Heritage's February Auction Introduces New CGC-recognized Billy Wright pedigree

One of the finest known copies of All Star #3.

The original-owner Golden Age collection to be offered by Heritage in its February 22-23 New York auction has been recognized as a pedigree collection by CGC and dubbed the Billy Wright Collection.

"The Billy Wright books are just beautiful," said Paul Litch, Vice-President of CGC. "There are many copies in the collection that might end up being the highest graded copies we've seen so far and some of the keys might be second only to the Edgar Church copies. A good portion of the collection contains early pre-hero books you just never see and once he started collecting hero books, most of the major golden age keys are present. They have a nice feel to them, nice over-all page quality and a distinctive scent. The Billy Wright books are an exciting find and absolutely worthy of being recognized as a pedigree by CGC," Litch added.

"This collection has 45 of Overstreet's Top 100 Golden Age books. There are sixty-seven #1 issues and thirty-three #2 issues. When I first laid eyes on the collection, I was struck by the high percentage of keys and the almost complete absence of less collectible titles," said Lon Allen, Managing Director of Comics and Comic Art at Heritage.

Quite a few are certified "white pages," like this Detective #43.	The second Batman cover.	Timelys are well-represented in the collection.
Tied for highest-graded copy.	Highest-graded copy of a scarce book.	Fourth Superman cover appearance.

In all, the Billy Wright collection consists of approximately 340 comics, almost all from 1936-1941, with just a handful of later 1940s issues. Almost every publisher of the day is represented. The earliest comic in the collection is New Comics #2, cover-dated January 1936.

Billy Wright was 11 years old when Action Comics #1 hit the newsstands to begin the Golden Age of comics. He grew up in Lynchburg, Virginia, attended The College of William and Mary, and then had a long career as a chemical engineer for DuPont. He passed away in 1994.

His comics were stored in the basement of his home, stacked on shelves in a storage closet, and remained there until his wife's recent passing.

While a couple of comics have Mr. Wright's name on the cover, the vast majority are distinguished by having no cover markings of any kind, a fact that is sure to be welcomed by collectors.

While many of the books are still going through the certification process, new arrivals are being added continuously to the auction preview at HA.com/7054.

The thoughts and opinions in the piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.