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Recil Macon Pedigree
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34 posts in this topic

I know nothing but save things.

From Matt Nelson:

"RECIL MACON - In Abilene, Texas, 1990, this pedigree, similar in characteristics to the Lamont Larson collection, surfaced. The collector, Recil Macon, read comics during the 1940's and had a habit of writing his name on the books. Despite this, his collection was somewhat properly stored, as the collection exhibits white pages and beautiful colors and gloss. Unfortunately, they were stacked haphazardly, and many books were bent and became warped. As a result, cleaned and pressed Recil Macon copies are not uncommon.

In 1990 the son of Recil Macon began selling the collection off to Darren Wilson, a part-time dealer in the area. The collection numbered in the thousands and consisted of many early Timely, Quality, and DC. A few keys present included All-American #16, Captain America #1, Marvel Mystery #2-30, and Human Torch #1. Once the books were acquired in 1990 a majority were sold to Greg Bulls."

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2 hours ago, Scrooge said:

Someone years ago posted these: the house, the barn, the cabinet where the books were stored - using the search function might turn up who did post these.

445022900_RecilMacon-MaconCABINET1.jpg.f58f84456a4f880333be13a5cf05c10b.jpg325332610_RecilMacon-MaconCabinetOpen.jpg.4745ab5442a8d2faad3abeb82041fddd.jpg

From checking out the other earlier thread, it looks like it was @Moondog who had posted these photos here.  :applause:

Looking at that cabinet though, I highly doubt that it could hold thousands of books as many had speculated in terms of the overall size of the collection.  hm  (shrug)

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Agreed lou - btw those look like automative magazines/Mechanix Illustrated - too thick to be comics.  But then again maybe this photo was used for illustrative purposes.

Edited by pemart1966
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5 hours ago, lou_fine said:

From checking out the other earlier thread, it looks like it was @Moondog who had posted these photos here.  :applause:

Looking at that cabinet though, I highly doubt that it could hold thousands of books as many had speculated in terms of the overall size of the collection.  hm  (shrug)

I believe a webpage was started some years ago and then abandoned. The pictures were gleaned off that.

RECIL MACON  1928-2008

Picture

 
Recil Ira Elbert Macon was born in Stamford, Texas on July 1 1928, and lived in the area his whole life.

He collected comic books in the 1940's.  
His books are now a designated pedigree collection, often referred to as the "poor man's Larson" due to Recil Macon's name written in a similar fashion on the covers. The books however are generally lower in grade than Larson copies.

It has been estimated that there are less than 1000 comics in the Recil Macon Collection. Other estimates suggest the collection is in the thousands but does anyone know for sure?  It seems that relatively few of the books have been professionally graded thus far, and that there might be some unidentified copies floating around out there, primarily because a batch of the collection was reportedly stolen.
His comics were sold off in two batches; the first was sold in 1990 by an unidentified individual who (like the Davis Crippen collection) had stolen books from Recil's home. The next batch were sold by Recil himself. Darren Wilson (a part-time dealer in the area) in Abilene, Texas was the primary broker for Recil, but it was Greg Bulls who ultimately acquired about 300 of the books and advertised them on a national stage.
Another report suggests the collection first surfaced in Abilene, Texas in 1990 when Recil's son began selling the collection off to Darren Wilson.

All the books were stored in a cupboard in an outside shed for approximately 50 years or so, in sun scorched Texas. The books exhibit remarkable preservation including many issues with white pages and exceptional colors and gloss. Unfortunately, they were stacked haphazardly, and many books were bent and became warped.

Recil had a habit of writing his name on the books, sometimes on the cover, and sometimes on the back cover and interior pages..sometimes this was done several times as a combination on a particular issue!  The name is written either in pencil or pen. Also present on many copies is the distributor code Mid-C.  He had a habit also of filling out coupons with his name and address. The address he lived at his whole life, and is recorded as                  208 S Anson St, Stamford, Texas  79553-4706. 
Using all  the above information,  identifying a Recil Macon becomes relatively easy.

There are many Timely books in the collection, also DC and Quality etc. A few keys present included All-American #16, Captain America #1, Marvel Mystery #2-30, and Human Torch #1.

In later life Recil founded a scrap wholesale/waste material business in 1959, with just one employee (possibly just himself)  he eventually  turned over $100,000 per year. He  ran his scrap business from this selfsame address.
Recil died in hospital in Stamford on Friday, November 28, 2008 aged 80 years.
His funeral service was held at the Temple Baptist church in Stamford, and he was buried at the Highland Memorial Cemetary.

The Recil Macon pedigree designation is his legacy to the comic book world, brought about by  a young boy who bought, read and enjoyed his  comic books (much like many other young children). The difference being he stored them away in a locked cupboard in a dusty old shed, and very possibly forgot about them until half a century later. (The books also survived being thrown away by his mother, no doubt because they were not cluttering up her house!  How many of us have lost our collections because of OCD obsessed matriachs?  Too many)

Probably through more luck than judgement these books were saved and preserved to a decent standard.
One wonders how many more potential 'Recil Macon collections' are still lying hidden away and undiscovered to the world? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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4 minutes ago, mem72 said:

I probably shouldn't have posted this but I was checking out some of the auctions and past purchases of my Dad's books and get angry at how the story changes and gets twisted.

I didn't sell his books. He did.

He died Nov 28 2009 in Anson Texas.

His collection wasn't stolen and sold.

The gentleman that bought the collection looked him up in the phone book because he wrote the address on all of the order forms in the books.I always applaud him for being the first to "let his fingers do the walking and stumble upon this collection my dad had!  Smart guy!

When you were growing up, did he ever let you read some of his comics, or try to get you interested in comics in general?

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4 hours ago, pemart1966 said:

Agreed lou - btw those look like automative magazines/Mechanix Illustrated - too thick to be comics.  But then again maybe this photo was used for illustrative purposes.

Popular Mechanics

Popular Science 

Hot Rod Magazine

some of these dated back to the 30's

The cabinet was completely full before the comic collection was sold.  It kept things nice and pressed except for a few that were reportedly creased or folded of course.

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1 minute ago, waaaghboss said:

When you were growing up, did he ever let you read some of his comics, or try to get you interested in comics in general?

my older siblings were allowed to read a few

being very young ( I think I was 4 or 5) the one that remember got tore up and he put a stop to that

I only ever got to see the collection one other time and it was look don't touch !!!

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47 minutes ago, mem72 said:

I probably shouldn't have posted this but I was checking out some of the auctions and past purchases of my Dad's books and get angry at how the story changes and gets twisted.

I didn't sell his books. He did.

He died Nov 28 2009 in Anson Texas.

His collection wasn't stolen and sold.

The gentleman that bought the collection looked him up in the phone book because he wrote the address on all of the order forms in the books.I always applaud him for being the first to "let his fingers do the walking" and stumble upon this collection my dad had!  Smart guy!

I think last time you visited, you were trying to buy a few of your dad's book to bring back home so to speak.  Were you able to pick up any? 

 

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1 hour ago, mem72 said:

The cabinet was completely full before the comic collection was sold.  It kept things nice and pressed except for a few that were reportedly creased or folded of course.

Great to have you here as it's almost like getting valuable information as close as possible to the horse's mouth after all this time.  :applause:

There seems to be a lot of question here about the actual size of your Dad's collection.  Some here seem to think it numbered under 1,000 books while others thought it numbered in the thousands and was just wondering if you could give us a better idea as to which side is correct based upon your memory of the collection?  hm  (thumbsu

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4 hours ago, telerites said:

I think last time you visited, you were trying to buy a few of your dad's book to bring back home so to speak.  Were you able to pick up any? 

 

The one Planet comic what was talked about in another thread here from 2017.  I see it daily and it always makes me smile!

I check auctions and ebay for them every so often.  They are normally out of my price range but it's still good to see them!

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Just now, mem72 said:

The one Planet comic what was talked about in another thread here from 2017.  I see it daily and it always makes me smile!

I check auctions and ebay for them every so often.  They are normally out of my price range but it's still good to see them!

I do now remember the Planet.  As others have said, it is wonderful having you answer questions and give more insight.  I don't own any of your dad's books.  I see them rarely for sale but they are out of my price range as well.

Thanks again.

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7 hours ago, mem72 said:

I probably shouldn't have posted this but I was checking out some of the auctions and past purchases of my Dad's books and get angry at how the story changes and gets twisted.

I didn't sell his books. He did.

He died Nov 28 2009 in Anson Texas.

His collection wasn't stolen and sold.

The gentleman that bought the collection looked him up in the phone book because he wrote the address on all of the order forms in the books.I always applaud him for being the first to "let his fingers do the walking" and stumble upon this collection my dad had!  Smart guy!

"The gentleman that bought the collection looked him up in the phone book because he wrote the address on all of the order forms in the books.I always applaud him for being the first to "let his fingers do the walking" and stumble upon this collection my dad had! "

Does this mean that some of the books that your dad had either got sold or traded before the bulk got sold?

Were there ever any huge keys (other than those mentioned by scrooge in a post above) such as Marvel Comics #1 (apparently he had 2-30); Action Comics #1; Batman #1; Superman #1 etc?

Was there ever a master list of all of the books in his collection?

Did your dad ever talk about his collection - where he bought them; why he bought certain titles; which were his favourites?

 

Edited by pemart1966
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I've got a few of Recil's books. I especially like this one because he filled in a coupon. I bought it from Steve Ritter at SDCC many years ago. He pointed it out to me. Glad they got saved. I'm sure he would be glad they ended up in people's hands who treasure them!

And no, I can't afford them anymore either...

comjumbo109recila.jpg

comjumbo109recilb.jpg

Edited by Robot Man
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