New York, NY – The minds of certain pockets of the collectible world exploded earlier this year when a rare Pokémon card sold for a record $16.5 million. Heads spun when it was revealed that the buyer was AJ Scaramucci, the founder of venture capital firm Solari Capital and the son of investor and former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. That sale was just the opening salvo for Scaramucci, who has since founded Treasure Trove, a collectible venture dedicated to what he calls “alternative assets.”
This summer, the investor found himself making another record-setting deal when his company paid $2 million for a copy of Tales of Suspense No. 39, the Marvel Comics title that first introduced Iron Man. The 1963 comic, which is the only known copy to be given the mint or near-mint grade of 9.8 by the grading company CGC, now joins a copy of Amazing Fantasy No. 15 and Fantastic Four No. 1 as the only comics from the Silver Age to hit that threshold. “I see collectibles in the same way I see my gold and Bitcoin investing,” Scaramucci told The Hollywood Reporter.
Scaramucci, who picked up collecting during the COVID era, brings a calculating, unemotional eye to the cultural value of material based on intellectual property. To many in the collecting community, he represents a speculator who artificially drives up prices. He dismisses those charges, pointing to sales of Monets and Dalis in the dozens or hundreds of millions. “A comic book or a Pikachu card, I view these things as fine art. They’re just up-and-coming asset classes,” he said. “I think a world where comic books could indeed sell for $50 to $100 million, I don’t think that should surprise anybody when it happens. I think it really is inevitable.”
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Treasure Trove’s advisory board includes Ken Goldin of Goldin and Jim Halperin and Steve Ivy of Heritage Auctions, alongside toy executive Jeremy Padawer. The company is also pursuing a media strategy with videos documenting its acquisitions. Scaramucci revealed he has already received offers to buy the Iron Man comic in excess of $2 million but has no interest in selling, describing Treasure Trove’s model as building a “cultural store of value.” He also listed dinosaurs, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Declaration of Independence as future acquisition targets.
