It’s always thrilling when a new vintage comic book collection comes to market! On August 24, 2026, a very impressive group of Golden Age comics hit the auction block at Luther Auctions, based in North St. Paul, Minnesota, featuring 436 issues spanning the years 1938 through 1951.
Much of the collection appears to have been bought directly from the newsstands by the consignor, who meticulously stored them inside his house in Minnesota — a state whose colder climate contributed to the books’ exceptional page quality. The collection abounded with key issues and classic covers, many in remarkable condition, which led to heavy bidding among collectors and a total sale price of more than $1.4 million.
CGC® has established a provenance for this amazing find, calling it the “Minnesota North Star Collection.”
The collector went by the name Dick Olsen in his youth, evidenced by his name penciled on the cover of several issues. He was born in the early 1930s and lived into his early 90s, amassing many different collectibles over the decades, such as Big Little Books, Corgi toys, Star Wars merchandise, superhero action figures, and Dick Tracy-related items. His collectibles were boxed and stored in various sections throughout his house, and the comic books were found carefully stacked inside old Mazda electric bulb boxes with unused Kentucky Fried Chicken bags in between the books.
To date, CGC has certified many copies from this outstanding collection, including a Mask Comics #2 in CGC 8.5 (classic L.B. Cole cover, tied for highest graded copy), Funny Pages v4 #1 in CGC 9.0 (classic Paul Gustavson Arrow cover), Action Comics #101 in CGC 9.6 (classic Atom Bomb cover, and the sole highest graded copy), Detective Comics #91 in CGC 9.4 (classic Joker cover), Superman #4 in CGC 8.0 (2nd appearance of Lex Luthor), More Fun #54 in CGC 6.5 (classic Bernard Baily Spectre cover), and several other issues grading CGC 9.4, 9.6, and 9.8.
An interesting twist was the discovery of the Edgar Church/Mile High copies of Spy Smasher #1-7 among the books, which had been “missing” since the Edgar Church collection surfaced in 1977. Chuck Rozanski, owner of Mile High Comics and the purchaser of the Edgar Church collection, sold a number of the books before he published his now-famous price list in The Buyer’s Guide later that year, and these issues of Spy Smasher were among those missing from the list. Many comics absent from the list eventually surfaced in the marketplace, but Spy Smasher #1-7 never did… until now.
It appears Olsen dipped back into comic book collecting as an adult, acquiring these stunning specimens in early 1977. CGC has graded the Spy Smasher #7 a CGC 9.9, one of only a handful of Golden Age comics ever assigned this ultra-high grade since CGC began certifying comic books more than 25 years ago.
And there are two more auctions of Minnesota North Star comic books still to come! Luther Auctions will conduct the second auction on October 29, 2026, which will contain Red Raven Comics #1 as well as a selection of Nedor and Disney issues. The third and final auction of Minnesota North Star comic books is tentatively scheduled for December. For more information, please visit lutherauctions.com.
For those who plan to submit copies from this amazing collection to CGC, please notate “the Minnesota North Star collection” on the paperwork that is included with the submission.
Books included in the previous auction were:
Action Comics #4, 11, 12, 17-20, 22-25, 29-32, 35, 50, 64, 65, 69, 75-77, 80-86, 88-93, 95-97, 101, 112
Adventure Comics #49-51, 55, 93, 98, 99
Air Ace #v2 #3
Air Fighters Comics #1
Air Fighters Comics #v1 #11
Air Fighters Comics #v2 #1, 4, 6-8, 10
All-American Comics #3, 6, 7, 14, 62, 65, 69
All-Flash #1, 15, 16
All Star Comics #10, 21, 25
All Winners Comics #9
Amazing-Man Comics #15
American Air Forces #1-3
America's Funniest Comics #1, 8
Atomic Comics #1
Bang-Up Comics #1
Batman #2-6, 8-11, 15, 17-33, 35-41, 46, 53, 60, 63-65
Best Comics #1
Big-3 #2
Black Cat Comics #13
Black Hood #11
Blackhawk #9
Blue Beetle #2-4, 6, 26
Blue Bolt #1
Book of All-Comics #nn
Boy Comics #19
Buck Rogers #6
Captain Aero Comics #2, 5, 7
Captain Marvel Adventures #1-5, 7, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26-44, 50, 55, 62, 63, 66, 68-74, 77, 84, 100, 101
Captain Marvel's Fun Book #nn
Captain Marvel Jr. #8, 14, 19, 25, 27, 37, 39
Captain Midnight #1
Catman Comics #1-2
Chamber of Chills #23
Clue Comics #5, 7
Comic Cavalcade #9, 11
Crack Comics #6, 38
Crime Does Not Pay #26, 28, 29, 31-35, 37-48
Cyclone Comics #4
Daredevil Comics #1, 4, 27
Daring Mystery Comics #3
Daring Comics #12
Detective Comics #18, 21, 32, 34, 37-40, 42-45, 48-51, 67, 78-80, 83-85, 87-119, 151, 172
Detective Eye #2
Doll Man Quarterly #1
Exciting Comics #1
Famous Funnies #82
Fantastic Comics #5-7, 9, 16
Fat and Slat #nn
Feature Comics #30, 32, 35, 36
Fight Comics #22, 33
Flame #4
Flash Comics #1, 4, 15, 66, 68
Four Color #74
Four Favorites #16, 20
Frankenstein #2
Funnies #35, 42
Funny Pages #v3 #1, 7, 8
Funny Pages #v4 #1
Funny Stuff #1-2
Funnybone #nn
Gem Comics #1
Gift Comics #nn
Green Lama #1
Green Lantern #12, 14, 15, 17, 18
Green Mask #2
Headline Comics #9
Hit Comics #1, 3, 14
Keen Detective Funnies #3
Marvel Mystery Comics #8, 17, 21
Mask Comics #2
Modern Comics #45
More Fun Comics #48, 54, 101, 103, 105
Planet Comics #2
Science Comics #3, 4, 6
Shadow Comics #v2 #3
Shadow Comics #v4 #6, 11
Shadow Comics #v5 #2, 4, 5, 7, 8
Shield-Wizard Comics #13
Silver Streak Comics #5
Slam-Bang Comics #2-3
Spotlight Comics #3
Spy Smasher #1-7
Sub-Mariner Comics #11
Super Magician Comics #1
Superman #4, 5, 8, 9, 10-13, 15, 24-27, 30-38, 59, 72
Superworld Comics #2
Tally-Ho Comics #1
Top-Notch Comics #1, 3, 5, 6, 13
USA Comics #13-14
Weird Comics #1, 3
Whirlwind Comics #1
Whiz Comics #7-8
Wonder Comics #4
Wonder Woman #6
Wonderworld Comics #6, 12
World's Finest Comics #2, 3, 5, 7, 17, 19, 20, 95
Wow Comics #6, 7, 16, 19, 21, 28, 29
Young Allies #5, 9, 10, 13
About CGC
Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles, including trading card games (TCGs), sports cards, magazines, video games, and home media. CGC also offers seamless solutions for autograph collectors with CGC Signature Series and JSA Authentic Autograph services. If you collect it, we grade and protect it.
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