Edgar Church (November 28, 1888 – May 1, 1978) was an American commercial artist and comic book collector. He is best known for assembling the "Edgar Church collection" (also called the "Mile High collection"), widely regarded as the most famous and valuable collection of Golden Age comic books ever discovered.
Biography
Church was born in Plainville, Connecticut, on November 28, 1888. He worked as an independent commercial artist and later for the telephone company in Colorado, where he illustrated telephone book advertisements—precursors to modern Yellow Pages advertisements.
He was married twice and had one child with each wife. Church died on May 1, 1978, in Denver, Colorado, at the age of 89.
The Edgar Church Collection
Church amassed between 18,000 and 22,000 comic books in his Colorado home, keeping them as reference material for his artwork. He also stored thousands of miscellaneous periodicals, clipping images and organizing them into hundreds of labeled boxes.
In 1977, Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics discovered and purchased the collection. Approximately 99% of the collection was subsequently sold to various collectors. The collection is renowned for containing exceptionally high-grade copies of many Golden Age comic books, including what is believed to be the finest known copy of Action Comics #1 (the first appearance of Superman), estimated to grade between 9.4 and 9.6. The current owner of that copy has declined to have it professionally graded.
The collection remains legendary in the comic book hobby for the quality and preservation of its books, many of which have set record prices at auction.
