Christmas comes early for collectors with huge memorabilia auction in Vancouver

It will be a collectors heaven on earth in Vancouver this weekend.

A massive assemblage of around 100,000 sports cards, comic books and other memorabilia will be auctioned off over two days. Everything from a serigraph of Wayne Gretzky, rookie cards for NHL stars like Pavel Bure and Trevor Linden, and a reprint of the Superman No. 1 comic book, signed by original writer Jerry Siegel, will go under the hammer.

"It's really a huge collection," said Jeremy Dodd, president of Able Auctions which is conducting the sale.

What makes the compilation even more amazing is it comes from one collector. Dodd wouldn't give a name but said the person lives in B.C and wanted the items to be moved quickly. This means some of the lots being sold will be very large and contain many items.

"We would probably spend more time looking through the boxes looking for treasures," said Dodd. "Who knows what's in some of these boxes. There's going to be some real treasure finds this weekend."

The Wayne Gretzky serigraph is signed by both Gretzky and artist Leroy Neiman. Only 50 were produced and Dodd estimates it could sell for up to $20,000.

A serigraph is a colour stencil printmaking process in which special paint is forced through a fine screen onto the paper beneath.

There 40,000 hockey and sports cards. Most remain unopened in sleeves or plastic holders. Included is a 22-karat gold-wrapped Michael Jordan card. There also are old Canadian sport magazines.

To help with 30,000 comic books, Tim Everett was hired as a consultant. Everett, who works at a local comic book store, was overwhelmed by the size of the collection and has spent over two months cataloguing what is available.

"I have never seen anything like it," Everett said. "One person owns all of this.

"I've been to (comic book conventions) where you can go into a room this size and there are a variety of dealers and there's this much stuff. There is an enormous amount of stuff here."

Everett estimates the Superman comic could sell for $1,000. Another prize item is a Sugar and Spike comic book from the 1950s that is in prime condition.

"I challenge you to find anything in your house from 1956 that is in this good of condition" he said. "I would grade this as near mint."

The rare comic could sell for $3,000, he said.

Also up for sale are Star Trek trading cards and Star Wars movie posters signed by Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill.

Dodd said at one time the collection could have been worth over $2 million. He isn't sure how much it will fetch now.

"We really haven't had time to do the math," he said. "It's a market that is a little depressed right now."

Putting a huge collection like this up for auction is unusual.

"Especially these days when you see a lot of this kind of stuff ends up on eBay and craigslist," Dodd said.

"These people just didn't want the hassle of people knocking on their door, people telephoning them. They tried a few things on eBay and just didn't like the process."

The sports memorabilia will be sold Saturday. The comic books and the remaining collectibles will be auctioned Sunday.