。
眼下，漫画书收藏家和业余爱好者都在为D系列重现江湖的消息兴奋不已。现年35岁的明尼阿波利斯承包商拉塞尔?摩尔(Russell Moore)是一位狂热的漫画书收藏家，他说他对这么多漫画书的重现“惊讶不已”。“长久以来，人们一直在寻找过去的漫画书，如今得知竟然有这么多的漫画书尘封未动，真是令人称奇，” 摩尔说。他对有关《蝙蝠侠，罗宾前传》(Batman, pre-Robin)的D版本尤其兴奋。
不过，至于为何有数百本漫画书早在九十年代初就已重现市面，还是一个迷。当汤姆?克里平被拍卖行告知他父亲的许多收藏之前已经被出售的时候，他说“我简直心如刀割”。虽然没有人知道原版D系列漫画书上市时的准确售价，但以今天的价格来估算，这些书至少值100万美元。“要是你的话，如果你家里的财产几年前就外流了，而你还一无所知，你会有什么感受？难道是本该属于你家的那几百万美元出去溜哒了一会儿吗？”
不翼而飞的这些漫画书恰好是戴维斯收藏中最好的部分，包括早期的超人、蝙蝠侠和其他如雷贯耳的超级英雄的漫画。由于戴维斯并没有有序地收藏他的漫画书，因此任何把这些书推向市场的人都必须有足够的时间，并具备有关的专业知识，才能挑选出其中最叫好的一些漫画书。
一些收藏家曾猜测是戴维斯?克里平本人出售了漫画书，将所得悄悄纳入了自己的腰包，而没有告诉他的家人。克里平的妻子及其两个儿子则表示，他出售或送掉这些书的可能性非常小。比如，戴维斯简直就是在囤积各种东西，他收集了成堆的书、唱片、杯子，甚至是贴有票根的歌剧节目单。克里平的家人还查阅了戴维斯过去的纳税申报单，并没有发现任何意外之财。
几位纽约的漫画书交易商都记得曾经购买过这些漫画书。理查?马钦(Richard Muchin)说，他从一位年轻人那里购买了许多质量很好的D系列漫画书，这位年轻人在几个月的时间内带来了少量的漫画书。“我并没有怀疑他是偷的，因为他还不断地回来，”马钦说。马钦称他不记得卖书人的名字了。他说，通常情况下，“要是小偷的话，他们总是得手后就一次性处理掉。”
纽约交易机构Metropolis Collectibles的老板斯蒂芬?菲什勒(Stephen Fishler)回忆道，他曾在大约15年前买过许多D系列漫画书。菲什勒说，当时有个30多岁的年轻人来到他的办公室，声称有大量质量上乘的漫画书要卖，其中许多都带有那独特的代码。这位卖主说，他与这些书的原主人是姻亲。菲什勒补充道，这个人在大约一年之内来过好几次，每一次都能带来新的漫画书。
“他显然是能够多次回去，再把书拿来，”菲什勒说。“如果哪有不对劲，我会有感觉的，”菲什勒补充道，但他并没有理由怀疑这个人的说法，因此他就买下了这些书。菲什勒最近告诉亚历克斯?克里平，当时那个卖主的名字叫埃里克?克彻坚(Eric Kechejian)。
作案时间
另一方面，克里平一家想起，1991年的时候，戴维斯和辛西娅夫妇雇了两个承包人为他们家翻修房子，整个工程持续了好几个月。克里平一家开始怀疑，是这两个承包人中的一人或两人偷偷卖掉了漫画书。由于克里平夫妇当时不在家，任何从事翻修工程的人都应有足够的时间挑选漫画书。其中有个工人对古董特别好奇。而另一个承包人的名字恰好是：埃里克?克彻坚。
克彻坚先生仍住在这个地区，他在家中接受记者采访时证实，他确实装修过克里平夫妇的房子，但他否认与漫画书有牵扯。“我认为我们并没有动过漫画书这样的东西，”他说。“我跟这件事一点儿关系都没有。”
可是，即便漫画书确是在未经许可的情况下被带走的，克里平一家的法律选择可能也相当有限。据Piermont的律师马乔里?史密斯(Marjorie Smith)说，在纽约，对标的超过1,000美元的偷窃行为追究刑事责任的时限通常为自偷窃行为开始的五年内，而起诉要求收回被盗财产的民事时效为三年。史密斯以前曾是法律教授，他现在是辛西娅?克里平的律师。不过，史密斯还表示，如果偷窃行为是在事后多年被发现的，那么民事时效可能还不适用。
克里平一家现在决定不再追究漫画书之前被卖的事情。“做都已经做了，” 辛西娅说。尽管如此，“这件事仍然很烦人。”
近日，戴维斯收藏中剩下的绝大部分藏品将在达拉斯的Heritage进行拍卖。这批收藏预计将带来250万美元的收入，大约是克里平家在Piermont那座房子现有价值的三倍。许多收藏家表示，这批收藏中的一个亮点就是异常珍贵的“Suspense GBP 3”，其封面绘有戴著头罩的纳粹党徒袭击一位被绑妇女的血腥场面。收藏家们称，这本漫画书可望卖到35,000至50,000美元。
至于书上的代码，如上文提到的'7822-D-740'，没有人确切知道它的含义。Heritage及其他漫画书专家认为，第一组数字代码代表戴维斯迄今为止所收藏漫画书的总数，第二组字母代码代表漫画书的发行商，第三组数字代码则代表戴维斯从某个发行商那里收集到的漫画书的数量。不过，这种解释并不适用于所有的漫画书。“这仍旧是个密码，” Heritage的副总裁埃德?雅士达(Ed Jaster)说。
Rachel Emma Silverman
