Jack Kirby Comic Art Collection (1930-1970s)

Appraised on: June 12, 2010

Appraised in: San Diego, California

Appraised by: Simeon Lipman

Category: Collectibles

Episode Info: San Diego, Hour 3 (#1506)

Originally Aired: February 7, 2011

IMAGE: 1 of 6  

Appraisal Video: (2:07)

GUEST: I brought a portion of my grandfather's collection. His name is Jack Kirby, and he was a pretty well known comic book artist.

APPRAISER: I would say so. I would say he's definitely on the Mount Rushmore of comic book artists. Jack Kirby, legendary, the co-creator of Captain America, Fantastic Four, of The Hulk, Thor, you name it, it goes on and on and on. What we have here basically is kind of a timeline of his work from the early 1930s through the 1970s, so it's a really nice retrospective of his career. And these were very special pieces. These were the pieces he kept in his own collection.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: We start out here with this original page from Boy Commandos, from the early 1940s. And why did he keep this page?

GUEST: Primarily it was one of the only pieces, I've been told, that he kept, and mainly because he drew himself and his partner in the panel.

APPRAISER: And here he is, right here.

GUEST: Yep.

APPRAISER: And his partner, Joe Simon, right here.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: They co-created Captain America, one of the most popular comics of all time, and then here we have a specialty piece which has a lot of his characters from the Marvel comics from the Silver Age and The Fantastic Four. We have Hulk, Dr. Doom, just wonderful piece. One of the most interesting things you brought in is this piece right here. Tell us a little bit about that.

GUEST: It shows a little bit of our family history. Before he was Jack Kirby, his original name is actually Jacob Kurtzberg, and so in some of the earlier drawings, he still wrote his original last name.

APPRAISER: Right, and this is probably from the early 1930s, mid-1930s?

GUEST: Yeah, I'm not sure. He was probably just a teenager then. He wasn't much older than that.

APPRAISER: And then we have an interesting piece here. This is an ephemeral piece. This was like a sell sheet that went to the various stores, candy stores, that basically advertised the new Boy Commandos comic book. Again, these are things you just don't see very often. I would insure the collection we see here for no less than $15,000. It was really exciting to see it.

GUEST: Great. Well, thank you very much for having me.