>Randy Lawrence has spent the better part of his 60 years putting together a legendary collection of high-grade, ultra-rare Batman comics. The CGC-certified "Alfred Pennyworth" collection is known in collecting circles as being the gold standard for Batman comic book collections. "This collection is so beautiful and it's such a cool high grade," Lawrence says. "It's the number one Batman collection on the [CGC] registry."
>The 1,000+ issues are going up for auction in two separate events by Heritage Auctions, the first one of which will take place on Nov. 19-22. Any comics collection with a pedigree is a big deal, and this one, named after Bruce Wayne's loyal butler and father figure, is no exception. "It's called the Alfred Pennyworth collection because my name on the [CGC] registry was Alfred Pennyworth," explains Lawrence during an interview with SYFY WIRE. "I never wanted anyone to know it was me but also, I wanted the world to know that these books existed."
...
> in January of 2019 Thieves broke into the storage facility in Boca Raton, Florida, where he had kept his collection and stolen nearly 500 of his valuable comics. Being a very careful and organized collector, Lawrence recalls that it was one box that was slightly out of place that made him think something was wrong. "I had only gone there to put some stuff away and inventory some new books that I had gotten. And I didn't remember touching that box," he says. "So I pulled the top off the first CGC box and it was empty. And then I ripped off the next one and it was empty and so on. And I remember I let out like, it was a primal scream, like a wounded animal. It was like my whole life had just disappeared."
>To understand his pain, it's important to understand that Lawrence's love of comics was inspired and nurtured by his father.
I bet you they were either white or black teens with doomer mugshots
Charles Jones
Ah, Zig Forums. Such a rainbow.
Joshua Jackson
Are there not options for insuring comic books? If there's insurance out there for genuinely irreplaceable paintings I feel like insuring comics shouldn't be too hard, especially if they're CGC graded and registered,
Adrian Martin
Pretty sure the money isn't the point. He had a perfect collection suddenly turn into a collection with a giant hole, so now he's selling the rest because he's a thumbsucking manchild that can't stand having an imperfect collection.
Matthew Lee
>so now he's selling the rest because he's a thumbsucking manchild that can't stand having an imperfect collection.
He actually recovered all of his comics except for one, which wasn't a hard to find book, but you would've known that if you spent more time reading an article instead of showing off your weak snarker game
David Powell
Retard here. Don't these comics, especially rare ones, have catalogued serial numbers? There's no way those comics can ever be sold except to some underground drug kingpin or something, right?
Zachary Cox
I get that this goes beyond money, but the article explicitly states that there's only one comic of (Of relatively negligible value) that was stolen that he wasn't able to recover.
Something like a 9.0 Batman #2 is going to be a bit of a special case in terms of replacement sure, but my point remains that if there are insurance options for Rembrandts and Klimts you'd imagine that something a little less unique would have robust options in the event of theft if properly insured.
Dominic Brown
Going by the article, he got back all the stolen books (because if you walk into a comic store and try to sell mint condition rarities without knowing what you've got, IT RAISES QUESTIONS).
It's just that afterward he realized having a fucking dragon's horde of comics was retarded.
Juan Turner
>storage facility in Boca Raton, Florida What is the point of amassing a collection like this if you're going to leave it packed up in a public storage facility
Alexander Robinson
>>rich Boomer had toys stolen >My heart bleeds.
This. If his dad had been an artist and some of his dad's art was stolen, that'd be a different thing entirely. But this? This is just a rich man that had a bunch of his shit stolen, then he got it back, then he decided to sell it rather than risk another theft. And this warrants an article because... Batman.
My reaction is less "that poor man" and more "these damn rich people."
This thread makes me want to see a Dragon that hordes comic books and comic memorabilia instead of gold and treasure.
Liam Ramirez
Fuck thieves, fuck niggers
Ethan Richardson
I'm down for that. And have him rage at That Other Dragon that also hordes comics and memorabilia but they're not remotely CGC quality because he fucking reads them and shit. Touches the pages and everything, the sicko.
Easton Reed
>someone cares deeply about.something and has invested time and energy into it >he's rich thpugh, so he deserves to get hurt Is there any more pitiable creature in the world than a seething poorfag?
Xavier Davis
He CGC'd them so they did have numbers and were able to be tracked down.
Lucas Sanchez
ABNR
Jonathan Ramirez
>more pitable definitely an online rich guy defender is
Dylan Brooks
You're such a faggot user
Angel Sanders
>There's no way those comics can ever be sold except to some underground drug kingpin or something, right? if the thieves had an IQ above 90 they would have cracked the cgc cases open and sold the comics raw after some time had passed after the robbery.
Isaiah Harris
Yeah, I was wondering why they even kept the fucking cases.
Asher Stewart
>He's rich though, so he deserves to be hurt
More "he's rich though, so why should I feel bad that he decided to part with some toys"? Dude let out a primal scream that some stuff he didn't need got stolen? There's stores closing left and right during the pandemic. I feel bad for those guys, not the retired hoarder that decided he can stand to scale back his hoard.
Colton Gutierrez
Probably because you get more money for them than an unsealed one
Dylan Lee
>muh whataboutism
Jonathan Gray
Wouldn't be surprsed if their problem with him is him being "white" or a "boomer".
John Nguyen
I'm not going to feel bad for a rich dude that sold all his stuff because he got tired of it, when there's poor people selling all their stuff just to survive.
Austin Torres
Transfer them to new cases then get them regraded and sell them for full price.
Jackson Myers
>Who cares about diversity put into comics. In china there are muslims tortured and in gulags I know that there are people who have a much harder life and fight for survival in america, but theft never is ok, if it isnt for your instant survival. An empathic human would say "this sucks" and move on.
Nolan Phillips
This happened a year before the pandemic even happened.
Julian Ramirez
>I'm not going to feel bad because I assumed he lost it during the pandemic and didn't read the article
I love how edgy snarkers who snark first and read later make themselves look stupid every time they double down
I read it. He didn't lose it during the pandemic. He didn't even really lose it, he got it back very quickly. He's SELLING it now. The article is new. He's getting attention because he's a rich dude with a fancy collection selling his stuff. Not because he needs the money, like lots of other people selling their stuff now. He just got tired of his nice things.
Xavier Murphy
Oh yeah, now you read it after you were made fun of for not reading it.
