Batman Items Of Slain S. Fla. Millionaire To Be Sold
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – A slain South Florida millionaire once owned one of the largest collections of Batman memorabilia and now that extensive collection will be going on the auction block in November.
Heritage Auctions said Wednesday it expects the sale of Ben Novack Jr.'s collection to generate more than $1 million. It will be held Nov. 15-17 in Beverly Hills, California.
The items include a copy of DC Comics' first Batman edition from 1940 and a 1939 comic in which "The Batman" first appeared.
The Detective Comics' book No. 27 cost just 10 cents a copy in 1939. Last year, a copy of that comic book sold for more than $1 million. Only 100 to 200 of them still exist.
Novack had a passion for acquiring rare and unusual pieces including a replica Batmobile, however, the Batmobile is not part of the auction.
Novack was slain in 2009 at a hotel in upstate New York. His wife, Narcy Novack, and her brother, Christobal Veliz, are accused of masterminding a plot to murder Novack and his mother Bernice, heirs to the estate of Ben Novack Sr. who built the Fontainebleau hotel on Miami Beach. Both have pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.
Bernice Novack was killed in April 2009 at her Fort Lauderdale home. Her death was originally ruled an accident. It was reclassified a homicide after Narcy's arrest in the death of her husband three months later at a hotel in Rye Brook, N.Y. Prosecutors allege Narcy wanted to get her hands on her husband's multi-million dollar estate.
Under Florida law, Narcy Novack cannot inherit her husband's estate if she is convicted of murder.
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