Mickey Ivanovitch

"Wherever he goes, he searches
for the odd, the unusual and
Ripley's Believe It Or Not"

In a one-room schoolhouse, when I was in the third grade, I read my first Ripley's Believe it or Not book. I remember it was the dark green 1929 edition. It was fascinating to me, and from then on, any time I saw Ripley’s cartoons, I anxiously read them. Back then we did not get daily newspapers but we had a one-armed neighbor named Dutch Bill and he would get the Sunday paper from Chicago now and then. It always had the wonderful color Ripley cartoons in it.

In the 70`s I started buying books and comic books and my interest and collection grew from there. About 1992, I met with Edward Meyer of the Ripley Corporation in Toronto, Canada and was given permission to write the Ripley Collector Club Newsletter. It ran for 3 years with 4 editions a year. During that time I met some of the most important collectors and Ripley historians around the world.

I’ve searched for the odd and unusual and found several items that are now in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museums. Some of the items include two eight-legged calves, four two-headed calves and an albino porcupine. I have been to every Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum in the United States except for the new one at Jackson Hole, WY, plus I have been to the Niagara Falls museum. I look forward to visiting all the museums overseas after I retire.

There are over 60,000 items in my private collection. I have the first 2 books that Ripley illustrated and the 2nd series paperback printed in 1933 with Abe Lincoln on the cover. I would like to know if anyone has ever seen this one. I don’t think I am missing any of his books other than the foreign prints. I have 99% of Ripley's cartoons from 1908 until 1948 and most of the ones published after his death. Most are original. Some of my other items include a Ripley tablecloth, napkins, Ripley Jim Beam lamp, 6’ x 3’ Ripley wrapping paper, odditorium posters, all comics after 1950 and some of the 1930 Ace comics, museum guides and brochures, glasses, plates, pins, photographs and postcards. Three years ago I started buying and selling on e-Bay on the Internet and my collection is still growing. Every time you think you have everything something else turns up.

Several of my submissions have been published as Ripley’s cartoons so email me if you know of an oddity that may be of interest to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

 

NEW BOOKSTORE COMING IN MAY 2005

My recent retirement from my full-time job has made it possible to finally have the time to inventory my Ripley's Believe it or Not! memorabilia.  I plan on selling most of my Ripley collection except for my very favorites.  With the help of my Webmistress wife, we are opening a new online Mickey's Books & Collectibles store where I will be listing my collection.  If you can't wait, email me to find out what I have for sale.

 

 

 

Click on the picture below to see the portrait of

Mickey & Robert Ripley together!

If you arrived here through a search engine,
the URL of this page is
http://www.geocities.com/signemickey/ripleyindex.html