Thanks to the many collectors who have contributed scans, and thanks to the dealers who have provided information about the collection. And special thanks to the boys of the CGC Boards, who have offered encouragement and support to their obsessive-compulsive brother.

In November of 2006, Mark Haspel of CGC was kind enough to confirm that this site had already gathered information on over 80% of all Green River books graded by CGC, including many with scans. Considering it's been detective work from day one, we think that's pretty impressive....so far! We are dedicated to closing the gap, and getting as much info as we can on ALL the books in the collection.

The Origin of the Green River Pedigree:
Short Version

William J. Stevens II and his brother Robert grew up in Spokane, Washington. Their father was the owner of a large pharmacy and the brothers "acquired" books for their collection by raiding the newstand in their father's store.

Fast forward twenty years, and William is the main suspect in the notorious Green River serial killings. He is eventually cleared of suspicion, despite his questionable life style. His lawyer, Craig C. Beles (who was paid virtually nothing for his services as attorney), is named Stevens' personal representative in his will.

On Monday, September 30, 1991 William J. Steven's dies in a Spokane hospital of pancreatic cancer at the age of 40. According to his obituary, Stevens had been ill for much of the previous year after his December 1990 release from prison where he had been serving time on charges unrelated to the killings. In order to pay off Steven's remaining debts, Beles begins liquidating the comic collection and sends letters to dealers he has seen listed in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, letting them know about the collection and that it is for sale. John Hauser and James Haack team up to buy the collection of approximately 1,600 books from Beles in 1993, and then advertise the collection in an ad in Comic Buyers Guide (See ad at link to Shin C. Kao's site below). The breakup of the collection begins.

Information surfaces later that Williams had sold approximately 800 books to Spokane dealer Craig Barnett, owner of The Comic Book Shop. Barnett had announced the collection in 1991 in one of his monthly reports for the Overstreet Monthly Price Guide Report. For a longer, more detailed version of the story, click here!

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Why This Site?

It is our belief that more information needs to be made available to collectors about the contents of all pedigree collections, and this site hopes to serve as a model for future sites dedicated to individual pedigrees. The goal is to provide both historical information, and a means by which to verify the authenticity of a specific book or books.

This text version of the entry page to the Green River site will eventually be replaced by a more graphic interface. As the information structure of the site reveals itself, a more sophisticated navigational system will be instituted. What will make this site most valuable will be the presence of actual scans of raw and graded books in the collection, when scans are available.There are between 1,600 and 2,400 books believed to be in the Green River Collection, and only a fraction have been graded. Many raw copies still reside in private collections. As these are graded and come to auction, scans of these books will be added to the site.To begin with, primitive gallery pages with links to a unique web page for each book, containing a scan of the book and as much available data on the book as possible.

If you are the owner of a Green River Pedigree book, either graded or raw, please consider donating a scan and accompanying information to this database, by contacting GreenRiverData. All information will be held confidential, and any information you care to provide will only be posted on this site with your approval.

Gallery Pages

Click on the titles in the column to the left and you will be taken to gallery of thumbnails of actual Green River books in the collection. All of the thumbnails link to larger scans of each book.

Resources

Newly added is a directory of resources, which includes an assortment of downloadable documents, lists, photos, sales manifests and facts about the collection. This directory is scheduled to go live sometime before the end of 2010.

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